In a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force, New Mexico alleges the military isn’t doing enough to contain or clean up dangerous chemicals that have seeped into the groundwater below two Air Force bases in the state.

On Tuesday, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) filed a complaint in federal district court, asking a judge to compel the Air Force to act on, and fund, cleanup at the two bases near Clovis and Alamogordo.

“We have significant amounts of PFAS in the groundwater, under both Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases,” NMED Secretary James Kenney told NM Political Report.

PFAS, or per and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

Staff Reports



JoAnn B. Jayne, Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation, introduced herself to the 24th Navajo Nation Council during her quarterly report Jan. 28.




Jayne is Tábąąhá, born for Kinyaa’áanii. She is from the community of Tohatchi and has been serving as the chief justice or Aląąjí Hashkééjí Nahatʹá since Jan. 24, 2018.




She told the Council that the Judicial Branch is looking forward to working with the new Council Delegates, Law and Order Committee, and the new President and Vice President.




Jayne said that the Judicial Branch is working toward the vision of resolving cases as soon as the courts can.




“That is what justice is about and that is...

After a little more than a week in his new job, New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions Secretary-designate Bill McCamley, made a major, albeit temporary, rule change for federal employees seeking unemployment benefits because of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

McCamley announced Wednesday that he is temporarily waiving a federally mandated work requirement to receive state unemployment benefits.

“If you file for unemployment, by federal law, you’re supposed to show that you were looking for two jobs a week, and if you get a job and you turn it down, you lose unemployment,” McCamley told NM Political Report on Wednesday evening. “That’s really crappy for an...

Seek to resolve inequalities in future elections

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation filed a Complaint and a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order against the Arizona Secretary of State and the officials of Apache, Coconino and Navajo counties the week of Nov. 19, seeking to protect the voting rights of Navajo citizens in the November 2018 election and seeking to resolve voter inequalities in future elections.

The Temporary Restraining Order sought a slight delay of the certification of the results of the 2018 election in order to allow Navajo Nation members time to cure their early ballots rejected for a lack of a signature on the ballot envelope or a mismatched signature.

After the...