The ability of the federal government to enforce its own land policies in the West will be tested as a trial begins this week of a Nevada rancher accused of leading a 2014 armed standoff with federal agents in a dispute over cattle grazing.

“I can't believe I lived through it, frankly,” Barbara Atkinson told me, as we sat at the conference table in her corner office, dotted with flowers and candy, gifts from well-wishers.

More than three years after Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff with U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials near his Bunkerville ranch, jury selection will begin today for a trial that could result in him spending the rest of his life in prison.

Hailey Dawson is already a veteran of tossing the ceremonial first pitch at the ripe old age of seven. She’s got two Major League games under her belt and is about to add a third, with her biggest audience yet, as she kicks off Game 4 of the World Series in Houston.

In search of someone to help print a hand for Hailey, Engineers at UNLV’s Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering took on the project using Stratasys Fortus 250mc 3D printer. By 2015, Hailey was throwing her first opening pitch at a UNLV Rebels baseball game, which quickly led to an MLB game.

Scott Abella began researching changes in plant life in the Oak Openings in 2002 as an undergraduate intern from Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Fifteen years later, Dr. Abella, assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, continues his research on his summer breaks.

Late in the afternoon in early October, the Dawson family gathered to watch son Zach’s baseball game.

Biologist Allen Gibbs calls them his “all-American flies.”