SEPTEMBER 25 Donald Glover, Actor (39) SEPTEMBER 26 Serena Williams, Athlete (41) SEPTEMBER 27 Avril Lavigne, Singer (38) SEPTEMBER 28 Hilary Duff, Actress (35) SEPTEMBER 29 Halsey, Singer (28) SEPTEMBER 30 T-Pain, Rapper (38) OCTOBER 1 Julie Andrews, Actress (87).

GRANTS, N.M. – On September 20, the Grants/Cibola County School Board met for one of their regular meetings.

In 2020, voters approved a change to the New Mexico State Constitution that removed the power of voters to choose their representative on the Public Regulatory Commission. Now, as the change prepares to come into effect, three Indigenous women-operated nonprofits filed a petition to the NM Supreme Court, asking for the court to rule the change as unconstitutional.

GRANTS, N.M. – The El Malpais Visitor Center in Grants, New Mexico will be hosting a workshop for residents interested in working for the federal government.

GRANTS, N.M. – The Cibola County Board of Commissioners met for one of their regular meetings on September 22. The topics of interest on the agenda included a biannual report for Cibola General Hospital by hospital C.E.O. Thomas Whelan, and several considerations to be voted on by the board. Whelan spoke at length on the past six months to a year giving an overview of the financials and statistics of the hospital to the board as usual. He also expressed gratitude for the hospital staff and their constant efforts to help keep the community safe with the resources that they had available throughout Covid. Whelan mentioned that although the volume of patients has gone down a little, the numbers are still higher than they have been in previous years. They are currently looking to add another professional part-time medical staff member, to help serve the many patients still coming in. The hospital will also be making an expansion on its emergency department along with the addition of a safe room and private rooms. The safe room will have limited equipment, cameras, sound monitoring, and an outside code lock that law enforcement will have access to for certain patients. He anticipates that the work will be done before the end of November. The hospital is also in the process of buying a new building to move their maintenance space to in order to renovate the room and put their new MRI unit in its place. It will be able to offer better images and additional services that they haven’t been able to provide previously. Whelan ended his report by saying that on September 30, the hospital’s flu pod will also become available. It is a drive through clinic where the public will be able to go to get their flu vaccine.

Make-up artists from the Grants High School advanced drama class will demonstrate their artistry next month at the Double Six Art Gallery. The Gallery is on Route 66 / 1001 W. Santa Fe Avenue and the action begins at 2 p.m. Attend and observe teen artists at work.