California

"San Francisco is booming as construction cranes transform the city skyline. One of the most significant changes is happening at the Hunters Point Shipyard. It's a project so big, it seems like a whole new town is being built within the city. Residences, shops, parks, and high-rises are being built and will replace the naval shipyard – once a major source of employment, but dormant for years."

"Even after the twin domes along I-5 are gone and the San Onofre nuclear plant is mostly a memory, fuel rods hot with radioactivity will remain behind in rows of tomb-like casks – perhaps for decades."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- Environmental advocates seeking to curb Chevron's plans to modernize and expand its Richmond oil refinery sued Bay Area air-quality regulators Thursday, claiming they approved construction based on outdated reports that understated the plant's greenhouse gas emissions and the pollutants it would spew into surrounding neighborhoods."

"The Sierra Nevada is rising. Drought-stricken farmers in the Central Valley are pumping more and more water from the valley's huge aquifer beneath them, and the drainage is triggering unexpected earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault, scientists have discovered."

"Akif Eskalen steps through the dense, damp leaves in a wooded neighborhood, scrutinizing the branches around him. He's looking for evidence of an attack: tiny wounds piercing the bark and sap dried around them like bloodstains."

"California's brown pelicans, nearly driven to extinction by poisons a half century ago, are in trouble again, and no one knows why."

"A measure to require sugary soft drinks to carry labels warning of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay advanced in the California state legislature on Friday, the latest move by lawmakers nationwide aimed at persuading people to drink less soda."

"Less food for hawks, owls, white-tailed kites, falcons and even golden eagles is theorized to be connected to years of too-dry weather. One apparent consequence: a 'breeding crash' beyond any in local experts' memory."

"Depletion of groundwater in California's Central Valley for agriculture and other uses could be contributing to an increase in small earthquakes along the famed San Andreas fault, a scientific study published on Wednesday said."