Mexico-U.S. border arrests have fluctuated widely in the past 30-plus years, from 675,000 in 1976 to 1.7 million in the mid-1980s, down to a million in the late-’80s, back up to 1.6 million in 2000. In 2008, the Border Patrol caught 705,000 people trying to enter the U.S. illegally, down 44 percent from 2006. Officials […]
Marty Durlin
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Oregon sees huge rise in food stamp recipients
A record half a million Oregonians are struggling to feed their families, and the state’s unemployment figure reached 8 percent in November, the highest in five years. Jackson and Josephine counties saw increases of 19 percent, and the Bend area’s food-stamp recipients rose by 28 percent over last year. More than half of the 21,850 […]
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Audio: A BLM insider speaks
Rodger Schmitt talks about why he resigned his position as national recreation director.
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Fewer regs and no oversight
The United States continues its schizophrenic policy toward immigrant labor with President George W. Bush’s eleventh-hour changes to the H-2A program, which allows immigrant farmworkers into the country for up to ten months at a time. The changes will make it less expensive and complicated for agricultural employers, relaxing wage, housing and recruitment requirements. Bruce […]
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Interview: Tito Naranjo on the Pueblo world view
A Native American explores the underlying tension with archaeology
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Slideshow: Back to the garden
Recovering addicts find roots in the soil of New Mexico
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Bush’s last days
Accelerating oil shale development across 2 million acres, okaying an auction for gas drilling by three national parks, weakening endangered species protection, allowing more mining waste in rivers and streams, and exempting factory farms from air pollution reporting…just a few of the 53 “midnight regulations” President George W. Bush has launched in the past three […]
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Mrs. T. Boone Pickens to the (horse) rescue
We’ve chronicled the sad story of the horse glut in the United States, brought on partly because of the slaughterhouse ban enacted two years ago, partly because of the rising cost of fuel and hay, and partly because of the failing economy. It all comes down to the unpleasant fact that there more horses than […]
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Big money used to bring Musgrave down
Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave was the Richard Pombo of the 2008 election, targeted by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund and others for her anti-environmental votes (the League of Conservation Voters gave her a 15 percent rating this year, in 2006 she had an 8 and in 2005, a zero). The Defenders spent a total of […]
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Ed Marston loses commissioner bid
Yes, Colorado turned blue. But in western Colorado’s Delta County, the GOP prevailed, giving the nod to the McCain-Palin ticket. Democratic congressman John Salazar fared best, getting about 45 percent of the vote. Not one Democratic candidate won here, from the top to the bottom of the ticket. I know something about being a Democrat […]
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The also-rans…
Their names are familiar, but not the way we know “John McCain” or “Barack Obama.” They raised a total of about $6 million — compared to more than $650 million raised by Obama and $360 million raised by McCain. In case you missed it, Ralph Nader (independent, raised $3.9 million), Bob Barr (Libertarian, $1.3 million), […]
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Orrin Hatch to the rescue
Frustrated by a lack of action from other Republicans, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has personally raised more than $6.5 million for the National Republican Senatorial Committee through an elite donor group dubbed “Orrin’s Army.” He also presided over the President’s Dinner, a feast that raised $13.5 million for Senate Republicans. The money will be used […]
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Goodbye, Tony Hillerman
Tony Hillerman died at age 83 in an Albuquerque hospital this week, succumbing to pulmonary failure after surviving two heart attacks, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis – none of which stopped him from writing (his last novel was published in 2006). His mysteries portrayed the beauty and desolation of the Four Corners area and featured two […]
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Energy future: geothermal
Calling it “a model for working together to make decisions about our energy future,” Department of Interior secretary Dirk Kempthorne yesterday unveiled the agency’s plan to open 190 million federally-managed acres to geothermal energy development. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Forest System, the land sprawls across 12 Western states and […]
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Audio: Researching Rexburg
Rexburg, Idaho, may be the most Mormon of any town in the nation. HCN Senior Editor Ray Ring spent time in Rexburg, getting to know the place, and trying to understand what happens when religion completely saturates a community. He wrote about it in his story, Prophets and Politics, in the Oct. 27 issue of […]
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Winning the West
Like much of the country and all of the media, HCN is focused on the upcoming election. One of the ways we’re feeding our obsession is by surfing the web, seeking out new tidbits, poll numbers, and punditry. To help you navigate the political world from the base of our Winning the West page, you […]
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The wolf-go-round
Seven months ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Oregon off the endangered species list, marking the end of 34 years of protection. In July U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued an injunction against killing wolves in the region after conservationists filed suit, saying it was too […]
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The fruits of their labor
A guard, a vineyard owner and prisoners talk about a new farm worker program
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The bailout
In an election year already filled with topsy-turvy events and serial comeuppance, the stock market yesterday lost an average of $3 million per minute and chickens came home to roost on their dwindling 401K nest eggs. The headlines were screaming: Massive credit contraction…worst drop in U.S. stock market since 911…strangled economy…serious recession looming. But despite […]