pay

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have earmarked money to permanently boost federal wildland firefighter pay — leaving advocates cautiously optimistic.

This year marks the New Mexico Legislature’s third attempt to raise the salaries of their coequal branch of government in the judiciary. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has vetoed raises for state Supreme Court justices and most lower court judges two years in a row. But a change to this year’s bill may gain the governor’s support.

For years, the state department that is supposed to enforce wage laws was turning away some people who were trying to get their employers to pay them for…