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High Country News

"Oilfield donkey en route to Bakersfield" by Eric Baker via Flickr: Creative Commons

Judge orders industries to pay royalties for public land extraction Tens of millions more...

When energy corporations produce oil, gas or coal on public lands, they make royalty payments to the federal government and the states where production...
A customer at ABQ Guns in Albuquerque. Recent mass shootings have reignited the debate over gun legislation, including red flag laws and expanded background checks.

These are your state’s gun laws In the wake of mass killings, a state-by-state...

Overall, gun deaths in the United States have dropped by 30% since 1993, but mass shootings are on the rise: there have been more mass shooting...

How a tiny endangered species put a man in prison The Devils Hole pupfish...

They passed around a bottle of Malibu rum as gunshots bellowed into the desert night. A trio of young men had set up camp...

The disease devastating deer herds may also threaten human health Scientists are exploring the...

This story was originally published at High Country News in collaboration with the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise...

An Indigenous Mexican community finds a home in rural Colorado Culture, traditions and people...

This story is a part of the ongoing Back 40 series, where High Country News reporters look at national trends and their impacts close to home. At 6:08 on a...

Get to know the Green New Deal, by the numbers The plan would boost...

Not long after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was elected last November, she began gathering support for a “Green New Deal,” mobilizing young climate activists...

The education crisis for children of deported parents In Tijuana, an upstart model tries...

When Angie Romero thinks about the home in Idaho she left seven years ago after her husband, Mike, was deported, she misses the wide,...

One tribal nation could decide the fate of Arizona’s drought plan The Gila River...

In Arizona, the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan now hinges on the approval of tribal nations. The plan is meant to levy water cuts to seven...

Where the news is drying up — and where it’s not Rural areas can...

Media chatter about the state of journalism tends to go big — big city, that is: Seattle loses a major daily; a media conglomerate...
Lake Mead

How best to share the disappearing Colorado River Seven Western states must rewrite the...

As early as 2020, hydrologists forecast that the level of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir on the Colorado River, could drop low enough to...