The former head of an EPA criminal probe into pipeline spills at a BP PLC oil field in Alaska claims the Justice Department prematurely shut down the investigation and settled with the company for less than the case may have warranted.
Scott West, a former special agent-in-charge of the EPA's criminal-investigation division in Seattle who supervised a team of investigators, said he needed as much as another year to determine if, in fact, "there was sufficient evidence to charge BP with a felony." Mr. West said his agents still had large volumes of evidence to go through to make that determination.



Towering flash floods and an imminent dam failure in the northern part of Oahu triggered evacuation...
Rain continued falling in Hawaii on Sunday where a strong storm brought flash flooding, blizzard conditions...
States across the US south-west recorded blistering temperatures at the tail end of winter, including some...





























