Nate Hegyi

Branden Paul has got the look. The dyed black pompadour. The bedazzled suit. The sunglasses. He’s an Elvis impersonator and, on a recent Wednesday, he guided two young women – Jess Sandoval and Alana Stroebel – through some special vows at the Graceland wedding chapel in downtown Las Vegas.

“Jess, I want you to look Alana in the eyes and say, ‘I promise to always love you tender and never leave you at the Heartbreak Hotel,” Paul said to laughter.

News Brief

Oil production is ramping up on federal public lands despite President Biden’s promise to end new drilling. The Bureau of Land Management has signed off on roughly 2,200 applications for new projects so far and approvals are on pace to hit their highest levels since the last year of the Bush administration.

News Brief

Severe weather may have played a role in the deaths of two veteran firefighters in a plane crash in northwest Arizona over the weekend.

Fire pilot Matt Miller, 48, and air tactical group supervisor Jeff Piechura, 62, were surveying a new wildfire near the small town of Wikieup, Ariz. on Saturday when the accident happened.

“There were storms in the area,” Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Dolores Garcia said. “That’s one of the factors investigators will be looking through when trying to determine what happened.”

It’s been a hectic morning for Guadalupe Serna. She drives for Lyft in Las Vegas, Nevada and the city is almost fully reopened for tourism. There’s a volleyball tournament in town, concerts, and thousands of visitors flying here every day to gamble.

“It’s a busy week right now,” she says.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

When police took Carlos Yazzie to jail on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico after his arrest on a bench warrant in January 2017, he needed immediate medical attention. His foot was swollen and his blood alcohol content was nearly six times the legal limit.

Last week, the Biden administration unveiled its budget plan for managing federal public lands, and it contains big funding increases that reflect the administration's priorities around conservation and climate change.

Last week, the Biden administration unveiled its budget plan for managing federal public lands, and it contains big funding increases that reflect the administration's priorities around conservation and climate change.

As more Americans get vaccinated, they're finally preparing for long-delayed vacations. But if they want to visit some big-name national parks in the West, they may need a reservation.