Author: The Associated Press

KANSAS Company reopens most of pipeline following Kansas oil spill TOPEKA – The operator of a pipeline with the largest onshore crude oil spill in nine years has reopened all of it except for the stretch in Kansas and northern Oklahoma that includes the site of the rupture. Canada-based T.C. Energy said in a statement…

NEW MEXICO Nuclear waste repository begins filling new disposal area ALBUQUERQUE – Workers at the nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository have started using a newly mined disposal area at the underground facility in southern New Mexico. Officials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant made the announcement late last month, saying the first containers of…

Biden says Nevada site sacred to tribes to be national monument LAS VEGAS – President Joe Biden told a gathering of tribal leaders in Washington on Nov. 30 that he intends to designate an area considered sacred by area Native Americans in southern Nevada as a new national monument. “When it comes to Spirit Mountain…

Lawsuit looms over tiny rare fish in drought-stricken West RENO, Nev. – Conservationists have notified U.S. wildlife officials that they will sue over delinquent decisions related to protections for two rare fish species that are threatened by groundwater pumping in the drought-stricken West. The Center for Biological Diversity sent a formal notice of intent to…

Western cities to remove decorative grass amid drought SALT LAKE CITY – A group of 30 agencies that supply water to homes and businesses throughout the western United States has pledged to rip up lots of decorative grass to help keep water in the over-tapped Colorado River. The agreement signed Nov. 15 by water agencies…

NEW MEXICO US outlines effects of withdrawing land from oil drilling ALBUQUERQUE – The U.S. Interior Department’s plan to withdraw hundreds of square miles in New Mexico from oil and gas production for the next 20 years is expected to result in only a few dozen wells not being drilled on federal land surrounding Chaco…

OKLAHOMA 21 new coffins found in search for Tulsa Massacre victims The search for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has turned up 21 additional coffins in unmarked graves in the city’s Oaklawn Cemetery, officials said. Seventeen adult-size graves were located, an Oklahoma official said Oct. 31. Additionally, the city announced that…

NEW MEXICO US sued over lack of protection plan for rare grouse ALBUQUERQUE – An environmental group is suing U.S. wildlife managers, saying they have failed to protect a rare grouse found in parts of the Midwest that include one of the country’s most prolific areas for oil and gas development. A lawsuit filed on…

NEW YORK ? A Colorado businessman was convicted Friday of charges that he and others siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from an online fundraiser to build a wall along the U.S. southern border despite a promise to donors that every cent would go toward building the wall. Timothy Shea stared straight ahead without reaction as…