Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Administration cancels mining leases in Minnesota

The Biden administration banned mining on more than 225,000 acres of federal land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for the next 20 years, blocking copper-nickel sulfide mining from potentially polluting the interconnected waterways of Northeastern Minnesota. [In July 2022, the Investigative Reporting Workshop produced an in-depth look into two of the proposed mining …

ICE will investigate deaths, but advocates question impact of new policy

Martin Vargas Arellano contracted COVID-19 while in the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center. Vargas Arellano had been in immigration detention since 2019. Though a judge had ordered Vargas Arellano’s release at the beginning of the pandemic, citing his pre-existing health conditions, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement refused to release him after his housing …

Charles Lewis

Charles Lewis takes new role

Charles Lewis will remain with IRW as emeritus executive editor as the newsroom transitions to new leadership, following his retirement at the end of the year from the faculty at American University.