'Race Across America' makes stop in Flagstaff
By Cindy Yurth
Tseyi' Bureau
CHINLE, June 16, 2014
Several hundred bicycle racers and their support crews were strung across the reservation between Tuba City and Kayenta this past week for Race Across America, an annual event that puts the world's fittest endurance cyclists against each other and the elements.
Riders headed north from Flagstaff on U.S. 89 and then east on 160 as part of the transcontinental race from California to Maryland. The fastest riders average 250 miles a day and finish the race in 11 to 12 days, sometimes getting as little as two hours of sleep a night.
Jonah Madison, a waiter at the Anasazi Inn west of Kayenta, said several of the riders stopped in for a quick snack. "The main thing I noticed was they wanted everything to be super-fresh," Madison said. "The freshest fruits and vegetables we had, and meat cooked so it was still bloody."
A member of a German crew who had stopped at the inn admitted the extreme endurance race is "kind of crazy."
Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Company Announces 4th Quarter Financials
Navajo Times
ST. MICHAELS, Ariz. --Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Company released its fourth quarter financials (unaudited) showing positive results across the board. For the fiscal year (FY) that ended March 31, 2014, NNOGC reported $156.3 million in total revenue, a 16.8 percent gain, as compared to $133.7 million from the prior year. On the balance sheet, total assets for the company grew from $437 million to $458 million, while NNOGC’s total liabilities shrunk from $207 million to $179 million, demonstrating a steady gain in total net assets.
Reuben Mike, NNOGC’s CFO and vice president of finance, said that despite the challenges of the past year, these latest numbers demonstrate current management’s commitment to running a profitable business and focusing on core values for leveraging economic growth, which is good for the Navajo Nation.
Since 2010, NNOGC has seen a steady increase in operating income on an annual basis, with an average annual growth rate of 12.1 percent between fiscal years 2011 through 2013. In FY 2014, however, the company achieved a phenomenal gain of 37 percent, growing operating income from $39.3 million to $53.8 million in the current fiscal year. Although the company’s net income decreased by 8.1 percent from FY 2012 to FY 2013, due to significant operational spending, NNOGC saw an increase of over 44 percent to net income in FY 2014, up from the prior year’s $33.7 million to over $48.7 million.
“Since joining the company a year ago, our executive management team has worked hard to stabilize the company financially,” said Robert Joe, NNOGC’s president and CEO. “I’m particularly proud of our latest financial performance and the significant growth to the company’s net income, which demonstrates NNOGC’s commitment to managing cost and promoting fiscal responsibility. Our team of committed employees dedicated to creating the premier Native American energy company achieved these financial performance results."
“NNOGC’s leadership is focused on our chartered authority to operate as a for-profit entity, maximizing the company’s profitability for the benefit of the Navajo people,” Joe said. “We are doing this while maintaining our goal of ensuring that the company remains aligned with the Navajo’s true culture of K’é.” NNOGC has diversified operations in all aspects of the oil and gas industry, with presence in upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the industry. The core activities of NNOGC include: exploration, development and production of oil and gas properties in the United States, primarily in the Aneth Field in Utah; transportation of crude oil and gas; wholesale distribution of refined fuel products and management of convenience-store operations.
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