New Mexico may create database of missing Native Americans - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
A bill that would help state prosecutors track and investigate unresolved reports of missing Indigenous people from New Mexico was endorsed Monday by the state Senate by a unanimous vote.
A 34-0 vote of the Senate sent the bill to the state House for consideration. The initiative would create an electronic catalogue of missing Indigenous people — including many who may have been murdered — for use by law enforcement and state prosecutors with support from outside financial grants.
The bill also authorizes $1 million in spending by the state attorney general's office to hire and train at least one specialist for investigating cases of missing Native Americans.
Sen. Shannon Pinto, a tribal member of the Navajo Nation from Tohatchi, said the bill was inspired by haunting instances of unresolved disappearances.
She invoking the case of Anthonette Cayedito, who was last seen in April 1986 as a freckled 9-year-old at her family's home in Gallup.
"I hope there is some closure before I reach my time here on this earth," Pinto said.
Democratic state Sen. Leo Jaramillo of Espanola noted that the initiative has the support of three tribal communities in his district and the Tewa Women United advocacy group for Native American rights.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Gregory Baca of Belen said the effort is long overdue.
"I think that the more attention we have on this matter, the better," Baca said. "I'm glad we're not ignoring it any more."
Lawmakers are working around the clock in the last frantic days of a 30-day annual legislative session that ends at noon Thursday.
Major initiatives on proposed tax cuts, voting access, climate regulation and criminal justice are still being vetted, along with an $8.48 billion annual spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Prominent New Mexico lawmaker charged with drunken driving - By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America
Prominent Democratic state Rep. Georgene Louis of Albuquerque has been arrested and charged with drunken driving, the Santa Fe police department said Monday.
Louis, an attorney and rising figure among Indigenous legislators, was arrested shortly after midnight on charges of aggravated drunken driving and driving without proof of registration and insurance, police said.
Santa Fe police spokesman Ben Valdez said that Louis was driving on a main street in the state capital city of Santa Fe when a police officer pulled her over for speeding late Sunday night.
A field sobriety test and breath test "supported the suspicion of impaired driving," Valdez wrote in an email.
Louis did not immediately respond to text and voice messages Monday. It's unclear if she has legal representation.
The arrest took place during the frenetic final days of a 30-day annual legislative session.
A legislative committee chaired by Louis canceled a Monday morning hearing just hours after Louis was booked at a local jail.
Louis was the lead sponsor in 2021 of landmark legislation that ended immunity from prosecution for human rights violations by police and other local government officials under provisions of the state constitution.
Louis, a tribal member of Acoma Pueblo, campaign unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to Congress in 2021 in a special election won by Democratic U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of Albuquerque.
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Associated Press writer Morgan Lee contributed to this story.
New Mexico may legalize test strips to detect fentanyl - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico lawmakers are poised to legalize test strips that can detect the presence of the potent opiate fentanyl and potentially help avoid deadly overdoses.
The Democrat-sponsored bill from legislators in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Alamos would lift restrictions on public access to devices that can test for drug impurities. It also gives state health health officials new authority to intervene and prevent the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis through intravenous drug use.
The bill was scheduled for a decisive Senate vote as soon as Monday that would send the measure to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who supports the initiative.
Overdoses in New Mexico increasingly are linked to the ingestion of drugs laced with fentanyl.
"Starting in mid-2019, that red line for drug overdose deaths started to curve up from fentanyl ... one of the main drug adulterants," state Health and Human Services Secretary David Scrase testified testified at a legislative hearing in January. "We were completely incapable of intervening to stop those deaths because of legal restrictions."
States including Arizona already have decriminalized test strips designed to detect fentanyl.
New Mexico state Rep. Tara Lujan of Santa Fe hopes her bill will also spur new opportunities for health officials to interact with people harboring drug addictions and offer support services that may save lives.
New Mexico routinely leads the American West in rates of opioid-related drug overdose deaths. It also has been on the forefront of strategies to reduce the toll of drug use and addiction, from the distribution of overdose antidote drugs to legal immunity provisions for people who may implicate themselves in crimes by seeking overdose treatment for themselves or others.
Luján plans return to Senate in weeks for Supreme Court vote -Associated Press
Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who is recovering from a stroke in January, says he plans to be back at work in "just a few short weeks" to vote on President Joe Biden's forthcoming Supreme Court nominee.
In a video released Sunday by his office, the New Mexico senator said he is at the University of New Mexico Hospital after surgery to relieve pressure on his brain and soon will go to an inpatient rehabilitation facility for "a few more weeks."
"I'm doing well. I'm strong. I'm back on the road to recovery, and I'm going to make a full recovery," the 49-year-old Luján said in the video, which showed him seated next to two of his doctors. "I'm going to walk out of here, I'm going to beat this, and I'm going to be stronger once I come out."
"Now I'm proud to report, then I'll be back on the floor of the United States Senate in just a few short weeks to vote on important legislation and to consider a Supreme Court nominee," he added.
According to his office, the Luján began experiencing dizziness and fatigue on Jan. 27 and checked himself into a hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Luján was transferred to the hospital in Albuquerque for further evaluation and treatment.
His absence from the Senate came as Biden considers a nominee to replace the retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer. Biden has said he wants to announce a pick by the end of February.
In a 50-50 Senate, Luján's vote would be critical if Democrats wanted to confirm Biden's nominee without the help of Republicans.
"Rest assured, New Mexicans can know they will have a voice and a vote during this process," Luján said in the video. "That has never changed."
Preventive policing could expand across New Mexico -Austin Fisher, Source NM
A pilot program in Albuquerque that tries to use a public health approach to thwart future violence would be expanded statewide under a proposal House lawmakers passed early in the morning on Saturday.
The House of Representatives after nearly three hours of debate voted 44-20 to create a statewide system of funding based on Albuquerque’s Violence Intervention Program. It still needs hearings in the Senate’s Judiciary and Finance Committees before it would get a vote on the floor.
Under House Bill 96, social workers would intervene with victims of violent crime who police believe are likely to become perpetrators themselves, or are past perpetrators, said sponsor Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque).
Gerri Bachicha, director of the Albuquerque program upon which the legislation is modeled, told lawmakers last fall that policing methods meant to reduce assaults and gun violence have “eroded the legitimacy of the police force to protect and serve in the communities most impacted by violent crime.”
The bill instead proposes that communities in New Mexico adopt a different kind of policing which the bill refers to as “focused deterrence,” where police try to stop gun violence through intensive, targeted enforcement in tandem with social services and appeals from community members to stop the violence.
The people with whom the VIP team is intervening are “pretty hardcore,” Chasey said. They need a lot of help in order to turn their lives around, she said, like good substance use disorder counseling and possibly medication.
That’s why the bill requires at least half of the grant funding to pay for public health services. The top four needs among the people targeted by the Albuquerque program, she said, are substance use disorder, detox, housing and psychological treatment due to past trauma.
A small portion of the funding would go to the Department of Health to administer the program, and the rest would go to police, Chasey said. Part of the process of identifying people for the program includes police figuring out whether someone is in a gang, she said.
If the person refuses to participate in the program, they are “basically alerted that he or she is now on the radar of this law enforcement partnership” that includes federal prosecutors, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the local sheriff’s office and other police, Chasey said.
In one case, the Albuquerque Violence Intervention Program team met with a young man who was shot in the back and expressed his intention to seek revenge on the shooter, she said.
The team, Chasey said, got him to express his wishes to get help, identified a serious mental health issue and a substance use disorder, and had case managers working with him daily offering life coaching and referrals to behavioral health services.
Since March 2020, the two-person Albuquerque team has intervened with 210 people at the highest risk of engaging in cycles of violence, she said, and 93% of those people have not gone on to commit more crime.
House Bill 2 includes $9 million to be overseen by the Department of Health, which would give out grants to the local governments that would apply to create violence intervention programs that would fit their needs, Chasey said.
Every city, county or tribal government could apply for the grants, she said. To qualify, she said, there must be a disproportionate amount of violence to that area’s population in the form of aggravated assaults or homicides.
The New Mexico Sentencing Commission would provide data to local communities for their grant applications, she said.
The City of Albuquerque consulted with the Sentencing Commission and found that in 2019, the areas that had the most disproportionately high crime rates are the counties of Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and the area around the town of Silver City, Chasey said. That data, she added, could have easily changed since the pandemic began.
Police arrest man suspected of stabbing 11 in Albuquerque - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Police in Albuquerque arrested a man suspected of stabbing 11 people as he rode a bicycle around the city over the weekend, leaving two victims critically injured, authorities said.
The suspect was identified as Tobias Gutierrez, a 42-year-old man with a criminal history that includes felony offenses that range from burglary to battery and possession of a controlled substance.
He was booked into jail on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, police in New Mexico's largest city said in a statement Monday. Booking documents said he was homeless.
The stabbings appeared to have been committed at random within hours along Central Avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares. One of the crime scenes included a homeless encampment and another was near a smoke shop where the suspect asked a victim for money and yelled obscenities before swinging a knife, according to a criminal complaint.
"There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason" to the attacks, said police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos.
There was no immediate information on whether Gutierrez had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
New Mexico court records show Gutierrez also had been charged over the years with drug possession and driving while intoxicated.
In 2014, Gutierrez failed to appear in court for driving on a revoked license, records show. He responded to the court with a handwritten note saying that he was in federal custody in another county and that he was making an effort to better himself while incarcerated.
His federal prison sentence stemmed from a case in which he entered a tribal casino north of Albuquerque while carrying a revolver and ammunition.
Authorities said Gutierrez got into an altercation with a casino security officer, dropped the revolver, got into a vehicle and led police on a chase through a suburb until he crashed and was found hiding.
Records show he was released from federal custody in 2020.
Sunday's attacks began around 11:15 a.m., when officers responded to a crime scene downtown and found a man suffering a laceration to his hand. About an hour later, another call came in about the stabbing outside the smoke shop near the University of New Mexico a couple miles away.
Police were called to two more stabbings along Central Avenue over the next two hours before another call came in at 2 p.m. about a man trying to stab people outside a convenience store. Arriving officers found two victims with neck wounds.
Within the next 20 minutes, two more calls came in — and the final one involved a victim stabbed outside of a restaurant along another busy street less than a mile away.
The witnesses identified a man on a bike armed with a large knife.
According to the criminal complaint, an officer saw a suspect who fit the description and saw him toss something into a trash can before the officer stopped the suspect. A search warrant was issued and a knife was found.
The victims were taken to different hospitals and while two suffered critical injuries, all of those hospitalized were in stable condition, police said. Some were treated for their injuries and released.
US announces tribal lockup reforms after 16 deaths reviewed - Associated Press
The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs on Monday announced a series of reforms for the tribal correctional facilities it oversees after reviewing the deaths of 16 inmates.
The agency did not make public the report of its review, making it difficult to gauge what led to the actions that it says will protect the rights, dignity and safety of tribal members taken into custody.
"The report is undergoing a review right now because it contains some protected personal information, but it's our goal to share what we can as soon as possible," Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland told reporters.
The review and reforms come after an NPR story last year on deaths in tribal jails. The Bureau of Indian Affairs directly operates about one-fourth of the 100 correctional facilities under its umbrella. Tribes operate the others under contract with the BIA.
At least 16 inmates died in those facilities from 2016 to 2020. A three-month BIA review of the deaths was launched last fall. It was done by The Cruzan Group, LLC. consulting firm, which includes the former director of the BIA'S Office of Justice Services Darren Cruzan, at a cost of nearly $83,000, according to online public records.
Newland said he's aware of the scrutiny surrounding the contract for Cruzan's group to investigate the workings of an agency he once led. As a political appointee, Newland said he wasn't involved in the process.
"But I do work to make sure our process is ethical and fair," Newland said. "I intend to make sure this contract was awarded in an ethical and fair manner and that it adheres to law and regulation."
The review focused on the fairness and effectiveness of investigations of in-custody deaths, Newland said.
The more than two dozen reforms — some of which have have been put in place already — include policy changes to enable investigators to respond more quickly to in-custody deaths and report about those investigations monthly to the Office of Justice Services. Other reforms focus on training, and working with other federal agencies to define the roles of investigators and on healthcare.
NPR reported on the Cruzan contract earlier this month and published its investigative story last June on deaths in tribal jails, though it put the number of deaths at 19 from 2016 and 2020.
The media outlet said poor staff training and neglect led to several inmates' deaths. NPR also found violations of federal policy that meant correctional staff didn't check on inmates in a timely manner, and about one-fifth of correctional officers hadn't completed required basic training.
Government watchdog groups, congressional testimony and other advocates have raised similar concerns for years.
While the Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't release the review report that led to the reforms, NPR obtained a copy.
The 127-page report found evidence of employee misconduct, falsified reports and shoddy investigations by the BIA and the FBI — two federal agencies that respond to crime on tribal land, NPR reported.
The review also found that some employees in tribal jails weren't properly trained and lacked supervision.
West megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years - By Seth Borenstein AP Science Writer
The American West's megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds.
A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one of the driest years ever recorded for the region — pushed the 22-year drought past the previous record-holder for megadroughts in the late 1500s and shows no signs of easing in the near future, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The study calculated that 42% of this megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change.
"Climate change is changing the baseline conditions toward a drier, gradually drier state in the West and that means the worst-case scenario keeps getting worse," said study lead author Park Williams, a climate hydrologist at UCLA. "This is right in line with what people were thinking of in the 1900s as a worst-case scenario. But today I think we need to be even preparing for conditions in the future that are far worse than this."
Williams studied soil moisture levels in the West — a box that includes California, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, most of Oregon and Idaho, much of New Mexico, western Colorado, northern Mexico, and the southwest corners of Montana and Texas — using modern measurements and tree rings for estimates that go back to the year 800. That's about as far back as estimates can reliably go with tree rings.
A few years ago, Williams studied the current drought and said it qualified as a lengthy and deep "megadrought" and that the only worse one was in the 1500s. He figured the current drought wouldn't surpass that one because megadroughts tended to peter out after 20 years. And, he said, 2019 was a wet year so it looked like the western drought might be coming to an end.
But the region dried up in late 2020 and 2021.
All of California was considered in official drought from mid-May until the end of 2021, and at least three-quarters of the state was at the highest two drought levels from June through Christmas, according to the U.S. drought monitor.
"For this drought to have just cranked up back to maximum drought intensity in late 2020 through 2021 is a quite emphatic statement by this 2000s drought saying that we're nowhere close to the end," Williams said. This drought is now 5% drier than the old record from the 1500s, he said.
The drought monitor says 55% of the U.S. West is in drought with 13% experiencing the two highest drought levels.
This megadrought really kicked off in 2002 — one of the driest years ever, based on humidity and tree rings, Williams said.
"I was wondering if we'd ever see a year like 2002 again in my life and in fact, we saw it 20 years later, within the same drought," Williams said. The drought levels in 2002 and 2021 were a statistical tie, though still behind 1580 for the worst single year.
Climate change from the burning of fossil fuels is bringing hotter temperatures and increasing evaporation in the air, scientists say.
Williams used 29 models to create a hypothetical world with no human-caused warming then compared it to what happened in real life — the scientifically accepted way to check if an extreme weather event is due to climate change. He found that 42% of the drought conditions are directly from human-caused warming. Without climate change, he said, the megadrought would have ended early on because 2005 and 2006 would have been wet enough to break it.
The study "is an important wake-up call," said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of environment at the University of Michigan, who wasn't part of the study. "Climate change is literally baking the water supply and forests of the Southwest, and it could get a whole lot worse if we don't halt climate change soon."
Williams said there is a direct link between drought and heat and the increased wildfires that have been devastating the West for years. Fires need dry fuel that drought and heat promote.
Eventually, this megadrought will end by sheer luck of a few good rainy years, Williams said. But then another one will start.
Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist who wasn't involved in the study, said climate change is likely to make megadrought "a permanent feature of the climate of the Colorado River watershed during the 21st century."
Ranger district provides firewood for Navajo community - By Jim Mimiaga The Journal
The Dolores Ranger District of the San Juan National Forest is providing firewood to help heat homes in the Chinle area of the Navajo Nation.
San Juan Wood for Life is a pilot project between the San Juan National Forest, Chinle Chapter of the Navajo Nation, National Forest Foundation and Weston Backcountry.
The project provides tribes with a sustainable source of firewood from forest thinning projects.
In February, about six truckloads of ponderosa pine – at least 84 cords of firewood – are being delivered to the Chinle Chapter House as weather allows. The wood will be processed into firewood and delivered to elderly and other vulnerable populations in the area free of charge.
"The wood has arrived and is being split for delivery to homes," said Colin Tsosie, program coordinator for the Chinle Chapter House. Households that need firewood will receive one cord each.
He said there is a big demand for firewood in Chinle and wood stoves are a primary source of heat for residents, including the elderly.
"I don't know if you've been to Chinle, but there are not a lot of forests around for firewood," Tsosie said. "It's been cold here, the goal of the project is to help the community with firewood at no cost."
Residents typically drive 45 minutes or longer gather firewood, he said. The labor and rising cost of wood and fuel makes it a challenge, especially for the elderly, he said. A truckload of firewood has been selling for $280.
The Chinle Youth Program and AmeriCorps volunteers are helping to split and deliver the wood. Sign up for the firewood is available at the Chinle Chapter House.
Dolores District Ranger Derek Padilla said firewood for the San Juan Wood for Life is from forest thinning projects in the Glade and Lake Canyon areas in the northwest part of the district.
Local demand has not been high for the firewood available in that remote area, he said. The firewood-sharing program to help out neighbors is seen as a good use for it.
"It helps us address forest health needs, while also helping communities that need firewood," he said. "My hope it that it will develop into a multiyear program."
The reduction of fuel loading in the Glade helps minimize beetle kill, reduces the chance for large, destructive wildfires, and provides a product for the timber industry, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
A challenge for forest thinning projects is that the market for smaller timber is scarce. Padilla said. The larger mills are not taking it, but it makes good firewood.
The Chinle Chapter has participated in the Wood For Life program with Arizona's Coconino and Kaibab National Forests in the past and was chosen for the San Juan pilot program because of existing distribution networks and infrastructure.
The Wood for Life program was developed in 2018 as a collaboration between the Kaibab and Coconino National Forests, the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe and the National Forest Foundation. The partnership now includes more than 60 organizations. Since its inception, more than 7,000 cords of wood have been provided to local tribal governments and nonprofits, which process and distribute it to community members throughout the Southwest.
"The expansion of Wood for Life to the San Juan National Forest will allow the program to benefit more forest lands and reach more communities," said National Forest Foundation program manager Sasha Stortz in a news release. "We're thrilled for this significant moment of growth and really appreciate all the partners who have come together to make it happen."
For more information on San Juan National Forest Wood for Life projects, contact Forester Jake Dahlin at jacob.dahlin@usda.gov
Tucson archaeologist: Found artifacts linked to 16th century - By Henry Brean Arizona Daily Star
A Tucson archaeologist has unveiled a discovery in Santa Cruz County that she thinks could rewrite the history of the Coronado Expedition.
Deni Seymour said she has unearthed hundreds of artifacts linked to the 16th century Spanish expedition, including pieces of iron and copper crossbow bolts, distinctive caret-headed nails, a medieval horseshoe and spur, a sword point and bits of chain mail armor.
The "trophy artifact" is a bronze wall gun — more than 3 feet long and weighing roughly 40 pounds — found sitting on the floor of a structure that she said could be proof of the oldest European settlement in the continental United States.
"This is a history-changing site," said Seymour, who touts herself as the Sherlock Holmes of history. "It's unquestionably Coronado."
The independent researcher revealed her find on Jan. 29 in a sold-out lecture to more than 100 people at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park.
Seymour is not disclosing the exact location of the archaeological site, but her general description in the Santa Cruz Valley places it at least 40 miles west of Coronado National Memorial, which overlooks the San Pedro River and the U.S.-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista.
In 1540, Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led an armed expedition of more than 2,500 Europeans and Mexican-Indian allies through what is now Mexico and the American Southwest in search of riches.
The two-year journey took them as far north and east as present-day Kansas and brought them into contact — and often conflict — with centuries-old Indigenous cultures along the way.
Though professional archeologists and amateur sleuths have puzzled over it for close to 150 years, Coronado's exact route through Arizona to the elaborate Zuni pueblos of northern New Mexico remains a mystery.
The consensus among scholars is that the expedition most likely followed the Rio Sonora through northern Mexico and the San Pedro River into what is now Arizona.
Seymour believes her discovery proves once and for all that Coronado and company actually entered Arizona along the Santa Cruz River before eventually heading east.
That puts her at odds with most researchers.
Bill Hartmann is an accomplished Tucson astronomer, who has also been investigating and writing about Coronado for more than 20 years. In 2014, the University of Arizona Press published his book on the subject, "Searching for Golden Empires."
"It sure sounds like she has a really exciting site," Hartmann said after attending Seymour's first lecture in Tubac. "The big question in my mind is whether it disagrees with the earlier interpretation of where the Coronado Expedition went. I don't think it undermines earlier thoughts that they came up the San Pedro."
New Mexico historian Richard Flint had a similar reaction: excited by Seymour's discovery, skeptical about her conclusions.
Flint and his historian wife, Shirley Cushing Flint, are among the world's leading experts on the expedition. In more than 40 years of research, they've written eight books and countless academic papers on the topic.
"I think Deni's finds are certainly fascinating and probably indicate the presence of the Coronado expedition," Flint said. "I don't think that that means the usual reconstruction of the route going north has to be abandoned. The evidence is very strong that they came up through the Rio Sonora."
Seymour said she once favored the San Pedro route, too. But that was before all these artifacts turned up in an entirely different river valley.
She said she first visited the site in Santa Cruz County in July 2020 and immediately found several caret-headed nails, "which in this area means without question you have Coronado."
She has been uncovering artifacts there ever since with the help of metal detectors and a crew of up to 18 volunteers, including several members of the Tohono Oʼodham tribe.
"The site keeps giving and giving," she said.
Relics have been unearthed across an area that stretches for well over half a mile. At minimum, Seymour said, it is the remains of a large encampment, but she suspects it is something more.
"What we have is a named place," she said, "a place named in the Coronado papers."
Seymour believes she has found the remains of Suya, also known as San Geronimo III because it was the third and northernmost location of a Spanish outpost established to support the expedition.
Along with the central structure where the wall gun was found, she said she has identified what appear to be six surrounding lookout stations, three of which show "clear evidence of being attacked."
The Spanish "had a major presence here, and they had major conflicts with the natives here," Seymour said. "And it's different natives than previously thought."
Based on the site's location and the items she has found, she is convinced the outpost was routed not by the Opata people who once dominated what is now Sonora but by the Sobaipuri, whose direct descendants include the Tohono Oʼodham at San Xavier.
Clusters of lead shot and distinctive Sobaipuri arrowheads tell the story of their final confrontation, which sent the Spaniards retreating back to the south.
"We have clear evidence of battle," said Seymour, who has written dozens of academic books and papers about the region and its early native inhabitants. "There's no question."
Excavation at the site has yielded more than 120 caret-headed nails and more than 60 crossbow bolts so far.
Those are the most "diagnostic" artifacts from the Coronado Expedition, Flint said, and to find so many crossbow bolts in particular is convincing evidence of a significant skirmish.
According to Flint, there are a number of written accounts by members of the expedition that reference Suya and the battle that led to it being abandoned. He said the loss of the outpost "sort of put the nail in the coffin" of Coronado's journey, because it cut him off from his main resupply and communication route.
The question of whether it qualifies as the first European settlement in the U.S. seems to depend on how you define the word settlement.
To Hartmann, Suya was "more like a struggling military garrison than a town," he said.
And it wasn't the first regardless, Flint added. By the time San Geronimo III was established, Coronado had already traveled deep into present-day New Mexico, where the expedition clashed with native people and lived for months in some of their captured pueblos.
"Everyone wants to be first. (This discovery) is important, even if it's not the first," Flint said. "Virtually anything that is found about the Coronado Expedition has the chance to shed new light on something that was not known."
Seymour is far less measured. As far as she is concerned, this discovery is so important, so game-changing that it could wind up as a national monument or a World Heritage Site someday.
"There are a lot of naysayers," she said. "I'm an archaeologist. I just go where the evidence is."
Seymour expects to publish the first of several peer-reviewed papers on her discovery sometime this spring. She said she has already received a few radiocarbon results and other dating methods to back her up, with more testing planned.
As for her recent public talks in Tubac, Seymour said she took the unusual step of selling tickets and publicizing her work early to raise money for a documentary that's being made about the discovery by Tucson-based Frances Causey Films.
"As archaeologists, we get to see the coolest stuff" and go to places others can't go, she said. "(The documentary) is important so people can see and understand the discovery process."
Just over $8,400 had been raised so far for the film, but the crowdfunding campaign was still well short of its $100,000 goal.
Seymour hasn't kept the dig site entirely to herself. Over the past year, she has shared photos of the artifacts with several experts, including the Flints, and invited a handful of fellow researchers out to see where she is working.
She said she only brings along people she can trust, and only on the condition that they not reveal the location or take anyone else there on their own.
Seymour knows she can't keep the site a secret forever, but she wants to protect it for as long as she can.
"We still have a lot of work to do," she said. "I don't want to be in competition with treasure hunters."
The longtime Southern Arizona researcher also claims to have found Coronado artifacts at two other spots about 6 miles apart in the San Bernardino Valley, roughly 100 miles east as the crow flies from her main site in Santa Cruz County.
She predicts these discoveries will eventually help pin down the exact route of the infamous expedition through Arizona.
"We have an anchor point now," Seymour said. "I think we're going to start finding a lot more Coronado sites."
2 charged in shooting of New Mexico State Police officer -Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
Two suspects have been arrested and charged in the shooting of a New Mexico State Police officer, who authorities said has been released from a hospital.
State Police said Caleb Dustin Elledge, of Los Lunas, and Alanna Martinez were located after a Saturday search at a home in the town of McIntosh.
Elledge, 24, has been charged in a criminal complaint with assault with intent to commit a violent felony on a peace officer, tampering with evidence, aggravated battery on a peace officer, possession of a firearm or a destructive device by a felon and criminal damage to property, authorities said.
They said Martinez, 22, was facing a charge of harboring or aiding a felon.
It was unclear Sunday if either suspect had a lawyer yet who could speak on their behalf.
Police said Elledge has a long criminal history and multiple arrest warrants.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that at the time of Friday's shooting, Elledge had been on the run for several months after cutting off his ankle monitor.
State Police Chief Tim Johnson said at a news conference Saturday that least three guns were recovered, but it's not yet known if one of them was used in the shooting.
The officer was shot along a highway east of Albuquerque after pursuing a vehicle that had rammed his patrol car. He was shot as the two suspects exited their vehicle.
Elledge reportedly told police he didn't want to go back to prison and he fired at least eight rounds at the officer, according to the Journal.
Johnson said the injured lieutenant, whose name hasn't been released, left the hospital Saturday and returned home to his family.
He reportedly was shot on one side of his neck.
"All indications are that he's going to make a full recovery," Johnson said.
Albuquerque police investigating fatal shooting at apartment -Associated Press
A man has been found fatally shot at an Albuquerque apartment in what appears to be a homicide, according to police.
They said officers were dispatched to an apartment in the northeast part of the city about a shooting that occurred around 2:15 a.m. Saturday.
Police said a man was found shot in the chest and he died at the scene.
The victim's name hasn't been released yet.
Police said detectives were interviewing several witnesses, but there was no immediate word on any suspects in the case.
Tucson archaeologist: Found artifacts linked to 16th century - By Henry Brean Arizona Daily Star
A Tucson archaeologist has unveiled a discovery in Santa Cruz County that she thinks could rewrite the history of the Coronado Expedition.
Deni Seymour said she has unearthed hundreds of artifacts linked to the 16th century Spanish expedition, including pieces of iron and copper crossbow bolts, distinctive caret-headed nails, a medieval horseshoe and spur, a sword point and bits of chain mail armor.
The "trophy artifact" is a bronze wall gun — more than 3 feet long and weighing roughly 40 pounds — found sitting on the floor of a structure that she said could be proof of the oldest European settlement in the continental United States.
"This is a history-changing site," said Seymour, who touts herself as the Sherlock Holmes of history. "It's unquestionably Coronado."
The independent researcher revealed her find on Jan. 29 in a sold-out lecture to more than 100 people at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park.
Seymour is not disclosing the exact location of the archaeological site, but her general description in the Santa Cruz Valley places it at least 40 miles west of Coronado National Memorial, which overlooks the San Pedro River and the U.S.-Mexico border south of Sierra Vista.
In 1540, Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led an armed expedition of more than 2,500 Europeans and Mexican-Indian allies through what is now Mexico and the American Southwest in search of riches.
The two-year journey took them as far north and east as present-day Kansas and brought them into contact — and often conflict — with centuries-old Indigenous cultures along the way.
Though professional archeologists and amateur sleuths have puzzled over it for close to 150 years, Coronado's exact route through Arizona to the elaborate Zuni pueblos of northern New Mexico remains a mystery.
The consensus among scholars is that the expedition most likely followed the Rio Sonora through northern Mexico and the San Pedro River into what is now Arizona.
Seymour believes her discovery proves once and for all that Coronado and company actually entered Arizona along the Santa Cruz River before eventually heading east.
That puts her at odds with most researchers.
Bill Hartmann is an accomplished Tucson astronomer, who has also been investigating and writing about Coronado for more than 20 years. In 2014, the University of Arizona Press published his book on the subject, "Searching for Golden Empires."
"It sure sounds like she has a really exciting site," Hartmann said after attending Seymour's first lecture in Tubac. "The big question in my mind is whether it disagrees with the earlier interpretation of where the Coronado Expedition went. I don't think it undermines earlier thoughts that they came up the San Pedro."
New Mexico historian Richard Flint had a similar reaction: excited by Seymour's discovery, skeptical about her conclusions.
Flint and his historian wife, Shirley Cushing Flint, are among the world's leading experts on the expedition. In more than 40 years of research, they've written eight books and countless academic papers on the topic.
"I think Deni's finds are certainly fascinating and probably indicate the presence of the Coronado expedition," Flint said. "I don't think that that means the usual reconstruction of the route going north has to be abandoned. The evidence is very strong that they came up through the Rio Sonora."
Seymour said she once favored the San Pedro route, too. But that was before all these artifacts turned up in an entirely different river valley.
She said she first visited the site in Santa Cruz County in July 2020 and immediately found several caret-headed nails, "which in this area means without question you have Coronado."
She has been uncovering artifacts there ever since with the help of metal detectors and a crew of up to 18 volunteers, including several members of the Tohono Oʼodham tribe.
"The site keeps giving and giving," she said.
Relics have been unearthed across an area that stretches for well over half a mile. At minimum, Seymour said, it is the remains of a large encampment, but she suspects it is something more.
"What we have is a named place," she said, "a place named in the Coronado papers."
Seymour believes she has found the remains of Suya, also known as San Geronimo III because it was the third and northernmost location of a Spanish outpost established to support the expedition.
Along with the central structure where the wall gun was found, she said she has identified what appear to be six surrounding lookout stations, three of which show "clear evidence of being attacked."
The Spanish "had a major presence here, and they had major conflicts with the natives here," Seymour said. "And it's different natives than previously thought."
Based on the site's location and the items she has found, she is convinced the outpost was routed not by the Opata people who once dominated what is now Sonora but by the Sobaipuri, whose direct descendants include the Tohono Oʼodham at San Xavier.
Clusters of lead shot and distinctive Sobaipuri arrowheads tell the story of their final confrontation, which sent the Spaniards retreating back to the south.
"We have clear evidence of battle," said Seymour, who has written dozens of academic books and papers about the region and its early native inhabitants. "There's no question."
Excavation at the site has yielded more than 120 caret-headed nails and more than 60 crossbow bolts so far.
Those are the most "diagnostic" artifacts from the Coronado Expedition, Flint said, and to find so many crossbow bolts in particular is convincing evidence of a significant skirmish.
According to Flint, there are a number of written accounts by members of the expedition that reference Suya and the battle that led to it being abandoned. He said the loss of the outpost "sort of put the nail in the coffin" of Coronado's journey, because it cut him off from his main resupply and communication route.
The question of whether it qualifies as the first European settlement in the U.S. seems to depend on how you define the word settlement.
To Hartmann, Suya was "more like a struggling military garrison than a town," he said.
And it wasn't the first regardless, Flint added. By the time San Geronimo III was established, Coronado had already traveled deep into present-day New Mexico, where the expedition clashed with native people and lived for months in some of their captured pueblos.
"Everyone wants to be first. (This discovery) is important, even if it's not the first," Flint said. "Virtually anything that is found about the Coronado Expedition has the chance to shed new light on something that was not known."
Seymour is far less measured. As far as she is concerned, this discovery is so important, so game-changing that it could wind up as a national monument or a World Heritage Site someday.
"There are a lot of naysayers," she said. "I'm an archaeologist. I just go where the evidence is."
Seymour expects to publish the first of several peer-reviewed papers on her discovery sometime this spring. She said she has already received a few radiocarbon results and other dating methods to back her up, with more testing planned.
As for her recent public talks in Tubac, Seymour said she took the unusual step of selling tickets and publicizing her work early to raise money for a documentary that's being made about the discovery by Tucson-based Frances Causey Films.
"As archaeologists, we get to see the coolest stuff" and go to places others can't go, she said. "(The documentary) is important so people can see and understand the discovery process."
Just over $8,400 had been raised so far for the film, but the crowdfunding campaign was still well short of its $100,000 goal.
Seymour hasn't kept the dig site entirely to herself. Over the past year, she has shared photos of the artifacts with several experts, including the Flints, and invited a handful of fellow researchers out to see where she is working.
She said she only brings along people she can trust, and only on the condition that they not reveal the location or take anyone else there on their own.
Seymour knows she can't keep the site a secret forever, but she wants to protect it for as long as she can.
"We still have a lot of work to do," she said. "I don't want to be in competition with treasure hunters."
The longtime Southern Arizona researcher also claims to have found Coronado artifacts at two other spots about 6 miles apart in the San Bernardino Valley, roughly 100 miles east as the crow flies from her main site in Santa Cruz County.
She predicts these discoveries will eventually help pin down the exact route of the infamous expedition through Arizona.
"We have an anchor point now," Seymour said. "I think we're going to start finding a lot more Coronado sites."
Tribes: Settlement in opioids case will foster healing - By Felicia Fonseca And Ted Warren Associated Press
Cheryl Andrews-Maltais takes note of the heart-wrenching dates that remind Wampanoag families that they're still in the midst of the opioid drug crisis — birthdays of loved ones lost, anniversaries of their passing. Then she reaches out with a phone call to the grieving.
"And then you're on the other side of it, and you're bracing for another holiday or event you can't share because of this," she said.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah, which Andrews-Maltais leads in Massachusetts, was among hundreds of Native American tribes that sued drug manufacturers and distributors over the role they played in the epidemic. One study found Native Americans had the highest per capita rate of opioid overdose deaths of any population group in 2015.
Andrews-Maltais can think of 15 deaths among her tribe of about 500 alone.
Tribes settled with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and the three largest U.S. drug distribution companies this week for $590 million. Lawyers representing tribes hope to reach settlements with others in the pharmaceutical industry, including remaining manufacturers and pharmacies.
Last year, the four companies announced a $26 billion settlement with state and local governments to end all suits. An overwhelming majority of governments have signed on; the companies are to decide this month whether it constitutes enough acceptance to move ahead. The agreement with tribes is to be subtracted from those deals.
Each of the 574 federally recognized tribes are eligible for a share of the settlement money made public Tuesday. It's unclear how quickly the money would flow to tribes, but it won't be much and not until 95% of tribes and tribal organizations that sued agree to the settlement.
"Obviously it should have been more," Andrews-Maltais said. "The ongoing, cumulative effects are generational, and this money is not going to be generational."
A special court master and the judge who oversaw the case must develop a formula for allocating the money. Three enrolled tribal members who are well-known in Indian Country will be responsible for administering the funds: former U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Secretary Kevin Washburn, former Indian Health Service acting director Mary Smith, and Kathy Hannan, chair of the National Museum of the American Indian's Board of Trustees.
Tribal leaders say they hope the funding will consider not only population but geographic diversity, access to health care, land mass and tribes' needs.
"One measuring stick that does apply, unfortunately to the vast majority of tribes, is that they are disproportionately impacted by opioids, alcohol and other chemical-generating problems that they had a very difficult history dealing with," said Geoffrey Strommer, whose firm represented some tribes in the settlement.
A 236-page court document filed in the case laid out staggering statistics for tribes related to drug-related crimes and deaths, and noted a long history — including the federal government's attempts to assimilate Native Americans into white society — that has contributed to generations of trauma. Most tribes have struggled financially to address the opioid crisis through law enforcement, courts, social services and health care.
Tribal police agencies said in the court filing that they've had to train more officers on how to deal with prescription and synthetic drugs, and arm them with tools to treat overdoses.
Tribes have turned to wellness or healing centers to treat those with opioid addictions, their families and the larger community. In Sequim, Washington, the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe is building a holistic health center in the shadow of the Olympic Mountains.
It will serve up to 300 people per day, both tribal and non-tribal members struggling with addiction. Shuttle services will be available for anyone who needs a ride and child care. The plans call for a water feature in the front that will reinforce a traditional story about the ability to change the path of a river by moving one rock.
The tribe also has funded a full-time social services worker who will be embedded in the police department to address concerns in the larger community about patients and any drug-related crimes.
"Sometimes people, optically, think that these kind of treatment centers become a magnet to drug dealers and the underbelly of that industry," said Jamestown S'Klallam Chairman W. Ron Allen. "And that's not what it is. It's a reverse of that. They're designed to be highly secure, highly safe, highly monitored and totally focused on helping those individuals become healthy."
Joshua Carver, who received services from the tribe to overcome a heroin addiction, helped install some of the center's artwork as part of his tribal construction job.
His mother, Shawna Priest, saw it as an evolution from taking oxycodone for back issues, moving on to heroin, being hospitalized on the brink of an overdose and detoxing at home for six months before recovering four years ago.
Her daughter also has struggled with addiction, including a relapse after losing a newborn, but has recovered and is working at a tribal casino. Priest herself was terrified to take medication after having ankle surgery last April, questioning whether it would cause her to become addicted. She tells her family's story to instill hope in others.
"You can get through this. You can be successful," she said. "It's not the end of the world."
Leonard Forsman, chairman of the neighboring Suquamish Tribe, said he is glad major drug manufacturers and distributors are being held responsible for the opioid epidemic, though none acknowledged wrongdoing in the settlement. The tribe plans to use the money to support cultural resurgence, which he said "has been the most effective pathway for preventing addiction and promoting recovery."
The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma said it will use the funding to expand mental health treatment and related services.
Kristopher Peters, a former police officer for the Squaxin Island Tribe in Washington state, said he has seen good people lose their jobs, destroy their families, hurt others and die because of opioid addictions. Incarceration is not the answer, and many times, treatment doesn't work the first time.
"We're not expecting the awarded funds to solve our issues or buy our way out of this epidemic," said Peters, now the tribe's chairman. "That in itself is not going to heal anyone."
Cultural gatherings like the canoe journey shared among tribes at Puget Sound and potlatches — ceremonial feasts that involve gift giving — are part of the equation, he said.
"I've seen people who are absolute addicts struggling with crime on that canoe journey, and they are totally different people," he said. "Connecting with their traditional ways. It's healing."
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This story was originally published on Feb. 3, 2022. It has been updated to remove an erroneous reference to the location of the Duwamish River.
California man killed in small plane crash at Kansas airport - Associated Press
A California man was killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed at a suburban Kansas City, Kansas, airport over the weekend, authorities said.
The Kansas Highway Patrol identified the pilot as Robert Douglas Ming, 51, of Laguna Niguel, California, television station KSHB reported. Officials said the crash happened as the single-engine Piper Aircraft attempted to take off around 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Johnson County Executive Airport in Olathe, headed for Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Witnesses said the plane crashed and erupted in flames. Ming was the only person aboard the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate to try to determine the cause of the crash.