STILLWATER, Minn. -- A federal court ruling issued Thursday blocked plans to build a new bridge over the St. Croix River, just a mile south of the Stillwater lift bridge.

Construction was set to begin in 2013, but that seems unlikely after a judge sided with the Sierra Club, which feels a new four-lane bridge would ruin the scenic river way.

"We're used to disappointment on this project," said Stillwater mayor Ken Harycki.  "The unfortunate thing is the taxpayer really loses out on this because every year we delay, the cost just keeps escalating." Read more

TSAVO EAST NATIONAL PARK, Kenya — Tracking the wounded elephant to its death bed was easy for the ranger. Hit by a poison arrow, the huge mammal could only drag its hind leg, creating a wide gash across the bush.
Poachers' footprints were all around the kill, but the hunters did not have time to remove the valuable ivory tusks before Mohamed Kamanya's team of armed rangers arrived. Instead, the emotional task fell to the rangers, who cut off the tusks so they could not be sold. Read more

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Facing legal challenges and growing deficits, South Florida water officials on Thursday gave themselves six more months to finance a controversial $536 million purchase of land from United States Sugar for the Everglades.

The unanimous vote by the nine-member board of the South Florida Water Management District will keep the deal alive, but officials said they continued to struggle with whether the agency could afford it. Read more

A group of Argentine scientists, including health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society, have announced that yellow fever is the culprit in a 2007-2008 die-off of howler monkeys in northeastern Argentina, a finding that underscores the importance of paying attention to the health of wildlife and how the health of people and wild nature are so closely linked. Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Wolves likely killed a teacher jogging alone along a rural Alaska village road, public safety officials said Thursday.

The Alaska State Medical Examiner listed ''multiple injuries due to animal mauling'' as the cause of death for Candice Berner, 32, a special education teacher from Pennsylvania who began working in Alaska in August. Her body was found off the road a mile outside the village of Chignik Bay on the Alaska Peninsula, which is about 474 miles southwest of Anchorage. Read more

WASHINGTON — Big Bend National Park is scheduled to receive $10.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus) funding for road and trail preservation.

The funding will allow for concurrent treatment of the park’s 123 miles of paved roads, rehabilitation of historic buildings and repair of infrastructure damaged by flooding. Read more