MARY KATHERINE WILDEMAN

People wait for the trailhead at Glacier Point to re-open at Yosemite National Park, Calif., June 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
This federal rule helped clear air over America’s most beloved parks. Trump’s EPA wants to kill it
Outdoor enthusiasts are worried about the loss of their favorite vistas as President Donald Trump’s administration considers weakening a 26-year-old rule designed to improve visibility over national parks and wilderness areas.
 
Destroyed homes from the Palisades Fire are visible on Jan. 15, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Los Angeles fires have scorched largest urban area in California in at least 40 years
Two wildfires still burning in Los Angeles have torched more urban area than any other fire in the state since at least the mid-1980s.
 
A worker does checks on battery storage pods at Orsted's Eleven Mile Solar Center lithium-ion battery storage energy facility, Feb. 29, 2024, in Coolidge, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
Climate-friendly electricity sees big battery projects soar again for 2024
2024 was another banner year for a source of electricity that is better for people’s lungs, better for climate change and may be reaching your home now when you turn on the lights or turn up the thermostat — large banks of batteries.
 
FILE - Boats damaged by Hurricane Beryl wade in the water at the Bridgetown Fisheries, Barbados, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File)
Atlantic hurricane season comes to an end, leaving widespread damage in its wake
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close Saturday, bringing an end to a season that saw 11 hurricanes compared to the average seven, billions of dollars in damage and deaths and destruction hundreds of miles from where storms came ashore on the U.S.
 
FILE - People walk through floodwaters following a dam collapse in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Tuesday, Sept 10, 2024. (AP Photos/ Joshua Olatunji, File)
Multilateral banks are key to financing the fight against global warming. Here is how they work
International mega banks, funded by taxpayer dollars, are the biggest, fastest-growing source of climate finance for the developing world.
 
Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater, right, speaks during a debate for Indiana governor hosted by the Indiana Debate Commission at WFYI, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, Pool)
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Indiana on Election Day
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump will compete for Indiana’s 11 electoral votes on Election Day, with a full slate of other federal and state races rounding out the ballot.
 
A fake watermelon, used to disguised a shipment of methamphetamines, is shown after a bust by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, in Otay Mesa, Calif. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP)
Hot days and methamphetamine are now a deadlier mix
Increasingly hot summers and methamphetamine are a deadly mix. The stimulant is playing an outsize role in heat-related deaths across the United States. An Associated Press analysis of data from the U.S.
 
Wind turbines operate, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Paxton, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Wind farms’ benefits to communities can be slow or complex, leading to opposition and misinformation
Complex and confusing taxation systems make it easier for wind’s opponents, some citing misinformation, to say that wind has fallen short of its promises.
 
A school bus drives down a road near a field of wind turbines, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Paxton, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Wind power can be a major source of tax revenue, but officials struggle to get communities on board
An Associated Press analysis of county tax data across three states — Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska — found wind companies rank among the biggest taxpayers in many rural communities, with their total tax bills at times outstripping that of large farms, power plants and other major businesses.
 
FILE - People use umbrellas to block the sun while waiting to take a photo at the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign July 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
A look at heat records that have been broken around the world
Countries around the world are setting all-time heat records as summer deepens in the Northern Hemisphere.
 
FILE - Jessie Fuentes, who works providing people with canoes and kayaks, walks along the Rio Grande with the sun pushing the temperature into the 90s on July 6, 2023. The death certificates of more than 2,300 people who died in the United States last summer mention the effects of excessive heat, the highest number in 45 years of records, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. With May already breaking heat records, 2024 could be even deadlier. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
AP analysis finds 2023 set record for US heat deaths, killing in areas that used to handle the heat
An Associated Press analysis of federal data shows that about 2,300 people in the United States died in the summer of 2023 with their death certificates mentioning the effects of excessive heat. That’s the highest in 45 years of records.
 
FILE - Saudi Aramco engineers walk in front of a gas turbine generator at Khurais oil field during a tour for journalists, outside of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
Saudi registrants for COP28 included undeclared oil company employees, nonprofit says
At least 15 people who registered for Saudi Arabia’s delegation to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai appear to be undeclared employees of the Saudi state oil company, according to research by an environmental nonprofit.
 
FILE - People walk through the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit as the sun sets, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
At UN climate talks, fossil fuel interests have hundreds of employees on hand
At least 1,300 employees of organizations representing fossil fuel interests registered to attend this year’s United Nations climate talks in Dubai. That’s more than three times the number found in an Associated Press analysis of last year’s talks.
 
Capuava oil refinery owned by Petrobras sits in Maui, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. Petrobras specializes in deep water exploration, drilling and extraction. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Oil companies attending climate talks have minimal green energy transition plans, AP analysis finds
Oil and gas companies have a large presence at international climate talks aimed at getting the world to sharply reduce emissions, which lead to climate change.
 
Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, a holding company that includes a major California utility, stands for a photo in Rosemead, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Pizarro says his firm doesn’t burn fossil fuels and he doesn’t consider it a fossil fuel company even though they get at least 40% of the electricity they supply from burning natural gas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Fossil fuel interests have large, yet often murky, presence at climate talks, AP analysis finds
Close to 400 people connected to fossil fuel industries in some way or another attended last year’s United Nations climate talks in Egypt.
 
FILE - Karolina Muchova, of the Czech Republic, holds a bag of ice on her head to cool down between games against Sorana Cirstea, of Romania, during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 5, 2023, in New York. An Associated Press analysis shows the average high temperatures during the U.S. Open and the three other Grand Slam tennis tournaments steadily have grown hotter and more dangerous in recent decades. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Grand Slam tournaments are getting hotter. US Open players and fans are feeling that this week
After a mild start to the U.S. Open, much higher temperatures have arrived in the second week at Flushing Meadows. It is supposed to reach 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) and top 50% humidity on Wednesday. That’s not a surprise.
 
Homes consumed in recent wildfires are seen in Lahaina, Hawaii, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. The wildfires have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Fires and other disasters are increasing in Hawaii, according to this AP data analysis
Hurricane-fueled flash floods and mudslides. Lava that creeps into neighborhoods. Fierce drought that materializes in a flash. Earthquakes. And now, deadly fires that burn block after historic block.
 
Illustration about malaria and mosquitoes transmitting the disease. (Illustration/Amelia Bates, Grist via AP)
As temperatures rise, mosquitoes are on the move again. Scientists worry that could mean more malaria
As global warming pushes temperatures up, the elevation range where malaria-carrying mosquitoes thrive is rising.