Here’s a look at today’s headlines:

The Deming Public Schools Board of Education has two seats up for election in 2017.  Four candidates have applied.  Ron Wolfe and John Sweetser have the positions in Districts 1 and 2, and Sweetser will be moving into his newly-elected Luna County Board of Commissioners’ seat.  Wolfe will run unopposed to retain the district 1 seat, and three candidates have filed to fill the District 2 seat being vacated by John Sweetser: Stephen Kent Witmer, Kenneth D. Perea, and William J. Ruiz.  The school board elections will be held on February 17th.

In sports news, Western New Mexico University invites the public out to cheer on the Mustang basketball team with an offer of free admission for the next game.  The Mustangs will play against Benedictine Mesa on Friday, December 30th at 6 pm inside Drag’s Court.  This will be the final non-conference game of the season for the Mustangs, who are 1-4 at home this season.

A Democratic lawmaker wants to ask voters in New Mexico to approve a proposal that would abolish the job of the state’s education secretary.  The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the proposal by Sen. Michael Padilla of Albuquerque would ask voters to amend the state’s Constitution to eliminate the job and resurrect an elected state board of education to oversee public schools.  His proposal, if approved by both houses of the state Legislature, would go before voters in November 2018.  The 60-day legislative session begins January 17th.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department announced recently that the New Mexico MainStreet Program has been reaccredited and licensed through the National Main Street Center, Inc. for 2017.  New Mexico MainStreet is part of a national network that has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 35 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.