Author: Gallup Sun Publishing

Staff Reports ALBUQUERUQE — Attorney General Raúl Torrez and a coalition of 25 states secured a temporary restraining order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Aug. 28, temporarily blocking a new rule by the U.S. Postal Service that would have imposed burdensome requirements on vote-by-mail systems ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. “The Postal Service’s rule was an unlawful overreach that threatened to upend years of proven, state‑run vote‑by‑mail systems,” Torrez said. “No federal agency should be allowed to impose last‑minute, unworkable mandates that jeopardize New Mexican’s ability to cast their ballots safely and on…

Staff Reports WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The 25th Navajo Nation Council voted unanimously Aug. 26 to immediately remove Navajo Nation Acting Attorney General Kris Beecher, Esq., and to no longer recognize or approve him as the Acting Attorney General. Introduced as an emergency measure, the legislation states that the lawful occupancy of the offices of the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General directly affects the legal services essential to the operation of the Navajo Nation government and the defense of the Nation’s sovereign interests. “Allowing an acting Attorney General to remain in office without a lawful appointment places every legal…

Staff Reports WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. —  The 25th Navajo Nation Council announced the passing of former 18th Navajo Nation Council Delegate Harold Tunney, who represented the Bodaway and Cameron Chapters, Aug. 26. “Former Delegate Harold Tunney dedicated much of his life to serving his communities and advocating for issues that continue to be important to the Navajo people today,” Speaker Crystalyne Curley said. “From protecting our water rights and sacred sites to addressing uranium contamination and expanding telecommunications access, he worked to create better opportunities for the people he represented.” Tunney was born in Tuba City on May 31, 1957,…

Staff Reports Two people died and multiple people were injured in a car crash in Breadsprings, N.M., Aug. 27. Around 2:30 pm, two vehicles collided head-on on State Road 602, near mile post 22.5 at Blue Medicine Well Road. Navajo Nation Police, the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, and McKinley County Fire and Rescue responded to the scene, where they found two people in a white vehicle deceased, the driver and a passenger. A third passenger suffered minor injuries. Two passengers in a gray SUV suffered minor injuries. A third vehicle was also involved in the crash. The passengers in that…

Staff Reports City of Gallup officials are aware of claims that videos were purposefully deleted from the city’s Facebook page. The city stated these claims are false. In 2025, Facebook enacted a policy of deleting live videos after 30 days, which has resulted in videos that were previously saved to the page being automatically deleted by Facebook. City staff reportedly checked Facebook’s “Activity Log”—which is an audit log of actions made to and with the page—and the “Trash”— which shows deleted content—for signs of videos being removed, and there were no indications of videos being deleted by administrators or any…

Staff Reports President Donald Trump brushed off his loss after the Supreme Court rejected his attempt to end birthright citizenship—rooted in the 14th Amendment—Aug. 25, saying the decision is “too bad for the Country” and insisting that he can “easily make it up in Congress through Legislation.” The court ruled in a June 30, 6-3 decision to reject Trump’s executive order that he issued on the first day of his presidency, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority, “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the…

Staff Reports Singer-songwriter Dolly Parton died on Aug. 25. She was 80 years old. Her family didn’t release a cause of death, but they did say she “died peacefully today in Nashville.” The annoucement came on her official Instagram, with a video from her nephew Bryan Seaver on behalf of the Patton family. “This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” Seaver said in the video. “As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the…

Staff Reports ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the start of construction on Pacific Fusion’s $1 billion research and manufacturing campus at Mesa del Sol Aug. 25, marking a major milestone in New Mexico’s drive to become a national hub for advanced, carbon-free energy. Pacific Fusion’s approximately 225,000-square-foot campus will house the company’s first-of-its-kind fusion research facility, working toward a system that generates more energy than it consumes by 2030. The project is expected to create more than 200 permanent jobs, along with hundreds of construction and regional supply-chain jobs. This facility will not operate as a…

Staff Reports WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission received an update from the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office Aug. 20 on ongoing efforts to address housing, infrastructure, grazing management, and unresolved relocation matters affecting Navajo families impacted by the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act. Commission Chair Otto Tso emphasized the importance of maintaining federal accountability as discussions continue regarding the future of the federal relocation program and the memorandum of understanding governing the transition. Tso said communication with federal officials and the Navajo Nation Washington Office will be important as the Nation seeks clarity on outstanding responsibilities. “From our side,…

Staff Reports The McKinley County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in finding a missing 84-year-old man. Raymond Fuentes is a 5′ 4″ Hispanic man who weighs about 145 pounds. He has brown eyes and white hair. He was last seen on Aug. 21 around 3 pm in the 300 block of West Aztec Avenue in Gallup. He was last seen wearing a green windbreaker, black Levi’s jeans, and black shoes, and he was carrying a a black backpack. Fuentes may have left the area in a pickup truck, although the make, model, color, and license plate of…