Kirk Siegler

Emergency management officials in Tulare County in California's Central Valley field dozens of calls from residents reporting their wells have run dry. Getting help to them has proven challenging.

NPRreads is a weekly feature on Twitter and on The Two-Way. The premise is simple: Correspondents, editors and producers from our newsroom share the pieces that have kept them reading, using the#NPRreads hashtag. On Fridays, we highlight some of the best stories.

This week, we bring you three items.

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Even as fall has arrived, the number of homes and businesses destroyed by wildfires keeps going up in the drought-stricken West.

In northern New Mexico, many rural communities are worried about the possible loss of Amtrak's Southwest Chief. One historic railroad town has been trying to attract tourists with the train.

It has been a record year for wildfires in California, and officials are warning that the end is not yet in sight. NPR checks in on the fires burning in Northern California and the Sierra Nevada.

While California's Rough Fire is not threatening as many homes or businesses as other fires, it has attracted a lot of fire-fighting resources. The fire is burning near a grove of giant sequoias.

The Valley fire is just one of more than a dozen currently burning in California. The largest, the Rough Fire, is burning near a grove of ancient Sequoias. It is currently 40 percent contained.

Amtrak's Southwest Chief train line travels from Los Angeles all the way to Chicago. Despite its nostalgic charm, the Chief is now under threat of closure.

Advocates are hailing the court settlement that they say could lead the way to ending widespread solitary confinement and other harsh treatment of prisoners in the state's corrections system.

The agency says it's now spending record amounts on fire suppression, and these bills are coming at the expense of its other programs — many of which would help prevent future wildfires.

Drought and wildfires are the top news from most of the West. But it is a different story in much of New Mexico, where more than half of the state is no longer in a drought, after nearly 10 years.

The Oath Keepers group that's making headlines for its presence in Ferguson, Mo., is best known for mobilizing its self-described "security forces" to standoffs with federal land managers in the West.

GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush outlined his strategy to combat the self-proclaimed Islamic State, also known as ISIS, in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Tuesday.

The California fire is unusually intense and unpredictable. But between climate change and the impact of decades of poor management, such wildfires may be the new normal.

Thousands of people are under evacuation orders as firefighters battle the Rocky Fire in Northern California, but getting those evacuees to shelters has been difficult.

The Rocky Fire continues to grow as crews struggle to protect homes and businesses.

Thousands have been evacuated in California, as crews continue to battle the Rocky Fire, about 100 miles north of San Francisco. Cooler temperatures and higher humidity could help fir...

There is much hype around a potential El Nino that could help ease the drought on the West Coast. But there are concerns that a deluge of rain could do more harm than good for the long term drought outlook.

The state is grappling with the growing phenomenon of the "urban wildfire." That's when blazes that ignite in forests spread rapidly into recently built subdivisions and whole towns.

Exceptionally dry conditions are fueling major blazes across the Pacific Northwest. A drought and rapid development in Washington mean the state may not be prepared to deal with a long, hot summer.