SANTA FE — Please see the statement below from Governor Susana Martinez on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s report showing New Mexico is a national leader in economic growth:

“This is encouraging news for our families, communities and businesses,” Governor Martinez said. “Through a relentless commitment to reforms – balancing budgets, cutting taxes and streamlining regulations – we’re growing and diversifying our economy, and competing for jobs and investment with neighboring states like never before – and even beating them. I’m looking forward to continuing to work to build on this momentum to keep making New Mexico a better place.”

Today’s news comes on the...

ALBUQUERQUE – Tom Begaye, Jr., 28, entered a guilty plea Aug. 1 to a six-count indictment charging him with murder, aggravated sexual abuse and kidnapping offenses arising out of the abduction and murder of an 11-year-old Navajo child on May 2, 2016.

Begaye entered the guilty plea under a plea agreement that requires the imposition of a mandatory term of life imprisonment without the possibility of release.

“The Navajo Nation mourned when we learned of the vicious murder of Ashlynne Mike. The Nation has carried this pain ever since. Today, as we learn that her murderer has pleaded guilty to the six charges against him, we have taken one-step forward in healing. We know the pain...

ALBUQUERQUE – Tracey Beaver, 38, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Pinehill, N.M., was sentenced Aug. 1 in federal court in Santa Fe, N.M., to 60 months of imprisonment on each of two counts of involuntary manslaughter to run consecutively for a total of 120 months of imprisonment. Beaver will be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison sentence.

Beaver was arrested on Sept. 24, on a criminal complaint charging him with involuntary manslaughter. According to the complaint, Beaver killed two victims when he crashed his vehicle on Sept. 9, on the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation in Cibola County, N.M.  At the time of the crash, Beaver was...

After rigorous discussion, the decision has been made to close Kindergarten through Fifth Grade at St. Francis School in Gallup, effective July 28. Detailed examination into the school’s finances has determined that numerous debts and low enrollment for the new school year have combined to make the elementary school program financially unviable.

St. Francis Preschool, which serves children from age two through age five, will remain open, and continues to accept students for the new school year.

Sacred Heart Catholic School remains open as an educational option for students and their families, and will offer students currently enrolled in St. Francis for the 2017-2018 school year the...