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High Country News

High Country News

A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.

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HCN has covered the lands, wildlife and communities of the Western U.S. for more than 50 years. Get to know the West better by signing up to receive HCN’s on-the-ground reporting and investigations in your inbox.

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Technology

Posted inArticles

AI on public lands and Biden’s environmental legacy

by Jonathan Thompson January 30, 2025February 3, 2025

The 46th president finished his term in customary contradictory style.

Posted inArticles

Audio: What do we really learn from trail cams?

by Ruxandra Guidi September 27, 2024September 30, 2024

Documenting wildlife can bring us back to nature.

Posted inSeptember 2024: When Migrants Go Missing

Venezuelan migrants use social media to counter xenophobia

by Anthony J. Wallace September 1, 2024August 30, 2024

In the face of anti-immigration rhetoric, content creators show the ‘good outnumber the bad.’

President Joe Biden at the Intel Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. Intel received the largest investment under the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act.
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods

A silicon revival in the West

by Erin X. Wong August 1, 2024July 31, 2024

Is the region ready to produce the world’s most advanced technology?

Posted inArticles

Data centers could set back climate progress

by Jonathan Thompson June 27, 2024August 8, 2024

AI, cryptocurrency “mining” and our digital lifestyles imperil the energy transition — and the planet.

The Bowtie parcel in Los Angeles, California.
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness

What if the future is the past?

by Ruxandra Guidi June 1, 2024May 31, 2024

Degrowth offers a path for dealing with our serious environmental issues.

Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst

How solar geoengineering is clouding issues of tribal consent

by Hilary Beaumont February 1, 2024February 20, 2024

‘Move fast, break things’ approach runs into issues of tribal authority.

Posted inNovember 1, 2023: November 1, 2023

California’s Central Valley chinook are getting lost on their way home

by Kori Suzuki November 1, 2023January 24, 2024

The culprit is a tactic designed to save them – one that could decrease the species’ resilience in the long run.

During the early stages of the pandemic, many schools closed, and teachers taught online. This left some students without reliable access to school due to poor internet connectivity.
Posted inArticles

Federal program helps address the digital divide, for now

by Robert Davis September 15, 2023January 24, 2024

Colorado is looking to launch a statewide internet subsidy program as funding for the the Affordable Connectivity Program is only guaranteed until mid-2024.

Bethel, the hub community for 56 Alaska Native villages in Southwest Alaska, has received more than $100 million in federal broadband internet expansion grants.
Posted inArticles

Bringing fast, reliable broadband to rural Alaska could cost $1.8 billion

by Victoria Petersen May 24, 2023January 24, 2024

During a visit to Bethel, Alaska, first lady Jill Biden highlighted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to improve internet access in Alaska Native communities.

Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence

Good drones, coyote living and a cow-chip lottery

by Tiffany Midge May 1, 2023January 24, 2024

Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.

Posted inApril 1, 2023: The Path Forward

Navigating the new health-care deserts

by Caroline Tracey April 1, 2023January 24, 2024

Post-Roe, startups help those seeking abortions shrink travel distances and carbon emissions.

Posted inNovember 1, 2022: The Futures of Conservation

What can conservation learn from science fiction?

by Michelle Nijhuis November 1, 2022January 24, 2024

New works by Western authors explore the brighter futures of our swiftly tilting planet.

Posted inArticles

Idaho cobalt mine is a harbinger of what’s to come

by Kylie Mohr October 21, 2022January 24, 2024

A new venture near Salmon signals an uptick in hardrock mining across the West.

Posted inOctober 1, 2022: Making Refuge

Not-murder hornets, sentient chatbots and an AirBearNBear

by Tiffany Midge October 1, 2022January 24, 2024

Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.

Posted inArticles

The Green New Deal didn’t crash California’s grid

by Jonathan Thompson September 15, 2022January 24, 2024

Climate change is wrecking the electricity system.

Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West

The revenge of Big Tech

by Raksha Vasudevan May 1, 2022January 24, 2024

When tech companies rule the world, what could go wrong?

Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West

Park Service’s midnight-hour rule change benefits Telecom

by Theo Whitcomb April 26, 2022January 24, 2024

The eliminated policy was designed to keep the public in the loop about new cell towers.

Posted inArticles

Why rural communities struggle to bring in much-needed federal grants

by Kylie Mohr and Theo Whitcomb April 25, 2022January 24, 2024

A new analysis suggests that over half of communities in the West lack the capacity to take advantage of infrastructure bill funding. Now what?

Posted inArticles

How the economy of Indian Country impacts local communities

by Mark Trahant and Indian Country Today April 6, 2022January 24, 2024

A ‘stealth’ economy for tribes often hides billions of dollars in jobs, growth and revenue.

Posts pagination

1 2 3 … 6 Older posts

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