ALBUQUERQUE — Gov. Susana Martinez announced Sept. 1 that 110,000 more New Mexico students have access to high-speed internet at school. Governor Martinez began an initiative to connect every New Mexico student with high-speed internet at school by the 2018 school year.

Since the Governor’s 2015 announcement, 99 percent of New Mexico’s public schools now have access to high-speed internet – and the partnerships leveraged through the initiative have reduced costs to connect students by more than 60 percent.

“Every child can learn, and it’s up to us as leaders to give our kids the tools they need,” Martinez said. “High-speed internet is a necessity today, and progress...

Future of felines uncertain

It has become a joke in our society, but it really is not funny. The older person, usually a lady but not necessarily, who has taken in more cats or dogs than is responsible for them to keep, especially in the city.

It is a disease, with a name long enough to trip over, that affects caring people who honestly want to do the right thing and wind up with a total mess on their hands. Some call these folks animal hoarders, other collectors, but whatever the term, a mobile home on the 600 block of Jay Street in Gallup became overran with cats.

Gallup-McKinley Humane Society animal control officers are still trying to rectify the problem, which began...

GRANTS – On Aug. 30, around 5:30 pm, New Mexico State Police responded to a semi-tractor trailer fire on Interstate 40 at mile marker 83 westbound, in Grants.

When officers arrived on scene they found the CMV fully engulfed in flames. Local Fire Department and EMS personnel were on scene working to extinguish the fire and provide aid.

Witnesses told officers they observed the CMV traveling westbound when the vehicle suffered a tire blowout. The vehicle crossed into the median striking rocks and then caught on fire. The driver suffered fatal injuries in the crash and has not been identified as of press time.

The Office of the Medical Investigator will be working to determine the...

Finds lack of tracking, accountability for $20 million

SANTA FE – State Auditor Tim Keller released a “Risk Review of Administrative Support of Charter Schools” Aug. 29. The report from the Office of the State Auditor reveals a lack of transparency and accountability for funds withheld from charter schools intended to provide administrative support to safeguard education dollars at those schools and help them succeed. Over a five-year period, nearly $20 million was withheld from charter schools, much of it which cannot be tracked to specific expenditures to support those schools.

Charter schools in New Mexico are overseen by the Public Education Department, or the school district...