Thirty-five years ago, Helper was nearly a ghost town. Now, art and tourism are providing new paths forward.
People & Places
Posted inFebruary 2025: Immigrant Stories
Unhoused people pay a disproportionate price for the West’s deadly roads
People experiencing homelessness are more likely to die from transportation-related injuries than the general population.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
Can land repair the nation’s racist past?
California’s approach to Black reparations shifts toward land access, ownership and stewardship.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
The aftermath of the Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon Fires
Devastation is hard to face, but
turning away is harder.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
Can Farmington hide from its legacy of anti-Indigenous violence?
It’s a reservation border town problem, not just a local one.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
The passion of the Mormon feminist
For 50 years, ‘Exponent II‘ has made the LDS Church squirm. It has no plans to stop.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
‘We’re all here together’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Posted inArticles
Why did Nevada vote to ban slavery, when California didn’t?
Both states require incarcerated people to work — often for critical and dangerous jobs.
Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie
In Washington’s Yakima Valley, quinceañeras connect people and place
Teens are making the tradition their own with high-top sneakers, glowing dresses and Tiktok dances.
Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie
Tenis, vestidos brillantes, y bailes de TikTok
En el Valle de Yakima, las jóvenes hacen suya la tradición quinceañera.
Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie
The search for a taste of home in a new place
After a move from rural to urban Alaska, a writer hunts for the blueberries that nourish her family, body and spirit.
Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie
‘Music gives voice to the soul directly’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Posted inNovember 2024: The Once and Future Prairie
Remembering a remarkable environmental journalist
Bob Jones’ pioneering reporting spanned the West and the world.
Posted inDecember 2024: Land as Reparations
Denver rideshare drivers just launched a worker-owned co-op
A new alternative to Uber and Lyft aspires to give workers more income and more say over their working conditions.
Posted inArticles
Welcome to Daylight Nonsense Time
When the Yukon tinkered with the time change, it stretched the Mountain Time Zone to its breaking point.
Posted inArticles
What Nevada’s Culinary Union wants this presidential election
La Culinaria, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in the battleground state, faces a high stakes election year.
Posted inArticles
Where have all the swifties gone?
This September, a beloved annual bird migration left Portlanders hanging.
Posted inArticles
In rural Washington, a ‘constitutional sheriff’ and his growing volunteer posse provoke controversy
Where some see a ‘rural neighborhood watch’ that saves money, others worry about liability and ties to extremism.
Posted inArticles
The mother-daughter duo fighting fossil fuels in Colorado
How Madhvi and Lalitha Chittoor teamed up against a proposed oil and gas development.
Posted inOctober 2024: Latino Vote
On the road with Latino organizers in the swing states of the West
In Nevada and Arizona, Latinos make up nearly a third of all voters. What are they thinking this election year?