Northwest (OR WA)

"One of the last actions Oregon lawmakers took before adjourning Thursday was passing a landmark clean-energy bill."

"Two state agencies leading Oregon's emergency response to toxic air pollution concerns in Portland have known for a month that a soil test at Cleveland High School found high levels of arsenic and lead contamination. Yet neither the Oregon Health Authority nor the Department of Environmental Quality have shared the soil result with Portland Public Schools, which instead learned about it Friday from The Oregonian/OregonLive."

"Railroads that haul oil trains through Washington state will need to report whether they could afford around $700 million to pay for a derailment and spill, under a recently finalized state rule."

"In hopes of saving one owl species, scientists are killing another."

"Conservationists filed a federal lawsuit in Oregon on Wednesday that challenges the authority of a federal government program to kill wolves in the state."

"California, Oregon and the federal government are working on a way around congressional barriers to the removal of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River."

"Is this where North Pacific humpback whales practice their songs?"

"BURNS – Oregon standoff spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was killed and other leaders of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation were arrested Tuesday after the FBI and state police stopped vehicles about 20 miles north of Burns."

"A new generation of chemicals added to furniture, building insulation and baby products like car seats to slow the spread of flames are escaping into air at higher levels than previously thought, according to a new study out of Washington state."