Arizona
Colorado River agreement punts on drastic cuts and difficult negotiations
Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the West are grappling with drought that’s worsening because of climate change. State and federal officials are celebrating an agreement reached this week by Arizona, California and Nevada to reduce their use of Colorado River water by millions of gallons over the next three years. But it’s a temporary […]
Western states agree to Colorado River water-sharing agreement
The governors of Arizona, California and Nevada have announced a historic water-sharing agreement for the Colorado River in an attempt to salvage one of the West’s major sources of drinking water that has dwindled in severe drought. The agreement this week marks the culmination of months of tumultuous negotiations among seven Western states, whose 40 […]
A few cities are regaining residents after shrinking during the pandemic
The vast majority of American cities are shrinking, but new data shows that a few are regaining residents after population declines early in the pandemic — bolstered, perhaps, by the rapid construction of new homes. Seattle, Houston, Atlanta and Tucson, Arizona, are among the cities that lost population between 2020 and 2021 but now have more people […]
Some states hope to move climate-threatened species, but others say no way
This story is part two of a two-part series about a federal proposal to relocate endangered species outside their historic ranges. See part one: Federal wildlife managers and ecologists weigh the risks of action — and inaction — to rescue species from climate change. North Carolina might need to move a snail. A tiny mollusk […]
Climate change is destroying habitats. But relocating species could be tricky.
This story is part one of a two-part series about a federal proposal to relocate endangered species outside their historic ranges. Read part two: State wildlife officials have widely diverging reactions to the proposal. Nine years ago, a team of scientists studying a violet-blue, thumb-sized butterfly found only two remaining in a rolling landscape of […]
Cities shrink but immigrants help stem population losses
Continuing a pandemic trend, Americans are moving to the South and Southwest and from cities to the suburbs in search of more space and homes they can afford, recent government data indicates. But immigration, which is starting to bounce back from pandemic lows, has helped mitigate population loss in major cities. A Stateline analysis of […]
States Seek to Protect Tribes’ Rights in Child Custody Cases
Worried about a pending U.S. Supreme Court case, some states aim to pass new laws ensuring American Indian children can stay in their tribal communities even if they’re placed in the child welfare system. Later this year, the court will rule on a longstanding federal law designed to ensure that Native American children removed from […]
Facing Drought, Western States Seek to Deny Groundwater to Foreigners
Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the West are grappling with drought that’s worsening because of climate change. Just off an arid stretch of highway in western Arizona, a Saudi dairy company pumps unrestricted amounts of groundwater from underneath its fields, uses it to grow thousands of acres of alfalfa and ships the bales of […]
The Fight Against Election Lies Never Ends for Local Officials
State and local election officials across the country have begun pursuing strategies to combat election lies ahead of the 2024 presidential election: They’re meeting with community organizations, posting social media videos and even inviting skeptics to visit election offices in efforts to “pre-bunk” falsehoods they know are coming. The threat, officials said, has not gone […]
Can Western States Agree on the Future of the Colorado River?
Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the West are grappling with drought that’s worsening because of climate change. SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Western state water officials will spend the next few months trying to agree on how to divvy up water from the Colorado River, which sustains a region of 40 million people across seven […]
Some Towns Get Funding Boost From Census Corrections
After the U.S. Census Bureau released its first round of official 2020 population corrections in January, many states and cities still await action on the bulk of their counting issues and the funding shortfalls those mishaps can cause. Early winners are those areas where the census had clear technical problems — where mapping issues or […]
Egged on by Grocery Prices, Cities Welcome Backyard Chickens
For five years, a woman known as the Chicken Lady of South Jersey urged local officials in Haddon Township, New Jersey, to allow her and other residents to keep chickens in their backyards. She eventually won them over — but that was just the beginning. The woman, Gwenne Baile, became a traveling chicken guru for […]