Looks to build stronger future

CH’ÍHOOTSOOÍ, DINÉTAH, (WINDOW ROCK, NAVAJO NATION)— Navajo and Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund commemorated one year of successfully strategizing, organizing and distributing critical humanitarian resources to communities across the Navajo and Hopi nations.

In March 2020, as the number of positive COVID-19 cases exploded across the Navajo and Hopi nations, these communities sought the basic living essentials they needed to undertake protective self-isolation. Both nations have been long-time food deserts with only 13 full-scale grocery stores on their combined 29,945 square mile-territory–an area larger than the combined areas of...

Event theme: Fight cancer and feed your face

Recently, I talked about the effort by a bi-partisan commission to reform the lopsided political redistricting process in New Mexico, which is mandated every ten years after the national census. The short version is that the effort to mandate non-partisan redistricting has failed. The bill recommended by the Redistricting Task Force in New Mexico was effectively killed when Democratic House Speaker Brian Egolf in a Zoom Meeting bashed the plan, saying it would undermine progressive priorities. Simply stated the Democrats hold the power in the legislature and they don’t intend to relinquish a bit of it.

The Democratic Party alternative, Senate Bill 15, removes the teeth contained in...

ALBUQUERQUE—Several advocacy organizations issued the following statement regarding passage March 10 of the American Rescue Plan:

“We applaud the passage of the American Rescue Plan. This legislation is the kind of action we need now, when unemployed workers are still struggling to pay their bills, millions of families are falling further behind on rent and [are] at risk of facing homelessness, and parents are worrying about how they will feed their children,” James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said.

“We want to thank those members of our congressional delegation who worked hard to pass the American Rescue Plan and deliver the relief our...