SANTA FE – Here is the list of the top baby names in New Mexico in 2022 as compiled by the Department of Health's Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics. Trends since the Department of Health began reporting names in 2014:
Nine of the top 10 girl names from 2021 stayed on the top 10 list in 2022. Charlotte dropped off the top 10 list this year and was replaced by Evelyn, making its first appearance among the top names. Emma has been in the top 10 since 2014, but this is the first year it is the top-ranking name for newborn girls. Eight of the top 10 boy names from 2021 stayed on the top 10 list in 2022. Ezra returns this year to the top for the first time since 2019. James...

Gallup says goodbye to Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura

“Friend, generous, and hero” were a few of the words spoken about the late Cpl. Hiroshi “Hershey’’ Miyamura, a U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient, as he was laid to rest Dec. 10 at Sunset Memorial Park in Gallup.

Miyamura was given full military honors at Sunset Memorial Park following his funeral services at First Methodist Church. A funeral procession of mourners traveled down Highway 66 to the burial site. Vehicles lined the side of the highway and people stood by paying their last respects to Miyamura as the hearse passed by.

The procession was greeted at the entrance to the burial site with the U.S. flag flying...

You might say that Dr. Sabrina Ezzell’s whole life has been leading up to this. The interim chancellor of the UNM-Gallup campus for the past eight months is on the verge of taking the permanent position as chancellor.

Originally from Albuquerque, Ezzell has spent the past 25 years in the Four Corners area, starting as a nurse at Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado in 1997.  She gradually worked her way over to McKinley County in the 1990s and UNM-Gallup in 2015. There, she has worked as a nursing faculty member, director of the nursing program, and the chair of the Education, Health and Human Services Division.

“Our location makes us unique because we are so close to the Navajo...

Reprieve for consumers could spell trouble for the future

Gallup residents may cheer when they learn water rates won’t go up in January as planned, but some city leaders are worried that delaying the hike further will hobble the city’s ability to keep up with system maintenance, much less improvements.

A motion to raise rates by 15% Jan. 1, 2023, with a 1% decrease in subsequent years starting next July 1, died for lack of a second at the city council meeting Dec. 13. It was the third water rate proposal the Finance Department has made since April.

Early in the review, it became clear the city has been charging residential customers less for water than it costs to deliver...