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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Howard Fischer, a 63-year old investor living north of New York City, has a wish for when he dies. He wants his remains to be placed in a vessel, broken down by tiny microbes and composted into rich, fertile soil.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

BOSTON (AP) — A simple plan to get more people enjoying the outdoors on New Year’s Day has become a nationwide movement after a hike at a Massachusetts park more than three decades ago.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Landslides of rock and mud closed roadways Friday across California as heavy rains kicked off what will be series of storms poised to usher in the new year, likely bringing downpours and flooding.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina utility regulators told Duke Energy Corp. on Friday to carry out a series of activities to generate electricity that they say will help ensure greenhouse gas reductions set in a new state law are met.

The U.S. government on Friday said it received one bid for the right to drill offshore for oil and gas in Alaska's Cook Inlet near habitat for bears, salmon, humpback whales and endangered beluga whales.

Starting New Year's Day, you can still wear bikinis on the beaches of Miami Beach, but forget about showing any butts — cigarette butts, that is.

REVELSTOKE, СÀ¶ÊÓƵ — A special avalanche warning is in placeuntil Monday for wilderness areasthroughout most of the Columbia Mountains in British Columbia as well as the Northern Rockies in СÀ¶ÊÓƵ and Alberta.

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HALIFAX — Augy Jones, the first member named to a Nova Scotia government panel that will examine how racism affects a community's natural environment, says he hopes the panel's work gets national recognition for the way it approaches the problem.