At the request of community members, the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of  Education will consider possibly renaming Oñate High School at a special meeting on July 14.  The name change was a topic of discussion at the Board’s June 25 meeting, where it was decided that further information was needed. Gathering public input was strongly encouraged, and a survey is now open to gather that information.  

Oñate High School is named after Don Juan de Oñate, a Spanish Conquistador. For more information on the history of Don Juan de Oñate please click on this link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_de_O%C3%B1ate.              

The survey is open through Thursday, July 9 and can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/onatehs. 

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Wednesday announced 130 additional COVID-19 cases and 3 deaths.

As of today, there are 127 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday extended the state’s emergency public health order through July 15 and issued a severe warning about the risk of New Mexico being forced to re-enact more severe public health restrictions in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 across the state.

Reflecting the rising case count and COVID-19 transmission rate in all regions of the state, the state’s amended emergency public health order does not enact any additional easings of public health restrictions intended to mitigate the spread of the virus. The governor and state health officials signaled last week that “Phase Two” of the state’s reopening would be on hold until public health conditions warrant further relaxations of restrictions and the state’s gating criteria could once again be met. 

SANTA FE, NM - Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a new public health order effective today, July 1st, requiring businesses to enforce mask compliance in their spaces. Business owners will face possible fines for not following the new order.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Commissioners in New Mexico's most populous county have taken another step toward outfitting the sheriff's department with body cameras.

The Bernalillo County Commission voted Tuesday to appropriate $1 million that had been approved last year through an administrative resolution. The money can be used to purchase cameras, support services, subscriptions and infrastructure for the camera systems.

  A new investigation from KFF’s Kaiser Health News (KHN) and The Associated Press examines the troubling state of the public health infrastructure the nation is relying on to navigate the health and economic threats presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The multipart investigation, which launched today, finds that the public health workforce in the United States is underfunded and under threat, lacking the basic tools to confront the worst pandemic in a century. The novel coronavirus has infected at least 2.6 million people in the U.S., killed more than 12,000 people and cost tens of millions of jobs and $3 trillion in federal rescue money.

New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, in collaboration with the New Mexico State Fair Commission, has developed two new contests for youth to showcase their public-speaking and scientific-reasoning skills.

The contests, Agricultural Public Speaking and Agricultural and Natural Resource Science Fair, will take place virtually, following the cancellation of this year’s New Mexico State Fair.

New Mexico youth ages 8 to 18 are eligible to enter each contest for a chance win cash prizes or scholarships to attend NMSU, with participants competing in either the junior (ages 8 to 13) or senior (ages 14 to 18) divisions. Entries are due Aug. 1.