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Today's News

  • City launches new budget billing plan

    The city of Las Vegas is introducing a new budget billing plan.

    The plan is an adjustment for winter rates that allows a customer to lower their winter payments by dispersing them throughout the year, officials said.

    Utilities Director George DuFour came up with the plan to help utility customers during the winter. Customers just need to contact the utilities department to sign up.

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  • Highlands hires rodeo coach, head trainer

    From the Las Vegas Optic

    New Mexico Highlands University recently announced the hirings of a rodeo coach and a head athletic trainer, and both have already begun work as the fall season quickly approaches.

    Jon Peek is the new rodeo mentor, succeeding Danny Garcia. And Yolanda Diaz has taken over head training duties after longtime staffer Liz Sedillo’s departure for a similar post in Alamogordo.

    A Pueblo, Colo., native, Peek is a rodeo cowboy and member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, according to an NMHU news release.

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  • Let's hope board is right

    An elected body should think long and hard before it rejects the advice of its hired professionals. Ignoring that advice is exactly what the Mora school board did recently.

    Mora Superintendent Dora Romero said she had proposed that the district hire a third-party engineer for a planned multipurpose sports complex “in order to gain perspective as to what actually needs to be done in our situation.”

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  • A four-day work week?

    SANTA FE — Expect to see some minor impacts on your life as New Mexico state government implements energy-saving measures. The biggest change will come when some agencies adopt a four-day work week.

    Earlier this summer, Gov. Bill Richardson directed the state personnel office to help alleviate the strain of high gas prices on state employees and taxpayers. How can the state personnel office lower your gas prices? We’ll get to that.

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  • NMHU soccer, volleyball teams picked seventh in divisions

    Who knows? Maybe seven will be a lucky number for New Mexico Highlands University’s athletic teams this year.

    Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference coaches’ polls for women’s soccer and volleyball were released this week, and both have NMHU pegged to finish seventh in their divisions.

    That matches the seventh-place finish predicted for Cowboy football in a July coaches’ poll.

    Women’s soccer

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  • Ex-official accused of fraud

    SANTA FE — Prosecutors tried to make the case Tuesday that West Las Vegas’ former bilingual director helped her assistant cheat on an online test to get an educational license.

    It was the opening day of a four-day trial for former Director Roberta Vigil and her assistant, Beverly Ortega. Vigil has been charged with fraud, while both women face a count of conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with the cheating.

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  • La Pasada told to issue order

    The state Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau advised the La Pasada Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association in San Miguel County to issue a “boil water order” for its water system.

    The state issued the advisory on Monday after bacteriological contamination that exceeded the maximum contaminant level for E. coli was discovered in drinking water. The state requires the La Pasada MDWCA, a water system about 35 miles southeast of Santa Fe, to notify its consumers of the finding.

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  • Authorities yet to take action

    State police are continuing their investigation into alleged violent hazing during a Robertson High School football camp last week. And officials aren’t revealing any details about their investigation.

    “It would be nice if things were like ‘CSI’ and everything got figured out in an hour,” said state police Sgt. Andy Tingwall. “The state police are going to have a thorough investigation. It’s important that every step be followed.”

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  • Contract would give pay increases

    Officers and dispatchers in the Police Department would get a pay plan that includes increases in salaries under a proposed agreement between the city and a union.

    Entry-level police officers would make $15 an hour, which figures to $32,760 a year. Currently, entry-level officers make $12.30 an hour.

    City Manager Sharon Caballero said the city isn’t allowed to talk about the agreement until both sides have a chance to look it over. She said she expected the council to discuss the proposal behind closed doors.

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  • County to seek funds for Tecolote

    The San Miguel County Commission decided last week to seek more federal money so that it can complete the final phase to improve roads and drainage in Tecolote.

    The county tried to seek more funds for that project last year, but the federal government denied that request because the county hadn’t closed out the first phase of the improvements.

    In the first phase, the county spent much of the more than $300,000 on drainage. Officials at the time said that they did so because without such improvements, any road upgrades would be quickly destroyed.

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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.