A series of economic recovery bills was passed in the Senate Finance Committee Feb. 4. The bills offer relief to working families and New Mexico’s hard-hit restaurant industry and represent part of the overall recovery package aimed at lifting the state out of the economic crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senate Bill 1 (Sponsored by Senators Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe,  Jacob Candelaria, D-Bernalillo, Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, and Rep. Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque) allows certain restaurants and bars to keep the state gross receipts taxes they collect for the period between March 1 through June 30. It also creates a new $600 income tax credit for individuals...

The Office of the President and Vice President of the Navajo Nation has ordered all flags on the Navajo Nation be flown at half-staff to honor the memory and service of the late Albert Hale from Feb. 3 through Feb. 6.

Hale is a former Navajo Nation president (1995-1998) and Arizona state legislator; in the Ariz. State Senate from 2004-2011 and in the Ariz. House of Representatives  from 2011-2017, representing Arizona's 22 tribes. He was the second president of the Navajo Nation in the 1990s.

Hale died Feb. 2 due to complications from COVID-19. He was 70.

The Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President, in coordination with the family of the late Albert Hale, will host a...

Gallup’s better angels provide nourishment in troubled times

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Food Drive hosted by St Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, 1121 Lincoln Ave., in conjunction with the City of Gallup, was a substitution event for the MLK Jr. Day walk this year, because of COVID-19.

Spearheaded by Mona Frazier, who has been a clerk at the church for 32 years, the event was put together in about two weeks. Frazier was surprised and pleased by the response.

“We’ve done something for the last 20 plus years,” she said. But this year she said the donation response was better than it has been in the past. Frazier thanked the community for the support and is considering...

Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services started its Phase 1B COVID  distribution campaign Jan.19, after receiving 2,200 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Of the allotment, 350 are booster shots for those who had already received the first vaccine.

The availability of the vaccine is a crucial step toward preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus. Studies have shown that the vaccines are safe and approximately 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.

“We are very excited to begin administration of the COVID vaccine to the public.  With a 95 percent efficacy rate, this is truly a game changer in the pandemic,” Chief Medical Officer, Valory Wangler, M.D. said.  “We...