National (U.S.)

A new peer-reviewed analysis by scientists at the National Climatic Data Center concludes that skeptic Anthony Watts' 2009 critique of the U.S. temperature record is itself contrary to the actual data.

"Somewhere just after 12:30 p.m. on a cold Wednesday this month, the image of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as a Western pragmatist and wily political deal-maker evaporated in a cloud of heated rhetoric."

"An effort by railroad companies to control dust blowing from coal trains has drawn the wrath of electric-power generators and the attention of federal regulators."

"The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it would control -- for the first time -- short-lived spikes of an air pollutant common along major roads and linked to respiratory problems."

"A leading congressional Democrat said President Obama needs to 'lay the prestige of the presidency on the line' in his State of the Union address Wednesday and in the months to come on climate change."

Many U.S. homes could be made far less expensive to heat and cool -- reducing greenhouse emissions in the process.

"Americans today receive far more medical radiation than ever before. The average lifetime dose of diagnostic radiation has increased sevenfold since 1980, and more than half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy. Without a doubt, radiation saves countless lives, and serious accidents are rare. But patients often know little about the harm that can result when safety rules are violated and ever more powerful and technologically complex machines go awry."