Native America
Family left with questions after man dies in custody of rural South Dakota sheriff’s office
State investigators are reviewing the death of a man shortly after his arrest on April 3 by Charles Mix County sheriff’s deputies. Friends of 35-year-old Robert Dennis “Berta” Enoch have a host of questions about how someone who’d expressed a desire to get well and had secured a place at a treatment center just days […]
Tribal leaders support push for creation of Grand Canyon national monument
The Grand Canyon is the ancestral homeland of multiple tribal nations in the Southwest, and tribes still rely on the canyon for natural and cultural resources that are significant and sacred to their communities. And in an effort to sustain the natural resources provided by the Grand Canyon, tribal leaders in the Grand Canyon Tribal […]
Wastewater floods the Jemez River
The wastewater treatment plant in the northern New Mexico village of Jemez Springs flooded Wednesday, overflowing into the Jemez River. Jemez Springs Police Chief Felix Nuñez told KUNM the flood’s impact on the plant was a surprise. “What happened was — because of the mass of water coming through — the pumps overheated and just […]
Gila River Indian Community receives $233M in water conservation, infrastructure funding
The Gila River Indian Community will receive up to $233 million in funding for conservation agreements that will help the tribe and other water users along the Colorado River Basin protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River system. “We’re facing serious challenges right now in the Colorado River Basin as a result of […]
Law to ban high-level nuclear waste storage facility effective June
Six TRUPACT transport containers sit outside the Waste Receiving and Processing facility (WARP) on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation June 30, 2005 near Richland, Washington. Each container holds 14 55-gallon drums of transuranic (TRU) waste that has been processed and will be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. (Photo by Jeff T. Green / Getty Images)
New Mexico governor signs over 200 bills into law
The end of 2023’s legislative session led to over 240 bills getting through the Roundhouse. By the end of Friday, the last day for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to sign legislation, more than 200 measures from the 60-day Legislative session became law. All the pieces of legislation that passed the Roundhouse and arrived at Lujan […]
Winona LaDuke resigns from Honor the Earth
Longtime environmental activist Winona LaDuke resigned as executive director of the nonprofit environmental justice group she founded, Honor the Earth, four days after a jury ordered the organization to pay $750,000 in a sexual harassment lawsuit. The organization announced LaDuke’s resignation on its website Wednesday, April 5, and its new executive director, Krystal Two Bulls […]
US DOT to fund wildlife crossings, highlights Santa Ana Pueblo as a national leader
The U.S. Department of Transportation launched a new grant program Tuesday to combat vehicle collisions with wildlife. Sec. Pete Buttigieg traveled to New Mexico to make the announcement. Buttigieg said sometimes road safety looks like a crosswalk, but in some communities — like rural New Mexico — it can look like a wildlife crossing. Wild […]
Man faces federal assault and carjacking charges related to the disappearance of Navajo woman
A federal judge in Arizona on Tuesday unsealed a federal indictment against Preston Tolth, indicting him for assault and carjacking related to his alleged role in the disappearance of Ella Mae Begay. Begay (Diné), went missing from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona on June 15, 2021. Her disappearance has sparked local and national attention, in […]
Burn, bury or display
Cedric Broken Nose stopped his van every hundred or so miles in a cross country trek from Massachusetts to South Dakota last November. He’d get out and circle the vehicle in an empty parking lot, smudging sacred herbs and praying as curious bystanders looked on. The stops added hours to his two-and-a-half day journey, but […]
Mixed feelings for Vatican rescinding ‘law of colonization’
Built in 1612, the St. Augustine Mission Church in Isleta Pueblo is is one of the oldest churches in the United States. Thursday, the Catholic Church denounced the Discovery Doctrine, which was used as justification for taking Pueblo land and building the church. The Vatican said the doctrine was used as “Legal acts by which these two Pontiffs authorized the Portuguese and Spanish sovereigns to seize property in colonized lands by subjugating the original populations.” (Getty Images)
Public school students in New Mexico will soon receive free meals
The smell of chicken nuggets and carrots filled the cafeteria at Piñon Elementary in Santa Fe on Monday as cafeteria workers and lawmakers doled out sauces and green apples for the fourth graders eating lunch. Starting next school year, no K-12 student in New Mexico will have to pay for their meals as Gov. Michelle […]