The question of whether the federal government should sell off some public lands has been debated in Congress in recent weeks. Leaders in Western towns will consider a more focused version of that controversial idea in the months ahead: They’ll look at how places with severe housing shortages – like many mountain towns in Colorado – might buy or lease nearby federal land and use it for housing.

See-through solar panels that can filter out certain frequencies of light to help grow bigger, tastier crops. Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden have been experimenting with a new kind of solar panel. And they say it could revolutionize farming.