How Ditching the Iowa Caucus Could Remake the Biofuels Debate

If politicians no longer coveted that early “Iowa bump,” would they still feel compelled to support ethanol subsidies? In the wake of Iowa’s caucus vote-counting disaster, political staffers and pollsters alike are reconsidering the state’s “first in the nation to vote” status. The quaint caucuses and infamous fry-forward state fair could disappear were Iowa to […]

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Lawyers allege California scuba boat fire that killed 34 was result of safety violations, charging station

LOS ANGELES — Owners of a scuba-diving boat that caught fire off California’s Channel Islands last summer, trapping passengers below deck and killing 34 people, failed to follow mandated safety protocols and did not provide adequate charging procedures for electronic equipment, which likely caused the blaze, according to new legal claims on behalf of four […]

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How Many Missing? California Struggles to Grasp Scope of Mudslide Disaster

Huge debris piles, homes full of mud and rugged terrain have created what many workers describe as among the most challenging rescue efforts they have faced MONTECITO, Calif.—Four days after a rainstorm unleashed mudslides here, sending house-sized boulders crashing into communities already worn down by a season of severe wildfires, officials and residents are still struggling to size up the […]

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Many Ignored Evacuation Orders Before Mudslides

Seventeen people were killed in disaster that caught residents off-guard MONTECITO, Calif.—The sun emerged here a day after mudslides killed 17 people and destroyed 100 homes, illuminating the massive scope of an unfolding disaster that caught many residents off-guard. Rescue workers on Wednesday continued searching for at least 17 missing people, and worked to reach dozens more […]

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