Albuquerque, — A Boarding School Healing Action event was held July 17 in Albuquerque. It was attended by 24th Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty (Cove, Toadlena/Two Grey Hills, Red Valley, Tsé’ Ałnáozt’i’í, Tooh Haltsooí, Beclabito, Gad’ii’áhí/Tó K’í.

“This is just one step in the healing journey as we tread lightly to recognize the sensitivity on how we proceed forward,” Crotty said. “We will continue to get direction from our cultural advisors and families.”

The healing event was scheduled after an excavation which revealed multiple unmarked graves of Indigenous children at various residential and boarding school sites across the...

Week ending Friday, July 16, 2021

Earth’s Hottest Day

The deadly and destructive heat wave baking much of the western U.S. and Canada this month also caused the mercury to soar to record levels in the recurrent hot spot of Death Valley, Calif. Not only did the desert hellhole reach a blistering 54 degrees Celsius on the afternoon of July 9, but two days later it also saw the hottest 24-hour period ever measured reliably. A combination of a morning low of 42.0 degrees and a maximum of 53.7 degrees on that date produced the highest daily average temperature ever recorded on the planet — 47.8 degrees.

Earthquakes

At least five people were killed when a magnitude 5.8 temblor wrecked...

Grassroots nonprofit challenges USA, NRC, State of New Mexico

The petition of a grassroots nonprofit known as Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, has been declared “admissible.”

New Mexico Environmental Law Center attorney Eric Jantz says that single word — “admissible” — is a major step forward.

“The take-home here is that the United States has been violating human rights in a context of uranium mining for generations,” he explained. “This is the first time that the state [New Mexico] and the U. S. have been forced to account for those violations.”

The petition alleges that the United States “by its...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Isaiah Augustine Bob, 36, of Montezuma Creek, Utah, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, appeared in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., on July 27 for an initial appearance on an indictment charging him with second-degree murder in Indian Country.

According to the indictment, on Dec. 4, 2020, Bob killed a man in McKinley County, N.M., on the Navajo Nation. Bob was arrested in Oklahoma and transported back to the District of New Mexico. He is currently in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for July 30. If convicted, Bob faces up to life in prison.

An indictment is only an allegation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven...