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Today's News

  • Highlands University names budget director

    Highlands University has hired a budget director, a position that officials say will help the school through troubled economic times.

    The director, Eileen Bentley, brings a wealth of university budget management experience to her new position, including 18 years at Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey, according to a Highlands press release.

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  • Communicate more, panel says

    Film companies should communicate better with the community when they are planning their productions, an advisory panel recommends.

    The Plaza Task Force, a mayor-appointed committee, suggested that the city’s permitting procedure should require that film companies provide formal notification letters to local businesses affected. Additionally, the location manager should be required to submit proof in the form of business owners’ signatures that they were notified of the impacts, the panel advises.

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  • EDITOIRAL: Gratitude -- lingering appreciations

    On this day after Thanksgiving, instead of our usual thumbs, we are serving up some leftover thoughts on what we’re grateful for as this year slowly comes to a close. We’re thankful for ...

    MOM-AND-POP BUSINESSES: Las Vegas may not be the richest place on earth (at least not monetarily), but we do have some things that enrich our quality of life, including small, independently owned shops with plenty of character and quality merchandise. So don’t forget them this holiday season.

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  • COLUMN: The new welfare queens

    The big news is that there is a push on in Washington, D.C. to bail out the “Big Three,” that is to say General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler, with billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money. ($25 billion is the figure currently touted, but don’t be surprised if it goes up.)

    The reason that the “Big Three” are in trouble is presumably that we Americans are not buying enough cars.

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  • Judge: Court needs a car

    Municipal Judge Eddie says he’ll return the keys for the court’s city-issued car once he gets assurances that his staff will still have access to a vehicle.

    In a memo last week to City Manager Sharon Caballero, the judge said that his clerks need access to a city car to run errands that are essential for court business. They regularly go to the bank for deposits, the post office, the Police Department, and Magistrate and District courts, and the state Motor Vehicle Division office, he said.

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  • HU may absorb Santa Fe college

    Highlands University is considering whether to assume control over the College of Santa Fe.

    A top Highlands official said the university is serious about the option of taking over the College of Santa Fe.

    Higher Education Secretary Reed Dasenbrock has been charged with exploring the possibility of bringing the College of Santa Fe into the state’s higher education system, Gov. Bill Richardson announced Wednesday.

    The College of Santa Fe has been suffering major financial difficulties.

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  • Could East, West share costs?

    Just about every government entity is looking at cutting costs because of declining tax revenue.

    The East and West school districts are no different. And the leaders of those two districts say they would look at opportunities to share costs.

    Veronica Garcia, secretary of the state Department of Education, sent a letter to all school superintendents suggesting they need to begin looking for ways to save money.

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  • City OKs moratorium to prevent winter gas shutoffs

    The city has enacted its own policy on prohibiting shutoffs of natural gas to the poor during the winter months.

    And it comes with an acronym that’s hard to forget — WARM, which stands for the Winter Assistance Repayment Method.

    Recently, the City Council unanimously approved a resolution calling for the shutoff moratorium from Nov. 15 to March 15 of each year.

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  • Lujan promises to keep in touch

    U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan came to Las Vegas on Monday as part of his thank-you tour, and he promised to make town-hall meetings a regular practice.

    He cruised past two opponents in the general election earlier this month.

    Lujan told a gathering of about 50 residents at Highlands University’s Leveo Sanchez lecture hall that he wants to have a strong presence in the district and plans to open constituent offices soon after he is sworn in Jan. 6.

    He said he plans to keep the local constituent office.

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  • COLUMN: New Mexico's float this year

    New Mexico’s 2009 Rose Parade entry will be as much fun as this year’s float was and maybe a little less controversial than the space aliens that inhabited the 2008 prize winner.

    The idea of depicting our state as spacey didn’t appeal to some New Mexicans or to the tourism heads of our larger cities. But the alien float attracted much attention in Southern California, along with the Grand Marshal’s Award, one of the top three most prestigious.

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Copyright © 2013

The Las Vegas Optic is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in San Miguel County and Las Vegas, NM, and the surrounding area.