ALBUQUERQUE – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the creation of the Fraud Recovery Strike Force – a unit in his office charged with aggressively investigating and pursuing litigation to protect New Mexico consumers, New Mexico taxpayers and to recover public funds.

“The Fraud Recovery Strike Force will investigate and litigate in the public interest, support legislation and aggressively pursue damages, and recover public funds,” Balderas said. “The unit’s priorities are to recover funds for the state’s treasury from people and companies who cheat the public, and to protect New Mexico’s economy and vulnerable consumer populations from abusive business...

The New Mexico Department of Health announced July 15 that more than 900 opioid overdose reversals were reported in 2014 due to the use of the drug naloxone. That’s almost a 29 percent increase in reversals from 2013. The Department of Health has been working with various partners and agencies to increase access and availability of naloxone in New Mexico as part of a multi-pronged approach to reduce overdose deaths in New Mexico.

“Overdose deaths impact just about every family in New Mexico in one way or another. Addiction is a complex public health issue that requires the collaborative efforts of many agencies, stakeholders, and individuals,” Department of Health Cabinet...

New restaurants, businesses to emerge

The northern corner of Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 491 have been bustling with activity. Four new businesses are under construction now and others are in the planning stages. Economic development has hit a new high in Gallup.

Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce Director David Hinkle says new business is essential to the creation of jobs. It also benefits the city’s bottom line by significantly increasing the tax base, which brings needed revenue into city coffers.

Nationally, Hinkle explained, an entrepreneurial climate is the number one necessity for economic development. The next most important is retention and expansion of local...

Cash Cow filed for Chapter 11 reorganization July 6 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albuquerque, after the company could not reach a settlement on a lawsuit filed more than a year ago.

“We’ve made a reasonable offer,” said Tim Delgado, principal owner, who started the company in September 2003, “to the attorneys who filed the suit.”

A day before Cash Cow held their largest Customer Appreciation Day in Ford Canyon park last year in June, the company was served with a civil summons in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. The suit cited that Cash Cow had violated the Truth in Lending Act and Unfair Practice.

For retail sales in which customers would make...