Environmental groups asked a 10th Circuit panel to order an environmental impact statement for the plan to give Utah 52,000 acre-feet of water from a reservoir annually, arguing the plan was approved without taking into account how drastically drought would deplete the river. Read more»

With the winter holidays approaching, the Biden administration released a COVID-19 preparedness plan announcing access to free tests and vaccines as well as hospital staff support and equipment in anticipation of increased disease transmission. Read more»

As the holidays near and health care facilities grapple with a "tripledemic" of viral respiratory infections, people are being urged to consider donning masks and calling out sick. Nearly 10% of weekly deaths as of Dec. 1 were attributed to pneumonia, flu or COVID-19. And that was with Thanksgiving barely in the rear view. Read more»

If Colorado River stakeholders continue using water at current rates, water levels in lakes Mead and Powell may soon drop too low to produce hydropower, and while the solution - use less water - is painfully obvious, how to actually implement changes remains a turbulent issue. Read more»

On March 23, President Biden signed the Amache National Historic Site Act — preserving the place on the western rim of the Dust Bowl where the U.S. government imprisoned 10,000 Japanese Americans and immigrants behind barbed wire from 1942 to 1945. Read more»

To foster the Mexican gray wolves’ long term success in the Southwest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife announced it will lift a 325-animal cap on the population according to a draft of the proposed rule published Friday. Read more»

Environmental groups sued the Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday for failing to monitor cattle grazing in Arizona’s Agua Fria National Monument, putting endangered fish and birds as well as critical habitat at risk. Read more»

Increasingly frequent wildfires in the western U.S. are driving particle pollution to occur with late summer ozone episodes and raising new public health concerns about cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses and the combined air pollutants in pregnant women and children. Read more»

The Walter Reed vaccine — which would provide immunity against several different coronaviruses — completed phase 1 human trials in November, marking an important step forward in the development of a universal vaccine to combat future coronavirus outbreaks. Read more»

Arizona can throw out mail-in ballots that haven’t been signed by Election Day, following a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel’s reversal of a 2020 permanent injunction requested by the state's Democratic Party. Read more» 1

An expert panel voted 13-10 Tuesday recommending the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grant emergency use authorization to a new drug developed by Merck to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients. Read more»

America reported the highest rate of COVID-19 infections globally last year, but even 20 million was an undercount, according to research published on Thursday estimating 31% of the country contracted the infectious disease in 2020. Read more»

U.S. health officials announced a plan to recommend that all Americans, but particularly those who are elderly or otherwise at risk of serious infection from COVID-19, obtain booster shots to better withstand an ongoing surge of the virus's more infectious Delta variant. Read more»

As more states legalize marijuana, the plant's federal prohibition makes it difficult to study in the lab, forcing researchers to get creative in their methods to answer questions on the benefits and risks of treating conditions like cancer, anxiety and migraines with cannabis. Read more»

Longer droughts and spotty rainfall are a recipe for water shortage — something already being seen throughout much of the American West. With climate change, scientists expect the Southwest U.S. to become hotter and drier over the next century. Read more»