U.S. Forest Service closes all 18 California national forests due to wildfire risks
By Colby Bermel 09/09/2020 06:11 PM EDT All 18 national forests in California will be closed starting at 5 p.m. PT, the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday. Impact: The announcement came as catastrophic wildfires continue to burn in national forests and state parks in California, with the destruction totaling 2.5 million scorched acres, 3,700 destroyed buildings […]
UPDATED: ‘The dawn of a new Middle East’: Trump celebrates Abraham Accords with White House signing ceremony
By Quint Forgey09/15/2020 10:42 AM EDT Updated: 09/15/2020 02:36 PM EDT President Donald Trump on Tuesday hosted a historic signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords brokered by his administration, formally normalizing diplomatic relations between Israel and a pair of Arab states. “We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history. After decades of division […]
Postal police union sues USPS, DeJoy over limits to mail theft enforcement authority
By Kyle Cheney 09/14/2020 04:03 PM EDT The Postal Service last month abruptly ordered its police officers to stop investigating mail theft that occurs away from post office property, the Postal Police Officers Association alleged Monday, suing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to block a change they say could erode the safety of mail carriers and […]
Education and Labor Committee subpoenas NLRB
By Rebecca Rainey 09/15/2020 03:03 PM EDT House Democrats are subpoenaing the National Labor Relations Board for documents related to alleged conflicts of interest in an unfair labor practice case involving McDonald’s, the latest escalation in a 18-month ethics dispute. The House Education and Labor Committee was to issue a subpoena Tuesday seeking documents from […]
Clean energy sector jobs show ‘anemic’ rebound in August
Kelsey Tamborrino 09/14/2020 10:42 AM EDT The clean energy sector posted only modest jobs gains in August, according to a new report, leaving nearly 500,000 people in the industry out of work because of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The details: The U.S. clean energy sector added 13,556 jobs in August, according to an analysis […]
Feds, California strikes $1.5B deal with Daimler over emissions allegations
By Alex Guillén 09/14/2020 03:50 PM EDT German automaker Daimler will pay a total of $1.5 billion to settle allegations lodged by the federal government and California regarding its emissions cheating on more than a quarter-million vehicles sold in the U.S. The settlement makes Daimler the latest automaker to agree to major penalties over unlawful […]
Judges scrutinize Obama-era truck trailer emissions rule
By Alex Guillén 09/15/2020 01:45 PM EDT A panel of federal judges struggled in a court hearing on Tuesday with questions over whether the federal government can set fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions limits for truck trailers separately from the tractor cabs that pull them. The Obama administration issued the first-ever fuel economy and […]
United CEO sees low air travel until a widely available vaccine
By Jesse Naranjo 09/13/2020 01:33 PM EDT United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on Sunday that, while he believes it’s safe to fly now, he doesn’t see air travel returning to pre-pandemic levels until a coronavirus vaccine is developed and widely distributed. “Our view is, demand is not coming back, people are not going to […]
More Americans lacked health insurance last year — even before pandemic hit, census reports
By Susannah Luthi 09/15/2020 12:35 PM EDT The ranks of the nation’s uninsured continued to grow last year, even before the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic that’s devastated the economy, new federal data show. Nearly 30 million Americans went without health coverage at some point in 2019, up by roughly 1 million from the previous year, […]
California, 5 other states removed from tri-state quarantine list
By Anna Gronewold 09/15/2020 03:22 PM EDT Travelers from California and five other states will no longer have to quarantine upon arriving in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to the latest list released Tuesday. For the next week, at least, the tri-state travel advisory includes 30 states and territories. In addition to California, […]
