People & Population

"In a map update posted last month to U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s website, the agency charted a major expansion of the border wall. It included terrain belonging to one of America’s most iconic wild areas, Big Bend National Park, an 800,000-acre desert landscape that includes the entire Chisos mountain range and more than 100 miles of the Rio Grande."

"The Iran conflict is driving up energy and fertilizer costs, raising alarms over a return of food inflation. Farmers are bracing for resource shortages that could drag down harvests."

"Defenders of Wildlife released its 2025 Conservation Report Card for the 119th Congress, measuring members’ commitment to upholding federal laws that protect wildlife conservation during its first session."

"Ethics staff at EPA found last summer that employees who signed an open dissent letter were within their rights to do so, internal emails show. Nevertheless, the agency suspended most and fired some, a controversial move seen as silencing their criticism and is now being challenged by litigation."

"A major environmental justice case tying slavery’s legacy to Cancer Alley reached a new phase after a judge rejected defendants’ motion to dismiss last month."

"EPA is canceling its collective bargaining agreement with its second-biggest union, a fierce critic of the Trump administration."

"Death Valley, known as the driest place in North America, is teeming with life with a once-in-a-decade blossoming of wildflowers known as a superbloom, transforming a normally brown desert landscape into carpets of gold."

"Standing alongside his son’s Ford pickup truck at a central Iowa gas station off Interstate 80, Francisco Castillo was not happy."

"It’s 60-below-zero on Feb. 11 in Eagle Village, Alaska, and Jody Potts-Joseph is sewing a pair of mukluks for Jessie Holmes, a good friend and co-competitor in the 2026 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race."