The Federal Communications Commission has granted broadcast licenses ideal for high-speed wireless internet to rural tribal governments in New Mexico, Arizona and elsewhere. The 2.5 GHz licenses have been granted to 154 Native American communities so far, the commission announced in a statement Friday.

Even as airlines post billion-dollar losses, the U.S. Department of Transportation has declined to mandate mask-wearing on airplanes. But a study of cleaning methods by Boeing and the University of Arizona could offer some hope for the future of flight.

The deal reached this week between the U.S. Justice Department and the maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, does not end the legal issues for the pharmaceutical company. Other states, counties and cities — including Pinal County — have legal claims against the firm and its owners.

In June of 2002, nearly half a million acres burned in the Arizona high country. At the time, the Rodeo-Chediski Fire was the largest wildfire in the state’s history. There was too much fuel in the forest, a buildup that began more than a century ago. Enough people saw the record-breaking fire and agreed that something needed to be done to prevent the next big fire.

In the West, wildfires don’t just happen in forests. Researchers are looking at how fighting invasive species could help prevent drought-fueled fires on the range. Our look at where water and fire intersect across the region continues.

New data published by the Pew Research Center throws into sharp relief just how much our country — and our state — have changed in recent decades. Nilda Flores-Gonzalez makes the case that increasing diversity is good for all of us.

For many western communities, their water supplies originate from melting snow, high up in the mountains. But this summer’s record-breaking wildfires have reduced some headwater forests to burnt trees and heaps of ash.

Whether it’s roads, buildings, or items big and small around the house, there are a lot of things we simply don’t notice — or even take for granted. But design is all around us — at all times. Roman Mars has dug more deeply into those topics in the new book "The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design."

A spacecraft that launched in 2016 will make its first attempt Oct. 20 to collect a sample from the surface of the asteroid Bennu, and then bring it back to Earth. The OSIRIS-REx mission is NASA’s first sample return mission since the Apollo Era, and the first time the agency is bringing back a piece of an asteroid.