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We know now that free land wasn’t free

By Rebecca Clarren

There’s a place in South Dakota, about 25 miles north of Wall Drug, that some locals still call “Jew Flats.”…

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Joshua Hubbard via Unsplash

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War comes home to my small town

By Matt Witt

At the coffee shops in Talent, the little Oregon town where I live, the conversation is often about the high…

War is not the answer, Matt Witt photo

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Rosa Parks gives a talk in my small town

By Betsy Marston

It was 2 p.m. on a recent Sunday in the western Colorado town of Paonia, population 1,500, not an ideal…

Rosa Parks, Unseen Histories, Unsplash

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Women shouldn’t be second-class citizens

By Crista Worthy

I felt like a second-class citizen when the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion last summer. After a…

Idaho State Capitol, Wikimedia commons

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Wildland firefighters need our support

By Gregory Mcnamee

At any given moment during this smoky summer of 2023, hundreds of wildfires were blazing in the United States —…

Calwood fire, near Jamestown Colorado, by Malachi Brooks, via Unsplash

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A teenager who was killed should still be with us

By Matt Witt

If you think that race is only an issue in the country’s biggest cities, consider a murder trial that recently…

Andrea Woffard, Ellison’s mother, speaks MATT WITT

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Hats off to a determined woman

By Betsy Marston

Elouise Cobell Day will be celebrated on November 5 in Montana, but many people in the West may not recognize…

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Freedom in the West, but not for women

By Rebecca Johnson

I moved to Wyoming a few years ago for its outdoor recreation, but I also liked the state’s history of…

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How much will a name change change?

By Tim Lydon

It was late November in Alaska and a lousy day for deer hunting. Rough seas rocked our small boat, and…

View of Kenai Mountains, not far from the former Squaw Bay

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Trailer park residents hope to buy the land beneath them

By Benjamin Waddell
Informal meeting of mothers strategizing at the park March 18 photo credit Ben Waddell

Just outside Durango, Colorado there’s a trailer park called Westside that I’ve been driving by all my life. Yet residents…

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Our border with Mexico teems with contradictions

By Laura Pritchett

What I found is the volunteers here are the unsung heroes doing the real work of humanitarian aid — and who, by the very nature of what they do, often prefer to remain silent.

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When will black history become a part of American History?

By Wayne Hare

Photo Credit: Unknown author, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

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