A trove of some 6,500 letters to and from renowned California conservationist John Muir is now available on the Internet.

The University of the Pacific, where the letters are housed, announced the new online access Wednesday in cooperation with UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. The project was funded with a $111,181 grant from the California State Library.

The archive of correspondence includes full-text transcriptions that can be viewed alongside images of the original Muir letters. » read more

With at least 300 horses stabled at Keeneland at any time, and as many as 1,900 during peak horse sales, disposing of tons of straw and manure shoveled every day from barn stalls becomes a major environmental challenge for the race track.

On Friday, Keeneland received a conditional-use permit from the Board of Adjustment to establish a processing plant to convert muck into biofuel on property zoned for agriculture.

"It's a somewhat experimental idea. We thought we ought to give them a shot," said Jim Marx, senior planner for the Board of Adjustment. » read more

The Kansas City area has violated the federal Clean Air Act, exceeding the ozone standard eight times over the summer, Missouri officials said Thursday.

That makes Kansas City a habitual violator because it has exceeded the federal standard for three consecutive summers.

Ordinarily, that would mean the area could be designated "non-attainment," which could mean many new air quality controls. » read more