An explosion in suburban Colorado raises questions on safety and accountability.
Danger
Posted inOctober 29, 2018: When your neighborhood goes BOOM
The ascension of Matthew Shepard
A painter examines the aftermath of a murder motived by hate, 20 years later.
Posted inOctober 15, 2018: Nature Retreat
Latest: Wildfire smoke deaths could double by century’s end
New research shows fire-polluted air could kill up to 44,000 people per year by 2100.
Posted inSeptember 17, 2018: The Pioneer of Ruin
As the West burns, a town fields its own amateur firefighters
The community of Dufur, Oregon, bands together to douse the flames.
Posted inArticles
California’s apocalyptic fires are a side effect of modern life
The ‘new normal’ of a year-round wildfire season is a problem of our own making.
Posted inAugust 20, 2018: Where the West is Moving - and Why
Farmworkers face illness and death in the fields
‘The reality is that the machinery of growers is taken better care of than the lives of farmworkers.’
Posted inAugust 20, 2018: Where the West is Moving - and Why
Truckers take on human trafficking
‘Our idea was to turn a passive audience into a disruptive force.’
Posted inAugust 20, 2018: Where the West is Moving - and Why
Estranged in America
What happens to a community when its sense of belonging begins to unravel?
Posted inAugust 31, 2018: The Big Threat to Bighorns
Naming the Borderlands’ lost
In Arizona, a humanitarian crisis spurs researchers to find new ways of identifying migrant remains.
Posted inArticles
A strange feeling of safety for a Black American
Under the gaze of tribal police, a writer finds a new sense of freedom.
Posted inArticles
To protect a forest, a town agreed to leave it alone
With wildfires looming, Flagstaff came together to support national forest closures.
Posted inArticles
What it’s like to fight wildfires in the West
A photojournalist and firefighter describes the challenges of battling wildland blazes.
Posted inArticles
Where there’s smoke, there’s suffering
The small, sad harms of a summer spent indoors to avoid wildfire smoke.
Posted inArticles
Wildfires hit the West: ‘We’re stretched to our limits’
Fires this year have covered 1 million more acres than the 10-year average from January to July.
Posted inArticles
Hunters and anglers need to get the lead out
Lead ammunition and fishing gear poison ecosystems — and dinner tables.
Posted inArticles
How a Montana school is combating bullying and suicide
An assembly acknowledges elementary students’ pain and teaches them to speak up.
Posted inArticles
This year’s burn bans are crucial in parched Colorado
Another dry summer sparks memories of past wildfires — and worries for the future.
Posted inArticles
In a time of division and hate, wildfire unites a community
Disaster response offers an antidote to the era of “me.”
Posted inArticles
Extreme heat is killing people who lack shelter
Climate change is worsening the threats that homeless populations face.
Posted inArticles
Caught in the crossfire at a Colorado campground
A writer endures a night of bullets and bonfires in a previously serene gulch.