Officials call push to remove an oil and gas buffer around the culturally critical monument ‘an absolute gut punch.’
Public health
Posted inJuly 2026: Lost in the Weeds
What if the mountains are the medicine?
Why people stay in the rural West despite the health-care crisis.
Posted inArticles
White Salmon has been fighting for free mail for decades
The small Washington town exemplifies a broader problem across the West, where some pay for a service others get for free.
Posted inArticles
Elk herd habitat near Dinosaur National Monument to open for drilling
On June 16, the feds will open Colorado’s biggest public land sale in modern history, threatening wildlife and recreation.
Posted inArticles
How wildfire smoke affects fertility
A growing body of research is examining the impact of wildfire smoke on the ability to conceive.
Posted inMay 2026: Pinecone Cowboys
The dark legacy of the atomic age is still playing out in New Mexico
‘We were a sacrifice zone.’
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
Wildfires transform soil, turning a nutrient into poisonous chromium-6
New research shows how severe blazes create a carcinogen and how long it might persist.
Posted inArticles
War, climate change and AI are at stake at the 2026 UN Indigenous forum
Delegates are arriving in New York for the world’s largest gathering of Indigenous peoples, despite the U.S. presenting challenges for attendees to secure visas.
Posted inArticles
New nuclear safety rules reduce protections for workers, the public
‘They’re pulling away from what’s kept us safe all these years.’
Posted inArticles
War exposes the energy dominance lie
True energy independence comes from weaning ourselves from fossil fuels.
Posted inArticles
Trump’s EPA decided climate change doesn’t endanger public health. Evidence says otherwise.
Extreme heat, severe weather and air pollution are proven to cause negative health impacts.
Posted inArticles
How I found hope while reporting on a metal fest
Peek behind the scenes at the challenges and joy of covering Fire in the Mountains.
Posted inNovember 2025: Precious Metalheads
Heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet Nation
In response to youth suicides, teachers show students the power of headbanging at Fire in the Mountains festival.
Posted inArticles
The aging Los Alamos lab at the center of America’s nuclear overhaul
Contamination incidents, work outages and declining infrastructure have plagued the site, but the lab remains the linchpin in an effort to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons.
Posted inArticles
La carrera armamentística nuclear pone a prueba el laboratorio de Los Álamos
El laboratorio donde Oppenheimer desarrolló la bomba atómica es el eje del esfuerzo de EE. UU. por modernizar sus armas nucleares. Pero el centro ha enfrentado incidentes de contaminación, interrupciones de obras e infraestructuras obsoletas.
Posted inNovember 2025: Precious Metalheads
Want fluoride in the water? Too bad.
Across the West, lawmakers are skipping over the will of voters and yanking fluoride.
Posted inArticles
The rural West’s increasing health care costs haunt the shutdown
Health insurance costs are skyrocketing, and federal tax credits that make it more affordable are expiring.
Posted inArticles
Tribal governments fend off the worst of the impacts of the shutdown
In the weeks leading up to the shutdown, tribal nations hefted their political and economic capital to protect services for their citizens.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
911’s hidden emergency
A former firefighter makes the case for community paramedicine in the age of climate change.