By Rodd Cayton The Village of Corrales has a 40-year water plan. The document, required by the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer and crucial to the village’s water future, was approved at the Aug. 18 Village Council meeting. It projects Corrales’ long-term water supply needs and identifies conservation

By Rodd Cayton The $10 fine for not having reflectors on one’s bicycle in Corrales is probably going away. The Village Council next month will review changes to its uniform traffic code, and one item to be considered is updating the fee schedule. Some fines haven’t been increased in decades,

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. Rio Rancho gets a taste of Ireland and Scotland this month when the Celtic Coyotes headline a benefit concert for Storehouse West, the city’s food donation center that feeds more than 1,500 people every month. The band plays Aug. 29 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. The weekend of Aug. 21-23 doesn’t need a headliner — it has several. Rio Rancho and Sandoval County pack three days with live music, Route 66 history, a Corrales gala and enough trivia to humble even the most confident know-it-all. Friday: Waylon Bailey and a

Sandoval County seniors won’t have to hunt down help on their own this week — lawmakers are bringing the help to them. Five state legislators are hosting a Senior Service Fair Thursday, Aug. 20, aimed at connecting seniors and caregivers with services in one stop. Reps. Catherine Cullen, Joshua Hernandez

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. Sandoval County commissioners have approved nearly $11.3 million in new bonds to buy landfill equipment and settle up land costs tied to the Project Ranger site, both coming in at lower interest rates than the county had budgeted for. Commissioners adopted an ordinance authorizing up

By Rodd Cayton Potatoes grow very well in New Mexico, Lisa Brown says. Brown, recently appointed to the Corrales Village Council, knows that firsthand, having been raised there, farmed there and sought solutions there. She served on the village’s farmland preservation commission. Brown sat with the Corrales Comment to discuss

With more than $70 billion available to invest for the benefit of New Mexico, why doesn’t the State Investment Council just buy PNM instead of letting them sell to Blackstone, a private equity company? This story was originally published at New Mexico Political Report, a nonprofit news service covering politics

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. Sandoval Regional Medical Center’s longtime CEO is stepping down Dec. 11, and she used what may be her final mill levy update to Sandoval County commissioners to introduce the man taking her place — while fielding pointed questions about ER wait times, a doctor shortage

Submitted by Nandini Pillai Kuehn, Ph.D., MHA, Corrales I would like to thank Adam Prior, who is currently running to unseat Representative Kathleen Cates in House District 44, for publicly acknowledging, after reviewing her donations and her votes, that she cannot be bought. (See his Letter to the editor: Follow

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. The Hatch chile smell is still in the air and the summer still has plenty of weekend left. Rio Rancho and its neighbors pack Aug. 14-16 with free concerts, local markets, community traditions and one of the biggest free family events of the year. Friday:

By Kevin Hendricks and Julian Paras, The Paper. — The iconic dinos and giraffes are getting a new life, and so is a shuttered Albuquerque classic. Scott Salvas, the Rio Rancho brewer behind Brew Lab 101, is resurrecting the long-dormant Putt-Putt Golf and Games course at 5100 San Mateo Blvd.

Submitted by By Adam Prior, Republican nominee for New Mexico House District 44 New Mexico’s doctor shortage is not abstract. It is a family waiting months for a specialist, a senior driving hours for care or a rural hospital struggling to stay open. Medical-malpractice policy affects patients’ rights and whether

By Kevin Hendricks and Julian Paras, The Paper. — U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat from New Mexico, toured Roadrunner Food Bank on Aug. 10, warning that federal cuts have stripped food assistance from more than 21,000 New Mexicans, about half of them children, since October. Stansbury said the drop

Submitted by Kevin Shelton, Sandoval County Our community has watched Sheriff Jesse Casaus put the good of Sandoval County and its neighbors ahead of partisanship. The Democratic Party responded by blasting him for endorsing Victor Rodriguez, claiming the sheriff had finally shown his “true colors.” I believe the sheriff made

Corner to Corner by Columnist Diane D. Denish — Recently, I listened to the historical fiction novel The Frozen River, based on the life of Martha Ballard. Her life is chronicled in The Midwife’s Diary, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991. From 1785 to 1812, Ballard recorded the weather

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. Corrales’ most unconventional election is in full swing, and this year’s crop of candidates — a rooster, a mini highland calf and a dachshund duo among them — has already raised nearly $4,000 for Corrales Animal Services, the village’s no-kill shelter. Fourteen animal candidates filed

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. Sandoval County high school juniors and seniors have two more weeks to apply for the Junior County Treasurer Program, which now comes with a $5,000 scholarship for each student who completes it. The Treasurer’s Office extended the deadline to Aug. 21 so students returning from

By Rodd Cayton Citing a desire to ensure the community is kept up to date, village councilors in Corrales have delayed an official update to the uniform traffic code. The code had already been posted, but councilors added changes they felt the public should have time to review. Village Attorney

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. Rio Rancho and its neighbors don’t need a headliner to fill a weekend. This one comes loaded with New Mexican tradition, back-to-back Bernalillo concerts and three nights of live music in the City of Vision — plus the smell of green chile in the air.

By Rodd Cayton As law enforcement agencies across the country work to bond with the communities they serve, local departments are offering a variety of ways to reinforce that connection on Aug. 4. National Night Out began in 1984 and takes place the second Tuesday in August in hundreds of

Submitted by Judith Gordon, Democratic Party of Sandoval County Secretary Democratic Sheriff Jesse James Casaus’s endorsement of the Republican candidate for Sandoval County sheriff (Rio Rancho News, July 29) is not a surprising political pivot. It is the inevitable action of a man who openly mocks the values of the

By Rodd Cayton It’s not just another birthday trip to the mall — this time, it’s the mall’s birthday. This weekend, Cottonwood Mall is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a party Friday, three decades to the day the shopping center opened its doors. On July 31, 1996, Albuquerque’s Westside finally

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. Sandoval County Sheriff Jesse James Casaus, a Democrat barred by term limits from seeking reelection, is backing Republican Victor Rodriguez to succeed him — passing over Democratic nominee John Paul Trujillo in a rare cross-party break from a sitting sheriff. In a letter of endorsement,