Editor,

In Jan. 2019, “Indigenous Peoples Day” was declared an official New Mexico state holiday. In 2019, it was truly historic in the fact that (former) Mayor Jackie McKinney and Navajo Nation Council delegate Edmund Yazzie both took time to acknowledge the place we have in this world-wide movement at our Celebration Site in Gallup. With 574 federally recognized “American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages in the U.S.” it is a fitting role for Gallup, the “Indian Capital of the World.”

On Sept. 27, 2016, the City of Gallup passed Resolution/Proclamation R2016–40, declaring the second Monday of October as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” into perpetuity...

Response to New Mexico oil, gas industry Oct. 20 outlook report

“For too long New Mexico has been whipsawed by volatile oil and natural gas markets that our policymakers have no power to control. Once again low oil and gas prices are causing shortfalls in dollars needed in the state budget for our schools, public safety, health care, and more. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis report released today [Oct. 20] makes it clear that we cannot simply blame COVID-19 for our revenue shortfall and expect New Mexico to recover when the pandemic subsides. The signs that the oil and gas industry is in decline go back almost a decade.

“New Mexico needs to diversify its...

When students from University High and Early College High schools toured Roswell manufacturer AerSale in Oct. 2019, it was the first time many of them had seen an Airbus jetliner, let alone boarded an aircraft.

Students viewed the jet’s cockpit, talked with maintenance professionals and learned about careers in the aviation industry, including high-paying jobs then available at AerSale, which specializes in the sale, lease and exchange of used aircraft, engines and components and offers a broad range of engineering services to commercial aircraft companies.

The students’ visit was part of Manufacturing Day, a month-long national effort to introduce teenagers and young adults to...

Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), may have said it best: “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”

This fall, you can have a voice in shaping New Mexico’s judiciary by voting whether or not to retain one New Mexico Court of Appeals judge and six district court judges in the Eleventh Judicial District, which includes Los Alamos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties.

In New Mexico, judges must first run in and win a partisan election, whether they have been appointed to their position or are running for the position in the election. Once a judge is elected (except for magistrate judges), they stand for retention in all future...