Environment

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Thousands of people from Illinois to Louisiana have been forced from their homes, and anxiety is rising along with the rivers, though some of the most severe flooding has yet to hit. High water already threatens a house in Paducah, Ky., on the Ohio River.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Masataka Shimizu, (third from right) bows in apology Wednesday to Namie villagers who have been living at an evacuation center in Fukushima prefecture since fleeing their homes, located in a 19-mile zone from the radiation-spewing Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

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The Bornquist model at Bayside is priced from $339,990 and has 2,223 square feet. NV Homes is building approximately 1,400 town homes and single-family homes in the Delaware community.

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Scott Carpenter, one of two surviving Mercury Seven astronauts, speaks during a dedication ceremony of the Mercury Project/Messenger Mission stamp that was unveiled on Wednesday, May 4, 2011, at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Michael R. Brown)

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This April 10 image taken by T-Hawk drone aircraft and released by Tokyo Electric Power Co., shows the damaged reactor building of Unit 1 of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Japan's nuclear safety agency said workers entered the reactor building of Unit 1 at the nuclear complex for the first time Thursday after the March 11 earthquake. (Associated Press/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

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COURTESY OF JAMES C. ROSAPEPE "Deregulation has failed. We're not going to give up on re-regulation until it is done," says State Sen. James C. Rosapepe, Prince George's Democrat.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Mark Reuss (left), General Motors' North American president, and Kentucky Gov. Steven L. Beshear visit GM's plant in Bowling Green Ky., where the next-generation Corvette will be manufactured.

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DREW ANGERER/THE WASHINGTON TIMES A pile of splintered wood and debris is all that remains of a home on Ashley Drive in Rockville that was destroyed by a natural gas explosion. The tenants, who recently moved into the house, survived but were in serious condition after being blasted into the yard.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Homes along the Mississippi River in Paducah, Ky., are inundated as a result of record flooding. Residents downstream of Missouri's Birds Point levee were evacuated after the Army Corps of Engineers ordered the breach of a levee.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Charlie Sheen views the tornado devastation in Tuscaloosa, Ala., with Don Staley, executive director of the Tuscaloosa Sports Foundation, on Monday.

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A new assessment of climate change in the Arctic shows the ice — including in Greenland (pictured) — is melting faster than previously thought and sharply raises projections of rising global sea levels this century. (Associated Press)

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"War Horse," seen here being performed at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York, the heartwarming human-puppet hybrid, was nominated for best play.

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Prince William, a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot, is stationed at the Royal Air Force Valley base on the island of Anglesey in western Wales. The prince and his bride, the former Kate Middleton, who are now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have returned to their rented whitewashed farmhouse on the island after their royal wedding on Friday, April 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)

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**FILE** In this photo from July 19, 2007, an iceberg is seen off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland. The Arctic is a thermostat against overheating and a barometer of change, but now its own protective ozone layer that keeps out damaging ultraviolet radiation has thinned to record levels, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday. (Associated Press)

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Residents affected by the tornado come to receive help at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) disaster recovery center at the Ashley Furniture Store in Fultondale, Ala. on Monday. The center is one of six set up in four Alabama counties. (Associated Press/The Birmingham News, Michelle Campbell)

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Recently planted corn struggles to grow in a rain-soaked field near Farmingdale, Ill., where seemingly endless wet weather is testing the patience of many farmers. "Last year at this time, they were almost wrapping up here," farmer Kevin Baird said. (Associated Press)