Madelyn Beck
Madelyn Beck is a regional Illinois reporter, based in Galesburg. On top of her work for Harvest Public Media, she also contributes to WVIK, Tri-States Public Radio and the Illinois Newsroom collaborative.
Beck grew up on a small cattle ranch in Manhattan, Montana. Her previous work was mostly based in the western U.S., but she has covered agriculture, environment and health issues from Alaska to Washington, D.C.
Before joining Harvest and the Illinois Newsroom, she was as an energy reporter based in Wyoming for the public radio collaborative Inside Energy. Other publications include the Idaho Mountain Express, E&E News/EnergyWire, KRBD Rainbird Radio, the Montana Broadcasters Association, Montana Public Radio and the Tioga Tribune.
-
This fire year is on track to be as extreme as the last few. At the same time, some Forest Service areas have had a hard time hiring enough wildland firefighters. -
PFAS chemicals are in some ski waxes, which then get into the environment, groundwater and even our bodies, possibly causing health issues. Now, a partnership between a Colorado wax company and college students has resulted in a take-back program. -
New federal funding may help with forest and wildfire management, but there are still hurdles. Increasing firefighter wages still can’t always contend with skyrocketing housing costs and burnout from long seasons. Funds may also help pay for supplies, but supply chain issues still make certain supplies hard to get. -
The Mountain West is known for big blue skies. But several cities here are among the nation’s worst for short-term air pollution levels, according to a new American Lung Association study. Wildfire smoke is an increasing factor, but so is smog from growing cities across the region. -
The Interior Department is reopening lease sales on public lands. However, the agency announced that it was 80% less acreage than the oil and gas industry nominated for leasing. The Interior also increased royalty rates. -
The Pentagon has announced that a new nuclear design is going to be assembled in our region. It’s called Project Pele, and it aims to produce a mobile nuclear microreactor. -
It’s legal to pick up roadkill for food in most of the Mountain West (Nevada excluded). You generally just have to get a permit, and now Wyoming is making that especially easy to do. In that state, you can get a permit via an app, called Wyoming 511. However, if you want to take part of the animal for food, you’ll need to take the entire animal with you. -
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland recently announced she will remove some federal oversight from tribal water rules. A memorandum that dates back to 1975 required federal approvals for tribes to change their water codes, but now that’s no longer the case. -
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation Hispanic vaccination rates were only 42% in Idaho and Colorado: tying for the second lowest rate in the country, above South Dakota. -
A Wyoming court case involving public land access may soon head to federal court. Landowners there want damages from four Missouri men who went over a corner where four pieces of land meet: two private, two public. They didn’t touch the private land, but landowners argue they still went over it and, therefore, trespassed.
