ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico is among the states with the highest income inequality in the country, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. New Mexico ranks 12th in the country, with its richest residents—the top 5 percent of households—having average incomes 15 times as large as the bottom 20 percent of households and five times as large as the middle 20 percent of households. The top 5 percent of New Mexico’s households receive 19 percent of the state’s income, even without counting capital gains.

The report, How State Tax Policies Can Stop Increasing Inequality and Start Reducing It, also shows that the concentration of income among the...

Weather shaky, but there was liftoff; parade excites

The 36th annual Red Rock Balloon Rally was a tremendous success and organizers are already in the process of planning next year’s rally.

That was the word this week from Bill Lee, chief executive officer of the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce and president of the Red Rock Balloon Rally Association, and a pilot who files in balloon rallies across the United States year-round.

“Overall, it went very well,” Lee said. “There were 140 (balloon) registrants which is about average over the past few years.”

Lee, a Gallup native who was elected to the McKinley County Board of Commissioners earlier this year, said...

Patricia Lundstrom, the executive director of the Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation, recently earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer, a national recognition that denotes the mastery of principal skills in economic development, professional attainment and commitment to personal and professional growth.

The CEcD exam was administered by the International Economic Development Council during the first week of December in Albuquerque.

“We want to congratulate (Executive Director) Lundstrom on achieving the CEcD designation,” Tommy Haws, president of the GGEDC board of directors, said. “It adds tremendously to the professional credibility that GGEDC...