Here’s a look at today’s news:

On Wednesday, a Silver City Police Officer discovered a homeless man inside a residence on the 200 Block of 12th Street in Silver City. The officer was patrolling on 12th Street when he noticed a residence with an open door and an adjacent broken window. The man was discovered inside asleep and told the officer he did not live there. Casey Munoz of Silver City was arrested and charged with breaking and entering, a fourth-degree felony and was later transported to the Grant County Detention Center.

Gila Regional Medical Center has announced the appointment of Richard Stokes, Jr.  as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Stokes is relocating to Silver City from Vernon, Texas, where he served as interim CFO for Wilbarger General Hospital. Previously, Mr. Stokes worked at a long-term facility in Manning, South Carolina where he served as CFO from 2003 to 2016. Gila Regional’s current interim CFO, Joanne Vance, will remain at GRMC for an expected 2-month period as consultant to help oversee the transition.

The Western New Mexico University Department of Student Life recently teamed up with the organization “Rancho Feliz”, to help families across the border in Aqua Prieta, Mexico. The student group spent three days in the community and assisted in building homes for needy families, visited a drug rehabilitation facility, and helped clean up an abandoned Jewish cemetery. The “Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation” was founded in 1987 and offers on-border volunteer opportunities for mostly young adults to travel to the border areas and help the less fortunate.

According to statistics from the New Mexico Department of Health, Luna County patient enrollment in New Mexico’s medical marijuana program has increased by nearly 46.5 percent in 2017, passing the state’s growth rate of 37 percent. Qualifying conditions for state approved marijuana prescriptions are, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, sever chronic pain, and cancer. Ultra Health, a medical marijuana provider has still not opened its Deming storefront located on Spruce Street. They were able acquire a single-use permit from the City of Deming, but remain involved in a lawsuit with the Department of Health over a plant count regulation. The lawsuit is awaiting a ruling in Santa Fe’s First District Court.