President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he reversed bans on offshore drilling in vast parts of the Arctic Ocean and dozens of canyons in the Atlantic Ocean, a U.S. judge said in a ruling that restored the Obama-era restrictions. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in a decision late Friday threw out Trump's executive order that overturned the bans that comprised a key part of Obama's environmental legacy.

The National Park Service says it is taking the extraordinary step of dipping into entrance fees to pay for staffing at its highly visited parks in the wake of the partial government shutdown. P. Daniel Smith, deputy director of the service, said in a statement Sunday that the money would be used to bring in staff to maintain restrooms, clean up trash and patrol the parks. He acknowledged that the Trump administration's decision to keep the parks open during the weekslong budget impasse was no longer workable and so more extreme measures were warranted.

A steel company apologized for a spill of cyanide and ammonia that led to a fish kill and prompted the closure of beaches along Lake Michigan. The National Park Service closed the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk beach areas at Indiana Dunes National Park and waters out to 300 feet. The nearby city of Ogden Dunes also closed its beach. The fish kill occurred near a yacht club and marina in Portage, about 25 miles east of Chicago.

In a major setback to plans to build the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago's South Side lakefront, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit challenging its location — brought by environmental group Protect Our Parks — can proceed.

Coal's decline has changed what locals call the Tri-Cities in southeast Kentucky, but some things endure: Black Mountain, the state's highest, looms over Lynch. Cumberland's Kingdom Come State Park, with its scenic overlooks and natural rock formations, sits atop Pine Mountain. The Tri-Cities are counting on their natural beauty, history and culture to reinvent themselves as tourist destinations. But with a small and declining population, a remote location and limited funding, it won't be easy.

The largest international study on the welfare of captive dolphins and whales in history is being led by the Brookfield Zoo and incorporates the work of 44 accredited aquariums and zoos in seven countries. The researchers believe these animals are prospering, but say there's little science on what conditions are optimal for dolphins and whales under professional care: What are the characteristics of the best habitat? How does the type and timing of animal training influence the behavior of these marine mammals?

The sightlines at Wrigley Field, the panorama from Navy Pier, the vantage points at the Adler Planetarium observatory — all structures built more than 100 years ago — are at least 4 inches lower now. In the northern United States and Canada, areas that once were depressed under the tremendous weight of a massive ice sheet are springing back up while others are sinking. The Chicago area and parts of southern Lake Michigan, where glaciers disappeared 10,000 years ago, are sinking about 4 to 8 inches each century.

Conservation groups are alarmed by the Trump administration's proposal to rename some radioactive waste left from the production of nuclear weapons to make it cheaper and easier to achieve permanent disposal. The U.S. Department of Energy is considering a change in its legal definition of high-level radioactive waste, which is stored at places like the Hanford.

Officials began to clean up a massive oil spill Friday that dumped nearly 800,000 gallons of oil and water into a California canyon, making it larger — if less devastating — than the state's last two major oil spills. The newly revealed spill has been flowing off and on since May and has again stopped, Chevron spokeswoman Veronica Flores-Paniagua said. She and California officials said the spill is not near any waterway and has not significantly affected wildlife. The last flow was Tuesday.