Environment

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James Mitchell, with the National Park Service, prunes back cherry blossom trees at the Tidal Basin on Monday. The Park Service spends about $185,000 on the festival. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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National Park Service officials announce that the peak bloom period for Washington's cherry blossom trees around the Tidal Basin is expected to be between March 26 and March 30. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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National Park Service officials announce that the peak bloom period for Washington's cherry blossom trees around the Tidal Basin is expected to be between March 26 and March 30. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Coal is a cheaper fuel source in the developing world, including India, where a worker carries coal to load onto a truck at a depot in Gauhati. India and other countries are building coal power plants to meet demand as its economy grows. (Associated Press)

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President Obama announces his choices (from left) of MIT physics professor Ernest Moniz for energy secretary, Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and Wal-Mart Foundation President Sylvia Mathews Burwell to head the Office of Management and Budget during a ceremony Monday in the East Room of the White House. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Vanda, played by Anna Sundberg, smokes during a dress rehearsal for the play "Venus in Fur" at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis on Jan. 29, 2013. Minnesota lawmakers are trying to amend the state's smoking ban to eliminate an exemption for theatrical productions. (Associated Press)

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Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, speaks during the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo Banquet at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Feb. 23, 2013. (Associated Press) **FILE**

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**FILE** Locusts fly on to Fuerteventura Island, in the Spanish Canary Islands, on Nov. 29, 2004. The locusts have flown 100 kilometers (60 miles) across the ocean after a infestation that wreaked havoc in North Africa. (Associated Press/EFE)

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The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano of Japan addresses the media during a news conference after a meeting of the IAEA board of governors at the International Center in Vienna Austria, Monday, March 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)