Gallup Mayor Jackie McKinney made it official on June 30 at the general meeting for Veterans Helping Veterans by presenting the key to the now vacant Ford Canyon Senior Center to Dave Cuellar, the head of the largest and most active veterans’ group in Gallup.

“The city removed the office furniture and the dining tables and chairs,” McKinney said. “We left the pool tables, and kitchen equipment and utensils.” McKinney also mentioned that he had discussed with the Department of Veterans Services in Albuquerque the probability of installing a permanent Veterans Service Officer in this building. The permanent office will be able to better assist the large number of vets in...

Lawyers for the Santa Fe Reporter and Gov. Susana Martinez have submitted written closing arguments in a long-running court battle over public information and records.

The Reporter sued Martinez in 2013, alleging she and her staff discriminated against the paper by refusing to communicate with its journalists and violated the state Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) by refusing to turn over records related to pardons, her schedule and other public business.

The paper’s attorneys argued that the stonewalling began, ironically enough, after publication of a cover story critical of the administration’s lack of transparency.

The unusual case has received wide attention...

AG calls it a ‘win’ for New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Attorney General Hector Balderas released the following statement regarding the decision of a federal appeals court July 3 to block President Trump’s decision to delay an EPA rule curbing methane emissions from new oil and gas operations:

“New Mexico schoolchildren deserve to be properly compensated for the oil and gas extracted from our state and they deserve to breathe clean air in the Land of Enchantment. The federal appeals court blocking President Trump’s roll back of the Methane Rule is a win for New Mexico families, businesses and our environment. My office will continue to fight to hold the Trump Administration...

A federal court has thwarted plans by the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend an Obama-era rule tracking and cutting methane pollution from the oil and gas industry.

Last month, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt suspended his agency’s implementation of the rule, which was opposed by the American Petroleum Institute, the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. But on Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided with six environmental groups and granted an emergency stay of Pruitt’s suspension. In their opinion, the appeals court judges wrote that Pruitt’s suspension of the rule...