US agency to review oil, gas leases near Chaco in New Mexico - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The U.S. government, environmentalists and an energy company have reached a settlement over contested oil and gas leases in an area held sacred by Native American tribes.
The agreement approved by a federal judge earlier this week would pause drilling on a few dozen parcels in northwestern New Mexico near Chaco Culture National Historical Park while federal land managers conduct an environmental review and consult further with tribes.
The spotlight already is on Chaco as U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has initiated a plan for halting development on federal land around the park and providing a pathway for tribes in New Mexico and neighboring Arizona to be more involved in decision-making. Federal officials are planning more public meetings on the plan later this month.
The settlement stemmed from a petition filed in 2020 that challenged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's decisions authorizing the leasing of 42 parcels for oil and gas development.
The plaintiffs argued that the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take a hard look at cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and health impacts, and environmental justice issues. They also said opportunities for public participation were inadequate.
As part of the agreement, land managers will have until August to complete a more in-depth environmental review, hold a public meeting and meet with tribes. In the meantime, the agency will not approve any applications for a permit to drill or any new right-of-way permits on the challenged parcels.
Energy company EOG Resources Inc. also agreed not to develop 119 wells that federal officials had previously approved until the review is done and the Bureau of Land Management issues a new decision. If the agency decides to cancel any of the leases, EOG reserves the right to challenge that decision.
Email messages seeking comment were left Thursday with the company's attorneys and with regional Bureau of Land Management officials.
The environmental groups and tribal advocates contend that the bureau's initial public participation process fell far short of the "fair treatment and meaningful involvement" that environmental justice demands.
"The Bureau of Land Management's fly-by-night approvals for oil and gas leasing during the pandemic chaos of the waning days of the Trump administration undermines the trust responsibility the bureau has with Diné living on the Counselor, Ojo Encino, and Torreon lands," said Mario Atencio, an organizer with the Navajo environmental group Diné C.A.R.E.
The fight over development in the region has spanned multiple presidential administrations, and even some Native Americans have differing views on how much space around the national park should be protected.
A World Heritage site, Chaco is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization. Within the park, walls of stacked stone jut up from the bottom of the canyon, some perfectly aligned with the seasonal movements of the sun and moon. Circular subterranean rooms called kivas are cut into the desert floor.
Outside the park, archaeologists say there are discoveries still to be made.
Ally Beasley with the Western Environmental Law Center said this latest case provides an opportunity for federal land managers to correct what she described as unjust treatment of the area around Chaco park as "an energy sacrifice zone."
"A new decision — and new decision-making process — for these leases could be a meaningful step toward truly 'honoring Chaco' as the agency has alluded to," she said.
APS schools given option to extend year by 10 days - KUNM News, Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education has approved a measure allowing schools to elect to add ten days to the school year.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the board first rejected a proposal to mandate a longer year for schools. Proponents said the extension would allow more professional development for staff, and personalized teaching for students.
Later, the board approved a motion that would allow schools the option to adjust their calendars if they’d like.
A longer school year has been a topic of debate for some time and dozens of people spoke at the public meeting last night.
One member of the board pointed out that schools are suffering from a lack of staff. Barbara Petersen said it was “incredibly frustrating” that ten extra days of school were being proposed during a time of staff shortages.
New Mexico terror trial in limbo years after compound raid - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
A second defendant is invoking the right to a speedy trial in the 2018 raid on a squalid family compound in northern New Mexico that uncovered the remains of a 3-year-old boy and led to charges of kidnapping, firearms and terrorism charges, defense attorneys confirmed Thursday.
Subhanah Wahhaj, one of five defendants incarcerated since the raid, denies the charges against her and this week notified federal prosecutors and a judge in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque of her right to a trial within a reasonable amount of time after arrest.
"We filed the speedy-trial notice because it's been (nearly) four years, and based on the evidence in the case we don't think our client belongs in jail any more," said Ryan Villa, a court-appointed attorney for Wahhaj.
Wahhaj was arrested in August 2018 along with her husband and three other adults from an extended family in a law enforcement raid at a ramshackle encampment in the remote desert surrounded by berms of used tires with an adjacent firing range. Authorities were searching for a sickly 3-year-old who had been reported missing by his mother in Georgia.
Sheriff's deputies and state agents initially found 11 hungry children and a small arsenal of ammunition and guns. After days of searching, they recovered the decomposed remains of the 3-year-old in an underground tunnel.
Trial preparations have been largely suspended as the court addresses mental health concerns about four defendants. A new court filing indicates three defendants have been found mentally competent to stand trial — Subhanah Wahhaj, sister Hujrah Wahhaj and Haitian national Jany Leveille.
Evaluation and possible treatment is pending for Lucas Morton, the husband of Subhanah.
Subhanah, the mother of four children detained in 2018 the raid, was pregnant when arrested and gave birth to a child while incarcerated.
Authorities have said the deceased child, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, suffered from untreated disabilities as father Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and his partner Leveille performed daily prayer rituals over him — even as he cried and foamed at the mouth. Authorities also said Leveille believed medication suppressed the group's Muslim beliefs.
Forensic specialists determined the child died several months prior to the recovery of his body.
A grand jury indictment alleges Leveille and her partner instructed people at the compound to be prepared to engage in jihad and die as martyrs, and that one more relative was invited to bring money and firearms.
All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and providing material support to each other as potential terrorists by crossing state lines with firearms and training at the New Mexico compound.
The defendants have denied all charges. Defense attorneys have said their clients would not be facing terrorism-related charges if they were not Muslim.
Siraj Ibn Wahhaj also has protested trial delays.
Rail Runner in talks with governor to reduce ticket prices - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Even without funding from the Legislature, New Mexico’s commuter rail line may lower ticket prices to help low-income people get around without having to pay rising fuel costs.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked lawmakers to set aside money to reduce ticket costs for the Rail Runner, to make it a more affordable commuting options as gas prices remain high and “as part of her focus on delivering economic relief to New Mexicans,” Nora Meyers Sackett, the governor’s spokesperson, said Wednesday.
The Rio Metro Regional Transit District, which operates the rail line, has been speaking with Lujan Grisham about “a potential initiative to reduce fares,” Rio Metro RTD Communications Manager Augusta Meyers said Tuesday.
“Rio Metro thinks reduction of fares would be a good thing, we’ve been working with the governor’s office to look at the potential to do that, but nothing’s been decided yet,” Meyers said. There are no solid numbers decided on how much the fares could be reduced, she said.
The initiative is meant to give more affordable transportation options to New Mexicans based on the fact that gas prices have “skyrocketed” recently, Meyers said.
The Senate Finance Committee had unanimously approved the junior bill on Tuesday morning, but not before cutting $1 million out of it which would have allowed for lower fares to ride the Rail Runner, the state’s only commuter rail line that runs between Santa Fe and Belen.
Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, moved to strike the provision in the bill that would have provided $1 million to the Rio Metro RTD “in temporarily decreasing fares, expanding schedules and improving operations” according to the bill.
“While we’re disappointed in the Senate Finance Committee’s action on the measure, the governor’s office is working with Rail Runner operators to identify a way to reduce fares and support commuters, keeping more money in New Mexicans’ pockets – as soon as those details are finalized and in place, we’ll have more information for you and the public,” Meyers Sackett said.
The Rail Runner operates 11 trains every weekday, six southbound trains and five northbound trains on Saturdays, and four southbound trains and three northbound trains on Sundays.
Sharer said he pulled the funding out of the reworked junior bill because it wasn’t in the original bill passed in the regular session earlier this year and because the Rail Runner has federal money to spend.
“We don’t need to spend another million dollars on it, as I see it,” Sharer said. “Currently, the Rail Runner has very low ridership, and would it make sense to have more riders on it? Maybe. But I don’t think that this achieves that goal.”
Rio Metro RTD has received just over $68 million in COVID relief, from the CARES Act and other federal pandemic relief, Meyers said. She said they have about $16 million of that money left, which “can go for anything that helps keep the Rail Runner sustainable.”
They used some of it to pay for rail workers’ salaries when the Rail Runner was shut down, Meyers said. But the Rail Runner only has about 50% of the riders it had before the pandemic started, Meyers said, “and we face high gas prices too, for gas for the trains.”
According to the Federal Transit Administration, if a transit system waives fares for riders, it can use money from the CARES Act or the 2021 pandemic relief bill to pay for operations that those fares would have covered.
The Rail Runner can use that money “for operations in any way they see fit,” said Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup. He said the Rail Runner should use those federal funds before any state money.
The intent of the $1 million was to help people out by making the Rail Runner more accessible, and to get more people riding it, said Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces said.
“It seems like a good intention,” he said.
Charles Sallee, deputy budget director for the Legislative Finance Committee, told lawmakers that LFC evaluated the Rail Runner a couple years ago and “found that they needed to be more strategic about boosting ridership.”
In Fiscal Year 2018, Sallee said, fares accounted for only 6% of their $34 million in revenue. Rio Metro mostly relies on Gross Receipts Taxes revenue and federal grants, Sallee said.
“There’s a massive influx of federal funds that can be used to help support improving the use of the Rail Runner,” “Charles” said. “The money that they received from the federal government was basically to backfill that 6% plus, so it’s broad operational support for the Rail Runner. There’s nothing in state statute that restricts their ability to do the kinds of things that were contemplated with the million dollars.”
The Committee voted 9-2 in favor of Sharer’s motion.
When the bill got to the Senate Floor, Sen. Jacob Candelaria, DTS-Albuquerque, introduced a floor amendment to undo the Committee’s amendments and put the money back in the bill.
He said the Committee’s amendment “would make public transportation even less accessible and less affordable for low-income, hard-working New Mexicans in the central Rio Grande corridor.”
“We have a cultural problem, where it is totally acceptable to just talk down about, make jokes about, underfund, undervalue both the Rail Runner and the Spaceport,” Candelaria said. “We can all have debates about how those entities are run, but the state has made a commitment to these projects. … If we say we care about inflation, if we say we care about the rising cost of fuel, we should be doing everything possible to increase public transportation. Not defund it.”
The Senate rejected his amendment in a 34-4 vote, and passed the bill without the Rail Runner funding.
Capitol rioter from Santa Fe acquitted on all counts – By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
A federal judge acquitted a defense contractor from Santa Fe on Wednesday of all charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden held the bench trial for Matthew Martin over two days. The government brought three witnesses to testify and Martin himself also testified, according to court records.
NBC News reports that McFadden said there was reasonable doubt about whether Martin knew he was going into a restricted building but also said it was “more likely than not” that Martin knew he wasn’t supposed to.
Martin is the first person to be cleared of all charges related to the violent events at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“I’m hoping to get my life back together — get my job back,” Martin told reporters after the verdict. He indicated to reporters that he works in Los Alamos.
A witness told an FBI agent that Martin “had indicated he would be taking leave on January 6, 2021,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
The witness said Martin works for a defense contracting company that works with the federal government. Court records show Martin has a top-secret security clearance.
Investigators identified Martin using phone geolocation data and Capitol surveillance video. Police arrested him in Santa Fe on April 22, 2021.
Prosecutors charged Martin on June 9, 2021 with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly conduct which impedes the conduct of government business; disruptive conduct in the Capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol buildings.
He was arraigned on July 2, 2021, and pleaded not guilty to all counts. He stayed out of jail on his personal recognizance through the trial.
Albuquerque police officers fatally shoot carjacking suspect - Associated Press
Albuquerque police say officers fatally shot a carjacking suspect who had fired at least one shot at officers.
Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said no officers were injured in the incident that occurred Wednesday evening after police spotted and followed a car stolen from a man.
Gallegos said multiple officers returned fire when the suspect shot at police after getting out of the car and running down a path while being pursued by officers.
The officers involved in the shooting were placed on leave pending an investigation.
US nuclear agency sued over public records requests - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A watchdog group is suing the National Nuclear Security Administration over its failure to release public records related to the U.S. government's plans to manufacture key components for the nation's nuclear arsenal.
The complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., covers more than a dozen records requests made since 2017 by the Los Alamos Study Group. The nonprofit is seeking more transparency about what it calls one the largest warhead-related programs since the end of the Cold War.
The lawsuit alleges that the agency has a policy and pattern of violating the Freedom of Information Act in a way that "shields its activities and multibillion-dollar plans from public scrutiny and congressional oversight."
The group believes most of the money authorized for building and operating facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to manufacture plutonium cores for use in nuclear weapons is being wasted.
"What, after all, is NNSA hiding? Why doesn't NNSA want to discuss its plans openly, legally redacted as necessary?" asked Greg Mello, director of the Los Alamos Study Group.
The National Nuclear Security Administration did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions about the complaint or the records requests seeking information on cost overruns, delays and site expansion plans.
Officials for years have pushed for plutonium core production to resume, saying the U.S. needs to ensure the stability and reliance of its nuclear arsenal. The National Nuclear Security Administration has said most of the cores in the stockpile were produced in the 1970s and 1980s.
With the modernization project comes more jobs and billions of federal dollars to upgrade buildings and construct new facilities. Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation are supportive, but watchdog groups have concerns.
The NNSA is required by law to manufacture no fewer than 80 cores by 2030. While testifying before congressional committees, top officials have acknowledged over the past year that the deadline will likely get missed as construction of the factory in South Carolina is behind schedule by as many as five years and Los Alamos won't be able to make up the difference.
According to the lawsuit, the records requests involve officials' public testimony to Congress on plans to increase production, the hiring of new workers and budget estimates. The information sought also pertains to the need to have the factories running around the clock to meet the federal government's goals.
The lawsuit states that the NNSA has yet to release many of the main planning documents, official studies or reports that the Los Alamos Study Group says are needed to conduct policy analysis, participate in comment opportunities, or otherwise monitor the agency's activities.
Mello said the plutonium core plans are competing with other NNSA programs for key personnel, equipment, funding and management attention.
"We want a principled, truthful discussion about this program right now — in public and in Congress — before more billions are squandered, more workers are hurt and the environment is damaged further," Mello said. "For that to happen, NNSA has to reveal its plans as the law requires."
Wind energy company kills 150 eagles in US, pleads guilty - By Matthew Brown Associated Press
A subsidiary of one of the largest U.S. providers of renewable energy pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was ordered to pay over $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed at its wind farms in eight states, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy was also sentenced to five years probation after being charged with three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a court appearance in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The charges arose from the deaths of nine eagles at three wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico.
In addition to those deaths, the company acknowledged the deaths of golden and bald eagles at 50 wind farms affiliated with ESI and NextEra since 2012, prosecutors said. Birds were killed in eight states: Wyoming, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois.
NextEra, based in Juno Beach, Florida, bills itself as the world's largest utility company by market value. It has more than 100 wind farms in the U.S. and Canada and also generates natural gas, nuclear and solar power
Almost all of the eagles killed at the NextEra subsidiary's facilities were struck by the blades of wind turbines, prosecutors said. Some turbines killed multiple eagles and because the carcasses are not always found, officials said the number killed was likely higher than the 150 birds cited in court documents.
Prosecutors said the company's failure to take steps to protect eagles or to obtain permits to kill the birds gave it an advantage over competitors that did take such steps — even as ESI and other NextEra affiliates received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax credits from the wind power they produced.
NextEra spokesperson Steven Stengel said the company didn't seek permits because it believes the law didn't require them for unintentional bird deaths. The company said its guilty plea will resolve all allegations over past fatalities and allow it to move forward without a continued threat of prosecution.
The criminal case comes amid a push by President Joe Biden for more renewable energy from wind, solar and other sources to help reduce climate changing emissions. It also follows a renewed commitment by federal wildlife officials under Biden to enforce protections for eagles and other birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Criminal prosecutions had been halted under former President Donald Trump for birds killed inadvertently by industry.
It's illegal to kill or harm eagles under the migratory bird act. However, a wide range of industries — from energy firms to manufacturing companies — have lobbied for years against enforcing the law for accidental bird deaths.
The bald eagle — the U.S. national symbol since the 1700s — saw its populations widely decimated last century due to harmful pesticides such as DDT and other problems. Following a dramatic recovery, it was removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2007. Biologists say more than 300,000 bald eagles now occupy the U.S., not including Alaska.
Golden eagles have not fared as well, with populations considered stable but under pressure from wind farms, collisions with vehicles, illegal shootings and poisoning from lead ammunition.
Most of the eagles killed at the ESI and NextEra wind farms were golden eagles, according to court documents.
There are an estimated 31,800 golden eagles in the Western U.S. with an estimated 2,200 killed annually due to human causes, or about 60% of all deaths, according to a study released last week by leading eagle researchers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other entities.
The study concluded that golden eagle deaths "will likely increase in the future" because of wind energy development and other human activities.
Companies historically have been able to avoid prosecution under the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty law if they take steps to avoid deaths and seek permits for those that occur.
Charging documents said company representatives, including ESI's president, were warned that eagles would be killed if the company built two wind farms in central and southeastern Wyoming, and also knew about a risk to eagles when they authorized the repowering of a New Mexico wind farm, about 170 miles from Albuquerque.
The company proceeded anyway and at times ignored further advice from federal wildlife officials about how to minimize the deaths, according to court documents.
"For more than a decade, ESI has violated (wildlife) laws, taking eagles without obtaining or even seeking the necessary permit," said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division in a statement.
ESI agreed under a plea deal to spend up to $27 million during its five-year probationary period on measures to prevent future eagle deaths. That includes shutting down turbines at times when eagles are more likely to be present.
Despite those measures, wildlife officials anticipate that some eagles still could die. When that happens, the company will pay $29,623 per dead eagle under the plea deal.
NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa said collisions of birds with wind turbines are unavoidable accidents that should not be criminalized. She said the company is committed to reducing damage to wildlife from its projects.
"We disagree with the government's underlying enforcement activity," Kujawa said in a statement. "Building any structure, driving any vehicle, or flying any airplane carries with it a possibility that accidental eagle and other bird collisions may occur."
COVID spending bill stalls in Senate as GOP, Dems stalemate - By Alan Fram Associated Press
A compromise $10 billion measure buttressing the government's COVID-19 defenses has stalled in the Senate and seemed all but certainly sidetracked for weeks, victim of a campaign-season fight over the incendiary issue of immigration.
There was abundant finger-pointing Wednesday but no signs the two parties were near resolving their stalemate over a bipartisan pandemic bill that President Joe Biden and top Democrats wanted Congress to approve this week. With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., prioritizing the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson by week's end — quite possibly Thursday — the COVID-19 bill seemed sure to slip at least until Congress returns after a two-week recess.
A day earlier, the GOP blocked the Senate from even beginning debate on the bill, which would increase funding for COVID-19 treatments, vaccines and testing. Republicans were demanding that Democrats allow a vote on an amendment preserving immigration curbs imposed by President Donald Trump that the Biden administration is slated to end on May 23.
"Why did Republicans say no? Because they wanted to cripple COVID funding legislation with poison pills that they knew would derail this bill," Schumer said Wednesday.
Schumer and a team of GOP negotiators led by Utah Sen. Mitt Romney struck a deal Monday on the pandemic bill. Democrats say Republicans are walking away from that agreement.
"The question we have is whether Republicans are acting in good faith to provide the resources we need to save American lives, or if they're just playing politics," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. "The virus is not waiting for Republicans in Congress to get their act together."
While there would likely be at least the 10 GOP votes needed to push the pandemic bill through the 50-50 Senate, overall Republican support for it is tepid. And the GOP's effort to refocus the fight to immigration — an issue that polls show hurts Biden — has clearly put Democrats on the defensive.
A vote on extending the immigration restrictions would expose Democratic senators, especially those facing tight reelections in November, to dangerous fissures. Liberal immigration advocates want Biden to erase the curbs, but doing that is expected to prompt an explosion of migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico that could trigger a voter backlash.
"We can win it," No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota said about a potential immigration vote. "They've got a number of Democrats who are for it. But their leadership is adamantly opposed, I would say hostile to the idea" of a vote.
When the pandemic was full-blown in 2020, Trump began letting authorities immediately expel asylum seekers and other migrants, citing the threat to public health. COVID-19's intensity has since waned in the U.S., though BA.2, a new omicron variant, is beginning to spread widely here.
Even GOP supporters of the pandemic bill say Democrats must resolve the legislative roadblock.
"They're in the majority. And the administration says they need this money. And I actually agree with the administration," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who helped negotiate the package. "And the majority has to figure out how to get this done."
Among Democrats who favor retaining the immigration restrictions for now is Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who is facing reelection. He and several others cite a need for federal officials to gear up staffing and facilities to handle the expected influx of migrants.
"I have not seen a plan for how the administration will deal with what I think is a pretty predictable surge on the border," he said Wednesday in a brief interview.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declined to discuss what she would do if the Senate sent her chamber a pandemic measure that also extended Trump's immigration strictures.
"Is that even something that the Senate would do?" she told a reporter. "When they send something, I'll let you know what we would do with it."
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., bristled when asked why Democrats wouldn't simply accept the immigration restrictions as the price for winning the pandemic spending Biden says is needed.
"Your premise is whatever they put in there, take," Hoyer said. "Uh uh, we're not going to play that game."
That reflects a Democratic view that the Republican effort to force an immigration vote is all about setting a political trap.
"Trust me, this is one of the pillars of their reelection campaign, immigration," said No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Richard Durbin of Illinois. "The numbers appearing at our border are a real challenge, and I'm sure they're going to make an issue of it."
First pope, now US churches face boarding-school reckoning - By Peter Smith Associated Press
As Native Americans cautiously welcome Pope Francis' historic apology for abuses at Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children in Canada, U.S. churches are bracing for an unprecedented reckoning with their own legacies of operating such schools.
Church schools are likely to feature prominently in a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior, led by the first-ever Native American cabinet secretary, Deb Haaland, due to be released later this month. The report, prompted by last year's discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites in Canada, will focus on the loss of life and the enduring traumas the U.S. system inflicted on Indigenous children from the 19th to mid-20th centuries.
From Episcopalians to Quakers to Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma, faith groups have either started or intensified efforts in the past year to research and atone for their prior roles in the boarding school system, which Native children were forced to attend — cutting them off from their families, tribes and traditions.
While the pontiff's April 1 apology was addressed to Indigenous groups from Canada, people were listening south of the border.
"An apology is the best way to start any conversation," said Roy Callison, a Catholic deacon and Cherokee Nation member helping coordinate the Oklahoma Catholic Native Schools Project, which includes listening sessions for those affected by the boarding school legacy. "That's the first step to trying to get healing."
In his meeting with Canada's Indigenous delegations, Francis asked forgiveness "for the role that a number of Catholics ... had in all these things that wounded you, in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values."
Francis "did something really important, which is name the importance of being indignant at this history," said Maka Black Elk, executive director of truth and healing for Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
That history "is shameful, and it is not something we should accept," said Black Elk, who is Oglala Lakota.
Red Cloud, affiliated with the Catholic Jesuit order, was for generations a boarding school for Lakota children. It's now a day school incorporating Lakota leadership, language and traditions. Black Elk is guiding a reckoning process that includes archival research and hearing the stories of former students.
Canada underwent a much-publicized Truth and Reconciliation process in recent years. The issue gained unprecedented attention last year after a researcher using ground-penetrating radar reported finding about 200 unmarked probable burial sites at a former school in British Columbia.
That discovery, followed by others across Canada, prompted Haaland to commission her department's report.
"This history in the United States has not been addressed in the same way it has been addressed in Canada," Black Elk said. The Interior report "will be an important first step about the work that needs to happen in this country."
Church leaders are getting ready. The report "will likely bring to light some very troubling information," said a letter circulated last fall to members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from two colleagues who chaired committees related to the issue. The letter urged bishops to build relationships with local Indigenous communities and engage "in a real and honest dialogue about reactions to the report and what steps are needed to go forward together."
Conditions varied at boarding schools in the United States, with some described as unsafe, unsanitary and scenes of physical or sexual abuse. Other former students recall their school years as positive times of learning, friendship and extracurricular activities.
Indigenous groups note that even the better schools were part of a project to assimilate children into a predominately white, Christian society and break down their tribal identities, customs and languages — what many Indigenous groups call a cultural genocide.
"The very process of boarding schools is violent and damaging," said Bryan Rindfleisch, an expert in Native American history at Marquette University who is helping Catholics in Oklahoma research their school legacy.
There were at least 367 boarding schools across the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a Minneapolis-based advocacy group.
Most were government-run; many others were run by Catholic and Protestant churches.
The national healing coalition called Pope Francis' comments a historic first step, but urged the Vatican to repatriate Indigenous artifacts in its museum collections and called on religious organizations to open their school archives.
In listening sessions held through the Oklahoma Catholic Native Schools Project, many participants told positive stories of school experiences, Callison said, though the church is committed to documenting the traumatic ones too. "You're going to hear things you don't want to hear," he said.
The project will also include archival research and individual interviews with those affected. At least 11 Catholic boarding schools operated in Oklahoma.
"We need to get to the truth before we can deal with whatever hurt or celebrate whatever success" the schools achieved, Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley said.
Several church groups — including Quakers, Methodists and some Catholic religious orders — are backing pending legislation in Congress that would go beyond the Interior report. It would create a truth and healing commission, modeled on Canada's, to investigate the boarding school legacy.
The New England Yearly Meeting of Friends — a regional group of congregations — issued an apology last year for Quakers' historic sponsorship of such schools, acknowledging they were undertaken with "spiritual and cultural arrogance."
"We are deeply sorry for our part in the vast suffering caused by this system and the continuing effects," the New England group said.
It's important for Quakers to accept such responsibility, said Paula Palmer, a Quaker from Colorado whose research has identified about 30 Native American boarding and day schools that were run by Quakers.
"The yearly meetings voted to support, operate and finance" the schools, she said. "So it's really the yearly meetings who have the responsibility to respond. They were the ones who also participated in the whole project of forced assimilation of Indigenous children."
The Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States has hired an archival researcher to document its own boarding school history.
The order is "committed to examining and sharing the truth of our history, even where that is difficult," said the Rev. Ted Penton, secretary of the Jesuit conference's Office of Justice and Ecology.
The Episcopal Church's General Convention in July is expected to vote on a statement that would "acknowledge the intergenerational trauma caused by genocide, colonialism" and the operation of boarding schools and "other systems based on white supremacy."
The convention will also consider authorizing a "comprehensive and complete investigation" of the church's operation of such schools. The proposals came from a group appointed by denominational leaders.
Such measures are strong, but local dioceses also need to research their own histories and advocate for Indigenous peoples, said the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, Washington. Taber-Hamilton, whose heritage includes the Shackan First Nation of Canada, is an Episcopal Church representative to the worldwide Anglican Indigenous Network.
"It's not enough to say, 'I'm sorry, and here's some money,'" she said. "We first have to do some very hard work of listening to the pain."
Stiegler back, among big names at World Pro Ski Tour event - By Pat Graham AP Sports Writer
A year ago, Resi Stiegler retired from ski racing. Eight weeks ago, she gave birth to her daughter, Rosi. A few days ago, she handed Rosi to her husband to sneak in an extra afternoon training session.
She had a race — two, in fact — to prepare for.
The three-time U.S. Olympian will make a quasi-comeback at the World Pro Ski Tour's championship races this weekend at Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico. With lucrative prize money on the line, the field is loaded with Olympians, World Cup standouts, national team members, college standouts and those who just so happen to be coming out of retirement (see: Stiegler).
"I was planning on winning, because that's who I am," Stiegler cracked of her expectations with qualifying set for Friday, a men's and women's parallel slalom race Saturday and a parallel giant slalom race Sunday. "But then I didn't know they were coming."
"They" would be a reference to Erin Mielzynski of Canada and American Paula Moltzan, who both competed at the Winter Games in Beijing.
The tour that has long attracted elite racers. With roots dating to the late 1960s, it once featured the likes of Billy Kidd and the Mahre brothers (Phil and Steve) before disbanding around 1999. The tour came back in 2017, but the world championships were put off the past two years because of the pandemic.
Up for grabs will be $20,000 for the men's and women's winners in both races. Plus, there's a $25,000 bonus for the male and female racer who perform the best in both events combined.
The competition will be side-by-side racing along a super-slalom course that features pro-style jumps. One run each on the red and blue courses (for fairness), with the winner advancing through a March Madness-style bracket based on time differential.
On the men's side, there are names such as Linus Strasser, who was part of Germany's Olympic silver medal in the team parallel event in Beijing, and American River Radamus (fourth in the giant slalom in Beijing). There's also Robert Cone, the 30-year-old from Vermont who's dominated the circuit the last two seasons. In all, more than 50 men entered.
The field for the women is smaller — about two dozen — but just as stacked. Moltzan enters fresh off winning the slalom crown at the U.S. championships.
The tour isn't designed to compete with the World Cup circuit. It's simply another avenue for race competition.
"We're the NASCAR to their Formula One — complementary tours," explained WPST CEO Jon Franklin, whose partnership deals include Rocket Mortgage. "The action should be fast and furious."
Expect the unexpected, too.
That was the case with Tuva Norbye, the 25-year-old racer who retired from the Norwegian team due to a back issue. On a whim, Norbye, a grad student at the University of Utah, decided to compete at a WPST event in January. On borrowed skis and gear, she won the event and the $10,000 to go with it.
A month later, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, she won again. Another $10,000.
For this event, she had her racing gear shipped from home and increased her training. The racers go through a time trial Friday to determine their seeding for the tournament, which will be a field of 16 for the women and 32 for the men.
"The competition level is really high, and here for the finals, it's going to be the highest that it's ever been," Norbye said. "I'm excited for it. I'm actually getting a little nervous, too."
A casual conversation with her husband, German slalom racer David Ketterer, enticed Stiegler back to the starting gate. He simply inquired: How fun would it be to race at an event together?
Extremely, Stiegler thought. And so here they are.
The excitement's building for the 36-year-old Stiegler, whose long but injury-filled career included 178 World Cup entries — one podium — and more than a dozen surgeries. Stiegler retired last April following a slalom win at the national championships.
Stiegler, who lives in Wyoming and trains at Jackson Hole, skied up to the day of Rosi's birth in early February. She also watched the Beijing Games, and her heart broke for good friend Nina O'Brien, who fell near the finish line in the women's giant slalom and suffered a compound leg fracture.
Soon after the birth of Rosi, O'Brien wrote under Stiegler's Instagram post: "I know a good babysitter who has plenty of time on her hands."
Stiegler said she is excited to back racing.
"If it's this really awesome thing that goes well, I can really have a fun year (on the World Pro Ski Tour) next year," said Stiegler, who serves as a coach for her husband and helps oversee Stiegler Ski Racing Camps with her brother.
Any chance of a full-scale comeback?
"I'm retired," Stiegler said with a laugh.