The court ruled Tuesday in a case involving a 1,500-acre tract that has been identified as the only potential breeding ground outside Mississippi for dusky gopher frogs.

Several federal and state agencies are investigating the cause of the pipe rupture, how quickly pipeline operators responded and determine whether criminal charges are warranted in the oil spill that occurred off the Southern California coast earlier this month.

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on the Big Island erupted and shot a steam and ash cloud into the atmosphere that lasted about an hour, an official with the National Weather Service said early Monday.