Higher minimum wage fears: inflation, loss of jobs

Legislators in Santa Fe continue to march House Bill 31 forward, but it features a hotly contested phased-in minimum wage increase for workers across the state, which has come under fire from some business owners who fear their only choice to deal with the increases, if the bill gets signed into law, will be to lay off employes and pass off costs to customers.

House Bill 31 was introduced by Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Joanne J. Ferrary, D-Las Cruces, as an act relating to labor that would increase the minimum wage across New Mexico in phases.

HB 31 states that an employer shall pay an employee the minimum wage...

The Gallup City Council recently approved a resolution that concerned scheduled election dates.

Once adopted, the resolution would establish the first Tuesday in March of even-numbered years as Municipal Officer Election Day for Gallup.

The resolution would establish that the city clerk shall conduct the election for municipal officers on the next Municipal Officer Election Day on March 3, 2020. This will be done through utilizing appropriate statutes, administrative code regulations, and provisions for the Gallup City Charter and City Code.

“We have a lot of faith in the city clerk,” Mayor Jackie McKinney said Feb. 19. “We are all more comfortable having our elections in the...

There’s still time to get the flu vaccine

SANTA FE — With influenza (flu) activity remaining steady across New Mexico since the beginning of the year, the New Mexico Department of Health wants New Mexicans to know that it’s not too late to get your flu shot.

Since October, NMDOH has investigated six flu outbreaks in facilities around the state. Children age four and younger have been hospitalized for influenza at a higher rate than at this time last year, or any year since the 2009 pandemic. There have been 19 influenza-related deaths in adults this year with no confirmed pediatric deaths in residents of New Mexico. Flu activity has not yet reached its peak for the 2018-19...

SANTA FE - In the wake of President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency in the service of his demand for a border wall, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the state will file suit against President Donald J. Trump over his inappropriate and overreaching declaration of a “national emergency.”

This declaration diverts funds crucial to the protection of New Mexicans, away from their proper channels and puts New Mexico’s economy and people at risk.

“The president’s absurd and dangerous declaration, a bald-faced end run around Congress and the basic tenets of our nation’s system of governance, will not stand,”...