Many American towns and metropolises have initiated unions with international locales — “sister cities,” where citizens travel to each others' hometowns and build cultural bridges. Rarely have local leaders considered such an arrangement with tribal nations, until now.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for a complicated groundwater case this week, which could have implications for the Mountain West. The case involves Mississippi alleging that Tennessee takes too much water from an aquifer that runs beneath both states. Several western states have argued against the suit, not wanting to further complicate water law among the states.

Thursday marks Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – a day meant to acknowledge the enduring impacts that residential schools had on Indigenous people.

Clark County School District SuperintendentJesus Jara explains how the district has navigated the pandemic and what it needs from federal lawmakers going forward.

An Amtrak train derailment in rural north-central Montana on Sunday killed three people and sent several passengers to far-flung hospitals, further burdening ICUs full of COVID-19 patients.

A new report on wildfire risk uses demographic data to highlight counties around the West that may be especially vulnerable.

In Las Vegas, county commissioners passed a resolution calling misinformation a "public health crisis," while Idaho's public health department is cracking down on misinformation on Facebook.

Today, Moscow’s brief history as a probable sundown town seems a continent away. The northern Idaho town of 25,000 saw multiple racial justice protests last year. Black Lives Matter signs line the windows of Moscow’s downtown restaurants and cafes. But some people of color still feel uneasy here.

The $350 million investment would reduce the number of expensive and deadly wildlife-vehicle collisions – an issue that's especially acute in more rural Western states.

Higher elevations like mountain tops usually have more moisture, and fires historically hadn’t burned there very often. But that’s changing rapidly. The Dixie and Caldor fires in California are the first two wildfires ever recorded crossing the Sierra Nevada crest and burning down the other side.

New research indicates newer homes and those constructed with central air conditioning may be better at keeping wildfire smoke out.

The Biden Administration is starting the process of re-opening federal lands to oil and gas leasing. That comes after a federal judge ruled Biden’s across-the-board moratorium on the leases was an executive overreach.

The U.S. Interior Department is expanding access to hunting and fishing on about 2.1 million acres of Fish and Wildlife Service land. That’s nearly the size of Yellowstone National Park. While hunters and anglers applaud the efforts, other conservation groups believe that refuges shouldn’t have hunting or angling at all.

A local health board in Montana voted this week to continue to follow the CDC's COVID guidelines on who needs to quarantine after a close contact. But that could violate a new state law that prohibits discrimination based on vaccination status. 

The stakes have risen sharply to get rental assistance aid to struggling Americans on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ends the national eviction moratorium.

In the high-stakes fight against fentanyl-induced drug deaths, one remedy is fairly simple: blue and white strips of paper. Fentanyl test strips work like a pregnancy test. One line shows up if there’s fentanyl in a solution. Two lines if there’s none. But where are they needed most?

Fentanyl test strips and better data may be a few of the many solutions to the opioid epidemic and the Mountain West's spike in overdose deaths.

The move is not enough to ease widening disparities in certain parts of the region, resort towns in particular, where service workers comprise the backbone of the economy as a constant stream of tourists and wealthy second-home owners drive up the cost of living.

As of this week, the National Park Service is requiring masks in crowded parks again. The new mask mandate will require everyone, regardless of vaccine status, to wear masks in National Park facilities and in crowded outside areas. That means you’ll need a mask wherever you can’t adequately distance outside.

People often love the night sky in our region. There’s less light pollution and you can see more stars. That is, until wildfire season. The smoke from those fires filters starlight and sometimes blots it out completely. That could mean fewer stargazing tourists venture into our region to take in a nighttime view of the galaxy. 

“Eroding trust takes minutes. Building trust takes years,” says Christine Porter, a public health professor at the University of Wyoming.

Two Western cities registered the poorest air quality in the world over the last week as smoke from wildfires in northern California turned the skies over the Rocky Mountains into a chalky white abyss.

After months of repeated written questions and public records requests from NPR and the Mountain West News Bureau, Interior Department officials said they now plan to contract with an outside agency to examine the troubles plaguing tribal detention centers.

"The corrections officers are basically holding these lives in their hands with their decisions."

There’s an ice shortage in parts of the Mountain West, so you may not be able to buy as much as you need for that backyard gathering. The shortage is due to a big increase in events, the heat wave and a worker shortage. Distributors say it’s especially hard to find truck drivers to deliver the ice.

An updated version of a 2019 report published in the journal BioScience on Wednesday includes an additional 2,800 scientists’ signatures.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is spending up to $200 million to help loggers and timber haulers recover from the pandemic.

The pandemic made us press pause on a lot of life’s special moments. Vacations. Graduation parties … and weddings. But as the country continues to reopen and more people get vaccinated, marriages and ceremonies are surging this summer … including in America’s wedding capitol… Las Vegas.

Experts largely agree that schools should open to in-person learning this fall, but there’s disagreement on masking policies.

Advocates and social scientists say the extra money will help low and middle-income families recover from the economic impacts wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic and lift millions out of poverty.

A group of chemicals called PFAS are common in many household items, and potentially causing health problems. Monday, the EPA included them in the draft of its latest list of water contaminants, setting the groundwork for potential regulation.