"Democrats tore into the chief of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at a hearing Tuesday, questioning the merits of a Department of Interior plan to decentralize the public land agency and send its top officials west."
A new rule expands hunting and fishing in National Wildlife Refuges and fish hatcheries, and that means potential impacts on critically important public policy around fish and wildlife conservation. The latest TipSheet offers up story ideas and resources for local coverage of the story.
"The FBI yesterday approved anti-government activist Ammon Bundy for purchase of an AR-15 rifle, reversing its initial rejection days after the Idaho resident staged a social media campaign on his quest for a new firearm."
"The Interior Department broke federal spending law when it dipped into national park fees to keep its most popular sites operating during this winter’s partial federal shutdown, the Government Accountability Office concluded Thursday."
"A top Senate appropriator is seeking federal ethics information for former Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash, who recently left the department for a job with a foreign oil and gas company."
"Standing at an overlook on the top of Black Mountain — the tallest point in Kentucky — the wooded Appalachian mountains stretch on like a sea of green for miles."
"A former Interior Department official who abruptly resigned last month personally expedited environmental review for a 211-mile private road project across federal land that would open up a vast new copper, gold and precious metals mining district near a national park in northern Alaska, according to a company seeking to mine there."
Permanent funding could soon be in store for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a federal program that buys local land and water conservation areas. That means local stories about nearby recreation areas may abound. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox explains more, and points to databases and other resources to help locate those projects.
"In the patchwork of rice fields and pastures spreading across southwest Louisiana is a parcel Jay Lewis’ family has called their own for longer than anyone can remember."
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