Navajo

In Upper Fruitland, New Mexico, an informational meeting was held on federal benefits available to some miners who have black lung disease. They say coal companies have mistreated them for decades.

Canyonlands Healthcare in Page, Arizona says that they’re finding more and more patients who have health issues related to working in coal mines throughout the Navajo Nation and surrounding areas. Michelle Carter, a nurse who leads the black lung clinic program at Canyonlands, says that based on miners they’ve screened in the last year, around 12% have the potential to have black lung disease. And state lawmakers are moving forward with a bipartisan bill that would boost funding for special education.

In the Navajo Nation and surrounding areas, health professionals from National Jewish Health are working with local hospitals and clinics to test retired coal miners for black lung disease. Cecile Rose, a pulmonologist and environmental medicine physician at National Jewish Health, says that black lung, otherwise known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, is present among retired miners living in towns like Page, Arizona, and Montrose, Colorado. And three bills expanding and protecting access to reproductive healthcare got final approval from the state Senate Wednesday. One would shield out-of-state patients seeking abortions or gender-affirming care in Colorado.

In Farmington, retired coal miners suffering from the effects of black lung disease will hold an informational meeting on opportunities for compensation and other benefits through the Department of Labor on Friday, April 7. The meetings are hosted by Orphelia Thomas, a member of the Navajo Nation and community liaison for Positive Nature Homecare, LLC.

Shortly after Willie Grayeyes was sworn in as San Juan County Commissioner, he entered a courtroom to defend his official residence for the second time.…

For the first time in San Juan County’s 138-year history, Navajos will lead two of its three county commissioner seats. Democrat Kenneth Maryboy ran…

The Navajo Nation has come out in opposition to a recommendation for the closure of the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, or ONHIR. The office…

The Navajo Nation has canceled a horse hunt that was planned for the Carrizo Mountains near Teec Nos Pos in Arizona, but the nation’s feral-horse problem…

A monument honoring Navajo Code Talkers will be unveiled Friday, November 10th, in Aztec, New Mexico. The Farmington Daily-Times reports the San Juan…

One of the few remaining Navajo Code Talkers has died. David Patterson, Sr., died Sunday in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, from pneumonia. He was 94. He served…