THE NATION Common Cause, the nation’s good-government nonprofit, celebrated its 40th anniversary recently at a party in Denver, helped mightily by the humor and smarts of Pat Schroeder. In 1972, Schroeder was the first Colorado woman to be elected to Congress, where she spent a dozen terms focusing on fiscal accountability from the military and […]
Communities
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Lone shepherd on a distant promontory
From where I sit, I see a lone shepherd on a distant promontory, two trusty dogs at his side, a storm posting with all speed from the cold north as a rogue wolf works the edges of the band. The guard dogs, Great Pyrenees and Akbash, are not quite enough to beat off those wolves, […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Rocky Mountain noir
The Long Slide Blair Oliver and Peter Soliunas 200 pages, softcover: $20. World Audience, Inc., 2010. The first collaboration from authors Peter Soliunas and Blair Oliver, The Long Slide is at once a pulpy romp across the Rockies and a mash note to the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. But where those authors […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Send us a letter, the sooner the better
Lately we’ve noticed that we haven’t been hearing from our readers as often as we used to. One of the best things about HCN is our sense of community, exemplified by your intelligent, thoughtful letters. We know you’ve got lots of opinions, ideas and reactions to stories to share — so please drop us a […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2010: Hardrock Showdown
Tribute to a prickly icon
Matter Journal 13: Edward AbbeyVarious contributors432 pages, softcover: $17.Wolverine Farm Publishing, 2010. The problem with dead authors is that no more work will be forthcoming from them. Without new material to sink their teeth into, both fans and critics of Edward Abbey have long resorted to “secondary sources” — interviews with the curmudgeon’s friends, vintage […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
There’s something in the water
A Colorado family discovers that their clear “Rocky Mountain Spring Water” is unsafe to drink
Posted inRange
HCN reader photo – Outside Taos
This reader-submitted photo was taken on Highway 68, approximately 10 miles southwest of Taos, New Mexico. We loved the bright sky and the contrast of dried flowers. The photo comes from Flickr user and HCN group member Justin Morris. Add your photos to the High Country News community photo pool on Flickr! We feature selected […]
Posted inRange
Promoting forest biomass
Jodi Peterson’s succinct report – “Burning questions about biomass” — in High Country News’ November 8th edition — summarizes the many issues which surround efforts to develop biomass energy production in the West and elsewhere. Once viewed as a panacea for the region’s energy needs, a way to reduce carbon emissions and a solution for […]
Posted inRange
Rants from the Hill: Customer Cranky
“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly musings on life in the high country of Nevada’s western Great Basin desert. Some of you may remember the novelist William Faulkner’s famous Yoknapatawpha County, which, though fictional, was based upon the Mississippi town in which Faulkner lived. Well, I’m now ready to give a fictional name […]
Posted inRange
HCN reader photo – fall colors
It’s almost winter — time for the obligatory shot of autumn leaves and impending clouds. Reader photo of Depuys Spring Creek in Livingston, Mont. from Flickr member Daryl Hunter. Add your photos to the HCN Flickr group!
Posted inBlog
When Shelton met Oprah
Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson was as surprised as anyone. “I was more than surprised,” he said in a recent phone conversation. “I was shocked. When the EMTs resuscitated me I was pretty much flat-lined.” Standing outside the south entrance to Yosemite National Park, Johnson thought he was awaiting the arrival of six African-American […]
Posted inWotr
Our small town welcomes its newest neighbor
It was the first corporate grand opening this valley had ever seen. On Nov. 4, a Family Dollar store opened here in the isolated mountain town of Penasco, N.M., between Taos and Santa Fe. Since the recession hit, the retail chain has expanded rapidly across the West, targeting small, low-income communities with few downtown amenities. […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Fascinating conundrums
THE SOUTHWEST That wistful Iowa farm boy in the ads for a language-learning software called Rosetta Stone — “He was a hardworking farm boy. She was an Italian supermodel. He knew he would have just one chance to impress her” — now has an opportunity to learn Navajo, too, reports the Daily Times of Farmington, […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
HCN bids farewell to an old friend
Sometimes we are fortunate enough to get a closer look at the lives of our remarkable readers. Shortly after longtime HCN reader and donor William L. Berry Jr. died on Sept. 30 from pancreatic cancer, two of his sons, John and Scott, got in touch with us to tell us a bit more about their […]
Posted inWotr
Hoover Dam: marvel and folly
Seventy-five years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt declared Hoover Dam — then called Boulder Dam — “a marvel of the 20th century.” But I predict that when the dam turns 100 in 2035, no one will be celebrating what now appears to be a 20th century folly. The third decade of the 20th century and the […]
Posted inOctober 25, 2010: Lynch-Mob Politics
Us and them vs. all the rest
Ethnic diversity strengthened early Butte, Montana – and still can.
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
False moderates?
Your article is correct in stating: “The most hard-line right-wingers didn’t do very well in Wyoming’s Republican primary.” But that result wasn’t terribly indicative of the political leanings of most Republican voters in Wyoming. Rather, it’s a commonly accepted fact among both Democrats and Republicans that Dems switched parties to vote for Matt Mead in […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
Tamarisk takedown
This is incredibly short-sighted thinking on these environmentalists’ part, in my opinion (HCN, 10/10/11). It’s called the southwestern willow flycatcher, not the tamarisk flycatcher. This is a bird that needs willows and insects to survive. Part of the reason tamarisk is so invasive is that almost nothing can eat it. Releasing the beetle means two […]
Posted inNovember 8, 2010: Dr. No
‘Please stay in the kiddie pool’
It was one small group who blew the rock in the Salt River Canyon (HCN, 10/10/25). The guy who lit the fuse was too incompetent to get himself or his customers past an irreplaceable, completely natural challenge. It broke my heart, even though my rafting is defined by the inner tube. No one has a […]