By Edward Ortiz, Sacramento Bee Scientists at NASA say they have identified a rare weather pattern that assures intense and potentially prolonged wet weather will strike California. The research findings are a crucial addition to weather forecasting tools and may go a long way to alerting officials to the possibility of floods, mudslides and levee […]
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By Elizabeth Preston, Nautilus Entomologist Richard Karban knows how to get sagebrush talking. To start the conversation, he poses as a grasshopper or a chewing beetle — he uses scissors to cut leaves on one of the shrubs. Lopping off the leaves entirely won’t fool the plants. So he makes many snips around the edges […]
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By Kathryn Reed While opening day at Heavenly is just two days from now, there may come a day when the South Shore resort is open year-round for recreation. Skiing starts this week, as does the comment period for the scoping for the environmental documents involving the expanded summer recreation. While much of the first […]
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By Lauren Weber, Wall Street Journal More workers are just saying no, at least by one measure. The share of U.S. workers testing positive for drugs has dropped sharply since 1988, according to an analysis of millions of drug tests being released Monday by medical-testing company Quest Diagnostics Inc. Positive workplace tests for cocaine and […]
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By Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger, Washington Post Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, whose record-breaking campaign spending in 2012 made him an icon of the new super-donor era, is leveraging that newfound status in an escalating feud with industry rivals over the future of gambling. Adelson, best known for building upscale casino resorts in Nevada […]
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By Kathryn Reed Prosecuting bad guys is what Vicki Ashworth has been doing for the last 16 years. Now she wants to be the judge in those cases. Ashworth is running for the El Dorado County Superior Court judgeship being vacated by Doug Phimister. For the past 14 years Ashworth has worked in the El […]
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By Kendall Taggart, Center for Investigative Reporting Judith Johnson of Stacyville, Iowa, doesn’t get out much anymore. Legally blind and living on a small Social Security pension, the 72-year-old used to go to church once a week. She stopped out of fear that her new walker would snag on the railroad tracks she had to […]
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By Jon Erdman, Weather Channel The first 10 months of 2013 have been the driest such period on record in California, dating to 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Compare the rainfall so far in 2013 with the average-to-date totals through Nov. 14. Some locations are running over 20-inch precipitation deficits for the […]
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By Kathryn Reed Survival of the honeybee is of much greater importance than whether or not there will be honey on store shelves. “We are having a hard time keeping bees alive … mostly the honeybees,” John Miller, president of the California State Beekeepers Association, told Lake Tahoe News. “Domestic honeybees are the global champions […]
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By Janet Fullwood, San Jose Mercury News Skiers and snowboarders are perpetual optimists who like to believe the coming season will bring more powder than ever before. While that’s up to Mother Nature, one hard, cold fact is for sure: Peak-season rates at prominent resorts now top $100 a day at the ticket window. Snow-sports […]
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