California

"At least four people have died as a result of wildfires fueled by a heat wave and a blitz of lightning strikes in [California's] northern areas. The clusters of fires merged into orange infernos that are creeping up on residential areas, turning neighborhoods into ash and smoldering ruins."

"Wildfires raced toward populated areas of Northern California's wine country, as dozens of blazes burned in other parts of the state."

"Renewable energy corporations have launched an eleventh-hour campaign to derail a petition seeking endangered species protection for Joshua trees, saying it could hinder development of the solar and wind power projects California needs to wean itself off fossil fuels."

"A massive wildfire in Northern California spawned rotating columns of flames Saturday, prompting forecasters to issue a rare fire-related tornado warning."

"California has about 47,000 abandoned mines and roughly 5,000 of those are contaminating water, soil, vegetation, and air across the state, according to a state report issued Tuesday."

"The mostly low-income, Latino residents of Arvin have joined with other communities to demand setbacks for wells. Their slogan: “No drilling where we are living.”"

"The Apple Fire burning in parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties has grown to at least 20,516 acres and is 5% contained, the California Interagency Incident Management Team said."

"Two Northern California wildfires have merged to form one that exceeds the size of last year’s biggest blaze in the state, fire officials said Thursday morning."

"As part of a $4.5 million land deal, the ancestral homeland of the Esselen Tribe has been returned to its people after being landless for a quarter of a millennium."