A mix of natural disasters could all befall the state at once as it finds itself in the crosshairs of the climate phenomenon

On a cloudless autumn afternoon, sunlight sparkled on the water that had quietly swallowed a busy intersection to the north of San Francisco, as the surrounding rush-hour traffic slowed to a painful crawl.

There were no crashing waves or storm surges to blame for the flood. Marin county was one of many areas up and down the California coast affected by high tides last week, as parts of the Pacific swelled with excess warmth.

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© Photograph: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

The justices heard arguments over whether the U.S. Air Force can keep destroying munitions on a Guam beach under a program it began in 1982.

State and local investigators executed a warrant on Tuesday to search the Boyle Heights building, which burned for days in June. A community group also sued the E.P.A. to get environmental data.

© Mark Abramson for The New York Times

John Murdock had been working for the agency for 18 years and his resignation comes during an exodus of longtime federal workers and scientists

An 18-year veteran of the US Department of the Interior has resigned in protest from the sprawling federal agency, denouncing “a deeply troubling assault on the rule of the law” that took place at the department under Donald Trump.

John Murdock, an attorney and self-described conservative Christian, began working for the agency’s legal office in 2002. In his resignation letter, first sent to his supervisor earlier this year and obtained exclusively by the Guardian and Public Domain, Murdock cites “glaring legal flaws” he witnessed within the agency during the course of the Trump administration, as well as concerns over offshore oil and gas drilling, the aggressive push to expand fossil fuels and the flouting of environmental regulation.

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© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

For-profit water corporations, federal cuts and climate crisis are ‘supercharging water rate hikes’, study co-author says

US households are paying 62% more for drinking water than they did a decade ago – outpacing inflation, grocery prices and household incomes, according to a new study.

Food & Water Watch, a Washington DC-based non-profit, analyzed 2025 billing data from the 500 largest community water systems in the US, which together serve about 155 million people, or 45% of the country’s population. The analysis compared current rates with data from a similar Food & Water Watch survey conducted in 2015. The study does not include wastewater or storm water charges, which are often billed separately from drinking water service.

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© Photograph: Stefania Pelfini la Waziya/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stefania Pelfini la Waziya/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stefania Pelfini la Waziya/Getty Images

An international symbol for the city, the sign is also hallmark of the region’s environmental richness

Atop Mount Lee, in the heart of Los Angeles, the wind is quiet. Two red-tailed hawks sail above, barely flapping as they coast the thermal air like surfers on a wave. Standing beside the giant letters of the Hollywood sign, the city seems peaceful. On a clear day, blocks and blocks of homes unfold beneath and the skies reveal sights all the way to Catalina Island – 10 miles out, across the Pacific.

That’s the beauty seen from the Hollywood sign.

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© Photograph: Curioso.Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Curioso.Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Curioso.Photography/Alamy

The new pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific Coast may lower separatist tensions in that province while also loosening energy ties with the U.S.

© Todd Korol/Reuters