The Trump administration is proposing a drastic reimagining of how public lands across the United States are used and managed, according to an Interior Department document leaked to the public in late April. The document, a draft of the department’s strategic plan for the next five years, downplays conservation in favor of an approach that…
During his presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump pledged to quickly bring down prices for American households, including making housing more affordable. “We’re going to open up tracts of federal land for housing construction,” Mr. Trump said in August. “We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.” The Trump administration is…
The protected land includes a one-acre fish hatchery at Unicorn Lake in eastern Maryland and the sprawling Green Ridge State Forest in the west. It includes shorelines, farms and woods around Naval Air Station Patuxent River, and the Chesapeake Forest Lands, some 75,000 wooded acres that are home to species like bald eagles and the…
The Indian Parliament passed a controversial bill on Friday that increases government oversight of properties held by Muslim trusts, despite vocal protests that the religious minority was being singled out for interference. The bill would allow the appointment of non-Muslims to panels administering the trusts, called Waqf boards, and empower state officials to be adjudicators…
On Oct. 12, 2023, Columbia University closed its gates. The ornate, iron fences were an $89,000 gift from the philanthropist George Delacorte. For years, their purpose was largely decorative, closing sporadically for special occasions. Most other times, they remained open, and members of the public could enter freely, sit on a bench and traverse the…
Donald Trump was demanding $400 million from Columbia University. When he did not get his way, he stormed out of a meeting with university trustees and later publicly castigated the university president as “a dummy” and “a total moron.” That drama dates back 25 years. Today, these two New York City institutions — the billionaire…
Roy L. Prosterman, a lawyer who left a lucrative corporate law practice to champion land reform in the underdeveloped world, died on Feb. 27 at his home in Seattle. He was 89. His death was announced by the Seattle land-rights institute Landesa, of which he was a founder. The organization did not specify a cause….
Andrew Rackstraw has lived in Marlow, a small, wealthy town on the River Thames about 30 miles west of London, for nearly three decades. Its main streets are dotted with luxury boutiques, high-end cafes and stores like Saddle Safari, Mr. Rackstraw’s bike shop. With a population of about 14,000, Marlow also has a plush cinema…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will skip a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations in Cape Town next week, according to people familiar with his plans, deepening the rift between the United States and South Africa over policies the Trump administration believes are anti-American. The decision to forgo such…
Two billion parking spots dot the country, by some estimates. That’s roughly seven spaces for every car, adding up to an area about the size of West Virginia. For some people, that’s way too many. Getting rid of spaces, housing advocates, environmentalists and real estate developers say, can give space to desperately needed housing development…