Doug Burgum is giving $20 gift cards in exchange for campaign donations. Experts split on whether that's legal
CBSN
For the last couple weeks, it's been profitable to donate to North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum's presidential campaign. New donors stood to gain a handsome profit of $19, since those who sent at least $1 were promised a $20 Visa or Mastercard mailed to their address by the Burgum campaign in exchange for their donation.
The gift card giveaway has cost the campaign hundreds of thousands, but it helped Burgum cross the 40,000 unique-donor threshold to help him secure a microphone at the first Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee next month. There, he would have a chance to reach his largest audience yet. Burgum's small donors skyrocketed after the new promotional ploy: within just 48 hours of starting the promotion last week, the campaign had 20,000 new donors.

The peace and tranquility of Muir Woods, just north of San Francisco – home to 500+ acres of old-growth redwoods – make it just about the last place you'd expect to find a fight brewing. "The fact that they're taking down whole groups of signs about climate change and our nation's history is disappointing, and embarrassing," said retired U.S. Park Ranger Lucy Scott In:

We share our planet with maybe 10 million species of plants, animals, birds, fish, fungi and bugs. And to help identify them, millions of people are using a free phone app. "Currently we have about six million people using the platform every month," said Scott Loarie, the executive director of iNaturalist, a nonprofit.

At ski resorts across the West this winter, viral images showed chairlifts idling over brown terrain in places normally renowned for their frosty appeal. Iconic mountain towns like Aspen, Colorado, and Park City, Utah, were seen with shockingly bare slopes, as the region endured a historic snow drought that experts warn could bring water shortages and wildfires in the months ahead. In:










