When the pandemic hit, the Octavia Fellin Public Library was forced to close its doors to the public and was only able to provide curbside pickup and eventually virtual events. But now, as more and more people receive the vaccine, the library is putting a reopening plan in place.

During the June 17 Library Advisory Board meeting, Deputy Director Tammi Moe told the board what the library’s protocol will look like while things aren’t completely back to normal.

Anyone visiting the library will be required to wear a mask. Library staff has been checking temperatures, but in an interview with the Sun, Moe said that would be ending July 1.

The building’s capacity limit is currently...

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

[Andrew] Robertson has focused his career on water access. He first worked along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, where he sometimes dug the trenches himself for a new pipeline. When he moved to New Mexico in 2000, he quickly saw Navajo communities facing the greatest need for that work. Working on construction projects has taken him all over the Navajo Nation.

After that meeting at [a chapterhouse in] Torreon, a local leader started rallying other chapters around the idea of a regional system, even before Congress approved the settlement for the Navajo Gallup Water...

Week ending Friday, June 18, 2021

On Thinning Ice

The sea ice surrounding the North Pole is probably thinning up to twice as fast as previously thought, according to research by University College London. Writing in the journal “The Cryosphere,” scientists say earlier estimates on the depth of the ice cap were based on data collected by the Soviets between 1954 and 1991, which are now outdated. They say their new modeling of temperature, snowfall and ice floe movements provides a better understanding of how fast the Arctic sea ice is actually disappearing. “Sea ice thickness is a sensitive indicator of the health of the Arctic. And when the Arctic warms, the world warms,” lead...

SANTA FE — July 1 is the first full day New Mexico will be fully open.

Since the state met Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s goal that 60 percent of eligible residents completed their COVID-19 vaccination series, the state can resume day-to-day and commercial activities restriction-free.

All businesses across the state may once again operate at 100 percent of maximum capacity. In addition, all limitations on mass gatherings are gone; businesses, large events and organizations may operate at 100 percent of maximum capacity, whether indoor or outdoor.

Sixty-two percent of eligible New Mexicans completed their vaccination series as of June 29, according to Department of Health data...