The Senate confirmed Doug Burgum as Interior secretary after President Trump tapped the North Dakota billionaire to help boost fossil fuel production.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, as President Donald Trump's interior secretary. The vote was 79 to 18. Burgum, 68, will lead an agency that guides the use of 500 million acres (202 million hectares) of federal and tribal land, a fifth of the nation's surface area.

The former governor of North Dakota is promoting President Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda and wants more oil, gas and mining on public lands.

You soon could be paying even more for gas at the pump. That’s because of a cynical attempt to use the wildfires tragedy to attack California’s oil companies. Sponsored by state Sen. Scott Weiner,

Doug Burgum will be the point person for public land management and President Trump’s “drill, baby, drill" agenda to expand oil and gas development.

Three of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks prepared to face skepticism and intense grilling from Democratic senators Thursday.

Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, was repeatedly asked to explain why she sought a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who leaked thousands of classified documents revealing the scope of the nation’s surveillance programs.

Lives lived: Marianne Faithfull, who took a long and perilous journey to critical acclaim as a singer, ultimately releasing more than 20 albums, died at 78. A blue farewell: After 82,150 gallons of paint, Blue Man Group is ending a 34-year run of silly performance art in New York.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be the nation's top health official is uncertain after a key Republican joined Democrats to raise persistent concerns over the nominee's deep skepticism of routine childhood vaccinations that prevent deadly diseases.