|
|
|
|
|
In the Rockies today, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the United States' ambassador to China.
The Utah Republican, who served as co-chairman of Obama's presidential rival Arizona Sen. John McCain, accepted the nomination, but must still be approved by the U.S. Senate.
Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert will take the helm once Gov. Huntsman resigns, but the state will elect a new governor in 2010, and initial predictions are that the race will draw a lot of interest.
Also in the news, hunting groups team up to keep energy development out of popular hunting areas in the Missouri Breaks in eastern Montana; Utah-based EnergySolutions gets a big boost from federal stimulus funds flowing to nuclear cleanup projects; and the housing market is booming once again in Phoenix.
Rockies today
Obama picks Utah governor to be ambassador to China
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has often been named as a potential candidate for president in 2012, so President Barack Obama's nomination of the Republican governor to be ambassador to China surprised some, but others said the nomination will serve to remove Huntsman from presidential contention.
Salt Lake Tribune; May 16
-
Race to replace Utah governor in 2010 may get crowded
Utah's Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert will become governor if and when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is confirmed as the United States' ambassador to China, and he'll be a strong contender in the 2010 race to elect the Beehive State's next governor.
Salt Lake Tribune; May 17
Hunting clubs ask BLM to pull leases in Montana's Missouri Breaks
Forty hunting clubs have joined forces to get the Bureau of Land Management to forgo selling energy leases on 225,000 acres of land in the Missouri Breaks in eastern Montana.
Missoulian; May 18
Research uncovers plants' role in wildfires
A team of researchers from Montana, Washington and Illinois studied sediment cores from Alaska lakes along the base of the south-central Brooks Range, including in Gates of the Arctic National Park, and found that in years of warm, dry weather, deciduous trees helped diminish wildfire frequency.
Billings Gazette; May 17
Nuclear cleanup projects send waste, cash flowing into Utah
Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. will get trainloads of low-level nuclear waste from a bevy of cleanup projects funded by federal stimulus money, and with that waste comes lots of cash for the disposal of the waste.
Salt Lake Tribune; May 16
-
Firms with checkered past get federal stimulus funds for nuclear cleanup
The Government Accountability Office has designated the Department of Energy's program directed at cleaning up nuclear sites across the nation "at high risk for fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement," and some of the firms working on clean up at the Hanford nuclear complex in Washington state and a disposal site in New Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert have been cited for fraud and safety violations.
Washington Post; May 18
Housing sales in Phoenix are booming again
In January, the Phoenix housing market had a year's worth of unsold inventory; in March, the inventory had dropped to seven months' worth, and housing sales are again booming in the Arizona city, which had one of the most dramatic real estate crashes in the nation.
Los Angeles Times; May 18
Opinion
If Idaho can't pay to fix roads, maybe it should close them
If Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter can't get legislators to agree to raise taxes to help fund road repairs, he might want to consider taking the route the U.S. Forest Service did when it couldn't come up with the billions of dollars it needed to maintain its roads: the Clinton administration banned the construction of new roads on forest lands and the 2001 roadless rule was born.
Idaho Statesman; May 18
Run on gun sales pumps money into wildlife funds
Sales of guns and ammunition have exploded since the November elections, and the latest Treasury report indicated that the federal excise tax gun and ammunition manufacturers pay on on all their products for the final quarter of 2008 was 31 percent higher than the same quarter of 2007, and that tax goes to federal and state wildlife departments for conservation and research projects--a positive side to the paranoia of gun owners who fear the new president is out to get their guns.
NewWest.net; May 16
Congress tries again to address chronic farm-labor shortage
Legislation that would allow U.S. agricultural interests to hire temporary immigrants to work in their fields, and that would give undocumented workers a path to citizenship is on the agenda of both the Senate and the House, and whether the AgJobs bill passes on its own or is blended into other immigration legislation, it deserves to pass.
New York Times; May 16
Beyond the Region
Melting glaciers cause land to rise in Alaska
Almost nowhere else in the world is climate change having the same affect on land as it is in Alaska: As glaciers melt away, the land is rising, causing sea waters to recede farther.
New York Times; May 17
|
|
|
|
|
| "When the president of the United States asks you to step up and serve in a capacity like this, that to me is the end of the conversation and the beginning of the obligation to rise to the challenge."
|
|
Update of Wyoming forest's travel plan riles up campers, anglers
Montana wildlife agents capture, relocate grizzly bear
USFS moves Oregon ranger to Montana
Wyoming native under consideration to head National Park Service
Corps extends public comment period on Wyoming-Colorado pipeline
Montana tribes will share $6.8M in IHS federal stimulus funds
LED industry could brighten up Idaho's economy
Colorado city takes aggressive stance on foreclosed homes
Colorado governor will sign bill blocking Army's expansion plans
|
|
Exclusively
on Headwaters:
NewVoices/NewWest:
Culture
Clash: Can the federal No Child Left Behind Act coexist with Montana's
Indian Education for All?
|
|
|
Regional Conferences
|
June 11-13: Greater Yellowstone Coalition's 26th Annual Meeting and Rendezvous: From Parks to Prairies, Jackson Lake Lodge, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
June 14-16: Western Governors' Association Annual Meeting, Park City, Utah
June 17-18: NewWest.net and Boise State University present "Planning in the West," Boise, Idaho
|
|
 |
| |
 |
|
 |
|
Headwaters
News is a program of the Center
for the Rocky Mountain West at the University
of Montana. |
|
