Here’s a look at some local news:
The Luna County Board of Commissioners has chosen a replacement for former Luna County Manager, David McSherry. Chris Brice, current Director of the Luna County Detention Center and Deputy Manager will fill the county manager position that was vacated after David McSherry had his contract terminated on October 31st. According to a media release, “Chris Brice as previously served as both Interim county manager and assistant county manager and brings his experience running the county’s largest department along with a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy and manager in the private sector for many years.”
New Mexico Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart, announced through a news release that the Public Education Department (PED) has signed a multi-year contract with Cognia TM to provide the mathematics and English language arts (ELA) assessment for grades 3 through 8. Cognia is a school improvement organization that offers assessment, accreditation and continuous improvement services. Additionally, students in grade 10 will be administered the PSAT assessment from College BoardTM. According the NMPED, contracts with College Board and Cognia in place, the following summative assessments will replace PARCC TM and the Transition Assessment for Math and English Language Arts (TAMELA) in spring 2020 and serve as New Mexico’s official student assessments.
The New Mexico Department of Health reports that three additional cases of severe lung injury related to use of e-cigarettes for vaping have occurred, bringing the total of cases in the state to a total of twenty. Thirteen of New Mexico’s 20 patients have required hospitalization in intensive care units. The NMDOH is strongly discouraging the use of vaping THC products at this time and also discourage the vaping of any product containing Vitamin E acetate. Secondhand (black market) products should especially be avoided due to the possible addition of unknown chemicals like Vitamin E acetate to the vaping cartridge.
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