On Navajo Code Talkers Day, some tribal officials are asking New Mexico to rename a U.S. highway after one.
New Mexico Sen. John Pinto was one of the longest-serving Native American lawmakers in U.S. history. For over four decades, he gave voice to Native American issues at the state Legislature. Pinto, who died in May at the age of 94, was also a Navajo Code Talker during World War II.
A Navajo legislative committee has asked Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to name U.S. Highway 491 in honor of Pinto.
The late state senator had long sought to expand the deadly highway, once called 666, to four lanes and to change its name.
The road stretches almost 200 miles across three states from New Mexico to Utah.
