Miller-McCune

It's only for spinach and iceberg lettuce — sorry, romaine — but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow the use of irradiation on those leafy foods in an attempt to kill potentially deadly pathogens like E. coli and salmonella.

It turns out it's not just the disappearance of rainforest trees - mahogany, teak, Brazil nut - that is cause for concern. In a new paper, "Street Trees - A Misunderstood Common-Pool Resource," Indiana University environmental affairs scholars Burnell C. Fischer and Brian C. Steed note that the tree cover in a number of metropolitan areas - the so-called urban forest of street trees like ficus, sycamores, and dogwoods - has declined dramatically. (According to Trees Atlanta, a nonprofit conservation group, Atlanta has lost 60 percent of its tree cover in the past two decades.)

Body counts matter whether it comes to generating headlines or political activity, so efforts to gain usable numbers are a matter of some concern.

Not too far from the home of Miller-McCune.com, the utility company Pacific Gas & Electric said Thursday it plans to build what's being billed as the largest solar-energy facilities in the world - two photovoltaic plants that at their peak reportedly will able to pump out 800 megawatts.

In June, Miller-McCune reported on barriers to the ballot box. Included in the myriad ways you could be barred from voting is having your name taken off the rolls because of a change of address.