Here’s a look at today’s headlines:
The Southwest Festival of the Written Word has received a generous New Mexico TRUE grant award from the New Mexico Tourism department. In an interview, Festival co-chairs, Jeannie Miller and Mary Hotvedt explained, “The 2015 Festival is indeed a New Mexico TRUE event. The Southwest Festival of the Written Word, to be held Friday-Sunday, October 2-4, 2015, is a joyous gathering of over fifty writers who live and work in the Southwest. Festival attendees get to mingle and converse with the presenters and listen to them discuss their craft and work in over forty sessions held in venues throughout historic downtown Silver City. All events—except the Festival Banquet—are open to the public free of charge. No registration is required to attend the Festival.”
Last week, WNMU held a celebration to show the new pool and fitness center to the public. The pool is five feet deep and less than 2,700 square feet of surface area, and is a saltwater pool, as well as training equipment. The facility will be open 6 am to 10 pm five days a week. The facility will cost $50 a month for community members, and will also eventually include a concert area, and an outdoor covered café/bistro. To complete Spirit Week at Western New Mexico University, students, on Sunday morning, Aug. 23, climbed W Mountain north of Silver City and whitewashed the W for its annual refresh.
The Silver City Unit Honor Guard Units from The Marine Corps League/Detachment 1328 in Silver City and the Upper Fruitland Veterans Association took top honors in the competition which highlighted the 2015 Honor Guard Conference on August 21 at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque. For the second year in a row, the Silver City unit took top honors in the “Large Unit” competition, while the Fruitland unit captured the top prize in the “Small Unit” competition-units which do not have a Rifle Volley unit.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers working at the El Paso port of entry seized 588 pounds of marijuana in five seizures Thursday. The estimated street value of the seized contraband is $470,400.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a new mobile app to assist schools with conducting indoor air quality assessments (IAQ). The School IAQ Assessment app provides direct guidance from EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit to help protect the health of children and staff.
