WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) are continuing their push for reforms that would help all families access quality child care in New Mexico and across the country.

The senators announced Oct. 27 that they are backing a resolution outlining principles for how Congress can act to improve the quality of child care while reducing the cost. Those principles include ensuring child care professionals can get better training and pay, and that Congress provides adequate resources to help state and local governments support affordable child care in local communities.

“Quality, affordable child care is essential for working parents and...

0 Gallup City Council and the McKinley County Commission met in a joint work session to discuss strategies to obtain more funding from the state for housing inmates in the McKinley County Adult Detention Center Oct. 20.

According to the McKinley Legislative Priorities report submitted to city and county officials by County Manager Bill Lee, the county was originally granted about $5 million dollars, under the County Detention Facility Reimbursement Act in 2007, to cover the cost of housing offenders. But funds were reduced to approximately $2.96 million for fiscal year 2016, when compared to the $3.3 million budget in fiscal year 2015.

“The act says that $5 million should be...

The New Mexico Secretary of State’s office will hold a public hearing on proposed campaign finance rule changes Oct. 23.

The rule changes are aimed at specifying how candidates can spend money received through contributions to their respective campaigns. A candidate, for instance, would not be able to spend campaign money on personal expenses such as membership dues or medical procedures.

Recently, a state lawmaker’s campaign came to the attention of the Secretary of State’s office for spending money on personal expenses like clothing and a surgical procedure as well as donating money to a family. The new rules would also prohibit donations to groups other than tax-exempt...

SANTA ROSA – Today, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the Office of the Attorney General’s Fraud Recovery Strike Force reached a $124,455 settlement with United Parcel Service (UPS), the world’s largest package delivery company, stemming from allegations that its employees violated the false claims acts of New Mexico, 13 states, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C. The agreement resolves allegations that certain UPS employees violated the law by recording inaccurate delivery times on packages sent via UPS next-day delivery services by government customers. That resulted in premium-priced packages that appeared to be delivered by their guaranteed...