US To Pay $13.2M For Navajo Nation Uranium Mine Evaluation – The Associated Press
Navajo Nation officials say the U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to provide $13.2 million for a cleanup evaluation of 16 abandoned uranium mines across the vast reservation.
Tribal officials say the investigation of the sites is a necessary step before final cleanup decisions can be made.
The Navajo Nation encompasses more than 27,000 square miles within Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
About four million tons of uranium ore was extracted during mining operations within the Navajo Nation from 1944 to 1986 when the last mine shut down.
Many tribal members worked in and near the mines, often living and raising families in close proximity to the mines and mills.
Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly says countless tribal members have suffered from health and environmental impacts from uranium contamination.
Roswell School Shooting Victims Awarded Nearly $2 Million – The Associated Press
Insurance carriers for the Roswell Independent School District have paid nearly $2 million in structured settlements to two victims of a shooting at a middle school last year.
The Roswell Daily Record obtained the legal pleadings Friday in the litigation that resulted in a court-approved mediated settlement.
Attorneys for Berrendo Middle School shooting victims Kendal Sanders and Nathaniel Tavarez petitioned for medical expenses and other compensatory damages last December in Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque.
Court records show Tavarez was awarded $1 million and Sanders $937,500.
Tavarez was 12 at the time of the Jan. 14, 2014 shooting and Sanders was 13.
The then 12-year-old shooter pleaded no contest and was sentenced to the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department until he turns 21.
Man Arrested For Breaking Into 81 Storage Units – The Associated Press
A 29-year-old Albuquerque man was arrested for a breaking into 81 storage units during a two-week period in April.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that police arrested Anthony Maestas in connection with a rash of burglaries where shotguns, rifles, DVDs, copper tubing and other things were stolen.
The owner of the storage facility says Maestas cut through the chain-link fence eight times, costing up to $5,000 in needed repairs.
Police discovered Maestas had pawned much of the stolen property and brought him in for questioning. At that time he said his family was having financial trouble.
Maestas' girlfriend Bethani White says he lost his job in October and was going to lose his apartment, so he was desperate for money to support himself and his four children.