Former National Football League star quarterback Jake Plummer is the scheduled speaker for the 27th annual Gallup Rotary Banquet at Red Rock Park in February, officials confirmed. The announcement was made Oct. 26 at the weekly Gallup Rotary Club meeting.

The event is one in which scholarship awards are given out to area high school students.

“[Plummer] will be the featured speaker at our Feb. 9, 2017 affair,” Sammy Chioda, a local restaurateur and Gallup Rotary member, said. “We’re excited to host Jake Plummer.”

Chioda noted that Gallup Rotary awarded more than $33,000 to some 18 high school recipients last year. He said Gallup Rotary is set to equal or better that feat...

The New Mexico Livestock Board received 152 photo entries for its Happy Healthy Sheep photo contest. Photos were presented anonymously to judges who picked their top three. The first place winner receives a $100 gift card and a letter from the New Mexico  Woolgrowers Association.

It was a fun contest with lots of great entries. NMLB thanked all who participated.

The first place photo was a photo from Stevi Fox of Roswell.

Second place was a photo from Helen Chavez of Belen; and Chavez also took third place. The winning photos will be featured in the December issue of the New Mexico Stockman magazine.

Visit: nmlbonline.com

New Mexico State Police officers investigated a fatal car crash on I-40 near Gallup Aug. 29. A woman from California, Raina Lopez, died in the crash. Her vehicle was towed from the scene by a Gallup tow company.

In early September 2016, New Mexico State Police officers received a call from Lopez's family in California. They stated someone had been using Ms. Lopez's credit cards at various locations in Gallup after she died.

NMSP officers conducted an extensive investigation revealing that two suspects, Bryan D. Burrola, 40, and Amy M. Lucero, 36, both of Gallup, were the ones who used Lopez's credit cards after her death. Both suspects lived together in a motor home on the property of...