MWNB

The U.S. Department of Education started to send notices of collection, which may include wage garnishment, to borrowers whose student loans have gone unpaid for more than nine months and are in default status. Employers can withhold up to 15% of disposable income, without a court order, from employees whose student loans are in default.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) has formally announced the establishment of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS), a development that came the same week that the U.S. Congress declined to fund it.

As many homeowners face a growing insurance crisis, state leaders across the region are considering reforms. Two groups have recommendations for them as state legislatures begin convening again.

Local elected officials across the region are worried that changes in federal policy are putting their communities at risk from wildfire. But public land agencies say some of the concerns are overstated.

New data also points to major insurance impacts in places surprising to many, including the Snake River Plain.

The report finds children raised by grandparents face higher rates of poverty and limited access to support services.

The Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act was introduced by Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar in January, but has received substantial bipartisan support.

As wildfires get more intense, there are questions about how effective prescribed fire and other fuel treatments can be. New research suggests that they can still have real impacts.

Brian Fennessy has nearly 50 years of fire experience, which began in the late 1970s on elite federal hotshot crews and other wildfire teams.

A group of mostly Western U.S. Senators is demanding answers on why the U.S. Forest Service has fallen behind on efforts to reduce hazardous wildfire fuels. The 12 senators – all Democrats – are from Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and other wildfire-impacted states.