The fever of extremism

The Greater Idaho movement is an example of how commonplace once extreme views have become. The state boundary change would require an extremely unlikely act of U.S. Congress. But even if it never succeeds, Joe Lowndes, a political science professor at the University of Oregon, said it still functions as a vehicle to spread far-right ideology and shape Republican identities.

From Ruby Ridge to January 6 and beyond, the radical right has unrelentingly attacked democratic norms for almost half a century.

“The book is like body armor for the mind of anyone who cares about democracy,” writes Leah Sottile.

Over the past few decades, more than 2,000 newspapers across the country have closed, leaving many communities without a reliable source of local information. Researchers say this crisis in journalism, driven by changes in technology, is fueling the country's political divisions

Hardrock mineral exploration on public lands is governed by the General Mining Law of 1872, which makes “all valuable mineral deposits” in public lands “free and open to exploration.” The law hasn’t fundamentally changed in 151 years, making it one of the most persistent of what the late scholar Charles Wilkinson dubbed the “Lords of Yesterday,” the old and obsolete laws governing natural resource use and extraction.

U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl on Monday refused to temporarily suspend his decision that corner crossing is not trespassing, denying a request by Elk Mountain Ranch owner Fred Eshelman.

The struggle for water is straining St. George, Utah, where golf – and grass – are sacred cows.

“We can’t be lulled into complacency by a good snow year, even a record-breaking one, or some flash-flood-triggering downpours.”

As B.C.’s drought worsens, farmers are scrambling to protect their livestock and crops. The impacts could be felt for years to come.

Environmentalists have filed a lawsuit to prevent the construction of a new potash mine they say would devastate a lake ecosystem in the drought-stricken western Utah desert.

The Forest Service hosted a tour its Little Bear Orchard on Monday to teach people about the threatened whitebark pine and share details on efforts to restore the keystone species.

Environmentalists and a retired government biologist say a project designed to carry wind-generated power across the West is "fatally flawed."

The largest solar panel recycling plant in North America has opened in Yuma, Arizona, just as the flow of used and spent solar panels sharply ramps up.

Colorado is promoting all-electric buildings, which reduce utility costs, to help the state achieve its emissions reduction targets.

As Colorado races to cut its climate impact, environmental groups have united around all-electric heat pumps as the best replacement for natural gas furnaces. Now it’s clear one major player isn’t entirely on board: Xcel Energy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on July 31 accepted a standard design approval application for NuScale Power’s VOYGR-6, a plant design that will be featured in the 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project proposed at an Idaho National Laboratory site.

The Bureau of Land Management has reopened public comment on a lithium exploration project that was suspended in April for further environmental analysis, per an agency statement.

The extreme temps that sent demand and prices soaring for natural gas this past winter sapped ratepayers, but boosted Wyoming's revenue outlook.

Growing coal consumption by China and India is offsetting cuts by U.S. and Europe and shows the difficulty of meeting climate targets.

To help counter their greenhouse gas pollution, Microsoft and other companies invested millions in a project to store more carbon in Southern Oregon trees. The 2021 Bootleg Fire upended that plan.

Wildfires sparking earlier in the spring and burning longer into the fall have prompted government agencies to change how they plan to fight and prevent them.

Libraries, community centers, and other buildings are getting air-filtration upgrades so residents can stay safe during hazardous smoke.

Skepticism has enveloped a fraught process that’s proposing to increase protected acres for the embattled western bird, but policymakers remain hopeful their map revision can help avert an Endangered Species Act listing.

In an attempt to address concerns over disease spread, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has released a Draft Wyoming Elk Feedgrounds Management Plan for public review and comment.

A federal judge has said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan to install a permanent pipeline and several other modifications to help protect the imperiled Arctic grayling, a species of native fish, would likely violate the Wilderness Act, and granted a preliminary injunction that will halt work at the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness Area in southwestern Montana.

Despite intensive efforts to eradicate nonnative brook trout in Yellowstone National Park’s Soda Butte Creek, the fish have reappeared.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has enacted an emergency regulation for the lower stretches of the Bitterroot River after officials last week announced the “first confirmed smallmouth bass in the Bitterroot.” The department is asking anglers who catch the species to keep it, kill it, and report the catch.

A miles-long algal bloom on the Big Hole River has been linked to warm water, low flows and nutrient loading. Dense algal blooms can harm aquatic life.

Colorado’s lakes serve as a needed respite during sweltering summer days, but as the days become warmer the state’s lakes are becoming more susceptible to toxic blooms of algae.

There’s political peril in the whopping price tags the Fish and Wildlife Service attaches to recovering some endangered species.

The Interior Department wants the public to help shape an ambitious, first-of-its-kind study called the "national nature assessment," which is designed to probe the impacts of a warming planet and communicate those potentially dire findings.

Across the U.S., many people are living through one of the most brutal summers of their lives. And some psychologists believe the attention on a cascade of record-shattering heat, wildfire smoke, extreme flooding and Jacuzzi-hot ocean water could be “another turning point” in efforts to raise awareness about the everyday impact of climate change.

A record 31-day streak in Phoenix of daily highs of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit has ended as the dangerous heat wave that suffocated the Southwest throughout July starts abating with cooling monsoon rains.

Rather than sell to Vail Resorts or Alterra Mountain Company, the two giants in the American ski industry, the Kemmerer family, which has owned the resort since 1992, intends to sell the western Wyoming ski mountain to two board members — Eric Macy and Mike Corbat — their families, and a small group of co-investors.

“Chico Hot Springs Resort is another example of DiamondRock’s leadership in identifying attractive investment opportunities that align with our focus on unique, leisure-oriented experiential hotels and resorts,” DiamondRock President and Chief Executive Officer Mark W. Brugger said.

Boulder’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is leading a three-nation summer blitz of air pollution sensors ranging from high-altitude aircraft to rooftops to backpacks, in a massive escalation of the battle against ozone and particulate toxins, scientists announced Thursday.

Marguerite Humeau’s “Orisons,” the largest earthwork by a single female artist, will be open in Colorado through June 2025.

The violent death of 60-year-old Scott Bryan forced a reckoning in the northwest Montana community, where the loss of critical mental health resources has intensified the plight of unsheltered individuals.

Earl Barlow, a prominent Blackfeet leader who advocated for Indigenous education and helped shape the state’s Constitution, died on July 26.