‘We have to be ready or they’ll pass us by’

Autonomous cars are becoming more popular thanks to people like Elon Musk and Tesla and the other car companies that will soon be competing with him in the field. In order to prepare for this future, more states are creating legislation addressing the subject of self-driving vehicles.

Michael Sage, the deputy director of the Economic Development Corporation, has been a leading force on this front in McKinley County. On March 2 he presented two bills – New Mexico House Bill 270 and New Mexico Senate Bill 133 - that would bring legislation to bring autonomous vehicles to Gallup in a special city council meeting on March 2. He also...

Week ending Friday, February 26, 2021


Open Arctic

Global heating has melted so much of the thick multi-year ice off the coast of Siberia that Russia has for the first time been able to navigate a cargo ship from Asia to a home port on the Arctic Ocean in winter. By using the newly opened Northern Sea Route instead of the traditional path around Asia and the Middle East, through the Suez Canal and around Europe, the Sovcomflot shipping company saved millions of dollars and days of travel time. Traffic through the NSR has exploded during summer in recent years but has remained closed from November until July. Russia now has plans to use its expanding fleet of civilian nuclear-powered...

The greater sage grouse is a bird that needs its space.

The grouse relies on large expanses of intact sagebrush and is loyal to specific areas. Sage grouse are very sensitive to habitat disturbance. As oil and gas extraction, livestock grazing, roads, and power lines have destroyed and fragmented their native habitat, their populations have plummeted.

A federal court determined the Trump Administration’s removal of protections from 10 million acres across the West to allow mining in vital grouse habitat was unlawful on Feb. 11.

This decision follows an earlier ruling stemming from a 2016 lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and its allies.

The Center for Biological...

SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 11 into law on Feb. 26, delivering $200 million in grants to support New Mexico businesses to ease the hiring or rehiring of employees.

“New Mexico will continue to get meaningful financial assistance out the door to businesses all across the state,” Lujan Grisham said. “Our economy will bounce back. And businesses will get back on their feet.”

“We are grateful to Governor Lujan Grisham for her support on HB 11, and for all of her leadership throughout this challenging year,” Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe said.

“We convened the 2021 session knowing that getting economic relief into local...