Local News

Fiesta de la Hispanidad is this Saturday
The 19th Annual Fiesta de la Hispanidad will take place this Saturday at Ilfeld Auditorium. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. Event starts at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5 with ticket availability starting today across the street from Ilfeld from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call Donna Martinez at 454-3238 for ticket information or Sara at 454-0438.

Lawmakers have approved a $274 million package to fund brick and mortar projects across the state, and if the bill survives Gov. Susana Martinez’s veto pen, schools, hospitals water systems and other government entities in San Miguel and Mora counties will receive more than $11.5 million for area projects.

Among the big winners locally are the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute, Highlands University, the city of Las Vegas and Mora County. Each of those entities stands to receive more than $1 million in capital project funding.

An attempt by San Miguel County Commission Chairman Nicolas Leger to get his colleagues on the board to approve a resolution supporting stricter federal laws on assault weapons and more comprehensive background checks backfired.

After a spirited discussion, the commission shot down Leger’s proposed resolution in a rare split vote. Leger and Marcellino Ortiz voted for the resolution, both citing mass shootings like the one in December in Newtown, Conn. Commissioners Ron Ortega, Arthur Padilla and Gilbert Sena voted against it.

By Brian Murphy and Michael Warren
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — On the streets in Buenos Aires, the stories about the cardinal who has become the first pope from the Americas often include a very ordinary backdrop: The city bus during rush hour.

Tales are traded about chatting with Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio as he squeezed in with others for the commute to work. They sometimes talked about church affairs. Other times it could be about what he planned to cook for dinner in the simple downtown apartment he chose over an opulent church estate.