The number of people experiencing homelessness vastly exceeds the number of available shelter beds in the state.
Public health
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When the end of the road brings a new beginning
Two accomplished new novels by Joe Wilkins and Willy Vlautin feature weathered protagonists called back from the brink.
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Repeal of the Chevron doctrine will have profound consequences for federal rulemaking
Climate, public lands and tribal law regulations are now likely to face legal challenges.
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Polluted air threatens the health of New Mexico infants
A new study finds a link between air pollution and low birth weight.
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Supreme Court gives cities and towns power to criminalize homelessness
The Oregon case has been closely watched by Western cities and states.
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness
Learning how to live and die with long COVID
The late artist David Wojnarowicz’s work has brought me back from the dead.
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Trump vs. Biden on the climate
The next presidential election will have huge ramifications for the planet.
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Cancer is killing firefighters. So this city is going PFAS-free.
San Francisco is the first major American city to ban the substance from protective gear.
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These Washington nurses want their hospital to be more like Oregon
Nurses at PeaceHealth Southwest, in Vancouver, Washington, protest unsafe staffing and pay.
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Pollution and pollinators: Why stopping to smell the flowers has become difficult
A new study shows that car emissions make it hard for pollinators to find flowers.
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What rural homelessness looks like
The lessons learned after spending months embedded with unhoused communities in Oregon.
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Disaster disparities in the West
The risk of climate catastrophe is complex, but people of color often face ‘unnatural hazards.’
Posted inMarch 2024: Fertile Ground
The dangers of PFAS — and of downplaying their ubiquity
Even well-meaning officials often provide inadequate or misleading information, putting communities at higher risk.
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See how bad your community’s air will be in 30 years
New data forecasts the nation’s future air quality, all the way down to individual addresses.
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New Mexico pushes back on Big Oil
New bills in the legislature could curb industry excesses.
Posted inDecember 1, 2023: December 2023
Take a toxic tour of the Great Salt Lake
Utah grapples with its future of industry around its dying inland sea.
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Medicaid’s big paperwork problem
After a federal rule expired this spring, millions of people have been disenrolled from Medicaid. Many of them may still be eligible.
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Western states saw increasing poverty and lower incomes in 2022
From Alaska to Wyoming, cash assistance can pull families out of income hardships.
Posted inOctober 2, 2023: The Dark Side of the Sheepherding Industry
The dangerous consequences of wildland fire dispatcher burnout
An internal Forest Service survey shows a critical link in the wildfire fighting apparatus is struggling.
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Environmental groups sue Utah over crisis at the Great Salt Lake
Plaintiffs invoke the public trust doctrine to restore the lake to a healthy level.