News & Feature Story Archive
The body belonged to 37-year-old Vadim Kruglov, a Russian immigrant who was attending the event for the first time and on Aug. 30, 2025, became the first homicide victim in the history of Burning Man, according to Pershing County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Nathan Carmichael.
The case remains unsolved, but new details published here for the first time are shedding more light on the final days of Kruglov’s life. His time at Burning Man was both ecstatic and anxious. He arrived early and improvised a beloved art piece, and developed a short-lived romance. But he also spent much of his time in a state of paranoia, begging his friends to track him with Apple AirTags and fearing someone was trying to hurt him. He also checked into Burning Man’s hospital clinic and was killed just hours after leaving.
For many people, it seems like an unsolvable crime: A man stabbed on the outskirts of an event while nearly everyone’s attention was turned toward the massive statue burning in the center of the playa, and in a crime scene that would disappear just hours after the stabbing, as the more than 70,000 attendees packed up camp and headed home.
Among those making their way through the gates toward the highway in the mass exodus was the killer.
A computer-generated rendering of what the Eel River may look like if the Cape Horn dam in Mendocino is removed. (Courtesy of the Eel-Russian Project Authority)
During the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, PG&E was conducting a routine inspection of a hydroelectric dam on Northern Mendocino’s Eel River — when it discovered a problem.
A key component in their power generation system needed a pricey fix — one that could cost the utility up to $15 million.
The power company already knew that the Potter Valley Project, which included two dams on the Eel River, didn’t balance economically. It barely powered 750 homes and was expensive to operate. So when no buyers came forward to offload the 100-year-old hydroelectric system, PG&E submitted an application to the federal government to decommission the project — in other words, take down the dams for good.
“ PG&E likes dams, right? I mean, we are a hydro generating company,” said Janet Walther, director of hydro licensing and compliance for the company. “However, there are times, as Potter Valley is one of those, where a dam may no longer make sense.”
For more than 80 years, the Zorthian Ranch – nestled among the oak trees and steep canyons of Altadena – has been a home for artists, musicians and creatives seeking a different way of life. At this working ranch, people also tend animals and live close to the land, often growing their own food and generating their own energy. But it was almost completely destroyed by the Eaton Fire, and more than twenty people were displaced. Recent resident and audio reporter Sam Anderson interviewed members of this community, who explain the unique history of the ranch, and share in their own words and sounds what it means to them.
California has plans to turn a stretch of abandoned railroad tracks into 300 miles of walking and biking trails, connecting the hills of Marin County with the redwood forests near Eureka in Northern Humboldt. If completed, the Great Redwood Trail could become the longest rail-trail in the nation. But some Indigenous communities and other groups are not on board. Reporter Sam Anderson explores how this grand idea has resurfaced the painful and complicated history behind the original railroad tracks that were built more than a century ago.
KMUD: Kate Wolf Music Festival Celebrates Community Through Music
June 6, 2019 by Sam Anderson
Jan 7, 2019 by Sam Anderson
As marijuana legalization inches forward in New Jersey, a coalition of mayors, law enforcement, and town councils are working to ensure that dispensaries never open up shop in their towns. Read more…
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