Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration in response to Tropical Storm Alberto, which was expected to continue lashing southern parts of the state with heavy rains and coastal flooding through Thursday.
The big picture: The formation ofthe first named storm over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday comes as forecasters predict an aggressive Atlantic hurricane season.
NASA's Voyager 1 is back "conducting normal science operations" for the first time since a technical glitch some seven months ago sidelined the spacecraft, space agency officials announced.
Why it matters: The spacecraft that launched in 1977 has collected key scientific data, and at more than 15 billion miles from Earth it's the farthest human-made object in space.
Editor's note: Read the latest on New Mexico's extreme weather here.
Two growing wildfires near a popular New Mexico resort town and historic Native American reservation killed at least two people and destroyed more than 1,400 structures as officials rushed to evacuate thousands of people on Tuesday.
The big picture: Fresh mandatory evacuation orders were issued on Wednesday in Lincoln County, N.M., including for Ruidoso, a mountain hamlet that's a hub for ski resorts and hiking trails, due to what the National Weather Service described as "life-threatening burn scar flash flooding" in the village of nearly 7,700 residents.
