American West

Yellow sign on beach warning people to stay out of water because of pollutants, in Tijuana River Valley

Pollution from Tijuana River contaminates marine border areas

Environment

Pollution and trash carried from the Tijuana River to the Pacific Ocean have long plagued swimmers and surfers on both sides of the US-Mexico border. A recent court settlement is bringing hope for cooperation.

Sun Tunnels

Arts, Culture & Media

Spaghetti Westerns

Arts, Culture & Media

Special Guest: Rebecca Solnit

Arts, Culture & Media
Kalman Aron began sketching when he was 3 years old. He's now 93, and says if he didn't still paint and draw every day he would "die of boredom."

For over 90 years, this Holocaust survivor’s art has kept him alive

Arts
Wild horses.

The trouble with managing America’s wild horses

Environment

“We never have really figured out how to make the idea of the horse as a symbol of freedom, and the practical biology of protecting and yet limiting this horse, work,” says author David Philipps.

The Princeton College Eclipse Party, 1878

A solar eclipse rallied Americans around science. Could it again?

Science

Science journalist David Baron tells the story of the 1878 total eclipse of the sun that drew astronomers, scientists and even a young Thomas Edison to witness the rare event in the skies over Montana.

The Hi Jolly Monument in Quartzsite, Arizona.

One of America’s first Syrian immigrants helped conquer the West — with camels

Culture

Back in the 1850s, the US military created a Camel Corps for exploring desert territory and expanding the American frontier. That’s how Philip Tedro, aka Hadji Ali, aka Hi Jolly, came to the US.

Louis Marinelli is head of the Yes California independence campaign, but he doesn't live in California. His home is in Russia.

The leader of the California independence movement lives in Russia

Global Politics

A once fringe idea, some Californians are now seriously contemplating Calexit.

Family

This Syrian refugee family was split apart by new US travel rules

Global Politics

Gasem al-Hamad and his family live in California, safe from the war in Syria. But now Hamad’s brother is stuck in Jordan because of President Donald Trump’s suspension of the US Syrian refugee program. It’s unknown when the family may be reunited.