SANTA FE – The New Mexico Human Services Department  announced on Sept. 19 that  a second supplemental payment was issued on Sept. 16  to New Mexicans who were approved for the Low Income Home Energy Program between Oct. 1, 2021, and Aug. 31, 2022.

HSD received $22 million from the Federal American Rescue Plan as additional funding for LIHEAP, a program that provides qualified, low-income families with one yearly payment to assist with home heating and cooling costs. Payments are directly made to the HSD LIHEAP customer’s utility vendor.

“This assistance will help New Mexico families alleviate the stress of the additional burden by the rising utility costs,” Deputy...

SANTA FE – Families for almost 228,000 New Mexico students will receive benefits starting on Sept. 18 through Sept. 26 to cover the summer months of June and July 2022.

Over $89 million in Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer will be issued to cover summer meals for K-12 students who were eligible for free or reduced priced meals through the National School Lunch Program or attended a Community Eligible Provision school that received free meals as of June 30 for school year 2021-2022. The one-time amount will be $391 to eligible students.

Parents and guardians will be able to check whether their child qualified for the latest P-EBT issuance at the VERIFY P-EBT Information section of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Navajo Nation Washington Office Executive Director Lashawna Tso met with the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Martin J. Walsh, and Tribal Liaison Jack Jackson, Jr. in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 14 to coordinate the implementation of federal funding and identify additional grants and opportunities to improve workforce development on the Navajo Nation.

Nez spoke about the Navajo Nation’s ongoing work to implement federal funding from the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan Act for infrastructure development, which will require a skilled workforce to complete projects that will deliver more water, electricity, broadband, and other...

Washington D.C. – Senator Ben Ray Luján D-N.M., joined Senator Patty Murray D-WA, Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senator Alex Padilla D-CA, and Senator Jacky Rosen D-NV, on Aug. 2 and introduced the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act to protect doctors against Republicans’ non-stop attacks and ensure they can safely provide abortion care in states where it is still legal. The Senators took to the Senate floor later that week to seek unanimous consent to pass the legislation.

Republicans’ nonstop attacks against women’s reproductive freedom has long targeted doctors, with state laws like Texas’ SB8 allowing for anyone to...