But I’m getting ahead of myself. This week my colleague Lila Seidman told the story of the black bear at the center of the debate. Nicknamed Victor, the bear was beloved by locals and known to ...

New Mexicans will surely remember watching the Smokey Bear balloon crash into a radio tower, putting the lives of the pilot and two young boys in jeopardy. Thursday was the 20th anniversary of ...

Steve Searles, a Mammoth Lakes resident known as “the Bear Whisperer,” told me he’d go to the Lakes Basin to spend time with Victor. Searles described Victor as a friendly creature with the ...