California is abnormally dry after low-precipitation winter
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A dry beginning of the year has left most of California abnormally parched and officials are bracin...
California wildfire victims fear coming last in PG&E payout
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A $13.5 billion settlement between victims of California’s catastrophic wildfires and the utility b...
Judge rips PG&E for poor safety record leading to wildfires
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. judge ripped into Pacific Gas & Electric on Wednesday, saying its executives have put gr...
Report: Work to reduce wildfire risks has economic benefits
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Projects to reduce the risk of wildfires and protect water sources in the U.S. West have create...
PG&E banking on big profits after utility leaves bankruptcy
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas and Electric says it expects to become more profitable than ever after it emerges from ...
Deluge in Australia drenches fires and eases 3-year drought
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Drought, wildfires and now flooding have given Australia's weather an almost Biblical feel this year. The good news is that ...
Victims: PG&E still has rickety power line near Paradise
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric is still operating a rickety power line near the one that ignited a 2018 wildfire that wiped out the Northe...
California firefighters return from battling Australia fires
LOS ANGELES — Twenty firefighters from California returned to the United States on Wednesday after spending nearly a month battling wildfires in Austr...
Australian bank official says virus is an economic unknown
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia's deadly wildfires will have no impact on the nation's economic growth this year but the impact of a new virus is stil...
As forests burn around the world, drinking water is at risk
Fabric curtains stretch across the huge Warragamba Dam to trap ash and sediment expected to wash off wildfire-scorched slopes and into the reservoir t...
PG&E clears another bankruptcy hurdle with debt refinancing
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Tuesday approved a settlement that moves Pacific Gas & Electric closer to getting out of bankruptcy, but the tr...
Extreme weather has gardeners looking for resilient plants
Fiercer and more frequent natural disasters in recent years have many homeowners re-evaluating their landscaping. Many are restocking with trees and p...
Wildfire creates state of emergency in Australian capital
CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian capital region declared a state of emergency on Friday because of an out-of-control forest fire burning erratical...
PG&E and California governor at odds over bankruptcy plan
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric attorneys on Wednesday assured a federal judge the utility will emerge from bankruptcy by its June deadline...
3 Americans killed in Australia all had military backgrounds
DENVER — Growing up in a small rural community on Colorado's plains, Ian McBeth went to work as a ranch hand in neighboring Nebraska at 14 and was a s...
Why tech has been slow to fight wildfires, extreme weather
SAN FRANCISCO — For two years running , California’s wildfires have sent plumes of smoke across Silicon Valley. So far, that hasn't spurred much tech ...
Fires set stage for irreversible forest losses in Australia
Australia’s forests are burning at a rate unmatched in modern times and scientists say the landscape is being permanently altered as a warming climate...
Scientists seek rare species survivors amid Australia flames
Australia’s unprecedented wildfires season has so far charred 40,000 square miles (104,000 square kilometers) of brushland, rainforests, and national ...
Crafting for critters: Australian fires prompt global effort
CONCORD, N.H. — Kyla Gill had never so much as touched a sewing machine or picked up a crochet hook two weeks ago. Now, she’s hooked on crafting for c...
Fever chart: Earth had its hottest decade on record in 2010s
WASHINGTON — The decade that just ended was by far the hottest ever measured on Earth, capped off by the second-warmest year on record, two U.S. agenc...
Australian wildfire smoke stokes health fears in cities
CANBERRA, Australia — Fire alarms have been sounding in high-rise buildings across downtown Sydney and Melbourne as dense smoke from distant wildfires...
Tom Hanks’ family offered Greek passport too for fire help
ATHENS, Greece — Greece's government is extending its offer of citizenship to Tom Hanks to his wife and their two children, in recognition of the fami...
Bad air doesn’t stop qualifying for Australian Open
The air was considered hazardous for outdoor workers, and described as among the worst in the world. For professional tennis players, though, it was d...
Federal government blasts PG&E’s deal with fire victims
SAN FRANCISCO — Tensions between the U.S. government and Pacific Gas & Electric are boiling over as the two sides battle over whether a taxpayer-f...
Australian village ready for ‘The Beast’ to burn on through
BURRAGATE, Australia — As the sky darkened and the smoke billowed through the village, it seemed to those hunkering at the fire station that "The Beas...
2 Aussie wildfires merge into inferno; man seriously burned
BURRAGATE, Australia — Two wildfires merged to form a massive inferno in southeastern Australia and a man suffered serious burns protecting a home, in...
California budget plan aids teachers, those in US illegally
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to give $20,000 stipends to teachers at high needs schools and extend health care to older low...
California lawmakers eye back-up power for cellphone towers
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When the nation's largest electric utility preemptively shut off power last fall to prevent wildfires in California, customers lo...
Australian PM’s leadership criticized during wildfire crisis
CANBERRA, Australia — As his country burned, Australia's prime minister was cursed and jeered out of a town, called an “idiot,” a “moron” and worse, a...