This month, we look at the upcoming elections from a Western viewpoint. Some Latino organizers in Washington are working on behalf of local elections, while others pursue the swing vote in Arizona and Nevada. Why are some Indigenous voters uncomfortable with the idea of voting, and with being U.S. citizens? A wide variety of downballot issues confront Westerners this year. Ten years after the notorious standoff at Bunkerville, Nevada, Cliven Bundy’s false notion of “white oppression” has become part of the political mainstream. Butte, Montana’s water supply, like that of many mountain communities, is threatened by wildfires. Nationwide, 2 million acres of state-owned “trust lands” lie inside reservation boundaries, leaving tribal members unable to access their own lands. Black Northwesterners cherish the memory of award-winning poet Colleen McElroy. The daughter of immigrants struggles to explain the idea of “invasive species” to her children, and complex ethical issues arise when an Indigenous journalist tries to write about sacred sites for non-Native readers.
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?
El voto indeciso latino
De gira con organizadores en Arizona y Nevada.
Latino voting power is building in Yakima
Activists in central Washington focus on informing voters and getting them to show up to the polls.
Poder latino
En el centro del estado de Washington, los organizadores latinos están promoviendo el voto y eligiendo a sus propios candidatos
The Native vote dilemma
Every election year, Indigenous people grapple with whether and how to engage in electoral politics.
What the Bundy Bunkerville standoff foreshadowed
Ten years after the impasse between the Bundy family and the BLM, the doctrine of white oppression is widely embraced.
The downballot issues driving the West’s 2024 elections
From climate and public lands to shifting political allegiances, the region faces critical choices at the ballot box.
Wildfires could devastate Butte’s water supply
How officials are working to get ahead of disaster.
Explaining invasive species to toddlers
And involving them in a murderous task.
Adoption
A poem by Lee Herrick.
‘Speaking your truth is difficult’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Dancing goats, fallen arches, runaway reptiles and a ‘Renaissance Faire Bear’
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Election blues and reds and greens
Democracy lessons from the high country.
Honest talk about conservation
And some new faces in the office.
Letters to the Editor, October 2024
Comments from readers.
Remembering Colleen McElroy, the ‘literary North Star’ of the Pacific Northwest
In the last quarter century, this Black poet was one of the most decorated in American literature.
How do you describe a sacred site without describing it?
Western journalism puts Indigenous reporters in a tricky position where values don’t always align.
States own lands on reservations. To use them, tribes must pay.
How schools, hospitals, prisons and other institutions in 15 states profit from land and resources on 79 tribal nations.