The coldest summer ever? Anchorage residents might be headed for it.

Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.

That unhappy record was set in 1970, when Anchorage made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, on only 16 days out of 365. » read more

WASHINGTON — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency told the White House in December that high levels of manmade heat-trapping gases are causing global warming and endanger the American people, Sen. Barbara Boxer said Thursday after she reviewed the EPA finding, which has not been made public.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that if the EPA administrator finds greenhouse gases endanger the public, then the government must regulate them — a move the Bush administration opposes.

"This is the strongest language I have ever seen or that you have ever seen, and they are trying to lock it away," said Boxer, D-Calif., who took notes on the document and shared them with reporters. "The document belongs in the hands of the American people." » read more

WASHINGTON — California's two Democratic senators want to rename a prominent Sierra Nevada peak after David Brower, reigniting debate over the legacy of the late Sierra Club leader.

Beloved in some circles, despised in others, Brower shaped the national environmental movement for several volatile decades. He also relished climbing glacial peaks like North Palisade, which at 14,242 feet is the fourth tallest in California.

"Naming the North Palisade Peak after David Brower is a fitting tribute to a man who loved the High Sierra and all of America's wilderness," Sen. Barbara Boxer declared in a statement. » read more