Dimas, Lee, Bowman-Muskett, Jackson go to Washington

Since the election, hundreds of people from around the country have traveled to Washington to sit down with congressional leaders. Last week, the McKinley County Board of Commissioners took the plunge and visited with New Mexico’s congressional delegation.

The trip cost about $4,300 and was paid for by county taxpayers. McKinley County Manager Anthony Dimas and Commissioners Carol Bowman-Muskett, Genevieve Jackson and Bill Lee flew coach via Delta and Southwest airlines to the Nation’s Capital.

The trip took place from March 6 through March 9 and the meetings were conducted at the congressional offices at the U.S...

Gov. Susana Martinez is getting attention, to say the least, for her onslaught of vetoes as the legislative session nears a potentially messy end.

But the tension between Martinez and state lawmakers started with her early veto of the bill to fund the operations of the Legislature during the session and the interim. It continued towards the end of January, when she vetoed a much-publicized bill to allow for industrial research of hemp.

February came and went with no bills headed to Martinez’s desk. But at the end of the first week of March, she rejected a measure to allow teachers to use all of their allotted sick days without absences making a negative impact on their statewide...

Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed legislation March 9 that would allow teachers to use their sick leave without it affecting their evaluations.

Martinez said if the bill, which sponsors dubbed the “Teachers are Human Too Act,” became law, it would lead to more teacher absences, which would create more expenses, including for substitute teachers. Martinez said this would also lead to decreased quality of education.

“We need our teachers in our classrooms, and House Bill 241 would lead to more teacher absences,” Martinez wrote.

The Public Education Department was unable to estimate in the bill’s Fiscal Impact Report how many teacher absences there would be under the bill, and at...

DISTRICTS 1, 3 election is March 14

A homeless man, mumbling about a government conspiracy, urinates in a downtown alley at lunchtime. He could be the responsibility of the city police, a homeless shelter or a mental health system.

And if he’s been in Gallup any length of time, he’s been shuttled among all three.

That was the consensus at a political forum held March 1 at the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce where candidates for two council seats introduced themselves and their platforms to the public.

District 3 incumbent councilman Yogash Kumar and challengers Angela Chavez and Esco Chavez and Linda Garcia of District 1 squared off in a 90-minute question-and-answer...