WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Michelle Lujan Grisham, Steve Pearce and Ben Ray Luján announced Oct. 26 that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded $15,210,143 for the Southwest Chief Route Advancement and Improvement Project to continue essential upgrades to Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line.

The Southwest Chief runs from Chicago to Los Angeles and stops in several New Mexico communities, including Raton, Las Vegas, Lamy, Albuquerque and Gallup. Without funding for these essential repairs, the Southwest Chief could have been rerouted or abandoned entirely — a major economic loss to rural communities that...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) are continuing their push for reforms that would help all families access quality child care in New Mexico and across the country.

The senators announced Oct. 27 that they are backing a resolution outlining principles for how Congress can act to improve the quality of child care while reducing the cost. Those principles include ensuring child care professionals can get better training and pay, and that Congress provides adequate resources to help state and local governments support affordable child care in local communities.

“Quality, affordable child care is essential for working parents and...

0 Gallup City Council and the McKinley County Commission met in a joint work session to discuss strategies to obtain more funding from the state for housing inmates in the McKinley County Adult Detention Center Oct. 20.

According to the McKinley Legislative Priorities report submitted to city and county officials by County Manager Bill Lee, the county was originally granted about $5 million dollars, under the County Detention Facility Reimbursement Act in 2007, to cover the cost of housing offenders. But funds were reduced to approximately $2.96 million for fiscal year 2016, when compared to the $3.3 million budget in fiscal year 2015.

“The act says that $5 million should be...

The New Mexico Secretary of State’s office will hold a public hearing on proposed campaign finance rule changes Oct. 23.

The rule changes are aimed at specifying how candidates can spend money received through contributions to their respective campaigns. A candidate, for instance, would not be able to spend campaign money on personal expenses such as membership dues or medical procedures.

Recently, a state lawmaker’s campaign came to the attention of the Secretary of State’s office for spending money on personal expenses like clothing and a surgical procedure as well as donating money to a family. The new rules would also prohibit donations to groups other than tax-exempt...