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• The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the state can issue $5,000 fines for businesses that defy the state’s public health order. Read more here.
• The number of COVID-19 cases is dropping in New Mexico, as is the positivity rate (the percentage of positive tests to total tests). Read more here.
• Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham responded to criticism from legislators on her spending during the pandemic, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
• Navajo Nation health officials announced 17 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death related to the disease. This brings the total to 9,156 confirmed cases for the Navajo Nation, including 6,747 who have recovered and 463 deaths related to the disease.
  • The Navajo Nation Council passed a virus relief spending plan during a special session, the Albuquerque Journal reported. But Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez indicated he will likely issue some line-item vetoes.
• Zuni Pueblo will enact weekend lockdowns through at least the end of August, pueblo leadership announced.
• Legislators heard about how Native Americans are dying at a higher rate from COVID-19 than other racial and ethnic groups in the state, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
• When students in New Mexico are allowed to go back to school, masks will be treated like part of a school uniform. But it will result in large costs for school districts to supply staff and for students who do not come to school with any, KRQE-TV reported.
• An employee at Early College High School in Deming tested positive for COVID-19, the Deming Headlight reported.
• Candidates for the 2nd Congressional District race spoke to the Roswell Daily Record about their stance on a new federal relief bill. The Democrat-led House passed a bill in May, but the Republican-led Senate is still debating their version.
• The Farmington Daily Times looked at the legislative hearing earlier this week on how the hospitality industry is hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The state’s medical marijuana program has seen higher sales during the pandemic, KOB-TV reported.
• The way people will buy green chile wil be different this year for distributors, KOB-TV reported.
• A 106-year-old woman in Albuquerque had a socially distanced birthday party. The woman’s mother and sister died of the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918, KOB-TV reported.
• A family that claimed three of them were disabled were kicked out of a Hobby Lobby in Albuquerque for refusing to wear masks, KRQE-TV reported.
• The Eastern New Mexico News wrote about a woman who put a mask on her car, a 1999 Buick Park Avenue.
• The latest New Mexico event to go online this year is the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
• Or maybe the latest is the 2020 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, as the Santa Fe Reporter wrote.
• Most public parks in Las Cruces remain closed, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.