TSAILE, Ariz. — Diné College reported a Fall 2020 student enrollment of more than 1,300 and returning students were met with some big changes. The number of enrolled students is high considering the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, college officials said.

“At first I thought we weren’t going to get high enrollment mainly due to limitations with Internet broadband and connectivity,” Diné College Provost Geraldine Garrity, Ed.D. said. “But I think students found a way and prepared for the fall semester and it’s good news for the students and the college.”

The college reported that 1,348 students were enrolled as of Aug. 24 — just 50 students short of the same time frame...

SANTA FE — With a broader selection of state and federal economic assistance now open to small business owners, the New Mexico Economic Development Department  has closed its COVID-19 Business Loan Guarantee  program after assisting with $1.77 million in lending to 47 businesses. A second relief measure that granted almost $6 million in no-interest loans from the state Local Economic Development Act fund is also no longer taking applications.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized the emergency programs in March to offer immediate support to businesses seeking stability, prior to the passing of either the federal CARES Act by Congress or the Small Business Recovery Loan Program...

Bad news: Trump Administration opens Arctic Wildlife Refuge to drilling

A new legal agreement with conservation groups requires that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service designate protected critical habitat for green sea turtles.

An agreement filed in U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Aug. 20, requires proposed protections by June 30, 2023. The agencies will likely consider proposing protections for green sea turtle nesting beaches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as offshore oceanic habitat in the Southeast and on the West Coast.

The agreement stems from a January lawsuit filed by the Center for...

Week ending Friday, August 21, 2020


Beyond Recovery

Scientists say that Greenland has now shrunk past the point that it can recover from global heating even if the goal to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius this century is achieved. Writing in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment, they say there is no longer enough snow in winter to replenish the glaciers of snow and ice that are being lost to the melt of summer. “Greenland is going to be the canary in the coal mine, and the canary is already pretty much dead at this point,” said Ian Howat of Ohio State University.

Earthquakes

At least one person died and dozens of others were injured when a magnitude...