At Least Three People Have Died in National Parks Since Shutdown Began

Calls to close the country’s national parks are increasing amid reports that three people have died since the start of the government shutdown, reports the Washington Post. Among the dead is a 14-year-old girl who fell 700 feet down a canyon in Arizona. A man also died at Yosemite National Park on Christmas, and two days later a woman was killed by a falling tree at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Although deaths and national parks are hardly uncommon—an average of six die each week in the park system, according to a spokesman—the series of deaths does shine a spotlight on the decision by the Trump administration to keep them open even as staffing has been kept to a bare minimum, if there is any at all.

from Stories from Slate http://bit.ly/2F9tJ5T