Kirk Siegler

The Department of the Interior has chosen a prominent property rights attorney in Wyoming as their new deputy solicitor. Its a controversial appointment for environmental groups.

The state has the highest poverty rate in the nation, largely because of a lack of affordable housing. In November, voters will decide whether or not rent controls will help solve the problem.

Prolonged smoke across the West Coast will affect hundreds of thousands of people living in and around fire-prone areas. Scientists are warning of a lengthening — and worsening — smoke season.

Small towns have their own version of the housing crisis: not enough homes being built, plus a lack of move-in ready homes. Local leaders say it's hard to expand the tax base without more homes.

"How [do] they want to represent themselves?" one expert asked. "Is it with Nazi-like symbolism or imagery or is it in polo shirts and khakis ... that could be more palatable to the American public?"

Ten years after a housing collapse during the Great Recession, home values have rebounded but there are too few homes on the market. Buyers face intense competition, and that means higher prices.

For Cairo, Ill., a former river port and manufacturing hub, economic troubles began with the decline in river trade. Now two more public housing buildings are scheduled to close.

It's unclear whether the Trump administration's new "zero tolerance" policy at the border will have its intended effect of deterring illegal border crossings. Some in the San Diego area welcome the crackdown, believing lax immigration enforcement plagues the border lands.

Members of the system's biggest union are demanding the "respect of fair wages and fair treatment." They're set to return to work Thursday, hoping their protest had an impact.

U.S. Customs officials in Tijuana have begun processing some Central Americans from a caravan seeking asylum in the United States, despite strong condemnation of the migrants by President Trump.