Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “The West: A New Center of Power.” ARIZONA After taking office in 2003, Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed more than 110 bills passed by the Republican Legislature. Voters seem to like her stands. She won re-election by roughly 2-to-1 over archconservative Republican Len Munsil. […]
Ray Ring
Posted inOctober 16, 2006: A River Once More
Brave ‘yellowbellies’ served the West well
During World War II, more than 250 American men — mostly Quakers and Mennonites — stood up for their pacifist beliefs, declared themselves conscientious objectors, and volunteered for a different risky service. They became pioneer smokejumpers, parachuting onto the front lines of wildfires in the Rockies. Smokejumping had only been invented in 1939, and it […]
Posted inOctober 2, 2006: From the ground up
News from the gas fields
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, “From the ground up.” The paper: Roughneck is a two-year-old monthly covering oil and gas in Sublette County, Wyo., the top natural gas producing county in the U.S. Local media scene: Two local weeklies, including the Pinedale Roundup, cover community news; Roughneck’s […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 2006: Going Big
Will Montanans reject their bagman?
The answer may determine which party controls the Senate
Posted inSeptember 18, 2006: Going Big
Fractures on the right
The West’s moderate Republicans battle their party’s extremists
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
Taking Liberties
The salesmen say ‘yes’ is a vote to stop government from taking your land, but this stealth campaign would do far more than that
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
‘I call (regulations) land stealing …’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking Liberties.” During the campaign pitching Oregon’s Measure 37 to voters in 2004, Dorothy English starred in statewide radio ads. Now a 93-year-old widow living on 20 acres on a hillside overlooking Portland, she has been fighting for three decades for permission to slice […]
Posted inWotr
Stealth campaigns threaten our democracy
This election season in the West already looks as hot as a wildfire running on a dry wind. High-profile campaigns target congressional seats and governorships. But beware: The most important campaign runs in stealth mode. It’s the campaign by libertarians who want to cripple your state and local governments. They’re doing it with ballot initiatives, […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
‘Great recreation value … and great economic value…’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking Liberties.” Newberry National Volcanic Monument, near Bend, Ore., boasts of having an active volcano, more than 50,000 acres of “lava flows and spectacular geologic features,” seven campgrounds, and “two sparkling alpine lakes full of trout and salmon.” If Jim Miller prevails in a […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
‘I hope other states don’t do this …’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking Liberties.” Renee Ross and her husband, Bryan, live on 32 acres near Molalla, southeast of Portland. It’s hilly, with woods and pasture, and spring-fed Teasel Creek flows through it. She also thought Measure 37 was a good idea. Now, two of her neighbors […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
‘I kick myself for being so naive…’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking Liberties.” Ted Schroeder, a doctor, lives on 52 acres in the rural Grande Ronde Valley in northeast Oregon. He voted for Oregon’s Measure 37 and regrets it. A neighboring family, operating as Terra-Magic Inc., has filed a Measure 37 claim, seeking to brush […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
‘It’s clear out of control …’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking Liberties.” Bill Rose runs Rose Agriseeds on 2,100 acres in the Willamette Valley, about 20 miles south of Portland. He breeds specialty grasses for golf courses, and grasses that can be watered with sea water, shipping to customers as far away as Maryland. […]
Posted inJuly 24, 2006: Taking Liberties
Takings campaigns around the West
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Taking Liberties.” ARIZONA Private Property Rights Protection Act, by the Arizona Home Owners Protection Effort (Arizona HOPE) — Initiative 21 Sources of Major $$ Americans for Limited Government, Chicago area, whose chairman of the board is New York City-based real estate mogul Howie Rich […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Magic Valley Uprising
How an Idaho citizens’ coalition gunned down a dirty power plant — and what it means for the West
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Stargazer aims his scopes at gas industry
Name Perry Walker Vocation Astronomer, engineer Age 61 Home Base 10-acre hilltop near Daniel, Wyoming Known for Keeping an eye on the air pollution caused by natural gas drillers He says “I can talk to these (natural gas) operators about their technology. I can understand just about anything they throw at me. And I find […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Meet Idaho’s Revolutionaries
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Magic Valley Uprising.” Father Hugh Feiss Father Hugh Feiss is one of the 15 Benedictine monks who have vowed to spend their lives at the Monastery of the Ascension, about five miles from the butte where Sempra wanted to build its coal plant. He […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
The push is on for ‘clean coal’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Magic Valley Uprising.” Westwide, the power-plant industry has proposed building several dozen new coal-fired plants — the biggest such buildup since the 1980s. But at the same time, the industry is moving toward a new “clean coal” era, nudged by citizen uprisings like the […]
Posted inWotr
President Bush nailed it: Our real addiction is to oil
The U.S. oil and gas industry wants marijuana to be legal. That’s how it looks to me. The CEOs of Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other oil companies haven’t swapped their business suits for tie-dyed outfits and jewelry shaped like reefer leaves. But the industry’s support for legalizing pot seems clear from the pattern of its […]
Posted inMarch 6, 2006: Save Our Snow
Snowy middle ground
Wilderness advocates and snowmobilers come to terms in Montana
Posted inWotr
Hunters could free Yellowstone bison
You may have seen news photos of the massive, shaggy beasts that are a national totem, standing more or less complacently while hunters approach. Easy as one, two, three, the animals come crashing down. It’s an outrageous sight, but strangely acceptable — the first hunting of Yellowstone National Park bison in 15 years. The last […]