While it may grab headlines, the actual sparks are much more complex.
Articles
Black entrepreneurs built beach havens in California. Racism shut them down.
The hidden history of Santa Monica’s Black coastal enclaves.
7 statistics that illuminate the housing crisis
Headwaters Economics shines a light on record-breaking costs in the West.
7 questions about Freedmen answered
Descendants of those enslaved by Native tribes are gaining political momentum. Here’s a primer on the issues surrounding Freedmen and tribal recognition.
Home after fire: A new housing model aims to give kids stability
Wildfires often hit low-income, minority families the hardest. Talent, Oregon, offers a home-grown solution to the displacement that follows.
How the U.S. legal system ignores tribal law
Elizabeth Reese, Stanford Law School’s first Native American professor, discusses the intentional marginalization of tribal legal structures.
California oil spill contaminates restored wetland
The Talbert Marsh is refuge to at least 90 species of shorebirds, and now it’s slicked with oil.
How community control of housing and land can help solve the housing crisis
Communities are turning to land trusts and real estate cooperatives as possible solutions.
Indigenous women tackle college during a pandemic
How three Native American students took on the challenges of their first year away from home.
Just how fat are the fat bears?
Katmai National Park and Preserve’s famous bears from Fat Bear Week are helping provide some answers.
Marilyn Vann becomes the first person of Freedmen status in Cherokee Nation government
A retired engineer and Freedmen activist, Vann joins the tribe’s Environmental Protection Commission.
What Las Vegas area workers say about navigating record unemployment rates
Federal benefits ended last month, but over 100,000 Nevadans are still out of work.
The public lands that kept us sane
In honor of National Public Lands Day, High Country News staff reflect on access to spaces across the West.
Indigenous college faculty and students lead the removal of racist panels in Colorado
A former Native boarding school turned liberal arts college in Durango reckons with its ugly history.
After the Palisades Tahoe name change, where is the Washoe Tribe looking next?
‘This whole thing, it’s decent. It’s a decent thing to do.’
9 numbers that explain the BLM’s headquarters boomerang back to D.C.
A look at what happened to the reorganization of the agency under the Trump administration.
California Farmworkers Union fights to vote by mail in union elections
For a largely unorganized sector, expanded voting access would be a huge win.
How Texas’ restrictive abortion law puts pressure on clinics in Western states
Patients are turning to places like New Mexico and Colorado for care.
A monsoon summer in the Southwest
How residents across the region are engaging with the yearly weather phenomenon.
Climate change increases rare earth elements in Colorado’s Snake River
A new study suggests lower stream flows as a primary culprit.
