Author – The Durango Herald

Rainy season unleashes with fury, beauty in Southwest

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – After two bone-dry years that sank the U.S. Southwest deeper into drought, this summer’s rainy season unleashed with fury. Monsoon storms have brought spectacular lightnin...

DATE: Sep 3, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Scientists launch effort to collect water data in West

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced a new kind of climate observatory near the headwaters of the Colorado River that will help scientists better predict rai...

DATE: Aug 25, 2021 | CATEGORY: Southwest Life

First water cuts in U.S. West supply to hammer Arizona farmers

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – A harvester rumbles through the fields in the early morning light, mowing down rows of corn and chopping up ears, husks and stalks into mulch for feed at a local dairy. ...

DATE: Aug 19, 2021 | CATEGORY: Southwest Life

Flash flooding sweeps Arizona; 2 missing in Grand Canyon

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Authorities were searching Thursday for two people on a rafting trip who were swept into the frigid Colorado River during a flash flood in the Grand Canyon, part of monso...

DATE: Jul 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Tribe becomes key water player with drought aid to Arizona

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – For thousands of years, an Arizona tribe relied on the Colorado River's natural flooding patterns to farm. Later, it hand-dug ditches and canals to route water to fields. ...

DATE: Jul 5, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

5 dead after hot air balloon crashes in Albuquerque street

A hot air balloon hit a power line and crashed onto a busy street in Albuquerque on Saturday, killing all five people on board, including the parents of an Albuquerque police officer, polic...

DATE: Jun 26, 2021 | CATEGORY: New Mexico

Jill Biden visits tribal school still teaching remotely

ST. MICHAELS, Ariz. – A small grade school on the outskirts of the Navajo Nation capital is ready for students to return. Staff members at Hunters Point Boarding School in St. Mic...

DATE: Apr 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

High court takes up case on virus relief funding for tribes

ALBUQUERQUE – The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that will determine who is eligible to receive more than $530 million in federal virus relief funding set aside for tr...

DATE: Apr 17, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

In a pandemic, Navajo community steps up for its vulnerable

TEESTO, Ariz. – For as long as Raymond Clark has lived alone on this quiet stretch of the Navajo Nation under the watch of the “Praying Mountain,” he has depended on everyone yet no one. ...

DATE: Mar 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

USDA puts brakes on land transfer for Arizona copper mine

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Biden administration is pulling back an environmental review that had cleared the way for a parcel of federal land held sacred by Apaches to be turned over for a massi...

DATE: Mar 1, 2021 | CATEGORY: Southwest Life

Tribes in legal limbo over federal virus relief funding

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Nearly a year after Congress passed a coronavirus relief bill, some Native American tribes remain in legal limbo over what’s been distributed. The issue didn’t ...

DATE: Feb 26, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Court rules against Apaches in bid to halt proposed mine

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – A federal judge has rejected a request from a group of Apaches to keep the U.S. Forest Service from transferring a parcel of land to a copper mining company. Ap...

DATE: Feb 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Southwest Life