A new program offers a lifeline for homeowners, but the disaster aid isn’t available to everyone.
Communities
Posted inArticles
Will Coloradans choose the ‘right to hunt’?
A constitutional amendment on the November ballot asks who should choose how to manage the Centennial State’s wildlife.
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Utah’s coal country pushes back against data centers
Carbon County is getting 456 small nuclear reactors and a giant gas plant for data center complexes.
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The ‘grandmother’ cottonwood trees bulldozed for the border wall
After a 71-day protest, the last of the 100-plus-year-old trees was cut down southeast of Tucson.
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As bears ‘spin out’ in southern Montana, wildlife managers are at wit’s end
Amid a record-breaking year of Western bear conflict, the historically tolerant Red Lodge community is grappling with opposing views on how to live with the species — and if a ‘fed bear’ really should be a ‘dead bear.’
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American Samoans punished for voting in Alaska get relief after a yearslong nightmare
Alaska officials accused American Samoans caught in a unique legal limbo of illegally voting but finally dropped those charges this month.
Posted inSeptember 2026: On the Trail with Gary Paul Nabhan
‘Everyone deserves to have a good quality of life’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
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Tohono O’odham fight border wall on sacred, sovereign lands
The nation is using the courts and lobbying congressional Democrats to stop construction near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona.
Posted inSeptember 2026: On the Trail with Gary Paul Nabhan
How Bozeman is preventing human-wildlife conflicts before they start
A ’wildlife first responder’ is developing a tool for coexistence.
Posted inSeptember 2026: On the Trail with Gary Paul Nabhan
The GOAT of all goats, a mystery solved, and the rez dog who chose not to ‘stay’
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inSeptember 2026: On the Trail with Gary Paul Nabhan
In Arctic Alaska, 1.4 million acres of federal land is shifting to state hands
A cascade of changes is underway along its only northern highway.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
‘I have some very heartfelt conversations’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
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It’s a make-or-break year for Hood River’s pear farmersÂ
After a dismal 2025 season, the pears being picked right now could mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
‘Quite frustrating:’ what it’s like to have a treaty with the United States
Heirs to the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott explain their ancestors’ wisdom and how they defend it today.
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The Spokane burns show that not even suburbia is immune to wildfire
The Old Trails Fire burned through the city’s northwest corner — an area considered outside the highest risk zone.
Posted inAugust 2026: The Conversations Issue
Deb Haaland’s vision for New Mexico comes from tradition
A Q&A with the state’s likely next governor about tribal sovereignty and politics.
Posted inJuly 2026: Lost in the Weeds
Alaska Native communities prepare for man camps driven by new mining boom
How one village established a Native-led sexual assault response team to help address the oncoming chaotic boomtown atmosphere.
Posted inJuly 2026: Lost in the Weeds
The Chinese immigrants trafficked on New Mexico’s weed farms
Migrant workers were trapped in the Southwest’s illicit cannabis boom and treated as criminals — until investigators began chasing their bosses.
Posted inJuly 2026: Lost in the Weeds
Let’s go in on the American dream, together
Samantha Paige Rosen’s anthology offers communal living as affordability solution.
Posted inArticles
Meet the students graduating from Montana’s smallest classes
The people graduating from classes of 3, 2 and 1 have big ambitions.