In 2006, large-scale ICE raids in Greeley, Colorado, and elsewhere, triggered changes to the center of the country that fed today’s nativist politics.
Communities
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In rural New Mexico, kids paint a sonic portrait of their ghost town
Madrid was once a booming coal town. At radio camp, its youngest inhabitants had big questions about its past — and present.
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New indictment in alleged wolf torture brings friction to a Wyoming community
Cody Robert’s new prosecution causes relief and concern that another dark, hate-filled period looms.
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The race to protect homes from speculators post-wildfire
Around the West, community land trusts are helping people recover from disaster — and prepare for the next one.
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How community assemblies kindle advocacy and solutions
Labor organizer Rosalinda Guillen explains how participatory democracy gives workers political power.
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‘Help is not on the way’
As fire season ramps up, thousands of Forest Service firefighting positions are vacant.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
A hotshot’s search for belonging among the flames
A wildland firefighter reckons with the male-dominated culture found on the fireline.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
Native languages need radio, which is at risk of being lost
As public media is threatened after cuts from Trump administration, Indigenous radio also face threats to how they preserve and grow language.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
911’s hidden emergency
A former firefighter makes the case for community paramedicine in the age of climate change.
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An Oregon law tries to tackle garbage gases
Surveys of U.S. landfills showed emission rates were, on average, 40% higher than reported.
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In Sitka, Łingít fishers share herring harvests with a surprise influx of grey whales
An unprecedented whale surge in Alaska waters has changed how humans interact with a vital yaaw fishery.
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When wildfire hits your doorstep
A Diné writer confronts how to offer a hand from far away as tragedy strikes on the Navajo Nation.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
Beneath the blazing sun, Black Phoenix sows community
Climate change is creating a mental health crisis in Phoenix. A budding movement in the desert might solve it.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
The seeds remember
Reclaiming Chinese culture through cultivation.
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When we harm wolves, we harm ourselves
Anger over these wild creatures shows a lack of perspective.
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Amid raids in California, families struggle to locate detained workers
Days after the workplace immigration raids that first sparked protests in Los Angeles, families still had no contact with relatives in detention.
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What defunding public media would mean for the West
Data show that rural, tribal and Western stations would be most impacted by Trump’s attempt to cut CPB funding.
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Indigenous filmmakers get support from Sundance
Santa Fe’s Sundance Native Lab has evolved to embrace the multihyphenate artists of today.
Posted inJune 2025: The Promised Land
Where the garbage goes
Amid massive rollbacks of federal environmental protections, a community battling the expansion of a local landfill seeks to safeguard its own backyard – and everyone else’s.
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Class of 2025 leads the way for Indigenous graduation regalia
High school graduates are the first to walk with the protected right to wear cultural attire after the state of New Mexico passed legislation this spring.