Magazine

Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote

January 23, 2012

In Salt Lake City and other Western communities, billboard companies battle local democracy. Also in this issue: Buying out grazing permits to solve public lands conflicts, mom-and-pop energy companies risk a lot to find new reserves, A lawsuit raises questions about how far environmentalists should go to keep wilderness 'untrammeled.', and much more.

Feature

Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote

In Salt Lake City and other Western communities, billboard companies battle local democracy by fighting attempts to regulate the giant signs.

Ray Ring Jan. 30, 2012 From the print edition

Editor's Note

Billboard corporations and other big industries make their own rules

Burning down billboards isn't a good idea, but can a citizen fight the corporate power behind the big signs?

Ray Ring Opinion Jan. 23, 2012 From the print edition

Current

Detente in the rancher v. environmentalist grazing wars?

Buying out grazing permits from willing ranchers could help solve conflicts over grazing on public lands.

Jodi Peterson Jan. 23, 2012 From the print edition

Shadow Wolves track down smugglers on the Arizona-Mexico border

An elite team of Native American customs agents, the Shadow Wolves use their tracking skills to find drug smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Stephanie Paige Ogburn Jan. 23, 2012 From the print edition

A mom-and-pop oil company prospects for gas in central Wyoming

Wold Oil Properties is a wildcatter - a small company that explores for oil and gas in areas where the fuels aren't known to exist in valuable quantities.

Emilene Ostlind Feb. 1, 2012 From the print edition

The logging town of Darrington, Wash., fights to save a fire lookout

A lawsuit raises questions about how far environmentalists should go to keep wilderness 'untrammeled.'

Nathan Rice Jan. 25, 2012 From the print edition

How much time does Congress spend discussing the issues you care about?

Capitol Words, a visualization tool, tracks the contents of the Congressional Record, storing frequently used words as searchable data.

Danielle Venton Jan. 23, 2012 From the print edition

Uncommon Westerners

Richard West Sellars’ distinguished National Park Service career

After 35 years in the agency, historian Sellars' impact still resonates.

Kimberly Hirai Jan. 27, 2012 From the print edition

Essays

Residents of Montana's High Plains are angry - but not at the real threats

Though climate change and the economy are the issues threatening their livelihoods, many of the High Plains people are angry at almost everything else.

Joe Wilkins Essay Feb. 3, 2012 From the print edition

Book Reviews

From the Old World to the Old West: A review of The Little Bride

Anna Solomon's fascinating first novel follows a young Jewish woman from Odessa, Russia, to the hardscrabble prairie of South Dakota in the late 1800s.

Jenny Shank Jan. 23, 2012 From the print edition