Gallup Sun

Two men claiming to be getting back from a trip to Phoenix were hiding drugs and a pistol in the car.

On March 4, around 4:30 pm, McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Brandon Salazar saw a blue Mustang traveling east on Interstate 40 near the 25 mile-marker. When Salazar checked the car’s speed, he saw it was going 75 mph in a 65-mph zone. He caught up to the car and pulled it over near the 28.5-mile marker on Interstate 40.

Salazar noticed that the driver and the two other people in the car seemed extremely nervous. The three people began rambling, barely letting Salazar explain why he had pulled them over. The driver, Jason Cervantes-Ponce, gave the deputy his ID.

The...

People at the Navajo Law Center were left wondering ‘where did this tractor come from?’ when a blue tractor appeared outside the business one morning.

Linda Roanhorse saw the tractor when she arrived at work March 26. She did not know where  it had come from or who it belonged to.

McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Tammy Houghtaling arrived at the Navajo Law Center in Yah-Ta-Hey around 10 am. She met Roanhorse when she got there.

The tractor was a hay squeeze forklift with California tags. When Houghtaling ran the plates, she found the tractor belonged to Richard Martinez, of Lemoore, Calif., but that it had recently been sold to Esquivel Gavino of Buckeye, Ariz., in...

SANTA FE —When a New Mexico State Police officer on patrol in Santa Fe County near milepost 286 on I-25 saw a green GMC pickup truck going south at over 90 miles an hour about 5 pm on March 22, he didn’t know it yet, but he was on the trail of two men wanted by a nearby state.

The New Mexico State Police officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle, but it failed to stop for the officer and a pursuit ensued. A second State Police officer positioned himself on I-25 at the Cerrillos Road on-ramp and successfully deployed a tire deflation device on the fleeing GMC.

A short time later the GMC, with its front tires deflated, pulled to the median of I-25. State Police...

Bill signing is under way in Santa Fe

In the last few days, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed bills into law in quick succession.

A bipartisan measure providing more funding for New Mexico firefighters that will help departments across the state purchase essential equipment, including water tanks and firetrucks, was signed April 7.  Senate Bill 256, sponsored by Sen. William Burt, R-Alamogordo, and Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, passed both chambers with unanimous support.

Senate Bill 93, which advances broadband connection and development received the governor’s signature April 7. It establishes an Office of Broadband Access and Expansion to centralize and coordinate...