New Mexico

Western governors have mixed reactions to Mike Lee’s plan to sell public lands

Associated Press

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says the approach is problematic while Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon voiced qualified support for plans to tap federal land for development.

Science & Environment

‘A glimmer of hope’ emerges from long-stuck Colorado River negotiations

Alex Hager

Colorado River states appear to be coalescing around the early makings of a new plan to share water in a way that accounts for climate change.

Science & Environment

Ted Cooke tapped to run Bureau of Reclamation, the fed’s key Colorado River job

Alex Hager

Cooke is the former manager of the Central Arizona Project. Regional water experts regard him as a qualified expert.

Science & Environment

At this point, Colorado River negotiators are basically in their own ‘conclave’

Alex Hager

Water experts opened June by gathering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, for talks about the future of the Colorado River. Top policymakers were notably absent.

Business & Economy

The Mountain West is struggling with an ever-widening home insurance crisis

Murphy Woodhouse

Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming all have seen rates at least tripled between 2018 and 2023, according to a Mountain West News Bureau analysis. In Utah's Summit County, cancellations jumped from fewer than 100 to 316 in the same period.

Politics & Government

Colorado River bigwigs make ‘disturbing’ retreat from the public eye amid tense talks

Alex Hager

Top water negotiators declined to speak at an upcoming conference amid closed-door meetings about the future of the water supply for 40 million people.

Politics & Government

Colorado River states need ‘shared pain’ to break the deadlock, say water experts

Alex Hager

The authors of a new memo say the seven states negotiating over a new Colorado River deal need to take shared water cutbacks to manage the river going forward.

FILE - Families and victims advocates participate in a prayer walk around the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center to mark Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Day in Albuquerque, N.M., Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

Race, Religion & Social Justice

Unsolved violent crimes in Native American communities to get more attention with FBI surge

Associated Press

The FBI is sending extra agents, analysts and other personnel to field offices in 10 states over the next six months to help investigate unsolved violent crimes in Indian Country.

FILE - Phillip Yazzie waits for a water drum in the back of his pickup truck to be filled in Teesto, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation, on Feb. 11, 2021. The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide a critical water rights case in the water-scarce Southwest. The high court will hold oral arguments Monday, March 20, 2023, in a case with critical implications for how water from the drought-stricken Colorado River is shared and the extent of the U.S. government’s obligations to Native American tribes.

Science & Environment

Report highlights how Navajo Nation and others can build resilient water systems

Associated Press

The Pacific Institute reports looks at nature-based solutions and technology to help those hit hardest by climate change. But as federal funding dries up, it could be harder to address water woes and prepare communities for more frequent and extreme weather.

A Mexican wolf from the Eagle Creek pack was captured and collared during the 2023 annual count in Arizona, Jan. 26, 2024.

Science & Environment

More endangered Mexican gray wolves are roaming the Southwest

Associated Press

Wildlife managers say an annual population survey shows there are now at least 286 Mexican gray wolves roaming parts of New Mexico and Arizona. That is 11% more than the previous year.

Six of the seven states that use water from the Colorado River agreed on a proposal to cut back on use, as the federal government looks for ways to prop up shrinking reservoirs. The river, seen here at Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, supplies 40 million people and a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry.

Science & Environment

Colorado River states stare down the ‘looming specter’ of a Supreme Court battle

Alex Hager

States that use the Colorado River say they don't want to go to the Supreme Court, but some are quietly preparing for litigation.

A line of people holding signs mounted on posts stands on a sidewalk waving at passing cars. Their backs are to the camera. The signs say “On Strike / En Huelga”.

Business & Economy

Mass deportations could leave a hole in the West’s service and agriculture economies

Yvette Fernandez

Immigrants without legal status make up a large part of the workers in several industries and have a combined household income of almost $27 billion in the Mountain West.