The Gallup Chamber of Commerce hosted a public forum Sept. 21 to tackle some of the area’s thorniest issues concerning crime.

Chamber CEO Bill Lee kicked the meeting off, by telling attendees that he drove by Dynamic Signs and discovered a display announcing five break-ins in the past 30 days.

Many other businesses around Gallup are faced with the same problem Lee described.

He acknowledged the level of frustration, but advised against trying to catch criminals personally.

“We in no way support the vigilantes,” Lee commented. “People get hurt … do not take matters into your own hands. I guarantee you that only ends badly for you in the end.”

Instead, he suggested making...

For months now, the Business Improvement District board has been keeping an eye on the COVID-19 situation in McKinley County to see if an October return of ArtsCrawl would be safe. With the proposed October date less than a month away, the BID board spent a significant amount of time during their Sept. 16 meeting discussing whether or not the event should happen in October or if they should wait another month and hold it in November.

The board’s Executive Director Francis Bee was against scheduling the event for October. He described the New Mexico State Fair COVID-19 precautions to the board: in order to enter the State Fair, a person was required to show proof of vaccination at the...

Phase Two of the Coal Avenue Commons project is moving closer to becoming a reality.

During the Sept. 16 Business Improvement District board meeting, Gallup’s Assistant City Manager, JM DeYoung went over the project’s updates with the board. City Manager Maryann Ustick prepared updates for the meeting in an email.

Ustick said the state will pay for Phase Two of the project. The cost for Phase Two is estimated at $3.5 million.

“We are so excited that the state has come up with the full amount of funding for this project,” Ustick told the Sun.

The city staff is currently working with construction firm Wilson and Co. to get a fee proposal to do the necessary re-certifications...

McKinley Academy students are getting the chance to learn about the latest technology as the school introduces a new education pathway: computer science.

Science teacher Christopher Adams spent his summer taking a course about teaching computer science to prepare to present the new material. In an interview with the Sun, he explained that the school is currently only offering a single class in the curriculum, one that teaches the essentials of computer science.

Computer science instruction was new to Adams who originally taught basic science.

“When I was going through the training, oftentimes they said ‘the only way you’re going to be able to learn it is through having more...