Missing from the Oct. 26 Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education meeting agenda was an item about a joint lawsuit GMCS and 16 other state school and one charter school district filed against the New Mexico Public Education Department, calling the actions of the department secretary “unlawful.”

Superintendent Mike Hyatt explained the suit to the Sun Oct. 27.

“The lawsuit is about the secretary of education overreaching his authority and marginalizing citizens and their elected board members across the state,” Hyatt said. “The suit also contains action against the state for taking dollars from schools that were supposed to be for COVID-related expenses.”

According...

The Las Cruces Sun-News reported Oct. 26 that Allen Theatres will be closing across New Mexico.

The 13 locations in New Mexico and those in Arizona and Colorado will go into hibernation until further notice because of COVID-19, which has affected about 450 employees.

McKinley County Commissioner and Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce CEO Bill Lee told the Gallup Sun Oct. 28 that the company had done a remarkable job of pivoting to keep operating as an outdoor drive-in theater.

“With the PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] and CARES Act funds running out ... without the second bill out of Congress, I believe we’re going to see more and more of these kinds of closures,” he...

Two phase project for 2021

University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center is opening a medical clinic in Gallup with the first phase focused largely on women’s specialties.

The clinic will be located at 205 E. Nizhoni Ave., Suite 3 in the same building as HME Specialists LLC.

Cynde Tagg, the executive director of Ambulatory Care Services at University of New Mexico Hospitals, who has been at UNM for 31 years, described it as a “cavernous office space with a cement floor.”

She told the Gallup Sun Oct. 27 that this “first clinic of its kind in the state” will have its ceiling lowered and flooring added before the New Mexico Department of Health does its inspection...

County willing to fund the program

As a result of the COVID pandemic, congregate shelters around Gallup have had to operate in a reduced capacity or close entirely. The city is now in dire need of shelter for people who are at risk as the pandemic continues, even more so with the cold weather quickly approaching.

This situation was brought before the Gallup City Council during their Oct. 27 meeting by City Manager Maryann Ustick.

“The city is not doing this for the administrative funds. We’re doing it because it’s a need for our community and it needs to be met,” she said.

Ustick said the city received about $900,000 in federal CARES Act funding from the state, which was not...