Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"A growing population, leaking pipes and changing climate threaten the state’s water supply. Texas lawmakers hope a $20 billion investment will help."

"Hakim Dermish moved to the small South Texas town of Catarina in 2002 in search of a rural lifestyle on a budget. The property where he lived with his wife didn’t have electricity or sewer lines at first, but that didn’t bother him."

"The move by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first."

"The Rio Grande Valley is home to ocelots and other endangered species. Now, the federal government will not have to follow the Endangered Species Act and more than two dozen other federal laws to build the border wall through a national wildlife refuge."

"A U.S. appeals court has temporarily blocked the transfer of federal forest land in Arizona to a pair of international companies that plan to mine one of the largest copper deposits in North America. ... The land includes Oak Flat — an area used for centuries for religious ceremonies, prayer and gathering of medicinal plants by the San Carlos Apache people and other Native American tribes."

"In El Paso, heat deaths hit record highs in 2023 and 2024. Advocates say not enough is being done to protect the region’s most vulnerable people."

"One of the largest deer-smuggling networks in the state’s history aimed to skirt chronic wasting disease-containment rules, officials say." 

"Companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin may be able to forgo reviews required under National Environmental Policy Act" 

"The sun was barely up when the three-person medical team pulled into the parking lot of a Phoenix soup kitchen, but the temperature was already around 90 degrees, on its way to 111."

"In the week after floods tore through Texas Hill Country, most survivors were unable to get through to a federal aid hotline because the Department of Homeland Security let funding lapse, according to publicly available contract records and internal FEMA call center logs obtained by NPR."