Common Cause New Mexico, Election Reformers Network, and the League of Women Voters of New Mexico joined with national redistricting experts in filing an amicus brief in New Mexico’s Fifth Judicial District in a case challenging the state’s congressional maps. Plaintiffs in Republican Party of New Mexico et al., v. Maggie Toulouse Oliver, et al., argue that the maps are a partisan gerrymander that violates the state constitution’s equal protection clause.

All of us have gone through life hearing that life isn’t easy. The thing that I have struggled with a lot is trying to find the meaning of why I am here and what is keeping me here.

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Carite of Gallup management allegedly directed their staff to engage in trade-in-schemes that consisted of the business negotiating with the consumer to trade in their vehicle, on the belief that Carite of Gallup would pay the balance of the loan. However, consumers who agreed to trade their vehicles with Carite of Gallup began receiving phone calls from debt collectors. Upon research, consumers uncovered that Carite of Gallup failed to pay off the car loans of the trade-in vehicle, as promised, leaving consumers liable to pay. These debts consumers would be sent to collection agencies, severely impacting consumers’ credit scores.

Tyrants are trying to crush our way of life. The autocrats in Russia, China, and North Korea continue their efforts to chip away at the might of the Free World but have been defeated at every turn by Western powers in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and many of our allies across the world.

The following was drafted immediately after the early August town hall meeting. This is a plea for clarity and civility.

Dear editor, I would like to thank your reporter, Arieanna Crowson, who wrote 'Light in the Darkness, Bullying and its Effects on Self Worth.' Arieanna, thank you for your vulnerability and sharing your personal experiences with bullying as a child. This is a perfect example of how 'Adverse Childhood Experiences' can impact us even into adulthood. Even experiences like parental divorce are considered an adverse childhood experience. If you are not familiar with 'ACES', I encourage you go do a bit of reading up on it. I work in two elementary schools in our District and we continuously seek to educate children and employees about how to prevent bullying, what bullying is versus conflict, to report bullying, and to learn and practice communication skills and conflict resolution. It happens most often outside of the classroom, when children are on the playground, in the halls, in the cafeteria, etc. While they are still supervised, staff do not always hear everything. Parents, please remind your children they must report it to their teacher or other trusted school staff. We cannot help if we do not know. Arieanna, I will not forget your story and I will share it with our students. I hope that you can one day soon, you find that confident, bully little girl in you, and love yourself more each day.

For the one-in-five New Mexicans who live in rural areas, accessing healthcare is a challenge with sometimes deadly consequences. Many New Mexicans struggle to get medical care, but travel distances, lack of providers, high poverty, and limited hospital services mean rural residents face higher mortality rates, high rates of chronic disease, poor outcomes for pregnant women and newborns, and more substance abuse.

Dear editor, The August 16 edition of the Cibola Citizen printed an article describing the July 26 City Council meeting. During this meeting the article states that an engaged citizen addressed the Council asking them “to consider implementing a voting system where voters will be able to rank the candidates in order of who they prefer.” He suggested that this approach to our city elections might help to increase citizen participation in civic activities.

What might be surprising is when I was younger, I was extremely extroverted. I used to be the type of person who would always answer questions from teachers, who would introduce myself first to new students, and the person who would present projects first.