Aug 11th, 2008 · Half Shantytown, half corporate boomtown, the teeming and complex Mexico capital epitomizes the times we live in. Critic Simon Maxwell Apter thinks David Lida's book is a model, too — of passionate reporting.
Aug 5th, 2008 · Fort Worth, Texas, has become the focus of the largest urban gas-drilling boom in the U.S. But residents are starting to demand answers from energy companies on problems related to noise, pollution and pipeline safety. Chesapeake Energy has responded with an unprecedented media campaign to burnish its image and calm the critics.
Feb 11th, 2007 · Onetime mining boomtown Picher, Okla., sits on one of the largest, most polluted Superfund sites in the country. The thousand or so residents who haven't yet abandoned the town are finally being driven out by the threat that mines under the city could collapse without warning.
Jun 28th, 2006 · The price of gold is shooting up and one modern-day miner has an ambitious plan to get to the ore still left in one of California's boomtown mines. But residents of that town, now a bucolic tourist draw, are wary of the environmental cost.
May 28th, 2006 · Towns on the U.S.-Mexico border have always profited from illegal trafficking. The latest traffic is in people. Wealth accumulating in Mexico has helped towns such as Douglas, Ariz. -- which also benefits from U.S. federal dollars spent to combat trafficking.
Nov 17th, 2005 · China's Grace Winery, started by a Hong Kong millionaire, wants to prove that Chinese wine can compete with the world's best vintages. Grace Winery has turned a once poor, provincial area into an agricultural boomtown with global aspirations. KPCC's Rob Schmitz reports.
Sep 5th, 2005 · New Orleans residents able to afford new homes are turning Baton Rouge into a real estate boomtown. Realtor Ruthie Golden says nearly all the sales have been full cash offers. NPR's Renee Montagne reports.