STOLEN VEHICLE
Thoreau, July 19

A guest borrowing a vehicle without asking, led to a Thoreau man reporting it as stolen.

McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Todachine was dispatched to a residence on First Avenue, where the victim had called in stating they wanted to report a stolen vehicle.

The vehicle had been purchased from an auction in California, and the main suspect was identified as Lori Baca, no information available. The victim reportedly met Baca at Route 66 Casino in early July and offered to let her stay with him, an offer which she accepted.

The victim was out on a truck-driving job on July 3. That was when Baca apparently took the vehicle and kept it...

Kevin Jones
May 16, 1:17 am
DWI (Third), Possession

A missing license plate led to a traffic stop as New Mexico State Police Officer Rachel Hall pulled over a blue van. The driver, Kevin Jones, 29, of Pinedale, N.M., was asked to step out because Hall believed she smelled alcohol.

After failing three field sobriety tests, Jones was taken in where he gave two breath samples that came back as .13 each. Upon entering the McKinley County Adult Detention Center, a small plastic bag with white crystals that field-tested as meth was found on Jones. He was arrested for DWI (Third), false evidence of registration, possession of a controlled substance, driving while license revoked, no proof of...

Part Three of the follow up to the story “A century of federal indifference left generations of Navajo homes without running water”

The absence of water cascades. In addition to complicating every step of daily life — from washing hands, to making stew or having a cup of tea, to doing the dishes afterwards, it drives up illnesses and complicates public health issues. No water meant a school wasn’t built in Torreon, and other buildings were abandoned because of dry taps. Businesses didn’t open, medical clinics couldn’t operate, jobs drifted away.

Whitehorse Lake Chapter and Pueblo Pintado had both been denied housing — the square, stucco-sided houses with peaked roofs...

Week ending Friday, July 23, 2021

 

Climate Disasters

Atmospheric experts concede that they were shocked by the intensity of the recent European floods and the North American heat dome, saying their computer models are not yet able to project such extremes. Some scientists say the next official predictions due out in August by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will already be outdated when released due to the rapidly intensifying climate emergency. Freak weather events are now happening with greater frequency, ranging from the heaviest rain on record in parts of Japan and China this month to the record-breaking June heat across parts of India, Pakistan and...