A profile of the late Charles Bowden, the Southwest’s strongest voice. Plus, utilities experiment with real-time response in the Pacific Northwest, and an obsessive flash flood chaser improves forecasting in Utah.
Depression era photos from your hometown
A new Yale project allows viewers to explore 175,000 images by county.
Utilities experiment on the rural Northwest
Real-time response to demand could radically shift how the grid operates.
Adiós Charles Bowden
The writer passed away in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Aug. 30.
Lost impartiality
As a longtime supporter of High Country News, I was very disappointed that you chose to publish the biased and unsubstantiated “Lost in the Woods” by Claudine LoMonaco (HCN, 9/1/14). LoMonaco uses clever buzzwords — “slick slide show and earnest manner,” “bright blue eyes,” “dysfunctional and ineffective,” “historical vendettas, personal grudges and political connections,” just to quote…
On the edge with Edward Abbey, Charles Ives and the outlaws
One of Charles Bowden’s last essays.
An urban experience
Fall board meeting, a new employee, and another science writing award for HCN.
Winners of the HCN reader photography contest
Readers’ and editors picks in people, landscape and wildlife.
“If there’s squash bugs in heaven, I ain’t staying” by Stacia Spragg-Braude
If there’s squash bugs in heaven, I ain’t staying Stacia Spragg-Braude, 200 pages, hardcover: $29.95 Museum of New Mexico Press, 2013 Nestled amid the orchards of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Valley is the old farming village of Corrales, where 85-year-old Evelyn Losack harvests fruit on land that has been in her family for 150 years.…
Snake River quibbles
Having grown up in the “Magic Valley,” I was intrigued and impressed by this article on the socio-economic and environmental effects of Big Ag in the Snake River Plain (“Idaho’s Sewer System,” HCN, 8/4/14). I do have one factual quibble: Cassia County (my home) has considerable mountainous terrain, including much national forest. It cannot possibly have…
Bowden the half-mad hiker
The iconic Southwest writer brought minimal gear but loads of reading material on the trail.
Charles Bowden’s Fury
The Southwest loses its strongest voice.
When a hunter chases his quarry through a Lexus dealership
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Adiós Charles Bowden
The writer passed away in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Aug. 30.
Writing the unthinkable
Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature Through Essays and InterviewsDaniel A. Olivas202 pages,softcover: $21 San Diego State University Press, 2014. After 24 years as a lawyer in the California Department of Justice, Daniel A. Olivas has heard a lot of stories. His seventh book, Things We Do Not Talk About, gathers essays…
Bowden the half-mad hiker
The iconic Southwest writer brought minimal gear but loads of reading material on the trail.
The Latest: Wyoming’s wolf delisting thrown out
A U.S. District Court hands management back to the feds.
On the edge with Edward Abbey, Charles Ives and the outlaws
One of Charles Bowden’s last essays.
Fathomable journalism
LoMonaco’s feature article is why HCN is one of only two publications that I loyally subscribe to. LoMonaco’s in-depth reporting is an example of excellent journalism. She unsnarls a monumentally complicated issue and makes it interesting and understandable, if not fathomable, to a general reader like me. Not many journalists go to as much trouble…
The Latest: Feds pay final installments of $3.4 million settlement to Native Americans
The Cobell case paid mineral royalties long due to tribal members.
Fires, grazing and logging
I never understood how we have planning commissions and they let developers build in forested areas without clearing fire-safe areas around developments (“Smoke and mirrors,” HCN, 9/1/14). People that build like this should have to pay an exorbitant amount for fire insurance. Same goes for building in the river bottom and on avalanche terrain. The…
Has the Obama administration hobbled the Endangered Species Act?
A new policy may set the law back half a century.
Flash flood chaser
One man’s obsession improves forecasting in southern Utah.