The Gallup City Council heard a presentation from the Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation during the Sept. 10 regular meeting about the previous fiscal year.

Tommy Haws, president of the GGEDC Board of Directors, said during the presentation the creation of economic base jobs is the focus for the upcoming fiscal year.

One highlight from the past fiscal year is the creation of a nitrile glove factory within McKinley County. The factory, located east of Gallup at 309 E. Hwy. 66, was designated by Haws as a $49 million investment that will create about 350 jobs.

Haws said the factory is slated to begin operations in October.

Another was GGEDC winning the Foreign Direct...

Building unfit for occupancy due to infestation

The Lariat Lodge, located at 1105 E. Hwy. 66, was designated a red tag building by the City of Gallup Sept. 9, effectively labeling the premises unfit for occupancy.

CB Strain, planning and development director for the City of Gallup, said the red tag was issued because of an insect infestation within the premises.

“No council action is necessary on the red tag,” Strain said Sept. 11. “The building owners just need to fix the violation.”

This means the Lariat Lodge owners have to exterminate all of the bugs, Strain said.

The city intends to perform a follow-up inspection Sept. 12, Strain added. Any further action from the...

SANTA FE – Attorney General Hector Balderas announced Sept. 9, that he, along with 49 other Attorneys General, is investigating Google’s overarching control of online advertising markets and search traffic that may have led to anticompetitive behavior that harms consumers and creates a barrier to access to free digital markets.

“As more and more of our lives are lived online, it is absolutely critical that our regulation of these online tech giants keep up,” Balderas said. “When the federal government is slow to act or, in some cases, doesn’t act at all, I will continue to step in and aggressively protect consumers, privacy and the free market.”

This is not the first...

Third Hantavirus case in county this year

SANTA FE – A 15-year-old McKinley County boy has died from hantavirus disease. The New Mexico Department of Health reports this as the third case of hantavirus in the state this year and the second death. It is also the third case of hantavirus in McKinley County in 2019.

Hantavirus is transmitted by infected rodents through urine, droppings or saliva. People can contract the disease when they breathe in the virus that is suspended in the air.

“We want to make sure people know how to protect themselves from hantavirus so no other family has to endure this kind of tragedy. People need to avoid contact with mice and other rodents and be...