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Environment and Science

Ohio offers $156M in incentives for Honda battery plant

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio plans to offer approximately $156.3 million in tax incentives and infrastructure improvements for a massive battery plant project that Honda says is key to turning the state into its North American electric vehicle hub. Officials say the battery plant, to be built jointly with LG Energy Solution of South Korea, will be located in rural Fayette County, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of the state capital of Columbus. Of $85 million set aside for infrastructure improvements, $75 million will be for water and utility improvements and the rest will be ...

Smashing success: NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA said Tuesday in announcing the results of its save-the-world test. The space agency attempted the test two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth's way. "This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a briefing at the space agency's headquarters in Washington. The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the ...

US clears updated COVID boosters for kids as young as 5

The U.S. on Wednesday authorized updated COVID-19 boosters for children as young as 5, seeking to expand protection ahead of an expected winter wave. Tweaked boosters rolled out for Americans 12 and older last month, doses modified to target today's most common and contagious omicron relative. While there wasn't a big rush, federal health officials are urging that people seek the extra protection ahead of holiday gatherings. Now the Food and Drug Administration has given a green light for elementary school-age kids to get the updated booster doses, too -- one made by Pfizer for 5- to ...

Utilities Commission says CO2 pipeline fee could be $400,000

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday authorized its staff to begin reviewing an application for a pipeline designed to transport carbon dioxide from ethanol refineries to an underground site in Illinois, assessing a filing fee of up to $400,000. The pipeline is the second proposed in the state. Both projects would pump carbon dioxide to sequestration sites where it would be buried thousands of feet underground. The one before the Public Utilities Commission — proposed by Navigator CO2 — would connect ethanol refineries across the Great ...

Learn how to prep pollinator gardens for spring

Local gardeners will host a work session Oct. 15 from 10 a.m-noon at Pollinator Park at 2250 N. Broadway. Hosts will discuss why native plants are so important, and how to plant and maintain a pollinator garden. The event will also include tips on how to prepare gardens for next spring, collecting seeds at the pollinator park for your own use and how to replace poor-quality landscape fabric. If there is time and volunteers, the event will also include removal of wood vegetation from the park

Weather chief: Ukraine war may be ‘blessing’ for climate

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the U.N. weather agency says the war in Ukraine "may be seen as a blessing" from a climate perspective because it is accelerating the development of and investment in green energies over the longer term — even though fossil fuels are being used at a time of high demand now. The comments from Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, came as the world is facing a shortfall in energy needs — prompted in part by economic sanctions against key oil and natural gas producer Russia — and prices for fossil fuels have ...