Deserts

FILE - This May 13, 2006 file photo shows a desert tortoise at its new home in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve east of Leeds, Utah. More than 16,000 public comments have been submitted for a proposal on whether to allow a highway to be built through a protected Mojave desert tortoise habitat in southern Utah. The four-lane road has drawn criticism from conservationists. The Spectrum newspaper reported the road would pass through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. Bureau of Land Management officials opened the public comment period in December 2019 and say they will now go through all of the comments before releasing a draft environmental impact statement. (Brain Passey/The Spectrum via AP, File)

Over 16K comment on highway set for desert tortoise habitat

Jan. 9, 2020 2:40 PM EST

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — More than 16,000 public comments have been submitted for a proposal on whether to allow a highway to be built through a protected Mojave desert tortoise habitat in southern Utah, federal officials said. The proposed four-lane road has drawn criticism from conservationists, because...

Carter helps No. 15 Mississippi St. women beat Virginia

Dec. 21, 2019 10:07 PM EST

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Rickea Jackson scored 17 points, Jessika Carter had a double-double, and No. 15 Mississippi State beat Virginia 72-59 on Saturday in the championship game of the Duel in the Desert. Carter finished with 13 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks. Jordan Danberry and JaMya Mingo-Young added 10...

Bibby, Jackson lead No. 15 Mississippi St women past USF

Dec. 19, 2019 9:27 PM EST

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Chloe Bibby hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points, Rickea Jackson had a double-double and No. 15 Mississippi State opened the Duel in the Desert with an 86-61 win over South Florida on Thursday night. Jackson had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (10-2), who took control with a...

FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2013, file photo, mustangs recently captured on federal rangeland roam a corral at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's holding facility north of Reno, in Palomino, Nev. Two House committee chairmen are trying to put the brakes on money for a new Trump administration proposal to accelerate the capture of 130,000 wild horses across the West over the next 10 years. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner, File)

Push to accelerate mustang captures draws fire in Congress

Dec. 12, 2019 1:59 AM EST

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Two House committee chairmen are trying to put the brakes on money for a new Trump administration proposal to accelerate the capture of 130,000 wild horses across the West over the next 10 years. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, whose high-desert state is home to about half the mustangs, also...

FILE - In this June 11, 2019, file photo, Scott Warren, center, speaks outside federal court, in Tucson, Ariz., after a mistrial was declared in the federal case against him. Warren is scheduled to testify Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, in the second criminal case against his actions as a member of a humanitarian aid group. Prosecutors say Warren was arrested in early 2018 after harboring two men who sneaked across the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Astrid Galvan, File)

Border activist says he’d never hide migrants from US agents

Nov. 19, 2019 7:46 PM EST

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A member of a humanitarian aid group whose criminal case has garnered international attention testified Tuesday that neutrality guides his work near the U.S.-Mexico border, denying that he has ever helped migrants hide or told them how to avoid authorities. That’s what U.S....

In this photograph taken Wednesday Nov. 13, 2019 and released by the World Food Program (WFP), Zore Yusef, 61, and his family, sit in the Pissila camp, north of the capital Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Yusef was displaced from the Sahel region due to armed conflict in northern Burkina. The U.N. on Tuesday said a humanitarian crisis is growing in West Africa’s arid Sahel region where insecurity linked to growing extremist attacks has forced more than 860,000 people in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to flee their homes. (Marwa Awad/WFP via AP)

UN warns of mounting humanitarian crisis in Africa’s Sahel

Nov. 19, 2019 10:34 AM EST

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Ousmane Sawadogo, his wives and children recently fled their village in northern Burkina Faso because of growing extremist violence. After walking 200 kilometers (124 miles) to the regional city of Kaya, they now forage for wild leaves to survive. “What we need now is food....