Here’s a look at today’s headlines:
New Mexico`s top two youth volunteers of 2017, Peter Alarid, 18, of Silver City and Alexandra Burnham, 13, of Farmington, were honored in the nation`s capital Monday night for their outstanding volunteer service during the 22nd annual presentation of The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Peter and Alexandra – along with 100 other top youth volunteers from across the country – each received $1,000 awards and personal congratulations from Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps at an award ceremony and gala dinner reception held at the Smithsonian`s National Museum of Natural History.
A new report shows New Mexico had the lowest graduation rates in the United States in 2015. The “Building A Grad Nation” report used U.S. Department of Education data to list statewide graduation rates based on poverty, demographics and school districts. New Mexico’s Public Education Department numbers show that the graduation rate in New Mexico rose to 71 percent in 2016.
Today, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the New Mexico State Police released results from the Cinco de Mayo DWI crackdown across the state. Over the course of the Cinco de Mayo weekend, State Police arrested 34 drunk drivers, made 30 other arrests, handled 14 crashes – which included one fatality – and issued over 165 citations for traffic violations.
Congressman Ben Ray Luján Tuesday introduced the Save for Success Act which creates a fully refundable savings credit program to better help middle class and working families save money for college expenses and to help address the growing student debt crisis. Nationwide, total student loan debt now exceeds $1 trillion. In 2015, nearly 70 percent of seniors who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges had an average of $30,100 in student loan debt.
