Environment

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Shawn Lockhart examines a meningitis-causing fungus at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday in Atlanta. Investigators are looking into how the fungus tainted steroids produced by a Framingham, Mass., pharmacy. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** A Chinese submarine rescue ship sails in waters off the island of Yonaguni in Japan's Okinawa prefecture on Oct. 16, 2012. Japanese aircraft spotted seven Chinese warships in waters off the southern Japan island and about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the uninhabited isles at the center of a territorial dispute between the two countries. (Associated Press/Joint Staff Office of Japan)

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“Most people I talk to are convinced that our automated traffic enforcement cameras are just about raising revenue,” said Tommy Wells, Ward 6 Democrat and one of three council members who introduced the bill to lower traffic fines. (The Washington Times)

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From right, A123 Systems Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Vieau, A123 electrical engineer James Fenton and company design engineer Antonio Biundo listen to President Obama at the White House on April 30, 2010. Short of cash and hurting from slow sales of electric cars, A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. The bankruptcy filing is likely to stoke the debate in Washington over the Obama administration’s funding of numerous alternative-energy ventures. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** In this June 25, 2012 photo, a crew works on a gas drilling rig at a well site for shale based natural gas in Zelienople, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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A Libyan civilian watches cars burn in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. (Associated Press)

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Brown marmorated stink bugs will be looking for warmth inside homes as the weather cools. Besides being household pests, the bugs attack fruit crops and could cause considerable damage to mid-Atlantic farms next spring. They also have shown up in Oregon orchard areas, where they could threaten the wine crop. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** A tractor works on a cotton field near a border fence that passes through the property in Brownsville, Texas, 2008. (Associated Press)

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The Costa Concordia cruise ship remains partially sunk near the Tuscan island of Giglio. The ship hit a reef in passing too first close to the island and 32 people died. A hearing on the tragedy has begun. (Associated Press)

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A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his weapon toward government forces (unseen) in the Karmal Jabl district of Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

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Hulk Hogan attends a news conference to announce his return to wrestling with TNA Wrestling held at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 27, 2009. (Associated Press)

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Felix Baumgartner (left), of Austria, hugs Art Thompson, technical project director, on Oct. 14, 2012, in Roswell, N.M., after Baumgartner successfully jumped from a space capsule lifted by a helium balloon at a height of just over 128,000 feet above the Earth's surface. (Associated Press)

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Felix Baumgartner (third from left), of Austria, gets a hug from Mission Control technical project director Art Thompson on Oct. 14, 2012, as television crews and pool photographers converge on the scene after Baumgartner successfully jumped from a space capsule lifted by a helium balloon at a height of just over 128,000 feet above the Earth's surface in Roswell, N.M. (Associated Press)