New Mexico’s Interstate Stream Commission measured 112.4 miles of the Rio Grande sitting dry between the Cochiti and Elephant Butte reservoirs this summer. It was the driest stretch the agency has recorded since at least 2007. New Mexico’s acequias felt it first. When there isn’t enough water to go around, state law and centuries of…
A gardener in Nampa checks the ditch bank one more time before dark, watching the water run lower than it did that morning. It won’t run much longer. The Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District closes its canals for the season within the first week of October. That lands right as the first hard freeze warnings…
Think you can walk into any small Iowa business whenever the mood strikes you? That’s not the case at more than 40 Iowa livestock markets, which keep to one fixed sale day a week. They aren’t the only ones. These are the small-town Iowa businesses that only open certain days now. 1. Oxford Sale Barn…
Under Ohio’s oil and gas valuation law, a county auditor can raise a property’s assessed value years after the sale closes. Nobody has to tell you that at closing. The reason can trace back to something happening far below the property line, long after the paperwork is done. These are the mineral rights surprises that…
Florida Realtors warned property owners in July that criminals are now using artificial intelligence to forge signatures, deeds, and entire closing files. A title search won’t catch it. These are the things a Florida title search won’t catch before closing. Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Property laws and required timelines are subject…
A South Dakota rancher can fence straight across a public section line and stay within the law, as long as they handle one small detail right. Skipping it is a misdemeanor. It’s one entry in a long list of rules that decide exactly who’s allowed on that ground, and when. These are the section line…
A camera at a Tennessee intersection can catch a driver running the red light in broad daylight and mail a citation days later. That’s not the strange part. Tennessee law puts hard limits on that citation once it reaches a driver’s mailbox. These are the things a Tennessee camera ticket can’t legally do to a…
Long stretches of weathering leave Georgia’s Piedmont clay loaded with iron oxide, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, which explains the deep red dirt under so many Georgia yards. That red clay sits under nearly every Piedmont lot from the Georgia foothills to Atlanta’s suburbs, and a house can rest on it for decades before…
Many Alabama landowners sell timber only once or twice in their life. The buyer, or the logger working on the buyer’s behalf, negotiates sales like this for a living. That imbalance shows up in the contract. These are the timber contract terms that can cost Alabama landowners thousands. Note: This is general information, not legal…
A blizzard tore into northeastern Wyoming in the first days of October 2013. Upton, in the state’s northeast corner, woke up under 20 inches of snow as the storm brought gusts topping 70 mph to the wider region before it let go. Many people hadn’t finished all their fall work yet. These are the things…
