Here’s a look at today’s headlines:

The Silver School Board attended a special session with Dr. Dan Patterson from the New Mexico School Board Association.  Dr. Patterson was selected to help the Board with the superintendent search, and in the most recent session he helped the board consider the time schedules needed to bring the proposed search to a successful hiring.  Patterson recommended the board begin advertising on September 4th and to consider a community forum to introduce about six finalists by the end of October, with interviews to follow immediately after.

Luna County voters responded in one of the best turnouts in recent history to approve the special hospital gross receipts tax to fund emergency ambulance services.  Once the results are approved by New Mexico Taxation and Revenue, the one-eighth of one percent tax will resume being collected on January 1, 2017.  All the funds generated by the tax are passed along to the emergency response agencies through agreements for service.

Justin Henwood, project manager for the New Mexico Department of Transportation, recently gave the presentation on new Catwalk Access options.  The options include building a new road from Hwy 159 at Whitewater Mesa down to the Catwalk parking lot; improving Catwalk Road 174, with widening and other improvements beginning past Circle Drive; or do nothing except possibly repave 174 as it is.  The project will be funded by the Federal Lands Access Program.

US Senator Martin Heinrich visited Las Cruces yesterday to learn more about how Las Cruces became the first community in New Mexico to achieve functional zero for veteran homelessness and discuss ways to build on that success across New Mexico.

A recent survey by the state Public Education Department shows a 7 percent jump in the number of schools earning an A or B grade in the state, while D or F schools dropped 2 percent.  In New Mexico, 38 percent of the 849 public schools earned an A or B while 37 percent of schools earned a D or F.  The grades come a week after the state released results from its latest student tests. Those results showed that scores were up across the state, but less than a third of students remained proficient or better in reading and math.