A late-season Pacific storm that brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated California was blamed for at least two deaths.

Northern sea otters, once hunted to the brink of extinction along Alaska's Panhandle, have made a spectacular comeback.

A member of a species of critically endangered whale that is struggling with poor reproduction has been found dead off of Massachusetts.

Hiila Inga is concerned about the health of his reindeer. His community herds 8000 head each year, between traditional grazing lands in the mountain and the forests further east.

In recent months, bears have shredded a car’s interior, wandered into a liquor store, even woken residents in their own bedrooms.

The size of a large caribou herd in Alaska's Arctic region has dropped by more 50 percent over the last three years, and researchers who have tentatively ruled out hunting and predation as significant factors for the decline are trying to determine why.

Anchorage can no longer claim to be the largest port city in the Northern Hemisphere without known rat infestations. State biologist Rick Sinnott caught and kille dtwo Norway rats found living at a pond near a South Anchorage school. Professional exterminatiors hired by the city placed more traps at the scene Monday afternoon.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency and other state agencies were working with local safety officials on cleanup and recovery.

More evidence of great white sharks this summer leads biologists to expect the species will become a more common sight here.

State scientists are testing the water for a toxic blue-green algae bloom at Twin Brook after tests showed 2 dogs had algae-related toxicity after swimming there Aug. 21.

A recent spate of attacks on humans and pets by foxes in Topsham may be in part due to a new strain of rabies. As of April 18, there have been five such attacks in Topsham this year. State Veterinarian Michele Walsh theorizes a rabies strain more associated with raccoons has begun infecting gray foxes.

Temperatures are expected to remain above 80 degrees for the rest of the week.

Eight counties on the coast have gone from moderate to severe drought status since last week, according to the latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, almost one-third of the state remains in moderate drought, and wells across the state are beginning to run dry.

The rate of dead seal strandings in Maine is about three times the normal rate for the summer and is close to 60. Most of the seals that have been stranded this summer have been found dead, NOAA said. The dead seals have included gray seals and harbor seals.

Marine mammal experts are testing tissue samples for a potential common cause of the surge in carcasses found on the state's beaches this year.

Temperatures in southern Maine topped 90 degrees Tuesday and are expected to do the same Wednesday, prompting school officials to dismiss students early and cancel sports practices, and sending people flocking to beaches.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the H5N1 bird flu was confirmed Tuesday in a non-commercial flock in southern Nova Scotia.

The openings were left after ice-in started during a cold snap, but didn’t quite finish in the deepest parts of the lake, about a quarter of a mile off shore. The two loons were stuck and unable to take off, because common loons require a water “runway” to push off and get airborne. Farther up the lake, three other loons were stuck in similar fashion.

The black substance was staining the feet of people at the beach, prompting one local resident to alert state officials.

A potent storm system hit Maine on Monday with heavy rain and wind gusts close to 60 mph that caused more than 100,000 power outages. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses across the state lost power Monday night as the wind brought branches down on power lines. There were multiple reports of trees falling into roads in Lisbon, Durham, Bath, Woolwich and Bar Harbor, among other places.