Skip to main contentSkip to main content

    A judge has ruled that the U.S. Forest Service can keep using chemical retardant dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice pollutes streams in western states in violation of federal law. The ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Montana came after environmentalists sued the government for dropping the red slurry material into waterways hundreds of times over the past decade. Government officials say chemical fire retardant is sometimes crucial to slowing the advance of dangerous blazes. Wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades.

    Environmental groups have prevailed on appeal in a lawsuit seeking to limit killing of grizzly bears in a mountainous area of Wyoming. A federal appeals court in Denver ruled Thursday that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must consider limiting how many female grizzly bears may be killed to protect livestock under a plan to allow continued cattle grazing in the Wind River Range. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson Joe Szuszwalak declined to comment on the ruling. Andrea Zaccardi with the Center for Biological Diversity says the ruling shows federal officials can't sidestep the law to appease the livestock industry.

    The Oklahoma Legislature has overridden Gov. Kevin Stitt's veto of a bill that would allow students to wear Native American regalia during high school and college graduations. The state House and Senate on Thursday easily cleared the two-thirds threshold needed to uphold the measure. Stitt vetoed the bill earlier this month, saying at the time that the decision should be up to individual districts. The bill had strong support from many Oklahoma-based tribal nations. Despite being a Cherokee Nation citizen, Stitt has feuded with many of the Native American tribes in the state throughout his two terms in office.

    The first youth climate change challenge in the U.S. to reach trial is still going ahead next month, though it's been narrowed by a Montana judge who dismissed a claim against a state energy policy that is no longer in effect. The scheduled two-week trial is set to begin June 12 before District Court Judge Kathy Seeley in Helena. Seeley on Tuesday dismissed part of the lawsuit that challenged the state's energy policy. She said she only could have struck it down and the Legislature already repealed it. However, she says a trial could still determine whether it's constitutional for the state to ignore the effects of greenhouse gases in issuing fossil fuel development permits.

    The remains of five more Native American children who died at a notorious government-run boarding school in Pennsylvania will be disinterred this fall and returned to descendants. The children died more than a century ago and are buried at the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School. It's now home to the U.S. Army War College. This will be the sixth such disinterment operation at Carlisle since 2017 as the military transfers remains to living family members for reburial.  Thousands of Native children were taken to such schools and forced to assimilate to white society.

    Affiliate

    Yellowstone National Park officials say they had to kill a newborn bison after a man picked it up and the animal's herd wouldn't take it back. Park officials say in a statement the calf became separated from its mother when the herd crossed the Lamar River in northeastern Yellowstone on Saturday. The unidentified man pushed the struggling calf up from the river and onto a roadway. Park rangers tried repeatedly to reunite the calf with the herd but were unsuccessful. Visitors saw the calf walking up to and following cars and people, creating a hazard, so park staff killed the animal.

    Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.

    Topics

    News Alerts

    Breaking News