The Gallup City Council approved a budget adjustment to begin a water line replacement and road pavement project at its March 9 meeting.

Replacement of the water line — on East Wilson Drive, from McKinley Drive to Marguerite Franco Drive — was slated to take place within two years, with supervision from the city’s utilities department. But since the public works department wants to utilize time-sensitive funds for a mill and overlay on Marguerite Franco Drive, the utilities department proposed moving up the process to get the water line done.

On March 9, Dennis Romero, the department’s executive director, went before the city council and asked for a budget adjustment, which...

Over 3,000 New Mexicans participated in committees in Weeks Five and Six

SANTA FE — With less than two weeks remaining in the 2021 Legislative Session, the New Mexico House of Representatives continues to move quickly on legislation while involving thousands of New Mexicans throughout the process.

As of March 7, the New Mexico House of Representatives has worked efficiently on the 312 bills introduced into its chambers since the beginning of the session. About 289 bills have had a hearing in a House committee and out of that total, 129 have made it through the committee process, passed the House floor, and are now in the Senate for consideration. In weeks five and six, over 3,000 New...

‘Game changers’ for the state

The U.S. House and Senate passed the American Rescue Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, on March 10, and New Mexico leaders wasted no time discussing what the ramifications of the package mean for the state. This discussion was held in an online roundtable on March 10.

While most of the discussion has been spent on items like the $1,400 stimulus payment for qualifying Americans and extension of unemployment insurance, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., wanted to highlight the other parts of the Act that he believes are game changers for New Mexico.

“This is going to supercharge the already robust efforts of our governor and...

Week ending Friday, March 5, 2021

Waning Stream

The Gulf Stream is at its weakest in more than 1,000 years, which scientists say could curb its climate-moderating effects for Europe and disrupt the overall North Atlantic Ocean circulation. Several studies have linked the slowdown to climate change brought on by human activity. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, a research team says it found the slowdown began about 1850, but has undergone a dramatic decline since the 1960s. “If we continue to drive global warming, the Gulf Stream System will weaken further — by 34 percent to 45 percent by 2100, according to the latest generation of climate models,” team member Stefan...