Madelyn Beck
Reporter, Mountain West News BureauMadelyn Beck was the Mountain West News Bureau reporter at Boise State Public Radio.
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The world of wildland firefighting has a lot of wonky lingo. But one key phrase is “fuel moisture” — and no, we’re not talking about oil and gas.
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The heat wave baking the West continues to increase wildfire dangers as we head into fall. On Tuesday, the National Interagency Fire Center increased its National Preparedness Level to 4, out of a possible 5.
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Rattlesnakes have a bad reputation in the West, seen as a deadly fiend that we'd be better off without. However, much like sharks, they rarely kill and often inspire far more fear than they deserve.
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Preliminary estimates show that the life expectancy of newborns is still declining in the U.S., from 77 in 2020 to 76 last year. A main driver is COVID-19. However, life expectancy decreased much more for American Indians and Alaskan Natives, who had a life expectancy of 65 last year.
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Several states are fighting to limit abortion access. But limited access will increase already high costs of traveling to seek abortions for many in the Mountain West.
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It’s called Bisticeratops froeseorum, part of a growing, diverse group of horned dinosaurs that lived in the Four Corners region. The paleontologists who identified it say knowing about these diverse dinosaur species and how they lived – or died – in the ensuing mass-extinction is an important lesson to modern-day humans.
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A Colorado state senator has changed parties from Republican to Democrat over false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Kevin Priola’s changing affiliation is just one of the many instances the "big lie" keeps cropping up in the Mountain West.
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A federal program is giving about $30,000 to individual rural communities to help them develop outdoor recreation economies.
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President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law this week. The massive piece of legislation funds programs ranging from electric vehicles, to advanced nuclear energy research. Specific to the Mountain West, it includes billions of dollars for forest lands and agriculture to fight climate change.
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People have always feared the unknown. And that fear transforms some animals into monsters in our minds — like sharks in the ocean, or rattlesnakes in the West.