Changing demographics, including an aging rural population, put more pressure on health care systems.
Communities
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Photos of the North Dakota pipeline protest
Background on the Standing Rock Sioux pipeline protests and how social media and climate activism raised their profile.
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Photos from rural America’s veteran heartland
These Nevada counties outrank almost anywhere else in the country for per capita veteran populations.
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Border wall divides lands, but not culture
A wall bars the physical passage of people in a park near San Diego— but music scales that barrier.
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Wildfire rips through California’s windy Cajon Pass
Under potentially ‘new normal’ fire conditions, 80,000 people have been evacuated.
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BLM partners with mountain bikers to combat illegal trails
The agency is increasingly looking to locals to help deal with high demand for recreation access.
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A community curbs pain pill abuse, but heroin addiction grows
Interventions intended to reduce over-prescription of pain medicine may unintentionally be feeding a rise in heroin use in southwest Colorado.
Posted inAugust 8, 2016: Line of Descent
Columbia River ‘shadow tribes’ face a housing crisis
The feds have promised lodging at traditional fish camps — but haven’t delivered.
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Report: Coal jobs will decline with or without federal regulations
A new study from the Energy Information Administration finds the Clean Power Plan speeds coal’s decline.
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How Utah coal interests helped push a secret plan to export coal from California
Companies and investors are trying to survive a collapsing U.S. coal market.
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Dispatch from coal country: Advocates and adversaries duel over leasing reform
In western Colorado, two visions for the future of fossil fuels collide at a BLM listening session.
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Retreating glaciers a sign of Alaska’s major meltdown
This summer’s record-breaking temperatures hasten glacier, permafrost melt.
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A week of Black Lives Matter protests in the West
After last week’s police shootings, Americans use social media to call for police reform and racial justice.
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By the numbers: Western coal mine layoffs
Coal mines are scaling back and shutting down — and jobs are disappearing.
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Can Alamosa find a fix for the ‘catch-all’ emergency room?
A new movement aims to provide an alternative for people experiencing mental health crises in Colorado.
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Rural New Mexico hospitals pool resources to survive
Will a new network be the difference for remote hospitals on the brink of financial collapse?
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New hydrocarbon estimates put western Colorado on edge
USGS now says the region has the nation’s second-largest reserves, but a flush market means little will change for now.
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Why the EPA fails to enforce the Civil Rights Act
Despite a new environmental justice action plan, the EPA has a poor record of protecting communities of color from toxic environments.
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Can California’s water agencies keep up the conservation momentum?
Without mandatory regulations, some local districts fear a return to water waste.
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Searching for solutions in the changing rural West
A new project looks to answer how small towns can survive a new era.