ORANGE PARK, Fla. — After 7-year-old Somer Thompson vanished on her way home from school, investigators tailed nine garbage trucks from her neighborhood to a Georgia landfill nearly 50 miles away, then picked through the trash as each rig spilled its load.

Somer Thompson Cause of Death: Homicide; child vanished while walking home from school

ORANGE PARK, Fla. — After 7-year-old Somer Thompson vanished on her way home from school, investigators tailed nine garbage trucks from her neighborhood to a Georgia landfill nearly 50 miles away, then methodically picked through the trash as each rig spilled its load.

Sheriff says body in Ga. landfill identified by clothes, birthmark as 7-year-old Fla. girl

ORANGE PARK, Fla. — Authorities believe a body found under trash in a landfill is that of 7-year-old Somer Thompson, a north Florida girl who vanished on her walk home from school, the sheriff in charge of the case said Thursday.

Mexico struggles to save monarch reserve from bark-beetle infestation

MEXICO CITY — Authorities who have struggled to stop illegal logging in Mexico’s famed monarch butterfly reserve now are cutting down thousands of trees themselves to fight an unprecedented infestation of deadly bark beetles.

Timber sale on Oregon national forest tests Obama pledge to protect roadless areas

DIAMOND LAKE, Ore. — When Sharon Karr’s cabin was built on the shores of this high mountain lake in 1928, there were few neighbors and little thought given to the prospects of wildfire.

‘Who smells?’ Odor turns Iowa City, others against ginkgo, but some towns embrace hardy tree

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The ginkgo tree is renowned for its hardiness, surviving everything from road salt to an atomic bomb, but it may be undone by another trait — it reeks.

Relic in Internet world? Bookmobiles still bringing libraries to eager rural NM residents

RAMAH, N.M. — It’s the last stop of the day for Rural Bookmobile West, snugged up against a curb in a corner of the Ramah Post Office parking lot, where a few customers-to-be wait in their cars protected from looming dark clouds that smell of rain.

California’s Owens Valley shaken by 5.2 tremor as earthquake sequence regains strength

LONE PINE, Calif. — Earthquakes up to magnitude 5.2 struck Friday evening in a remote area of eastern California that was been shaken by a sequence of temblors a day earlier.

California’s eastern Sierra is rattled by magnitude-5.0 quake and aftershocks

LONE PINE, Calif. — A moderate earthquake followed by dozens of aftershocks rattled the eastern Sierra Thursday but no damage or injuries were reported.

USGS reports flurry of quakes in eastern Sierra

LONE PINE, Calif. — A series of earthquakes — the largest a magnitude-5.1 — have rattled the Lone Pine area of the eastern Sierra.

USGS reports magnitude-5.1 quake in Central California; other smaller quakes also hit area

LONE PINE, Calif. — A series of earthquakes — the largest a magnitude-5.1 — have rattled the Lone Pine area of the eastern Sierra in Central California.

USGS reports magnitude-5.1 quake in eastern Sierra

LONE PINE, Calif. — A series of earthquakes — the largest a magnitude-5.1 — have rattled the Lone Pine area of the eastern Sierra.

Cypress Gardens theme park in Fla. closes doors; looking for buyer, renter

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Cypress Gardens, which reigned as Florida’s grandest theme park in the days before Disney, has shut down while its owners try to sell the attraction.

Citing climate change, federal judge says grizzlies still threatened

BILLINGS, Mont. — Facing the combined pressures of climate change, hunters and lax protections, 600 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park are going back on the threatened species list under a federal court order issued Monday.

Worst drought in decades hinders Texas marsh habitats’ recovery from Hurricane Ike

PORT ARTHUR, Texas — First too much water, now not enough.

Bears are breaking into homes, raiding fridges and attacking people in Aspen, Colo.

ASPEN, Colo. — It’s nearly 2 a.m. and authorities have found the suspect in a string of break-ins into multimillion-dollar homes. His nose led him right to their trap — a cage filled with barbecue-scented cantaloupe and peaches.

Leaf-peeping in Iowa: Mississippi River, bridges of Madison County

DES MOINES — Whether you’re on a river, in the woods or driving by the famed bridges of Madison County, autumn colors are easy to find in Iowa.

Changes considered for Upper Missouri dams in bid to boost recovery of sturgeon, cottonwood

Michelle Obama kicks off Xmas at White House, receives 18½-foot Douglas fir tree from W.Va

Models of Obama homes in Chicago and White House in holiday train shows at botanical gardens

National team to help Forest Service manage bark beetle epidemic in Colo., Wyo.

NYC’s Rockefeller Center’s 2009 Christmas tree is 76-foot Norway spruce from Connecticut

Man who held upstate NY principal hostage was upset over treatment of US soldiers, police say

Officials: Former student held upstate NY principal hostage for more than 2 hours; no one hurt

Police: Former student held upstate NY principal hostage for more than 2 hours; no one hurt

Town official: Gunman at upstate NY high school takes principal hostage; students safe

Capitol Christmas tree to begin journey from Arizona to Washington, D.C.

Cedar Fair: no cash distribution to amusement park company owners due to lower revenues

Cedar Fair 3rd-qtr profit rises from year-ago period hurt by hefty write-downs but sales fall

Construction to begin on King memorial in DC; plans were delayed over terror security issues

Fla. investigators follow garbage trucks to a landfill and discover 7-year-old girl’s body