Arrest-related death rates are highest in New Mexico, with Nevada and Oregon close behind.
Jonathan Thompson
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands. Follow him @LandDesk
Posted inArticles
The linchpin to a national supergrid
Clovis, New Mexico, may link three grids and become a renewable energy hub.
Posted inArticles
Gentrification comes to Denver
With the right policies, the city can be desirable and affordable.
Posted inNovember 24, 2014: Transportation Transformation
Light rail enters the West’s most sprawling metropolis
New transportation sparked a renaissance in Denver. Can it do the same for Phoenix?
Posted inArticles
Water use is lower than it’s been in 45 years
U.S. population has grown by 105 million people since 1970, yet we somehow shrank our water footprint.
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Keep the spray out of the oatmeal
One advertisement urged housewives to “MURDER Flying Pests” with the Black Flag bomb, which basically consisted of aerosol DDT. Another exhorted parents to cover the walls of their kids’ rooms with Trimz DDT, “a children’s room wallpaper” infused with pesticide to protect babies from flies, mosquitoes and ants. Parents Magazine said the wallpaper was perfectly […]
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
Will falling oil prices kill the shale revolution?
The current drilling boom is more sensitive to price fluctuations than its predecessors.
Posted inArticles
Extraction taxes are on the ballot
North Dakota and Nevada voters might learn something from Wyoming.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
The Latest: When wind and solar need reliable backup power
Western grid operators can now buy backup power on a real-time, open market to smooth intermittent renewables.
Posted inArticles
NASA finds methane hot spot over Four Corners
The culprit is the extensive fossil fuel industry infrastructure, not just fracking or coal mines.
Posted inArticles
About the price of oil
Since rig counts follow oil prices, the current slump will hurt Western economies.
Posted inArticles
The 21st century’s Hoover Dam?
What a huge Wyoming wind and Utah storage project tell us about the West’s energy landscape.
Posted inArticles
Is Denver the Houston of the Rockies — again?
Even greenie hotspots get their economic mojo from fossil fuels.
Posted inArticles
A cyclist’s plea to motorists
Cars are a deadly weapon and drivers need to take care.
Posted inSeptember 15, 2014: Books & Essays
Wacky Burning Man antics, a pop-up town and more
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inArticles
Nevada wins the Tesla battery factory giga-race
Massive incentive package raises questions about corporate welfare.
Posted inArticles
Fracking Georgia O’Keeffe Country
Drill rigs pop up near Navajo communities, Chaco Canyon and the iconic Black Place.
Posted inArticles
Rural cops get militarized
Pentagon gives guns, armored vehicles and battlefield gear to rural Western counties.
Posted inGoat
Western state highways among the most dangerous in the nation
New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada especially hazardous for pedestrians.
Posted inGoat
Recreational deaths soar this summer
Grand Canyon and Colorado rivers have record year for deaths.