Federal and state agencies are struggling to pay for much needed maintenance and conservation on public lands so they’re turning to things like park fees and hunting permits to raise the cash. It has been a while since Colorado Parks and Wildlife raised recreational permits and park entrance fees.

Across the country students walked out of school Wednesday morning, including in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. In Colorado Springs, several hundred people surrounded Palmer High School for 17 minutes to honor the victims of the Parkland, Florida shooting.

The national conversation we’re having on guns is particularly painful in Colorado, where Columbine and Aurora are still active wounds. And like the rest of the country, this Mountain West state is deeply divided over what measures to take. Heather Martin teaches high school in Aurora, Colorado.

The federal Clean Power Plan is currently on hold due to various legal challenges. Not one of the Attorneys General from the Mountain West States has signed on to a brief by a coalition of states supporting the plan. The Obama-era rule aimed to dramatically cut greenhouse gases by reducing emissions from power plants.

Many are calling it far-fetched, but a mountain west entrepreneur is reviving a proposal to draw water from Utah’s Green River and funnel it to Colorado’s growing and drought-prone Front Range. The pipeline would move billions of gallons of water across hundreds of miles from Utah through Wyoming and down into Colorado.

Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment is  calling for a repeal of the Dickey Amendment – the law that essentially limits federal funding for gun violence research. Mountain west states have some of the highest rates of gun-related deaths in the country.

A recent report by The National Safety Council estimates annual traffic fatalities are down slightly across the country.  But Wyoming and Colorado seem to be bucking that trend.   Ken Kolosh, who heads up statistical reporting at the National Safety Council, says Colorado has strong impaired and distracted driving laws.