Records show CYFD destroyed communications on COVID response, other official documents. Employees who complained were fired.
Ed Williams
Ed Williams, a Searchlight investigative reporter, covers child welfare, social justice and other issues. In 2022, he was selected for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network to produce stories about abuses in the foster care system and the devastating impacts on children. Before joining Searchlight, Ed was a reporter in both the United States and Latin America, working for print, digital and radio outlets, including seven years in public radio. His numerous journalism awards include a 2020 First Amendment award and 2019 local accountability reporting award from the News Leaders Association. He has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Text Ed securely using Signal encryption at (505) 699-6401.
Posted inSecrecy and Sacred Cows: Turmoil at CYFD
Agency underground
In the state department charged with child welfare, leadership and staff avoid a paper trail with encrypted messaging.
Posted inFeatured, Health, Politics
Pine Ridge or Bust
Even as Dineh Benally’s illegal cannabis operations in the Navajo Nation are under ongoing investigation, he’s looking for more opportunities across Indian Country.
Posted inFeatured, Health, Politics
Busy signal
New Mexico’s unemployment office is struggling to answer millions of calls for help.
Posted inFeatured
Fields of green
COVID is pushing thousands of Chinese immigrant workers into the marijuana business—sometimes leading to exploitation and labor trafficking
Posted inCarlsbad, Carlsbad Part 2, Coronavirus, Featured, Hitting Home
Deep red and feeling blue
Nine months into the pandemic, Carlsbad residents are divided, defiant and in search of a silver lining.
Posted inChaos and cannabis, Tribal Affairs
Uprooted
A police raid near Shiprock has all but ended an illicit cannabis-growing operation
Posted inChaos and cannabis, Featured, Tribal Affairs
Strangers in a foreign land
A massive marijuana bust in Farmington represents just a sliver of an ongoing operation on Navajo lands that has now drawn federal investigators
Posted inFeatured
Chaos and cannabis
A massive hemp empire is accused of growing illegal marijuana and sowing violence on the Navajo Nation
Posted inCoronavirus, Featured, Health
‘An anything-goes situation’
Nursing homes profit from pandemic with no risk of accountability