Items by Jonathan Thompson

Two weeks in the West
On the messy bureaucratic soap opera As Interior Turns, the cast keeps changing, and getting indicted; Good Samaritans need to able to clean up old mines without getting burned; foreign countries drive Western mining boom; and data about mining
Two weeks in the West
Western states get serious about global warming; Colorado stands up to energy industry; environmental “terrorists” sentenced; “Kids in the Woods”; McMansions & mobile homes; eco-chic ain’t cheap
Two weeks in the West
Chefs fight for salmon, and uranium gets hotter; electricity usage and generation in the West; data on park fees and visitors
Of feral dogs, and feral Westerners
Westerners like to romanticize our wide-open spaces and wild wolves, but in rural areas, our real mascot is the ubiquitous feral dog
Two weeks in the West
James M. Doohan heads to final frontier (briefly) from New Mexico’s spaceport; northern spotted owls in trouble again; Veterans Conservation Corps; drugged up and rehabbing in the West
Two weeks in the West
Western real estate slump hits suburbs, but developers keep on developing; Marijuana McMansions; copper booming; Logan, Utah, rejects dirty power; Tri-State puts off two coal power plants; animals killed by Wildlife Services
Two weeks in the West
Death (and life) in the Sonoran Desert; fire and drought in the Southwest; courts rule against Bush on environmental issues.
Two weeks in the West
No yellow snow for Snowbowl; gonorrhea and meth: a match made in hell; split-estate bills in New Mexico and Colorado; Montana’s green energy bills languish; “Rocky Mountain High” second Colorado state song, bolo tie is official New Mexico neckwear.
Two weeks in the West
Western governors go green; King Coal gets hammered; Divine Strake strikes out; Colorado cons on the North Forty; Mother Nature’s bodyguards; Western wagering data; and energy use and Bush approval: a case of eerie symmetry.
Dear friends
Visitors; Las Vegas writer and historian Hal Rothman dies; farewell to Dolores LaChapelle and Ed LaChapelle
Two weeks in the West
The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change has bad news; Govs. propose global warming legislation; nuclear revival in the wings; Rockies Prosperity Act back in Congress; Arizona may stifle ballot measures; Bush’s budget; the West’s electrical grid.
Two weeks in the West
Forest Service faces budget cuts; Rural Schools Act dies; local governments may have to pay more firefighting costs; user fees upheld; grazing fees go down; Klamath dams may fall; livestock killed by wolves, and wolves killed; and UFOs in the West.
Two weeks in the West
Cross-country skiers and snowmobilers clash over access to Logan Canyon, Utah; Mount Jefferson, Mont.; and (of course) Yellowstone; Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth steps down to be replaced by Gail Kimbell; West becomes player in national politics; bor
No surprises, and no solutions, from raids aimed at illegal immigrants
The writer derides the recent busts of illegal immigrants
Can the West become the new South?
Boosters of a Western primary hope it could give the Interior West a greater voice in the politics of Washington, D.C.
On the ballot: Voters could be energized, or exhausted, by ballot initiatives
In 10 Western states this November, voters face a total of 82 ballot measures
Dear friends
Mongolians visit HCN; Chuck and Tim Worley visit; Tucson’s lawns; Wilderness Society honors Terry Tempest Williams and Tom Bell; correction
Don't like the local rag? Start your own
The writer started a weekly paper: Why doesn't everybody?
Homegrown news: Money can't buy it
In an introduction to this special issue celebrating independent media, High Country News associate editor Jonathan Thompson recalls the exciting, exhausting, high-caffeine years he spent publishing his own newspaper in a small mountain town
Reborn
With global warming an increasing threat, some are urging a return to nuclear energy, but the industry’s own checkered past reminds us that a nuclear renaissance will be neither easy nor cheap
Worlds converge in energy's shadow
Photographer Jared Boyd spends a day with Navajo Alice Benally, who lives less than a mile from the Four Corners Power Plant but only received electricity last year
The hazy days of summer ... and winter, spring and fall
With the Interior West’s national parks facing an increase in haze and air pollution, Rocky Mountain National Park is working with government agencies to improve air quality
Contradiction
Once in the U.S., immigrants find themselves in a land of contradictions, facing an uncertain welcome, sometimes even from other Latinos
The Immigrant's Trail
This special issue of High Country News takes an on-the-ground look at the human landscape of illegal immigration in the West
Tierra o Muerte
As the outside world bullies its way into northern New Mexico, the native Hispano culture has begun to fray, and today the region has the highest rate of heroin addiction in the country
A struggling mountain town looks for a lift
The former mining town of Silverton, Colo., has put its economic hopes in plans for a new but old-fashioned small-scale, low-key ski area, but some worry the area is too avalanche-prone to be safe.
High Country News Classifieds
  • DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
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