Grand Canyon

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. -- Like so many others who visit the Grand Canyon each year, Jennifer and John Stambaugh of Illinois toted bottled water as they took in the views recently.

These bottles came from the tour company that bused them here from Las Vegas, but many visitors buy bottled water from shops in the park.

Concerned about the volume of plastic bottles in recycling bins and trash cans, not to mention discarded along roads and trails, the National Park Service is banning bottled water sales here as of March 10. The Stambaughs were unaware of that plan, but it made sense to them.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon National Park this year will find new water-bottle refilling stations, a South Rim bicycle rental and bike-tour operation is expected to open, a multiuse trail is expected to be finished, and more.

Grand Canyon National Park, the 5-million- or 6-million-year-old granddaddy of Arizona tourism, logged 4.3 million visitors last year.

Rangers say that's a dip of 3.7 percent from the year before, but the canyon remains among the nation's most visited parks. And despite its age (also a ranger estimate), it does keep changing.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- A pioneering partnership has been forged to bolster the science guiding resource management and public lands stewardship along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Interior Department is moving forward with a plan to ban new mining claims on 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, even as congressional Republicans try to block efforts to limit mining operations in an area known for high-grade uranium ore.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- A group of Republican lawmakers is renewing an effort to open up 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon to new mining claims.

Legislation announced Wednesday would prevent the Interior Department from extending a temporary ban on the filing of new mining claims that expires in December. The group said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's intention to set aside the land for 20 years would eliminate hundreds of potential jobs, create a de facto wilderness area and unravel decades of responsible resource development.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- An Indiana man forced his three young grandsons to hike 18 miles in triple-digit heat at the Grand Canyon and denied them food and water, authorities said.

Christopher Carlson, of Indianapolis, remained jailed Thursday on six counts of child abuse. The boys, ages 12, 9 and 8, told investigators that they had been hit, pushed, choked, pinched and squeezed during trips on a popular trail at the canyon's South Rim last month.