Local News

Luna Community College officials said they have discovered the school’s former baseball coach and the team’s booster club president made unauthorized expenditures from the now-defunct club’s fund.

Additionally, the college contends that it can’t account for $7,875 in money that should have been collected from team members.

First-time freshman enrollment at Highlands University continues to grow, an official said.

Thomasina Ortiz-Gallegos, director of academic support at Highlands, said that as of Feb. 27, 1,836 freshmen have submitted applications for the fall semester, compared to 1,295 in 2007, an increase of 541 first-time freshman. She told the university’s academic affairs committee that there’s still a lot of work to do getting transcripts and other paperwork completed before the university can say for sure how many freshmen will be in the classroom.

A national company is looking at developing a wind farm for electrical generation in the Valley, but it is seeking help from the county in the form of reduced taxes.

Chicago-based Invenergy has been conducting wind tests in San Miguel County and wants to build a wind farm on the mesa south of Interstate 25 and east of N.M. Highway 3, which leads to Ribera.

Sean Logsdon of Invenergy told the County Commission this week that his company is getting good results with the wind tests, so it wants to proceed with the project.

Probably everyone in America has a coin stash that through the years keeps growing as people empty their pocket change. Some people take the time to count and roll their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, but most don’t have the patience.

The two Lowe’s grocery stores in Las Vegas now have an easier way to turn those coins into cash.

Ron Martinez, Lowe’s Supersave store manager on Mills Avenue, said the machines have been in the stores since December and get daily use.