Mountain West News Bureau

The price increases are exacerbated by the war in Iran.

Hot days and polluted air may be doing more than making people uncomfortable — they could also affect mental health. A new study from the University of Utah finds that short bursts of extreme heat, combined with certain types of air pollution, are linked to an increased risk of suicide.

Statehouses across the West are considering reforms to respond to the homeowners insurance crisis. While some are hitting headwinds, concern about the issue isn’t going away.

Salt lakes in the American West are shrinking — from Utah’s Great Salt Lake to smaller lakes scattered across the Great Basin. In her new book “Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History,” writer Caroline Tracey explores why these unusual landscapes matter, and what their decline reveals about humans’ impact on the environment.

Using a massive data set detailing some 70 million policies, researchers have found that “credit scores impact homeowners insurance premiums as much as disaster risk.”

The National Park Service recorded 323 million visits in 2025 at parks, historic sites, monuments and recreation areas, about a 3% decline from 2024’s all-time high.

Cross-country ski areas are doing their best to adapt, but they lack the same tools available in the far bigger downhill skiing industry.

The city used to auction off surplus animals to ranchers. But six years ago, it started donating them to tribes instead. More than 170 animals have been gifted so far.

During a tour of an Xcel natural gas plant, the secretary criticized the state’s climate plan and said that keeping coal plants open was saving lives.

Using new data, a team of scientists has assembled one of the first comprehensive analyses of emissions from homes burned in wildfires. What they found is that such pollution is serious, and in some cases can exceed emissions from all other human sources.