Here’s a look at today’s headlines:

Candidates have filed for two area school boards.  In the Cobre School district, Frank Gomez will run to retain his seat, Gilbert Guadiana will run against Eloy Medina for the seat currently held by Frances Kelly, and Gabriel Holguin will run for the third seat.  The seats on the Cobre School Board are open to anyone within the Cobre school district.  In the Silver School District, Patrick Cohn Jr. will run for the seat currently held by Chris Arvidson in District 1, Ashley Montenegro will run to retain her District 2 seat, and Justin Wecks and Daniel Arrey will vie for the District 4 seat.  All school board seats are four-year terms.

The Village of Santa Clara has given public notice of the intent to adopt an ordinance allowing the use of Utility Task Vehicles, under specific guidelines and restrictions, on streets and roadways within the corporate limits of the Village o Santa Clara.  A copy of the proposed ordinance may be obtained at the Village administration building, and public comments must be submitted in written form to the Village Clerk before the close of business on January 6th, 2017.

The Trust for Public Lands Wednesday announced the conveyance of 605 acres within the Gila National Forest to the Forest Service.  The property is on Upper Bear Creek about 6 miles north-northeast of Silver City, and is almost completely surrounded by the Gila National Forest to the north and Bureau of Land Management land to the south.  The land addition will give visitors better access to the national forest.

The Bureau of Land Management took a significant step Wednesday in its multi-year effort to improve the efficiency and transparency of the permitting process for oil and gas drilling.  With the final revision to Onshore Order 1, the agency is making online filing the default method of filing Applications for Permit to Drill and Notices of Staking, moving away from paper applications.  This new e-filing system is part of the BLM’s upgraded Automated Fluid Mineral’s Support System.

The US Department of Agriculture today announced that starting March 20th, 2017, organic producers and handlers will be able to visit over 2,100 USDA Farm Service Agency offices around the country to apply for federal reimbursement to assist with the cost of receiving and maintaining organic or transitional certification.  To learn more about organic certification cost share, please visit www.fsa.usda.gov/organic or contact a local FSA office by visiting http://offices.usda.gov.