SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is recommending a 3.3% increase in state general fund spending in the coming fiscal year to devote more to public education and health and workplace safety programs, as authorities grapple with the economic hardships and mounting death toll of the pandemic. The budget proposal presented Monday to the Legislature would …

It is now with virtual certainty that a special legislative session will be called to order sometime next month. This session is necessary because of the dramatic reduction in State revenues as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the dramatic decline in prices and activity in the oil and gas industry. Estimates range from a shortfall of some …