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Elections are wrapping up in Montezuma County this week. Leland Collins is a candidate running unopposed for a seat on the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 school board, and a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Collins says he was inspired to run for this seat in part because of his son, a student in the school district who is disabled. Earlier this year, the board voted unanimously to cut ties with San Juan BOCES, a service that provides special education resources and support to school districts in the area. Collins says he’s concerned about how this change will impact students like his son. And a Larimer County woman is the first person to be charged under a Colorado state law that increased punishments for dealing fentanyl if it results in someone’s death.

The USDA declares that 2023’s U.S. corn production was the largest on record, a billion-dollar wind and hail weather disaster hits the southern Plains, farmers remain optimistic despite concerns over input costs, and beef cattle continue to be big business in Colorado and across the country.

Colorado’s recycling and composting rate has been stuck at half the national average for several years. That’s according to a new report released recently called The State of Recycling and Composting in Colorado. It’s put together every year by EcoCycle, a nonprofit recycler, and the Colorado Public Interest Research Group. Rachel Setzke with EcoCycle is one of the co-authors of the report. She says in Colorado, 16% of waste is being diverted from landfill to compost and recycle. This is compared to the national average of 32%. Setzke says legislation passed last year in Colorado will help. And the Colorado Board of Health has passed new penalties for abuse, neglect, and preventable death cases at assisted-living facilities.

A cost breakdown of the typical Thanksgiving meal, some tips on buying a turkey, comparing U.S. food prices to other countries, the Senate approves a one-year Farm Bill extension, and a supply chain problem with half-pint cardboard milk cartons.

On Friday, Montezuma Land Conservancy will screen a documentary film on Native American food sovereignty and the harvest season at KSJD’s Sunflower Theatre in Cortez, followed by a panel discussion. The film – called "Gather" – will also be shown in Towaoc, on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk is a former Ute Mountain Ute tribal council member and the cross-cultural programs manager for MLC. She’s helping organize the screening, and will speak on the panel afterwards. She says the traditional harvest season for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe begins in springtime, in connection with the spring Bear Dance celebration. Tribal members will sometimes first harvest juniper trees to build the lodge for the Bear Dance, and later in the season, different berries, cedar trees and sage.

A community group in White Mesa, Utah, on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation, is holding its annual spiritual walk and rally on Saturday to protest the nearby uranium mill. The White Mesa uranium mill, operated by the mining company Energy Fuels Resources, is the only one of its kind still operating in the United States. The mill is part of a legacy of uranium mining in Four Corners tribal communities, many of which are still dealing with the impacts of widespread environmental contamination as the result of mining activity. Scott Clow is the environmental programs director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. He says he has concerns that the state of Utah’s regulation of groundwater usage by the uranium mill has been too lax, and has led to the degradation and contamination of the Burro Canyon aquifer underneath White Mesa.

Elections are underway for three open seats on the Mancos RE-6 school board. Craig Benally is a resident of Mancos and a candidate vying for one of the open positions on the board. Benally, who is Navajo, grew up in southwest Colorado and previously served on the Mancos Board of Trustees for four years. If elected, he says he would focus on being a representative for Native American students in the district. Earlier this month, he spoke at a candidate forum in Mancos hosted by the school board. This week, the city of Cortez will host open house events to hear from the public as it works to update its land use code. City officials say they are trying to improve affordable housing options for those looking to move or build homes in Cortez.

A new store that sells potable water has opened up in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation. About a third of the roughly 170,000 people who live on the Navajo Nation do not have access to clean, reliable drinking water, according to the tribe’s Department of Water Resources. Many Navajo citizens regularly have to drive for miles to haul water back to their communities. Elijah Bitah is a co-founder of Tó Water Company, which celebrated its grand opening in Shiprock on Saturday. Bitah says that he and his family were inspired to start Tó, a Navajo word that means water, after visiting a similar drinking water business in Gallup. They also saw a need for residents of Shiprock to have access to clean water after the Gold King Mine Spill in 2015, which caused wastewater containing heavy metals like arsenic and lead to flow into the Animas and San Juan rivers.

Former President of the Navajo Nation Jonathan Nez has announced he’s running for Congress in Arizona’s 2nd District. The seat is currently held by freshman Republican Eli Crane, who joined with a group of far-right defectors to oust former-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month. The 2nd Congressional District is also home to 14 of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes. Nez, a Democrat, would be the first Native American representative from Arizona in Congress. Nez says it will likely be a tough race – the district has 30,000 more Republican voters registered than Democrats. He says he plans on focusing on issues that matter to everyday Arizonans, like inflation and lowering the cost of childcare. And Colorado voters will decide next month if the state should be allowed to keep more of the money it gets from tobacco and nicotine.

On Saturday morning, Mesa Verde National Park hosted viewing events for the public during the annular solar eclipse. Hundreds of visitors poured into the park in the early morning hours to secure a spot to see this extraterrestrial event. NASA scientists and park rangers were nearby to answer questions. Tim Livengood is an assistant research scientist at NASA. He says there’s an important reason the crowd is here at Mesa Verde to watch the eclipse, as opposed to a different location in the Four Corners. And this week, county clerk and recorders will begin mailing ballots to all registered voters in Colorado in preparation for the November 7 election.