Latest Plants News

Food prices are rising as countries limit exports. Blame climate change, El Nino and Russia's war

Sep. 28, 2023 01:20 AM EDT

How do you cook a meal when a staple ingredient is unaffordable? This question is playing out in households around the world as they face shortages of essential foods like rice, cooking oil and onions. That is because countries have imposed restrictions on the food they export to...

Biden vetoes two Republican-led bills to undo protections for prairie chicken and northern bat

Sep. 27, 2023 17:35 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has vetoed Republican-sponsored bills to undo federal protections for two endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years: the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat. The two GOP measures would overturn...

Leaf-peeping social media users are clogging a Vermont back road. The town is closing it

Sep. 26, 2023 13:50 PM EDT

POMFRET, Vt. (AP) — Social media users take note: You won't be able to snap that fall foliage selfie at a popular Vermont spot. The town has temporarily closed the road to nonresidents due to overcrowding and “poorly behaved tourists.” The normally quiet dirt road from Pomfret...

U.S. to nominate Okefenokee Swamp refuge for listing as UNESCO World Heritage site

Sep. 22, 2023 16:10 PM EDT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A U.S. agency said Friday it will nominate the vast, federally protected wildlife refuge in the Okefenokee Swamp for listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The National Park Service filed a notice in Washington that it will seek the designation for the...

Indigenous tribes urge federal officials to deny loan request for Superior natural gas plant

Sep. 11, 2023 18:37 PM EDT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Indigenous tribes in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have asked federal officials to deny a utility's request for a loan to help build a natural gas-fired power plant on the shores of Lake Superior, calling the project unthinkable in the face of climate change. ...

Afghanistan is the fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, UN drug agency says

Sep. 10, 2023 01:45 AM EDT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, a report from the United Nations drug agency said Sunday. The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics after they returned to power in...

From leaf crisps to pudding, India’s ‘super food’ millet finds its way onto the G20 dinner menu

Sep. 09, 2023 11:20 AM EDT

When the leaders of the Group of 20 arrived in host country India, they were feted by a classic Indian formula of Bollywood song and dance on the tarmac. Now as they tuck in to dinner, they are in for yet another cultural treat: dressed-up versions of a humble, earthy grain that's a staple for...

Congressional watchdog describes border wall harm, says agencies should work together to ease damage

Sep. 07, 2023 19:31 PM EDT

PHOENIX (AP) — The construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border under former President Donald Trump toppled untold numbers of saguaro cactuses in Arizona, put endangered ocelots at risk in Texas and disturbed Native American burial grounds, the official congressional watchdog said...

The Great Salt Lake is shrinking rapidly and Utah has failed to stop it, a new lawsuit says

Sep. 06, 2023 19:17 PM EDT

Utah officials have pushed the Great Salt Lake to the brink of an ecological collapse because they allowed upstream water to be diverted for decades to farmers growing alfalfa, hay and other crops, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by a coalition of environmental groups. The...

Tribe getting piece of Minnesota back more than a century after ancestors died there

Sep. 03, 2023 00:14 AM EDT

GRANITE FALLS, Minn. (AP) — Golden prairies and winding rivers of a Minnesota state park also hold the secret burial sites of Dakota people who died as the United States failed to fulfill treaties with Native Americans more than a century ago. Now their descendants are getting the land back. ...