New pesticide labels will better protect bees and other pollinators

What happened: The US Environmental Protection Agency has created new pesticide labels that prohibit the use of certain pesticides in areas where bees are present. Some of these pesticides are the widely used neonicotinoids that some scientists have linked to mass bee die-offs.

California governor Jerry Brown cites threats to electricity and water supplies as firefighters consider asking for military help

A wildfire raging at the edge of Yosemite national park is threatening power lines that provide electricity to San Francisco, prompting California governor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.

The fire has damaged the electrical infrastructure serving the city, and forced the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to shut down power lines, the governor said in his declaration.

There were no reports of blackouts in the city, which is about 200 miles west of the park.

The wildfire swept further into Yosemite national park on Friday, remaining largely unchecked as it threatened one of the country's major tourist destinations.

The so-called Rim Fire, which started last week in the Stanislaus national forest, had blackened 11,000 acres (4,450 hectares) at the north-eastern corner of Yosemite as of Friday afternoon after exploding in size overnight, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

Recently, three researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, had a study published that claimed that a "substantial" correlation between violence and climate change could be made.

They cited sixty studies from around the world that, according to a BBC World Service article, demonstrated that "even small changes in temperature or rainfall correlated with a rise in assaults, rapes, and murders, as well as group conflicts and war."

Apparently they missed the data on World War II's Battle of the Bulge or the siege of Stalingrad, both of which were fought in freezing weather. Earlier, Napoleon ran into a similar problem when he wanted to conquer Russia.

We have now reached a point in the Great Global Warming Hoax where pure absurdity is the norm for claims made on behalf of a warming cycle that ended around 1996.

NASA has released its latest sea ice report. These are tough times for climate alarmists. The truth is: There's a lot more sea ice out there this year than they ever imagined.


NASA makes some interesting comments.

First they tell us that Arctic sea ice is over 1.5 million sq. km above last year, and is thus at one of the highest late summer extents in the last 10 years. Surprise.

Secondly Walt Meier of NASA tells us the real reason for last year's record minimum: storms.

Reno, Nevada -- A sink hole discovered in the median of Interstate 80 west of Reno forced the temporary closure of two travel lanes in both directions.

The California Department of Transportation says the sink hole is located about a half mile west of Donner Pass Road in Truckee. The Reno Gazette-Journal reports all lanes were open Friday afternoon after crews finished filling it.

The cause of the sink hole is still unknown, but Caltrans spokeswoman Rochelle Jenkins says it was probably created by water moving underground near the highway.

The sink hole had encroached upon the fast lanes of both westbound and eastbound traffic, but so far there's no sign of stress or cracking of the highway that is the main route between Northern California and Nevada. Traffic in both directions had been restricted to one lane through the area earlier Friday.

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal

Littleton, Colorado got a taste of winter as a blast of wintry rain and hail hit the city on Thursday. The hail storm pounded parts of the city, dropping 6 inches of hail on one street and flooding the area with up to 4 feet of water.

According to KPLCTV, kids were excited to get some snow in the middle of the summer. "I'm excited. It's fun in snow," one child reportedly said. Adults, on the other hand, weren't as pleased with the storm.

Bryndon Jackson, who was driving when the storm struck, said he got stuck in a flash flood and was buried in hail. "All of a sudden my car just started getting washed away. Water flying up over the hood coming up to my windshield," he said. "It's freaky, it's weird."

A giant wildfire raging out of control spread into Yosemite National Park on Friday as authorities urged more evacuations in nearby communities where thousands have already been forced out by flames marching through the timbered slopes of the western Sierra Nevada.

The fire has hit the park - whose streams and lakes, grandeur and granite peaks attract millions of people from all over the world - at the height of summer season, just a week before the Labor Day holiday.

The blaze has closed backcountry hiking in the park, but was not threatening the Yosemite Valley region, one of California's most popular tourist destinations.

The fire grew to more than 165 square miles and was only 2 percent contained. It continued to spread in several directions, although "most of the fire activity is pushing to the east right into Yosemite," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Smoke blowing across the Sierra into the state of Nevada forced officials in several counties to cancel outdoor school activities and issue health advisories, especially for people with respiratory problems.

• The endangered loggerhead turtle was spotted by a sailor off Portland Bill, Dorset

• It is believed the creature mistook the unusually warm British waters for the Canary Islands
• Last known sighting of a loggerhead turtle in Dorset was in 1938

A rare, endangered sea turtle was spotted off the Dorset coast after it got lost on its way to the Mediterranean.

The 4ft loggerhead turtle was seen as it made its 3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic from the east coast of America.

It is thought the unusually warm UK waters fooled the creature into thinking it had arrived in the Canary Islands.

• Bystanders on the banks of Qiantang River in Zhejiang province were swept off their feet by tidal bore

• Unusual phenomenon was worsened by the arrival of Typhoon Trami which has devastated the Philippines

Hundreds of spectators were swept off their feet when the world's largest tidal bore surged up a river creating an exceptionally powerful wave.

The victims were standing on the banks of the Qiantang River in China's Zhejiang province yesterday when the surge took them by surprise.

The power of the river was exacerbated by Typhoon Trami, a devastating tropical storm which has swept across the region this week.

VIDEO:

Mount Hobalt, an underwater volcano off the coast of Lembata island, East Nusa Tenggara, briefly erupted on Tuesday but did not cause any damage, officials and residents said. "Based on information received from the head of the Center for Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation [PVMBG], the mountain erupted Tuesday morning," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said. Sutopo called on villagers living around the volcano to remain alert, but added that there was no need for residents to be evacuated from the area. "The PVMBG is closely monitoring the volcano," Sutopo said. Petrus Bote, who heads the district's disaster mitigation office, said that district authorities were preparing for the possibility of a larger eruption by bolstering stocks of emergency relief supplies and increasing manpower around the area.

"Many people, including fishermen, saw the peak of [Mount Hobalt] surface for a few minutes," Peter said on Tuesday. He said that a similar phenomenon took place when the volcano last erupted in May 1999. Tini Thadeus, the head of the NTT Disaster Mitigation Agency, said that the volcano briefly belched a column of smoke and ash that reached between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level at around 7:13 a.m. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Victor Mado Watun, the island's deputy district chief, said that another volcano, Mount Ile Wereng, which straddles the inland subdistricts of Atadei and Wulandoni, also experienced a brief eruption. Victor said that a three-kilometer radius danger zone around the two mountains has been declared. "The district's disaster mitigation office has sent two teams to the Atadei and Wulandoni. They are monitoring the activity of two volcanoes there and are registering the number of villagers living near them," Victor said. Hobalt is one of the five active submarine volcanoes in Indonesia, a country that sits on three geological fault lines dotted with volcanoes. - Jakarta Times