United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be in New Mexico next month for an annual law convention.

Ginsburg will serve as the keynote speaker for the State Bar of New Mexico’s Bar and Bench conference in August.

State Bar executive director Joe Conte said the organization is “excited and grateful” that Ginsburg is willing to come and speak to the legal community.

“She’s a woman who’s got decades of life to share with us,” Conte said.

Ginsburg recently received immense media attention after she made disparaging remarks about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Trump responded, saying her comments were inappropriate and called on...

Two things about New Mexico’s scandal over the state allegedly falsifying applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program stand out to Samuel Chu.

The first is documentation of the scandal in federal court, which in May included three top state Human Services Department officials refusing to answer a total of nearly 100 questions from lawyers. Instead, they asserted their Fifth Amendment rights, which allow people to avoid possibly incriminating themselves.

“We generally don’t see that,” Chu, the national synagogue organizer with Mazon, a California-based anti-hunger organization that tracks food stamp issues across the country.

The Fifth Amendment pleadings...

Agreement keeps chamber in tourism, marketing picture

The Gallup City Council unanimously approved a $185,000 professional services agreement June 14 with the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce – furthering a lodgers tax relationship with Chamber CEO Bill Lee that goes back several years.

The vote on the professional services matter took place at the regular city meeting. City Tourism and Marketing Manager Catherine Sebold and City Manager Maryann Ustick introduced the item to council members.

The agreement allows the chamber to oversee, manage, and design the content, production, sales, and distribution of the 2017 Gallup Visitor’s Guide, which can be found at area...

Matter related to temporary construction permits

The Gallup City Council has approved a right-of-entry and deed for a New Mexico Department of Transportation project along Boardman Drive. The issue was brought before council members at the June 28 meeting and received a unanimous vote.

“We gave the [New Mexico Department of Transportation] some small bits of rights-of-way in front of the train station for some work they are to do,” City Attorney George Kozeliski explained to the panel. “They sent us three packets of items they needed from the city. Only the council can deed property. That’s why it was before the council.”

Kozeliski said the DOT requested the right to do...