Free internet service is now available for low income, tribal land households

Due to Comcast’s recent broadband upgrades, existing customers in Gallup can now  access additional internet speed tiers, with speeds reaching up to 1.2 Gbps (1,200 Mbps).

“There’s a digital divide and that is part of why we are focusing on offering the full speed tier in places like Gallup, to help close that digital divide.” Comcast spokeswoman Julianne Phares told the Sun.

“One of the things we learned from the pandemic is that everyone needs access to broadband,” Phares said. “Part of the reason we completed this upgrade as part of our planned upgrades across New Mexico, is to make sure...

Howitzer 105 dedicated at Courthouse Square

Veterans’ Day 2021 was a day of remembrance, with wreaths placed at Hillcrest Cemetery, 960 W. Aztec Ave. #1044, at the graves of unknown veterans and names presented on a pillar at Courthouse Square, 215 W. Aztec.

The day also brought former Mayor Jackie McKinney together with current Mayor Louis Bonaguidi at Courthouse Square for the dedication of a decommissioned cannon and City Councilor Fran Palochak, Dist. 4’s reading of the names of veterans newly-appearing on a memorial pillar.

Sixty-three names were added to the pillar thanks to the work of artists Howard Meehan of Silent Wing (Santa Fe), William Freer of Firefly Studios...

GPD investigates student behavior in three local schools

Gallup Police responded to three different area schools, two of them part of the Gallup McKinley County Schools District, concerning disruptive student behavior in a period that spanned Halloween and Día de los Muertos.

Three people were interviewed about an incident Oct. 28 at Gallup Middle School, 1000 S. Grandview in Gallup. One of those was school principal Lindsey Smith-Mingus, who called Metro Dispatch that day saying a student was discovered with several knives and ammunition, but no firearm. She said the school did not want to press charges.

Smith-Mingus told police that some of the students that were interviewed...

Puerco Valley fire chief calls blaze ‘suspicious’

A fire in the area of the truck stop at I-40 exit 359 burned an old Lupton, Ariz. trading post to the ground. Known to those in the area as the Ortega Dome, it was leased from the Navajo Nation.

The Nov. 5 blaze was not the first for the Dome. About two years ago Puerco Valley Fire Chief Cliff Snyder said there was another fire there. But the building survived it. This time, it didn’t.

Snyder said by the time firefighters arrived in response to the call around 4:32 am, it was already too late to save the building. He thinks the fire is suspicious because there were no occupants and no utilities hooked up to the...