Environment

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President Obama walks past debris on the sidewalks as he tours the Bridgewood neighborhood in LaPlace, La., in the Saint John the Baptist Parish, with local officials to survey the ongoing response and recovery efforts to Hurricane Isaac, Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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Smoke plumes rise from the West Ash Creek wildfire near Crawford, Neb., on Saturday. Firefighters made progress Sunday and Monday in containing three wildfires affecting areas of Nebraska and South Dakota. Conditions are likely to remain ripe for fires because hot weather and drought have dried vegetation. (Omaha World-Herald via Associated Press)

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Greenpeace activists chained themselves last week to the Anna Akhmatova, a vessel carrying Gazprom workers in the Pechora Sea. Russia’s state-owned oil company is preparing to drill the first well there, but environmentalists warn about of a lack of technology to deal with a possible spill in the remote Arctic region. (Associated Press)

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Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine seismology agency, points Aug. 31, 2012, during a press conference in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, to an area on a Philippine map where the epicenter of a 7.6-magnitude earthquake happened that day. (Associated Press)

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley boasted Tuesday that airplanes at Boeing’s new plant in her state are made by “6,000 nonunion employees.” (Associated Press)

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Hundreds of Christian families who fled their neighborhood where a girl was arrested on blasphemy charges sit in a public park for protection in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday. They feared retribution from Muslim neighbors if they stayed in their homes. (Associated Press)

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NV Homes is building town homes and villas at the Peninsula on the Indian River Bay in Millsboro, Del. The Bornquist model is base-priced at $329,990 or $354,990 and has 2,223 square feet of living space.

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Pulte Homes is building 45 town homes on quarter-acre sites at Quince Trace in North Potomac. The Tyler model has approximately 2,467 finished square feet, and is base-priced from $559,990.

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Yoko Ono appears at a news conference to launch the coalition of artists opposing hydraulic fracturing on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012 in New York. The formation of the group, called Artists Against Fracking, comes as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo decides whether to allow shale gas drilling using high-volume hydraulic fracturing called hydrofracking. The group says such drilling is harmful and poses the threat of contamination. They say they want to spread awareness of the issue through "peaceful democratic action." Cuomo is expected to allow drilling to begin on a limited basis near the Pennsylvania border. The group is comprised of 146 members including Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney and Alec Baldwin. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)