The Latest: Climate protesters in Chicago target Trump Tower

CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on climate marches around the U.S. Saturday (all times local):

4:10 p.m.

Thousands of people have marched through downtown Chicago and outside Trump Tower to demand action to prevent climate change and protect the environment.

Saturday's rain-soaked march coincided with hundreds of similar events across the U.S. as President Donald Trump marks his 100th day in office.

Among those attending the Chicago rally were members of the union representing Environmental Protection Agency employees. Trump has proposed cutting the EPA's budget by almost one-third, eliminating more than 3,000 jobs.

John O'Grady is president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238. He says the march is "a chance to speak out in unity against this administration" and its "ridiculous gutting of the EPA budget and staffing."

Others spoke out about local environmental concerns, crumbling water systems and Illinois' state budget impasse

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4 p.m.

Thousands of people have assembled in Texas on President Donald Trump's hundredth day in office to demand federal action on climate change.

The Texas Department of Public Safety told the Austin American-Statesman that about 3,500 people participated in a rally Saturday in Austin - part of nationwide marches calling for climate action.

People marched from the Capitol to the University of Texas. Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett was among the speakers who addressed the crowd.

Many held signs with slogans such as "Climate change is not fake science."

Hundreds more gathered in Houston, where Mayor Sylvester Turner told participants that climate change is "very much real."

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4:45 p.m.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says climate marches taking place around the country are part of a fight for the future of the planet.

The former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination addressed an adoring crowd of about 3,000 people who turned out for a rally at the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier.

Sanders went through a litany of climate woes, including rising temperatures and increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. He said the fossil fuel industry puts short-term profits ahead of the best interests of the planet.

But he also noted a series of accomplishments that include ever-dropping costs of renewable energy production and well-paying jobs in renewable power.

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2:30 p.m.

While climate marchers in Washington, D.C., contend with sweltering heat, their counterparts in Denver got a dose of spring snow.

Several hundred people marched near the Colorado Capitol and then posed in the shape of a giant thermometer for a photograph Saturday as wet snow fell. A few snowmen held signs in Civic Center Park across from Denver's City Hall during a rally after the march. About a dozen people rode stationary bikes to power the loudspeakers.

Some booed when a speaker noted that it was President Donald Trump's 100th day in office, but the overall mood was relaxed.

The marches were among more than 300 taking place around the country to call for action to combat climate change.

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4 p.m.

Speakers at climate rallies in New England are focusing on the danger climate change poses to coastal communities and on how marginalized groups have fewer financial resources to help them deal with the effects.

At a demonstration that drew thousands of people to Boston Common, the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond of Bethel AME Church told the crowd, "We are here because there is no Planet B."

More than 2,000 people came to the Maine State House in Augusta during the day's rally. Speakers included a lobsterman, a solar company owner and members of the Penobscot Nation tribe. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was expected to speak at a march in Montpelier.

The marches were among more than 300 taking place around the country. The events coincided with President Donald Trump's 100th day in office and take aim at his rollback of environmental protections.

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1:30 p.m.

Thousands of people across the U.S. are marking President Donald Trump's hundredth day in office by marching in protest of his environmental policies.

In Washington, D.C., large crowds on Saturday were making their way down Pennsylvania Avenue, where they planned to encircle the White House. Organizers say about 300 other protest marches are expected around the country.

Participants in the Peoples Climate March say they're objecting to Trump's rollback of restrictions on mining, oil drilling and greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants, among other things.

In Augusta, Maine, protesters outside the statehouse said they wanted to draw attention to the damage climate change can cause marginalized communities. A demonstration stretched for several blocks in downtown Tampa, Florida, where marchers said they were concerned about the threat rising seas pose to the city.