Regional News
What's happening in the region? Here's a roundup of news from Spokane, Montana and other regional areas.
Flash-flood risk lingers across the Southwest after Rachel’s remnants swamped Nevada
Utah bans 13 books at schools, including popular “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series, under new law
Idaho's law requires school and public libraries to move material deemed “harmful to minors” to an adults-only section or face lawsuits. The new law uses Idaho…
Heat deaths of people without air conditioning, often in mobile homes, underscore energy inequity
People living in mobile homes or in aging trailers and RVs are especially likely to lack proper cooling. Nearly a quarter of the indoor heat deaths in Arizona'…
Heat, erratic winds and possible lightning could complicate the battle against California wildfire
Suppression crews working on more than 200 miles of active fire front gained 24% containment by early Friday, Cal Fire said. Temperatures were expected to rang…
ACLU sues Washington state city over anti-homeless laws as it seeks workaround to SCOTUS ruling
Erin Hut, a spokesperson for the Spokane city attorney’s office, said in an email that the city had not yet been served the lawsuit and was unable to comment. …
Wildfires encroach on homes near Denver as heat hinders fight
New large fires were reported in Idaho, southeast Montana and north Texas.
Wildfire smoke chokes parts of Canada and western US, with some areas under air quality alerts
In Canada, there are about 430 active wildfires in British Columbia and 177 in neighboring Alberta, including two that led to the evacuation of up to 25,000 vi…
Surprise Yellowstone geyser eruption highlights little known hazard at popular park
Tuesday's explosion came with little warning.
Wildfires plague the West amid a scorching heat wave and high winds
Riverside hit 102 degrees (38.9 Celsius) on Sunday amid a heat wave that has been largely focused on the interior of California and is expected to last through…
Man kills grizzly in Montana after it attacks while he is picking berries
The attack happened in Flathead National Forest about 2 miles north of Columbia Falls, a northwestern Montana city of about 5,500 people, according to the state wildlife agency.
Montana seeks to revive signature restrictions for ballot petitions, including on abortion rights
The judge gave county election offices until July 24 to tally signatures of inactive voters that had been rejected. All the initiatives are expected to qualify…
Money from Washington's landmark climate law will help tribes face rising seas, climate change
The tribe has spent at least a decade on the relocation effort, but so far a patchwork of federal and state grants has fallen far short of the expected cost.
3 hikers die in Utah parks as triple-digit temperatures linger in western US
Later Saturday, first responders in southwest Utah responded to a call about two hikers “suffering from a heat related incident” at Snow Canyon State Park, whi…
5 people escape hot, acidic pond after SUV drove into inactive geyser in Yellowstone National Park
The Semi-Centennial Geyser has been inactive since a major eruption in 1922. It is located near Roaring Mountain between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junctio…
For at least a decade Quinault Nation has tried to escape the rising Pacific. Time is running out
Taholah is expected to see a sea level rise of 1 to 2.6 feet by the year 2100, according to a 2018 Washington Coastal Resilience Project report.
California fast food workers now earn $20 per hour. Franchisees are responding by cutting hours.
It wasn’t only entry-level workers that got a pay raise. Shift leaders, assistant managers, and everyone else up the ladder had to get raises too, and labor re…