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Black bear populations are bouncing back. Here’s how these Texas towns are coping

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Black bear populations are bouncing back. Here’s how these Texas towns are coping

Ken Clouse and his wife Pam look at a still image taken from a game camera on their porch. The couple says in the last two years, they’ve regularly seen black bears in their neighborhood south of Alpine, Texas.

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ALPINE, Texas — In one of the most remote corners of Texas, Matt Hewitt is unlocking the door to a giant steel trap he’s hoping will catch a black bear.

“It’s completely empty,” Hewitt says, as he reaches for a bucket with bait – days-old glazed donuts and frozen cantaloupe.

Hewitt, a researcher at the Borderlands Research Institute, affiliated with Sul Ross State University, leads a group that captures and collars black bears to try and get an idea of just how many are roaming the mountains and desert stretches of Far West Texas. And although it’s too soon to say exactly how many bears there are, Hewitt believes “there’s more than people realize.”

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Historically, black bears were once the biggest predator to travel the region in large numbers, but overhunting and habitat loss led to their decline over several decades.

But in recent years, the number of black bears in West Texas have been on the rise: sightings in the state have jumped from nearly 80 in 2020 to at least 130 so far this year, according to state data. And in other states, researchers believe black bear populations are growing too.

Inside an eight-foot steel trap, researcher Matt Hewitt has sprinkled stale doughnuts and chunks of cantaloupe. Hewitt hopes the bait’s enough to lure and trap a Black bear.

Inside an eight-foot steel trap, researcher Matt Hewitt has sprinkled stale doughnuts and chunks of cantaloupe. Hewitt hopes the bait’s enough to lure and trap a black bear.

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Matt Hewitt, a researcher with Borderlands Research Institute, heads for his truck after securing a snare, which he hopes will snag tufts of bear hair.

Matt Hewitt, a researcher with Borderlands Research Institute, heads for his truck after securing a snare, which he hopes will snag tufts of bear hair.

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But in West Texas, for all the celebration of the bears’ return to the wilderness, there are challenges and concerns as bears have ventured into neighborhoods, gotten into yards and posed a threat to livestock and pets.

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“I don’t mind the bears coming back, we don’t want them wiped out, that’s for sure,” said Pam Clouse, who lives in Alpine, an area that’s seen a number of bear encounters in recent years. “You know, they were almost extinct.”

Clouse and her husband, Ken, both grew up in West Texas, and consider themselves wildlife enthusiasts. During drought years, the couple would sprinkle buckets full of corn on their yard and keep troughs of water on their property for wandering wildlife like deer and javelina.

Recently, they removed the food and water at the suggestion of state officials, and have even electrified their fence, too — all in effort of keeping the bears away.

But the bears are still coming, they say. “These bears are pretty large,” said Pam Clouse, as she pulled up an image of a bear from a trail camera at their house. “They’re probably about 4, 500 pounds if I had to guess.”

A still image taken from a game camera Pam and Ken Clouse have on their porch in Alpine, Texas.

A still image taken from a trail camera Pam and Ken Clouse have on their porch in Alpine, Texas.
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The Clouses feel like more can be done to ease residents’ concerns over bears wandering onto their property. “I’m not promoting a hunting season for the black bears,” said Ken Clouse. “But there’s got to be some type of control.”

A mural in downtown Alpine, Texas highlights the wildlife that call the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas home – including the black bear.

A mural in downtown Alpine, Texas highlights the wildlife that call the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas home – including the black bear.

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Learning to live with bears

In states like Montana and Colorado, residents have adapted to living with bears by installing bear-resistant dumpsters and trash bins and, in some cases, installing alarm systems or sprinklers — things to try and startle bears.

But of all the measures, wildlife biologists stress removing food and anything that might attract a hungry bear.

During the late summer and fall months, as black bears prepare to den, they’re looking to eat as much as possible, and they’ll go through great lengths to consume the 20,000 daily calories they’re after.

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“They have a great sense of smell, much better than our own,” said Raymond Skiles, former wildlife biologist at Big Bend National Park in West Texas. “So, number one, they can smell food when you and I would never have a clue.”

Skiles was at Big Bend National Park when black bears made their return there in the late 1980s. He said it took time and work at the park, but they were able to adapt to the return of bears there. The park brought in dumpsters that were hard for bears to get into, educated visitors about the animal, and put into place rules that ensured food wasn’t being left out.

Today, Skiles said, those measures have gone a long way in reducing the possibility of bear-human conflict in the Chisos Mountains, one of the most popular corners of the park. Now, Skiles wonders if the same can happen in cities and towns across West Texas.

Krysta Demere sits in the offices for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Alpine. Part of her job as a wildlife biologist is getting people ready to live with Black bears and educate them in hopes of reducing bear-human conflict.

Krysta Demere sits in the offices for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Alpine. Part of her job as a wildlife biologist is getting people ready to live with black bears and educate them in hopes of reducing bear-human conflict.

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From the national park, an expansive stretch of desert land roughly the size of Rhode Island, the bears are now pushing north. Wildlife conservationists here say it’s likely because the land has reached what they call “carrying capacity.”

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“And when you’re over carrying capacity, there’s not [enough] resources on the natural landscape for those animals,” explained Krysta Demere, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “So, then they begin to move out and search for new food sources.”

Part of Demere’s job is to help people across West Texas get ready to live with bears, something they haven’t experienced in well over 80 years.

“And that’s a long time,” said Demere. “That means there’s not a generation alive today that’s had to live with [the] black bear before.”

But the next generation in Alpine and the ones after that will likely grow up knowing this place, once again, as bear country.

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Video: Will the ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good Be Prosecuted?

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Video: Will the ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good Be Prosecuted?

new video loaded: Will the ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good Be Prosecuted?

With the Trump administration unlikely to bring a federal case against the ICE agent who killed Renee Good, our criminal justice reporter Jonah Bromwich explains some of the obstacles for any Minnesota prosecutors trying to charge the agent.

By Jonah E. Bromwich, Christina Shaman, Nikolay Nikolov, June Kim and Sutton Raphael

January 16, 2026

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Trump threatens military action in Minneapolis. And, inside his healthcare plan

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Trump threatens military action in Minneapolis. And, inside his healthcare plan

Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

Today’s top stories

President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota to stop protests in Minneapolis. On Wednesday, immigration officers shot an immigrant man in the leg, sparking unrest on the city’s north side. There are as many as 3,000 federal immigration officers on the ground or expected to arrive soon in the Twin Cities, NPR’s Meg Anderson tells Up First.

Protesters (R) are confronted by an ICE supporter during a demonstration outside the Bishop Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan.15, 2026. Hundreds more federal agents were heading to Minneapolis, the U.S. Homeland Security chief said on Jan. 11, brushing aside demands by the Midwestern city’s Democratic leaders to leave after an immigration officer fatally shot a woman protester.

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  • 🎧 Fierce resistance to ICE’s presence continues noisily, as community members follow immigration agents in their vehicles. Anderson notes that observers filming and making noise are peaceful acts of resistance that are constitutionally protected. However, ICE has responded aggressively over the last five days with tear gas, flash bangs and pepper balls to disperse crowds. Some people in the community are afraid to leave their homes, including an asylum seeker, who asked to only be identified by her first initial, A. She feels like she can’t see a future for herself or her family.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado came to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump for the first time and presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize. She is pushing to remain part of Venezuela’s future after the U.S. military operation that resulted in the seizure of Nicolás Maduro. Trump has sidelined Machado and is backing Venezuela’s acting president.

  • 🎧 After Maduro’s capture, Trump shockingly said he was not backing Machado for president because she didn’t have the support or respect within her country. Bloomberg and The Economist‘s recent polling shows she has substantial support, and people widely believe her party won the disputed 2024 presidential election by a landslide. NPR’s Carrie Kahn says the timing of Machado’s meeting was extraordinary as acting President Delcy Rodríguez gave a scheduled State of the Nation speech. Venezuela was attacked by the strongest military in the world, but it has to resume diplomatic relations with the U.S., she said.

Yesterday, Trump announced an outline for new health care legislation, which he has dubbed the “Great Healthcare Plan.” The White House issued a fact sheet outlining a framework the administration is asking Congress to develop, with four pillars: drug price reforms, health insurance reforms, price transparency for health costs, and fraud protections and safeguards.

  • 🎧 One thing that jumped out to NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin about the fact sheet is that the policies are not new, but like a compilation of the greatest hits of Republican health policy ideas. The proposal doesn’t mention repealing Obamacare, but, given the sparse details provided, it seems to want to let people use federal dollars to buy plans that don’t offer comprehensive coverage. The president’s plan could potentially weaken Healthcare.gov because its plans can be expensive but offer essential benefits and don’t discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.

Life advice

An illustration shows a person in the foreground, lying on a pillow with their eyes open, staring up at the sky. They have small red veins in their eyes, and they appear mildly distressed. They float on an open ocean, water splashing up around them as they drift towards the horizon, where a large alarm clock rises as if it were the morning sun. The person in the image is depicted in cool, blue and purple color tones, with the alarm clock sunrise shown in pinks and golds, giving the image a dreamy look.

People who have a fear of not being able to sleep are experiencing a phenomenon called “sleep anxiety,” which, if it is left untreated, can prevent people from getting any shut-eye. One of the most effective ways to overcome this form of anxiety is through cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). But you don’t need the official program to benefit from CBT-I. Whether you’re dealing with some sleep stress or simply struggling with an off-night from time to time, these CBT-I practices can help:

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  • 💤 Wake up at the same time every day, which can help your body know when it’s time to get sleepy.
  • 💤 Pick a time to transition from daytime activities to nighttime activities in an effort to focus on winding down for bed earlier.
  • 💤 If stress comes before bedtime, put some dedicated “worry time” on your calendar during daylight hours. You could use that time to write out what’s bothering you so you can relax later.

For more guidance on how to beat the anxiety of insomnia, listen to this episode of NPR’s Life Kit. Subscribe to the Life Kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.

Weekend picks

Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir and Zoë Steiner as Tarima Sadal in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir and Zoë Steiner as Tarima Sadal in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

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Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Movies: Kristen Stewart makes her feature-length directorial debut with The Chronology of Water, based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir about growing up with an abusive father and confronting personal memories. Hear what Stewart told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep about the film.

📺 TV: NPR’s Eric Deggans finds Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to be promising, setting the table for future achievement, but not quite ready to prove its value against Trek series legends like Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock.

📚 Books: The new year brings promising titles from George Saunders, Julian Barnes, Jennette McCurdy, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and more. See what publishes this month.

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🎵 Music: From Dry Cleaning’s Secret Love to Jenny On Holiday’s Quicksand Heart, check out the new music that was released today. Plus, a musical playlist to start your weekend off right.

❓ Quiz: I scored a decent seven out of 10. Think you can beat that? Put your knowledge to the test!

3 things to know before you go

Tom Sinclair today, smiling while he holds a large cauliflower.

Tom Sinclair today, smiling while he holds a large cauliflower.

Tom Sinclair


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Tom Sinclair

  1. When Tom Sinclair was 6 years old, he wandered away from his family’s campsite on Lake Superior and got lost. At dawn, he heard the voice of his unsung hero, a stranger who was part of an extensive search to find him. Now, at 66, Sinclair still keeps the newspaper clipping about his rescue and believes the man saved his life.
  2. A new national database helps track how state and local governments spend their share of settlement funds. This includes the District of Columbia, which will receive more than $80 million in opioid settlement money over the coming years. (via WAMU)
  3. Jodie Foster has spoken French since childhood, but only now has she taken on a lead role scripted almost entirely in the language of Molière, for A Private Life. And, she hopes to take part in more French films.

This newsletter was edited by Yvonne Dennis.

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Video: Video Analysis of ICE Shooting Sheds Light on Contested Moments

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Video: Video Analysis of ICE Shooting Sheds Light on Contested Moments

This Is a cellphone video filmed by the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. The White House press secretary said this footage reaffirmed President Trump’s previous claim, based on other videos, that Ms. Good, quote, “didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over.” “Get out of the car.” “Whoa.” Watched in isolation, the cellphone video might look like that’s the case, but when analyzed alongside other angles of the shooting synchronized by The Times, a much more complicated picture is revealed. More footage will likely emerge, but the currently available visual evidence still shows no indication agent Jonathan Ross got run over. The footage does provide some visibility into the positioning between the agent and Ms. Good’s S.U.V. and the key moments of escalation. And it establishes, millisecond by millisecond, how agent Ross put himself in a dangerous position near her vehicle in the first place. About three minutes before the shooting, footage shows Ms. Good and her wife parked their maroon S.U.V. in the middle of the street and begin honking and heckling. Administration officials say they were impeding and blocking immigration agents. Footage shows 11 vehicles maneuver around the S.U.V., including this Chevy Tahoe driven by agent Ross. When he exits, he’s already filming Ms. Good’s S.U.V., not with a body camera typical of most law enforcement, but using a cellphone in his hand. It’s not clear why. The agent‘s footage shows his interactions with Ms. Good — “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” — and her wife. “I’m not mad.” “That’s OK. We don’t change our plates every morning.” There’s verbal jabbing. “It’ll be the same plate when you come. Talk to us later. That’s fine. U.S. citizen, former disabled veteran.” We see the agent switching the phone from his right hand to his left as he heads toward the front seat of his Tahoe. “I say, go get yourself some lunch, big boy.” During this time, on the other side of the S.U.V., two new agents arrive in a pickup. We see Ms. Good motions them to go around her. “Out of the car. Get out of the fucking car.” Over the next six seconds, we see one agent reaching into the S.U.V., Ms. Good starting to drive, then agent Ross firing three shots. “Hey!” Now let’s go back and analyze some of the key contested moments of the agent’s cellphone video, alongside other footage, to break down what happens during these critical six seconds. Here, the agent‘s cellphone footage shows he’s moving directly in front of the S.U.V. as it’s reversing and rotating towards him, initiating a three-point turn, apparently to leave. Law enforcement officers are trained to avoid doing this because it puts them in danger, and often leads to the use of force against drivers. His cellphone is focused squarely on Ms. Good. She looks down, shifts into drive, and begins turning to the right, away from the agent. Cut to this high angle and zoom in. We can make out the agent’s body and his arm filming. We can also see, at the same time, he’s beginning to lift his other arm. On these cameras, we can see what’s happening around agent Ross. The other agent is yelling orders and reaching into Ms. Good’s S.U.V. Her front tire spins as she continues turning right. Agent Ross is at least a few feet away from Ms. Good’s S.U.V. He does not appear to move out of the way. As the S.U.V. rolls forward, the agent unholsters his firearm. We see in his cellphone video, at this moment, the camera drifting off to the left. The agent is no longer focused on filming. It’s at this point in the cellphone video where it first looks and sounds like the agent‘s getting knocked violently. On the other camera, we can see what’s happening. Here is agent Ross aiming his gun at Ms. Good. And here is his outstretched arm, leaning toward her vehicle, which is barely visible behind the Tahoe. His phone, which is gripped in his left hand, flips over when the agent’s hand lands on the front of the vehicle. There’s an audible thud when it hits. The camera rotates up towards the sky. Again, while it appears the agent’s getting knocked over, we can see that’s not the case from the other angle, which shows he’s standing with his hand near the headlight, his torso and legs away from the vehicle. In the cellphone footage, the agent’s face flashes on screen, then it goes black. The other angle shows us why. We can see the agent’s foot sliding, his hand bracing against the S.U.V. and his arm getting pressed into his chest. It is impossible to determine if this is happening because of the S.U.V.’S movement or the icy asphalt or, more likely, both. And what’s very unclear, because of the limited quality and availability of footage, is whether the agent‘s upper body gets swiped by the vehicle as his left foot slides back. This moment is when agent Ross fires. We see the other agent pulled back from the S.U.V. Both of them stumble, apparently slipping on the ice. This is also the moment many have said looks like agent Ross getting run over. And it does when watched at full speed. But looking more closely, we can see in multiple angles that there is a visible gap between the vehicle and his legs, indicating his feet are positioned outside the S.U.V.’S path. The agent’s left hand is still against the vehicle and gripping his phone. We see, as he fires, it’s recording the clouds and the trees overhead. It’s not because the agent is knocked to the ground. The other angle shows he’s still standing, continuing to maintain his grip on his phone and his gun, and we see a clear and growing gap between his body and the S.U.V. as he fires a second shot and a third. None of the bullets have the effect of stopping the S.U.V., but they kill Renee Good. According to our analysis of audio from agent Ross’s cellphone video, this is his reaction: “Fucking bitch.” “What the fuck? You just fucking — what the fuck did you do?” According to a White House spokesperson, agent Ross, quote, “suffered internal bleeding after he was struck by the car.” ”Shame, shame, shame.” Later that evening, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that he had been treated at a local hospital and released.

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