Armando Soto is a convert to the visual-workplace concept. The director of operational excellence at Albuquerque jewelry-maker Relios Inc. attended a two-day workshop this spring that was sponsored by the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership. He came away with the tools he needed to put Relios on the path to being a fully functional visual workplace.

The point of visual-workplace training, according to guest speaker Gwendolyn Galsworth, Ph.D., founder of the Visual-Lean Institute, is to “convert the physical (work) environment into a visual one” and “to share vital information about the task at hand at a glance, without speaking a word — in short, to let the workplace...

For those who seek freedom there is a Libertarian option

The subjugation to government fostered by socialism is often likened to voluntary slavery (communism is forced slavery). McKinley County just might be America’s poster child for failed socialist policies of helpless dependency on government programs culminating only in equality of restraint and servitude. If there was one place hankering for “live and let live” freedom and independence from the shackles of bureaucracy, it should be right here.

Let’s set aside the sleazy character issues of candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump which have two of every three Americans holding their noses and desperately yearning...

Our community in Northwest New Mexico has a strong and proud history of resiliency. Yet this resiliency has its limits; we have suffered too many years of stagnant economic growth where hard-working families are unable to make ends meet even when working two or three jobs. Because of this, our youth have been leaving New Mexico in great numbers in search of opportunity elsewhere, and one would think that our elected Republican leaders in Santa Fe would make great haste in addressing the loss of our young, bright, and talented people. Instead, they have chosen to use their time and energy to bring opportunity and more wealth only to those who hold no lasting interest in the vitality of...

To the people of McKinley County:

Recently, I was pleased to learn that on this day of July 23, 2016, the almost forgotten name of José del los Reyes Bustamante was being pulled at long last from the shadows of the past so that he may receive a measure of the recognition that he indisputably deserves.

I am grateful that my long-time friend of the Gallup area, Phillip Marques, aided by another local history enthusiast, Martin Link, has pulled together the pieces allowing today’s honoring of Bustamante.

Born in the year 1844, just two years before an American army seized New Mexico, Bustamante was still in his late teens when he helped defend New Mexico from an invading Confederate...