Monthly Archives: <span>October 2017</span>

Changing Climate Means Shorter Winters

Winter is coming … later. And it’s leaving ever earlier. Across the United States, the year’s first freeze has been arriving further and further into the calendar, according to more than a century of measurements from weather stations nationwide. Scientists …

National Weather Service Staff Said Harvey Was Unprecedented

They had to find new words. In advance of Hurricane Harvey‘s landfall, the meteorologists at the National Weather Service in League City, Texas, felt they needed to break from the usual language they use to communicate the dangers of the …

Wildfire Recovery May Take Years in Northern California

It will take at least months and likely years to fully recover from devastating wildfires that ripped through Northern California earlier this month, destroying at least 8,900 structures and killing 42 people, Sonoma County officials said Saturday. “We don’t control …

Trump Signs $36.5B Emergency Aid Bill for Disasters

President Donald Trump signed a $36.5 billion emergency aid measure on Thursday to refill disaster accounts, provide a cash infusion to Puerto Rico and bail out the federal flood insurance program. The president signed the bill after the Senate sent …

Study Finds More Evidence That Energy Waste Wells Cause Quakes

Scientists say they have more evidence that an increase in earthquakes on the Colorado-New Mexico border since 2001 has been caused by wells that inject wastewater from oil and gas production back underground, similar to human-caused quakes in Oklahoma and …

California Dam Repair Costs to Top $500M

California officials say repair costs at the nation’s tallest dam will be nearly double the original estimate of $275 million. Department of Water Resources spokeswoman Erin Mellon said Thursday the contract with Kiewit Corp. at 770-foot Oroville Dam will grow …

White House Warns Next Disaster Bill to Cost ‘Tens of Billions’

The White House says the next request for disaster aid will cost tens of billions of dollars and Congress should consider making cuts in other government programs to finance it. In a letter to top lawmakers in Congress, Office of …

Officials Reflect on Superstorm Sandy 5 Years Later

It’s been five years since Superstorm Sandy struck the Eastern seaboard late during the 2012 hurricane season. Recently, local city and government officials were interviewed to give their perspective on the storm in a five-year overview video created by James …

Honolulu Building Fire Site Open for Inspection by Potential Litigants

The Marco Polo condominium building in which a July fire killed four has been opened to numerous people who might file lawsuits, potential defendants such as product manufacturers and their insurers, and fire experts from across the nation. As of …

Report Highlights Regional Differences in California Workers’ Comp Claim Costs

The Los Angeles Long Beach region continues to lead the state in workers’ compensation claim frequency (28 percent above average), while Silicon Valley comes at 20 percent below average, according to a new report released by the WCIRB. The numbers …