Nate Hegyi

The jails program has come under fire for numerous deaths. NPR and Mountain West found a previous review was managed by a retired official who oversaw the facilities when some of the deaths occurred.

Ignoring Black and brown communities impedes durable climate policy, BIPOC leaders tell federal lawmakers.

A ruling could settle the decades-long dispute over the scope of the landmark law, with big implications for wetlands and ephemeral streams around the West.

In Idaho, Utah and Wyoming, less than 8% of qualifying households had taken advantage of a federal broadband subsidy. But an expansion in eligibility may mean an uptick in uptake.

The Biden administration has moved to crack down on violent domestic extremists over the past year. But it's given the Bundy family – whose militant actions presaged the Capitol insurrection, and who continue to illegally graze cattle on public lands – a pass.

“What we’re starting to see is that affordable housing can no longer be ignored,” says Megan Lawson of Headwaters Economics.

Recent storms brought mountain snowpack above normal levels across much of the West, but the precipitation only slightly improves the region's long-term drought conditions.

“We have to think swiftly,” said Crystal Tulley-Cordova, principal hydrologist for the Navajo Nation. “Otherwise, we will continue to be in the situation that we are in, or even in worse circumstances.”

“Anything that has to do with water, we’ve been totally blocked out,” said Christopher Tabbee of the Ute Indian Tribe. “We’ve never been consulted on any decisions.”

Communications consultant Frank Luntz has suggestions for how Western governors should talk about climate change, jobs and COVID-19.