Western United States

Immigration reform is closer to reality with a proposal in the Senate to beef up border security and win Republican support for the entire package. But one Mexican journalist says not so fast. He says all the money in the world won’t seal the border — and will come with high costs of their own.

For families separated between Mexico and the United States, the border fence can seem insurmountable. And it often is. But in a park near San Diego, the fence has become a place where those divided families meet and catch glimpses of one another — through the fence.

In an effort to stop mining near one of the United States’ most well-known landmarks, the Obama administration is banning new mining claims from being made in and around the Grand Canyon — a practice previously allowed.

The Pineapple Express jet stream from Alaska is meeting up with a Siberian cold air mass over Alaska and it’s dropping foot after foot of snow on top of many Alaskan communities.

New data from the 2010 U.S. Census shows that America’s Blacks are leaving the cities in northern areas and moving back to the Sun Belt, often to cities their parents and grandparents fled decades ago. Plus, more minorities are moving into suburbs, desegregating historically white areas.