Week ending Friday, October 8, 2021


Earth Dimming

Global heating during the past two decades has caused the planet to appear dimmer from space, scientists say. Less low-lying cloud cover over parts of the warming oceans is said to be the main cause of a 0.5 percent drop in the amount of light reflected by the planet. Most of the dimming observed by satellites was across the vast Pacific and during the last three years of the 1998-2017 study. Scientists at the Big Bear Solar Observatory in New Jersey write in Geophysical Research Letters that the changes in Earth’s reflectiveness did not match changes in the sun’s brightness during recent solar cycles.

 

Historic Eruption

The...

WASHINGTON, D. C. – Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez was at the White House along with tribal, state, and federal leaders, Oct. 8 as President Joe Biden signed a proclamation that restores the Bears Ears National Monument, located in southeastern Utah, to the boundaries established by President Obama in 2016. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell were also present for the ceremony.

“The Navajo Nation, along with a coalition of tribes, wholeheartedly supports today’s action by the Biden-Harris Administration,” Nez said. “This historic signing of the proclamation and restoration of the Bears Ears National Monument is a victory...

An elite, tight-knit group of airmen compose the United States Air Force Honor Guard, among them Gallup’s own Wayne Lufkins. Lufkins is the son of recently elected Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Bernadine Martin.

“We’re all so proud of him,” Martin told the Sun. “Wayne comes from a long line of veterans. His grandfather served in the Korean War as a paratrooper.

“His grandpa George Willie was a Code Talker. He has numerous cousins and uncles that have served since World War II,” Martin said.

Lufkins is excited to continue this military legacy in the Honor Guard. The Honor Guard represents the United States Air Force in official ceremonial functions in...

Gallup firefighters battled a blaze Oct. 18 at FASSCO Auto Repair, 105 Mine Run St.

Fire Deputy Chief Nathan Emerson said the call came in around 3:11 pm and all stations within the city responded, as well as off-duty firefighters.

Emerson explained that there was an explosion at the repair shop, and it took until sometime between 6:30 pm and 7 pm to extinguish all of the hotspots in the area.

He described the roof of the body shop as compromised, and the building itself as "totaled." He also said there were two vehicles parked in the two bays inside the repair shop that may have escaped fire damage.

The nearby Burger King was advised to shut down due to smoke. It has since reopened...