Senior Editor, High Country News
Senior editor for High Country News, a nonprofit news organization that has covered the American West for 40 years
PROFILE
Ray Ring
Guest
FROM Ray Ring
Which Way, L.A.?
Will the Mexican Wolf Survive the Obama Administration? Mexican gray wolves are the most endangered mammal in the United States. In 1998, the Clinton Administration began a recovery program on 4 million acres of mostly public land in New Mexico and Arizona. The goal was to have 100 animals living in the wild by 2006. Today, there are only about 50.
To the Point
Will the Mexican Wolf Survive the Obama Administration? President Obama is focused on climate change and what it could mean for the future of Planet Earth. What about trade-offs that have to be made right now? A case in point is the Mexican gray wolf. In 1998, the Clinton Administration began a recovery program on 4 million acres of mostly public land in New Mexico and Arizona. The goal was to have 100 animals living in the wild by 2006. Today, there are only about 50, a dismal failure. Environmentalists blamed Texan George Bush for siding with cattle ranchers rather than wolves. Will the President from Chicago be any different? When development clashes with conservation, how is the new administration likely to manage millions of acres of federal land?
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To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?