The Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education held a special meeting July 14 to discuss the collective bargaining strategy for continued negotiations between the district and the McKinley County Federation of United School Employees.

The negotiations involved reaching an agreement of terms for the upcoming school calendar and salary schedule, as well as communications with legal counsel regarding the scope of the New Mexico Public Education Department taking credit for federal CARES pandemic aid funding, and legally challenging the same impact negotiations on the district’s re-entry plan.

During the school board’s July 6 meeting, the board said the start of the school year...

Driven by continued increases in cases in Bernalillo County and a detention center in Cibola County as part of the second-most COVID-19 cases announced in a single day in the state, the state of New Mexico passed 20,000 total confirmed cases on July 29.

The New Mexico Department of Health announced 352 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six additional deaths related to the disease. The department has counted 20,136 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 632 deaths to date.

Bernalillo County, home of Albuquerque and by far the state’s most-populous county, had 87 new cases of COVID-19, but the Cibola County Correction Center had 76 new cases, more than any other county outside of Bernalillo on...

The Gallup City Council discussed a pair of items related to the Gallup Fire Department’s finances during its July 28 meeting.

Fire Chief Jesus Morales spoke about the items, starting with a budget adjustment to the city’s Fire Protection Distribution Fund.

Back in March, the city was projected to receive about $408,043 from the State Fire Marshal, Morales said, and the city used that amount to budget the Fire Fund for FY21.

The actual amount received by the city turned out to be $616,698, leading to a budget increase of $208,655 in revenue and expenditures.

“We will use part of the actual amount to make the [annual] payment to New Mexico Finance Authority for the loan we...

Brittany Billie

July 20, 7:45 pm

DWI with a minor in the car

McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Franklin Begaye was dispatched to an area near Williams Acres where a woman was passed out in the driver’s seat and there was a young child in the passenger seat with a bloody nose.

When he got there he found Brittany Billie, 22, of Gamerco, parked facing northeast in the westbound right of way fence at mile marker 14 on State Road 118. The car was in gear and running. Begaye said he tried several times to wake Billie up. After the arrival of Fire and Rescue, the driver’s rear window was broken to get the driver’s door open to wake her.

After Billie woke up, she was able to put the...