Navajo Nation

Authorities say a Navajo Nation police officer has been shot and killed while answering a domestic violence call in a small community south of Page, Ariz. Navajo Nation communications director Charmaine Jackson says Sgt. Darrell Curley died at the hospital in Page early Sunday. He was shot while answering a call in the town of Kaibito late Saturday night. Jackson says no suspects are at large but declined to say if they were arrested or may have also been shot. FBI spokesman Manuel Johnson says his agency is assisting with the investigation.

A new television show that follows Navajo Nation police officers as they patrol the reservation's 17 million-plus acres is set to hit the airwaves. "Navajo Cops" premieres Monday evening on the National Geographic Channel and features some of the tribal department's 330 men and women on patrol. The show follows officers as they provide services and respond to calls across the sprawling reservation. About 180,000 residents live on the nation's largest Indian reservation, which extends across parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.

A new television show that follows Navajo Nation police officers as they patrol the reservation's 17 million-plus acres is set to hit the airwaves. "Navajo Cops" premieres Monday evening on the National Geographic Channel and features some of the tribal department's 330 men and women on patrol. The show follows officers as they provide services and respond to calls across the sprawling reservation. About 180,000 residents live on the nation's largest Indian reservation, which extends across parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.

Authorities say a Navajo Nation police officer has been shot and killed while answering a domestic violence call in a small community south of Page, Ariz. Navajo Nation communications director Charmaine Jackson says Sgt. Darrell Curley died at the hospital in Page early Sunday. He was shot while answering a call in the town of Kaibito late Saturday night. Jackson says no suspects are at large but declined to say if they were arrested or may have also been shot. FBI spokesman Manuel Johnson says his agency is assisting with the investigation.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Allen Dale June, one of the 29 original Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, has died. He was 91. Mr. June died of natural causes Wednesday night at a veterans hospital in Prescott, said his wife, Virginia. His health had been failing since earlier this year when he was hospitalized for a urinary tract infection and kidney failure, his wife said. The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The federal government plans to spend as much as $3 million a year to demolish and rebuild structures in the Navajo Nation that are contaminated with uranium. Cold War-era mining of the radioactive substance has left a legacy of disease and death across the 27,000-square-mile Navajo reservation, which spans Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The Environmental Protection Agency and its Navajo counterpart are focusing on homes, sheds, and other buildings within a half-mile to a mile from a significant mine or waste pile.

NEW YORK - The famed Navajo Code Talkers, the elite Marine unit whose unbreakable code stymied the Japanese in World War II, fear their legacy will die with them. About 50 of the 400 Code Talkers are believed to be still alive, most living in the Navajo Nation reservation that spans Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many are frail or ill, with little time left to tell the world about their wartime contribution. But yesterday, 13 of the Code Talkers, some using canes, a few in wheelchairs, arrived in New York City to participate for the first time in the...

TUBA CITY — Few places move the spirit the way the Navajo lands do. I keep returning to this landscape of red sandstone, deep canyons, and grassy mesas, and each time I visit, I’m awed by its beauty and humbled by its simplicity. The 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation spilling into Utah and New Mexico is spectacular country. Within or edging its Arizona borders are seven national monuments, two national parks, a national historic site, a national recreation area, three tribal parks, countless natural sights, and the Hopi Reservation, an independent area within the...

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Lynda Lovejoy walked past throngs of parade-goers in her traditional crushed-velvet dress and moccasins, her campaign button on a sleeve. Speaking through a microphone, she said she would bring fresh perspective to the Navajo government if elected president. Her supporters shouted, “You go, girl!’’ Others at the parade in Window Rock clearly didn’t want to see her at the helm of the country’s largest American Indian reservation. “I hope you lose,’’ one man shouted, then covered his mouth and ducked into the crowd.

PHOENIX - Tony Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels and creator of two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes, Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, died Sunday of pulmonary failure. He was 83. Mr. Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman, said her father's health had been declining in the last couple of years and that he was at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque when he died. Mr. Hillerman lived through two heart attacks and surgeries for prostate and bladder cancer.

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — The first time I visited northeastern Arizona’s Hopi lands, I saw little and learned even less. Until recently, the 2,439-square-mile reservation, an island within the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation, did not invite tourism. That changed with the opening of the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites, a tribal-owned and operated hotel in the Upper Village of Moenkopi. In 2009, the hotel was under construction, but I was able to book a small group tour with Micah Loma’omvaya’s Hopi Tours, an experience so engaging and enlightening that I booked another when I returned...

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Lynda Lovejoy walked past throngs of parade-goers in her traditional crushed-velvet dress and moccasins, her campaign button on a sleeve. Speaking through a microphone, she said she would bring fresh perspective to the Navajo government if elected president. Her supporters shouted, “You go, girl!’’ Others at the parade in Window Rock clearly didn’t want to see her at the helm of the country’s largest American Indian reservation. “I hope you lose,’’ one man shouted, then covered his mouth and ducked into the crowd.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Allen Dale June, one of the 29 original Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, has died. He was 91. Mr. June died of natural causes Wednesday night at a veterans hospital in Prescott, said his wife, Virginia. His health had been failing since earlier this year when he was hospitalized for a urinary tract infection and kidney failure, his wife said. The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the...

TUBA CITY — Few places move the spirit the way the Navajo lands do. I keep returning to this landscape of red sandstone, deep canyons, and grassy mesas, and each time I visit, I’m awed by its beauty and humbled by its simplicity. The 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation spilling into Utah and New Mexico is spectacular country. Within or edging its Arizona borders are seven national monuments, two national parks, a national historic site, a national recreation area, three tribal parks, countless natural sights, and the Hopi Reservation, an independent area within the Navajo land.

NEW YORK - The famed Navajo Code Talkers, the elite Marine unit whose unbreakable code stymied the Japanese in World War II, fear their legacy will die with them. About 50 of the 400 Code Talkers are believed to be still alive, most living in the Navajo Nation reservation that spans Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many are frail or ill, with little time left to tell the world about their wartime contribution. But yesterday, 13 of the Code Talkers, some using canes, a few in wheelchairs, arrived in New York City to participate for the...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The federal government plans to spend as much as $3 million a year to demolish and rebuild structures in the Navajo Nation that are contaminated with uranium. Cold War-era mining of the radioactive substance has left a legacy of disease and death across the 27,000-square-mile Navajo reservation, which spans Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The Environmental Protection Agency and its Navajo counterpart are focusing on homes, sheds, and other buildings within a half-mile to a mile from a significant mine or waste pile.

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- When Albert Laughter unpacks his medical supplies, preparing to treat the military veterans who are his patients, he finds no stethoscope or thermometer. His examination room doesn't have walls to speak of. It is made of canvas and wooden poles, a teepee with a small fire ring inside. His supplies -- pheasant and eagle feathers, cornmeal, sage, and other herbs -- come wrapped in small leather pouches. Laughter, a Navajo medicine man, cares for warriors as five generations of his forebears have: with herbs, songs, and ceremonies.

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — The first time I visited northeastern Arizona’s Hopi lands, I saw little and learned even less. Until recently, the 2,439-square-mile reservation, an island within the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation, did not invite tourism. That changed with the opening of the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites, a tribal-owned and operated hotel in the Upper Village of Moenkopi. In 2009, the hotel was under construction, but I was able to book a small group tour with Micah Loma’omvaya’s Hopi Tours, an experience so engaging and enlightening that I booked another...

PHOENIX - Tony Hillerman, author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels and creator of two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes, Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, died Sunday of pulmonary failure. He was 83. Mr. Hillerman's daughter, Anne Hillerman, said her father's health had been declining in the last couple of years and that he was at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque when he died. Mr. Hillerman lived through two heart attacks and surgeries for prostate and bladder cancer.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- When her son Jacoby calls home, as he did the other day seeking advice on what bedding to buy, Margie Ellsbury said the conversation usually begins like this. "Ya-ah-teh, Tsui. " "Ya-ah-teh, Shi-yazh. " Jacoby is greeting his mother in her native Navajo tongue, with "Tsui" having morphed from its literal meaning "grandchild" -- which is how Margie's mother, Alice, used it with Margie's kids -- to a family word of affection, like "sweetie. " Margie responds in kind with, "Hello, my son. " "Jacoby knows some Navajo songs I taught my boys,"...