MWNB

Homeowners insurance is getting more expensive and harder to keep. Lawmakers in our region introduced more than a dozen policy proposals in response this year.

After being shut down “indefinitely” at the start of April, the registration portal of the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer is operational again. The registry is considered by many to be one of the largest and most promising efforts to further understand cancer risks among firefighters, including wildland firefighters.

Federal forecasters are warning that the fire season could be very active across broad swaths of our region this July and August.

In recent months, the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and the Federal Insurance Office have each released detailed data on insurance premiums, non-renewals and other key metrics. The advocacy groups Public Citizen and The Revolving Door Project brought that data to life with interactive maps.

The goal is to boost domestic mining of lithium and other minerals officials say are critical to national security and the economy.

New research shows that job growth in our region has been faster in areas with serious wildfire danger, a trend that raises the prospect of serious economic fallout from major blazes.

For example, Utah’s Zion National Park has four days annually on average above 92.4 degrees – its 99th percentile temperature. That could jump to 21 days, or even higher.

The move comes in the wake of massive Trump administration layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which runs the program.

Much of southern Arizona and New Mexico are expected to see above average potential for wildfire in April.

In recent decades, wildfires have gotten larger and more intense, and community-destroying blazes are an increasingly common occurrence. But new research looking at centuries of wildfires shows that compared with fires in the 19th and earlier centuries, today’s blazes pale in comparison – at least in terms of size.