In Mormon Country, young Polynesians search for identity — and for escape from a seemingly unstoppable cycle of violence
Tim Sullivan
Posted inMay 16, 2005: Unsalvageable
Protecting the treaty, saving the fish
NAME Kat Brigham VOCATION Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Board of Trustees member HOME BASE Umatilla Reservation, near Pendleton, Oregon CLAIM TO FAME Fighting for tribal fishing rights on the Columbia River, as well as for the health of the river’s fish. SHE SAYS “I like fish any way — baked, smoked, fried, dried or […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2004: Where Do We Go From Here?
Transforming the Forest Service: Maverick bureaucrat Wendy Herrett
Since the frontier age, the West’s forests have been home to all kinds of rogues and rebels, from family logging operations to stubborn ranchers to hard-core eco-defenders. And for nearly as long, the U.S. Forest Service has been charged with keeping them all in balance. But sometimes, the Forest Service needs its own mavericks. For […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2004: Keepers of the Flame
A new breed of ‘ski bums’ is anything but
Young people have to get creative if they’re going to survive in mountain towns
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
A new twist on urbanism
Few people would connect “New Urbanism” — dense, mixed-use buildings and public transit in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods — with the Latino barrios of Western cities. One Southern California-based group, however, sees this planning movement and Latino culture as nothing but simpatico. The Transportation and Land Use Collaborative has organized an annual conference and a series of […]
Posted inJune 7, 2004: Wal-Mart's Manifest Destiny
Wal-Mart’s Manifest Destiny
Intent on Western expansion, the world’s largest company turns democracy upside-down —but now, communities are fighting back
Posted inJune 7, 2004: Wal-Mart's Manifest Destiny
In a bitter strike, grocery workers lost ground
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Wal-Mart’s Manifest Destiny.” At the same time that Inglewood was fighting off Wal-Mart’s assault, the United Food and Commercial Workers union staged the longest grocery store strike in U.S. history. The strike was triggered when traditional grocery chains decided to prepare for the Supercenter […]
Posted inJune 7, 2004: Wal-Mart's Manifest Destiny
Wal-Mart: Love it or loathe it
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Wal-Mart’s Manifest Destiny.” For two years in a row, Fortune Magazine, in a survey of 10,000 business experts, has named Wal-Mart “America’s Most Admired Company.” But if businesspeople love Wal-Mart, many working people loathe it: Wal-Mart now faces at least 30 class-action lawsuits from […]
Posted inMarch 1, 2004: The Last Open Range
Creating immigrant leaders: Labor organizer Ramon Ramirez
WOODBURN, OREGON — Disoriented, poor and unorganized, Latino immigrant farmworkers traditionally have not had a lot of political power in the United States. They often do the low-wage jobs American-born workers won’t do, working in an industry that largely precludes its workers from bargaining through unions. And because many immigrant farmworkers have entered the United […]
Posted inFebruary 2, 2004: Mending the Nets
Immigration reform from Washington, DC
Bush’s reform policy would give employers willing workers — and workers a temporary stay in the U.S.
Posted inWotr
Salmon go swoosh in the Northwest
It was Saturday, and we had shopping to do: groceries, eyeglasses, yard tools, and as we crisscrossed Portland to find deals, we were sucked into malls, lured by displays to purchase jeans and sports paraphernalia. Then, in the middle of the overcast Oregon afternoon, in the heart of Northwest cool known as the Pearl District, […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2003: The Gear Biz
In the Northwest, salmon go swoosh
“The mammalian (mind) spreads continent-wide beneath (the conscious mind), mute and muscular, attending its ancient agenda. And (it) makes us buy things.” —William Gibson, Pattern Recognition It was Saturday, and we had shopping to do. The errands had piled up for two weeks; the groceries, the eyeglasses, the yard tools, they all needed to be […]
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Singing cowboys strike a bad chord
UTAH Cultural tourism may be a hot ticket in some parts of the West, but a troupe of singing cowboys is looking for a new home after their failed theater proposal divided a small northern Utah town. The Bar-K Wranglers, a six-man ensemble that performs a dinner theater show, wanted to build a permanent venue […]
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
Ridgetop home may be toppled
UTAH It was Bruce Daley’s dream to retire to Park City, Utah, and build his home on the most spectacular hilltop he could find. But his dream has turned into a nightmare. In the mid-1990s, the Tucson, Ariz., resident and former auto-body shop owner began the planning process for his ridgetop home in Park City. […]
Posted inMarch 12, 2001: Divided Waters
State to coyote hunters: Let the games begin
UTAH Those who spent $19.95 on one of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee’s cuddly replicas of “Copper the Coyote,” a mascot for the 2002 Winter Olympics, could have gotten the little guy for free. Or, at least in exchange for gunning down a real coyote and sending its ears to local county officials. The Olympic […]
Posted inMarch 12, 2001: Divided Waters
Navajos at odds about marinas
ARIZONA After 30 years of planning, the Navajo Nation’s Antelope Point Marina may become a reality, despite serious concerns among tribal members. The $60 million development, planned for the south shore of Lake Powell, occupies a piece of land that straddles the Navajo Reservation and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The project had been bogged […]
Posted inJanuary 29, 2001: Power on the loose
Beyond the white noise
The environment doesn’t begin as you leave the city – workplaces and neighborhoods are part of it, too. But battles to protect these places, especially those belonging to minority groups, have not often been visible to the public. The 2000 Directory of People of Color Environmental Groups brings these community fights to life, listing the […]
Posted inJanuary 15, 2001: Plains sense
Hecho a mano
Hecho a Mano, by James S. Griffith. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Paperback: $17.95. 104 pages. Driving through Tucson, Ariz., a visitor might not register the ornate front-yard fences and low-rider cars along the city’s palm-lined streets. Yet in the book Hecho a Mano, by folklorist Jim Griffith, what’s everyday comes vividly alive. Griffith takes […]
Posted inDecember 18, 2000: Still here: Can humans help other species defy extinction?
Mine all dressed up with nowhere to go
ARIZONA The future of a controversial mine in southern Arizona now may be at the mercy of the copper market. The proposed Carlota copper mine, for four years a target of local environmental groups because of its threat to nearby Pinto Creek (HCN, 3/17/97), now has all the permits it needs to open, but its […]
Posted inDecember 18, 2000: Still here: Can humans help other species defy extinction?
Ombudsman could be town’s ticket
MONTANA Victims of a 1996 train derailment that spilled 133,000 pounds of chemicals near Alberton, Mont., may finally get some help. Though Montana Rail Link and the Environmental Protection Agency cleaned up a 30-acre area after the spill, many residents continue to complain of lingering pollution and illness. But neither the company nor the regional […]