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.
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Higher elevations like mountain tops usually have more moisture, and fires historically hadn’t burned there very often. But that’s changing rapidly. The Dixie and Caldor fires in California are the first two wildfires ever recorded crossing the Sierra Nevada crest and burning down the other side. -
Fentanyl test strips and better data may be a few of the many solutions to the opioid epidemic and the Mountain West's spike in overdose deaths.
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In the high-stakes fight against fentanyl-induced drug deaths, one remedy is fairly simple: blue and white strips of paper. Fentanyl test strips work like a pregnancy test. One line shows up if there’s fentanyl in a solution. Two lines if there’s none. But where are they needed most?
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Fatal drug overdoses are skyrocketing, driven by synthetic opioids like fentanyl. And that potentially deadly drug has made it to the Mountain West – the last part of the U.S. to face the brunt of the opioid crisis.
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As of this week, the National Park Service is requiring masks in crowded parks again. The new mask mandate will require everyone, regardless of vaccine status, to wear masks in National Park facilities and in crowded outside areas. That means you’ll need a mask wherever you can’t adequately distance outside.
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People often love the night sky in our region. There’s less light pollution and you can see more stars. That is, until wildfire season. The smoke from those fires filters starlight and sometimes blots it out completely. That could mean fewer stargazing tourists venture into our region to take in a nighttime view of the galaxy.
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It’s obvious that gun owners and non-gun owners often disagree on gun policy, but recent Pew Research surveys show they share some opinions, too.
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There’s an ice shortage in parts of the Mountain West, so you may not be able to buy as much as you need for that backyard gathering. The shortage is due to a big increase in events, the heat wave and a labor shortage. Distributors say it’s especially hard to find truck drivers to deliver the ice.
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States around the Mountain West are seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, and it’s started to affect some tribes, too. The Navajo Nation’s increase in cases is modest compared to surges in states like Arizona, though.
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The U.S. Energy and Employment Jobs report came out Tuesday, showing an overall decline in energy jobs around the nation.
