Butte, Montana, doesn’t have a major art museum. Instead, it has a gigantic toxic pit.
Economy
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Bye Ye; Denali Uber; Heard transition
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Gold country: A precious metal, a mining mega-corp and a captive workforce
In 2019, two gold-mining giants joined forces, with huge consequences for the Northern Nevada community and economy.
Posted inArticles
Stories we wish we’d written
A look at some of the journalism from 2021 that inspired us, made us feel seen, and, sometimes, even made us cry.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
A shellfish company gets into the weeds
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community shows how eelgrass and aquaculture can coexist in Puget Sound.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Religious gatekeeping in red-rock country
A resort capitalizes on a nearby Yavapai-Apache religious site despite having no meaningful relationship with the tribe.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Arizona’s utility commission slashed just transition assistance for tribes
The Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe will receive significantly less funds to assist in economy after the end of coal.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
Who should pay to fix California’s sunken canals?
Agribusiness and its proponents say repairs will benefit disadvantaged towns. Those residents disagree.
Posted inArticles
How to solve the rural-urban digital divide
The author of ‘Farm Fresh Broadband’ draws on history to chart a better future for rural internet access.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Betting the ranch
Cody Easterday wagered hundreds of millions of dollars on the price of beef. He lost.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
What unions at green groups hope to gain
‘We have to stand up against the exploitation of us.’
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Income inequality proliferates across the West
How history, tax policies and gentrification play into wealth inequity.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Vacation resort replaces affordable housing in Teton Valley
Once-affordable towns near Jackson Hole have become real estate magnets since the pandemic.
Posted inArticles
The Westiest programs in Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The act is the New Deal redux, with a splash of ecosystem restoration.
Posted inArticles
Can younger generations spur corporations to divest from fossil fuels?
Youth activists in Seattle call out banks and insurance companies for fueling the climate crisis.
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
Why reducing methane emissions matters
What you can’t see can hurt.
Posted inArticles
Black entrepreneurs built beach havens in California. Racism shut them down.
The hidden history of Santa Monica’s Black coastal enclaves.
Posted inArticles
7 statistics that illuminate the housing crisis
Headwaters Economics shines a light on record-breaking costs in the West.
Posted inArticles
Home after fire: A new housing model aims to give kids stability
Wildfires often hit low-income, minority families the hardest. Talent, Oregon, offers a home-grown solution to the displacement that follows.
Posted inArticles
How community control of housing and land can help solve the housing crisis
Communities are turning to land trusts and real estate cooperatives as possible solutions.