Kayenta Mine layoffs hit, as Navajo Generating Station closure looms

WASHINGTON - The last 265 workers at Kayenta Coal Mine are being laid off this month, another step toward the looming closure of the Navajo Generating Station that will bring the loss of hundreds more jobs this winter.


Native American history in Washington – it’s more than just a museum

WASHINGTON - Search for "Native American landmark in D.C." and you're likely to get the National Museum of the American Indian - and little else. But a new app highlights 17 sites for tourists, from the Iwo Jima Memorial to Congressional Cemetery, with Native American links..


Courts reject environmental lawsuit to block Navajo coal mine expansion

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court said environmental groups cannot sue to block expansion of a coal mine owned by the Navajo Transitional Energy Co., because the company is an arm of the Navajo government and thus immune from civil suits.

pollution settlement

Barr orders resumption of federal executions; Navajo among those targeted

WASHINGTON – Attorney General William Barr ordered a resumption of federal executions and named a Navajo double-murderer as one of the first five death-row inmates who will be put to death. Lezmond Mitchell is scheduled to be executed Dec. 11 with a fatal injection of pentobarbital.


House panel OKs bills to rein in mining around Grand Canyon, elsewhere

WASHINGTON - Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee beat back a series of GOP amendments before advancing bills to restrict mining around the Grand Canyon and on tribal lands in Arizona and New Mexico, and rein in uranium mining.


Lack of broadband puts tribal, rural areas ‘in jeopardy,’ lawmakers told

WASHINGTON - The Havasupai tribe is falling behind in education, health and emergency needs because - like millions of residents in rural communities - it lacks affordable, reliable and high-speed broadband, a tribal councilwoman told House lawmakers in a hearing on rural broadband.


K-12 teachers learn ways to bring Native American history and traditions to the classroom

PHOENIX – Native American history, culture and art were the focus of the Heard Museum’s second annual Teacher Institute.


Navajo, Hualapai water-rights bills get warm reception in House hearing

WASHINGTON - Navajo and Hualapai tribal leaders urged House lawmakers to support a handful of bills that would guarantee water to their tribes in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico and fund the water treatment plants and pipelines to deliver it.


Federal, Arizona tribal leaders seek solutions to violence against women

SACATON – Federal officials met Tuesday with tribal leaders in Sacaton in the Gila River Indian Community to discuss the violence faced by native women in Arizona.


The Navajo mother: Nellie Shirley

HOUCK – Nellie Shirley was born in 1932 on the Navajo Reservation and has lived there except during the years she attended boarding school. After her parents died when she was 13, she was sent to two schools where she was able to strengthen her Catholic faith as well as embrace her Navajo culture.

Nellie Shirley stands inside the church building where she has practiced her Catholic faith nearly all of her life.

Kinaaldá: A Navajo girl comes of age in traditional ceremony

LUPTON – Kieloh Nellie Poolah, 11, came of age in the eyes of her Navajo community in February. Surrounded by four generations of women in her family, she completed a series of tasks and hours of prayer to complete the Kinaaldá ceremony.


Trump OKs Navajo Nation disaster declaration in wake of February storms

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration for the Navajo Nation that will allow it to seek reimbursement for funds it spent responding to a February storm that dumped snow on the reservation, isolating some communities and leading to flooding in other areas.