Some residents in B.C.'s Central Interior are being told to avoid drinking or bathing in their tap water following an outbreak of potentially toxic algae blooms.

Blizzard conditions paralyzed Saskatoon and many other communities Wednesday as a fierce storm scoured the central part of the province, closing roads, airports and schools.

Local birders who participated in the recent 2005 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count noted a sharp increase in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a sometimes aggressive species that's relatively new to Alaska.

That's right, California sea lions. As populations of native Steller sea lions decline, Maniscalco says a growing number of California sea lions are showing up on Steller sea lion rookeries and haul-outs across the state. According to his research, some 33 sightings have been recorded. And some of those California sea lions have made their way as far west as the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.

New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports the northeastern U.S. is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades. New, deeper wells are in demand even though they cost thousands of dollars to drill. About 40 percent of New Hampshire residents get their water from private wells. Snow might replenish some of the wells, but water doesn't permeate frozen ground.