Author: Donovan Quintero

A packed meeting room here on Tuesday drew Navajo chapter leaders, pastors, veterans and residents from the Sanders-Chambers corridor. The Apache County Board of Supervisors heard hours of public opposition to a liquor license application tied to a convenience store near Interstate 40 and U.S. 191 in Chambers, Arizona.

With Arizona’s Legislative District 6 drawn after the 2020 redistricting cycle to create a majority Native American constituency, candidate Ian Teller is framing his campaign around a straightforward pitch to voters who have heard plenty of promises before. He says he will show up, target state funding at basic needs and prove results with numbers communities can verify.

Lawmakers and tribal leaders pressed federal agencies Feb. 6 in Washington, D.C., over barriers they say continue to hamper economic development in Indian Country, describing a federal system they said is fragmented, inflexible and often out of reach for smaller, rural tribes.

The Council delegate seat representing the chapters of Church Rock, Iyanbito, Mariano Lake, Pinedale, Smith Lake and Thoreau could soon be filled as Navajo Nation election officials move through certification procedures.

As President Donald Trump declared in his State of the Union address that “our nation is back – bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before,” Navajo and Arizona leaders described a far more complicated reality unfolding across tribal and rural communities.