HCN’s founder, Tom Bell, marks our 40th year with a prediction: We’re all doomed
Ray Ring
Posted inRay
Idaho’s Republican dairy farmers embrace socialism
This is a good counterpoint to the rightwing Tea Party accusations that Obama and Congressional Democrats are “socialists” because they increase the government’s role in health care and economic stimulus and so on. Dairy farmers in Idaho — and around the country — want new federal subsidies that would guarantee they make a certain profit […]
Posted inAugust 20, 2010: A Hell of an Anniversary
How green is Judge Molloy?
Latest wolf ruling triggers more complaints of judicial activism
Posted inAugust 16, 2010: Young, All-American, Illegal
Recognizing unfairness
Young people dressed in graduation caps and gowns protest for immigration reform.
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
Some notable arson wildfire cases in the West
Sidebar to “The Fiery Touch”
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
The worst manmade wildfires
Editor’s note for “The Fiery Touch”
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
The HCN mix
“I have been a subscriber for a long time … I have concerns about how HCN has changed over recent years. It has become like a glossy news magazine … Is HCN still relevant to what is happening in the West?” That recent note from a careful reader got the attention of the editors here. […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2010: The Ute Paradox
The fight for the Flathead
Environmental victories come in increments, not meetings
Posted inJune 21, 2010: Immersed in the Wild
Eccentricity and wildness
My wife and I once drove from Montana to Seattle for a wedding at a farm that hosts such ceremonies. En route, we found a good place to change into our fancy clothes — a thicket alongside the Snohomish River. OK, we’re a little eccentric. But at the river, we met a guy who was […]
Posted inRay
California voters OK reform of primary system
The biggest message in Western elections yesterday was California’s Proposition 14 — the ballot measure that aims to reduce the power of hardliners in both political parties. More than 54 percent of the California voters — fed up with extremists who cause gridlock — approved the reform. From now on, if the reform isn’t stalled […]
Posted inJune 7, 2010: One Tough Sucker
Yellowstone bison: Hazed and confused
Park’s buffalo herd caught in gridlock
Posted inMay 24, 2010: Accidental Wilderness
Going to extremes
How wacky grandstanders hijack Western politics … and what some reformers plan to do about it.
Posted inMay 10, 2010: The Secret Lives of River Guides
Small wonders, big world
An argument for conservation
Posted inMarch 1, 2010: The War Next Door
Turnover at the top
“Attention, Home Depot shoppers! Aisle 12 has lumber ripped from the heart of old-growth forests!” California environmentalist Mike Brune got the idea to make shocking announcements like that during what he calls his “intercom campaign.” He and his operatives acquired the access code to Home Depot’s intercom systems — punch *80 — and pulled it […]
Posted inRay
Understanding an oil group
In 1995, during one of the never-ending controversies about federal management of oil and gas drilling, a prominent Western industry group made a radical suggestion. The group — the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States or IPAMS for short — called for the end of federal land. Diemer True, a Wyoming oil baron representing IPAMS, […]
Posted inFebruary 15, 2010: Prodigal Dogs
Supreme beings
After gutting campaign finance, the high court may go after the Commerce Clause