Tackling the rise of prescription drug abuse

A conference was held March 9 at the Downtown Conference Center on the Prevention and Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder. It was sponsored by Dine’ Council of Elders for Peace and Synergy Behavioral Health Center.

Opioids are addictive prescription medications which include: Vicodin, OxyContin, Demerol, Percoset, Darvocet, Ritalin, and Amphetamines. Some of them are natural, derived from the opium poppy.  Others are synthetic. The chance of addiction to these drugs is great.

The focus of the conference was to educate participants and the public on the abuse of opioids, and how everyone can assist people who don’t understand that they...

The Octavia Fellin Public Library hosted the third New Mexico session of the Grow with Google tour March 22, an initiative that helps people grow their skills, careers, and businesses by offering free tools, training, and events.

Grow with Google draws on Google’s 20-year history of building projects, platforms, and services to help people and businesses grow, according to information given out at the library. The aim is to help people across America access the best of Google’s training and tools.

Highlights of the initiative include faster job searches on Google, online curriculums to teach digital tools, such as spreadsheets and email, developer training scholarships, and...

Sign-ups later in March, Academy runs in July

One of the highlights of the McKinley County Board of Commissioners’ regular meeting was the announcement of signups for the next Junior Public Safety Academy Gallup.

JPSA is a five day program for young people in Gallup designed to inspire them to take roles as citizens of their community with a focus on public safety, after experiencing meaningful and positive interactions with police officers, fire fighters, first responders and emergency medical personnel.

Tammy Houghtaling, program director for JPSA Gallup, spoke about the program to commissioners Billy Moore and Tommy Nelson during the Board of Commissioners’ regular meeting...

Increase not tied to cost of living INDEX; TIPPED wages remain

The debate to raise the minimum wage of hourly employees across New Mexico concluded towards the end of the state legislature’s first session, with House and Senate conferees reaching a compromise.

As a result of the compromise, the minimum wage in New Mexico will increase from $7.50 an hour to $12 an hour over a four-year period. According to the Gallup McKinley-County Chamber of Commerce, the schedule calls for the following increases and dates:

$9 an hour, starting January 1, 2020

$10.50 an hour, starting January 1, 2021

$11.50 an hour, starting January 1, 2022

$12 an hour, starting January 1, 2023

In addition...