Navajo Nation, where many struggle, weighs $20M for planes

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Lawmakers on the Navajo Nation have given the OK for a team to negotiate a $20 million loan to acquire three new planes, raising questions among tribal members about the priorities on the vast reservation where half the workforce is unemployed and thousands live without running water and electricity.

The tribe has three Beechcraft King Air turboprop planes that have taken tribal officials to meetings in Flagstaff, Phoenix and Salt Lake City, to the nation’s capital for President Barack Obama’s inauguration and to Colorado to assess a mine spill.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/navajo-nation-on-track-to-spend-20m-on-planes/2015/11/02/82b57008-8187-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html