Despite the recent tragedy in Tucson, a sense of community blooms in the West, often in unlikely soil.
Items by Ray Ring
High Country News reporter Matt Jenkins gets his boots muddy writing about California's crazy water politics in the Bay Delta.
Oklahoma Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe have a way of riding roughshod over the West's environmental politics.
Oklahoma isn't part of the West, but its two Republican senators have an enormous influence on the region.
Wyoming's popular Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal is carefully staying out of the race between his wannabe successors, Leslie Petersen and Matt Mead.
Right-wingers ousted wilderness-dealmaker Sen. Bob Bennett in the Republican primary, and now anti-wilderness Mike Lee will probably take his place in the Senate.
A Montana populist, Ken Toole, tries to keep his seat on the Public Service Commission, while other key races involve wealthy hunters and the state Supreme Court.
The West has known extremist politics before, but we usually seem to end up tacking pretty close to the center.
Pro-business, semi-green Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick has a good chance of keeping his seat, while Idaho's Republican Party fractures over a loyalty oath.
A number of recent books warn of the deadly consequences of climate change.
High Country News' founder, Tom Bell, marks our 40th anniversary with a grim prediction: The West -- and the world -- are doomed.
They're in a national movement to guarantee profits on milk.
A pro-wolf ruling by Montana Judge Don Molloy provokes accusations that he's a "nutzoid" greenie, but he doesn't always side with environmentalists.
Young people dressed in graduation caps and gowns protest for immigration reform.
Brief descriptions of some notable arson wildfire cases in the West in the last 50 years.
Most Western wildfires today are caused by humans, either accidentally or deliberately.
High Country News will continue to cover important Western issues, and yet make room for lighter pieces about the region's culture and communities.
During the Western Governors' Association meeting in Whitefish, Mont., journalists and dignitaries flew over the threatened landscape around Glacier National Park.
The toll of the asbestos disaster in Libby, Mont., keeps growing.
Western eccentrics are found underwater as well as in the high country.
The tragic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could help the environmental movement, if greens act wisely.
'Top two' ballot measure may reduce power of hardliners in each party.
A decade-old Yellowstone management plan isn't doing much for wandering bison, or for the ranchers it's meant to protect.
Determined ideologues are hijacking Western politics, but some reformers are trying to change that.
A couple of hitherto-unknown bees are discovered in Nevada -- just two of the many new species found every year.
High Country News remembers Stewart Udall, the legendary Interior secretary.
The West leads the way on medical marijuana.
Many environmental groups are seeing a changing of the guard, epitomized by 38-year-old activist Mike Brune's new job as head of the Sierra Club.
The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States isn't as reasonable as it appears.
The Supreme Court's precedent-overturning ruling allowing more corporate money in politics raises the possibility that it plans to tackle the Commerce Clause next.
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