Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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President Joe Biden announced Sunday he is dropping out of the presidential race after a poor debate performance in June. Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Here’s what some New Mexico officials had to say about it: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: “While President Biden is an indisputably great leader, his decision to withdraw from the presidential race at this fraught moment in U.S. history is in the best interest of the Democratic Party and the nation. “This decision will ensure President Biden’s rightfu...
SANTA FE — Five hours and no action on her crime-related agenda. The outcome of a special session prompted fiery criticism from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who called Thursday one of the most disappointing days of her career. “The Legislature as a body walked away from their most important responsibility: keeping New Mexicans safe,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “The Legislature should be embarrassed at their inability to summon even an ounce of courage to adopt common-sense legislation to make New Mexicans safer,...
Sly Quincy Jones has been confined in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque for 444 days while lawyers, judges and experts considered whether he is mentally competent to stand trial for intentionally setting fires that terrified a historic Downtown-area neighborhood. His criminal rap sheet shows 30 years of misdemeanors, felonies and failures to appear in court in New Mexico and Florida. Since 2012, his alleged conduct in Albuquerque has escalated from disorderly conduct to arson, aggravated assault and drug...
New Mexico is relying on a new Environmental Protection Agency rule to pursue the Department of Defense for the costs of cleaning up PFAS contamination near several military installations and for damages from contamination. The New Mexico Environment Department, New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee and the New Mexico Attorney General on Monday amended New Mexico’s lawsuit against the United States regarding per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) contamination present in and around military communities across t...
Monday was the start of a fresh fiscal year, meaning the state's new $10.21 billion budget is now in effect. And with the kickoff of fiscal year 2025, New Mexico officials should also be making some headway on crafting a new budget for the next fiscal year. The FY25 budget is set at $10.21 billion in recurring spending, a nearly 7% increase from the previous fiscal year. The fiscal year is from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. The $10B breakdown Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las...
Domenici wants GOP voice back in New Mexico After almost 20 years in public office, including two terms as a senator, two terms in the U.S. House and a four-year term as an Albuquerque city councilor, Martin Heinrich is in his sixth political campaign, trying to keep the Senate seat he currently holds. “Right now, I believe it’s the place that I can be most helpful to the state of New Mexico, and I find enormous meaning in public service,” said Heinrich, 52. The Democratic incumbent faces political newcomer, Republican Nella...
The special legislative session is less than a month away, but lawmakers are still voicing the same sentiment: Nobody's on the same page. While policymakers generally agree that New Mexico has a crime problem, exactly how to address it is still up in the air. Sen. Antonio "Moe" Maestas, D-Albuquerque; and Reps. Joy Garratt, D-Albuquerque; Alan Martinez, R-Rio Rancho; and Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, came together on Tuesday for a town hall on crime, the second such forum hosted by...
SANTA FE — Get those résumés ready. In the next year, more than 100 new positions will be created in the New Mexico State Legislature, after the approval of a $6 million appropriation to hire year-round legislative aides. The Legislative Council voted 10-0 to approve an associated measure. The positions are expected to pay between $60,000 and $75,000. Each legislator eventually will be able to hire an aide, who will help with scheduling and other work throughout the year, and work out of new district offices. Incumbents run...
SANTA FE — Policymakers are scattered around the state in their hometowns as they await a special session next month and the 60-day legislative session next year. But that doesn’t mean work isn’t being done. The lawmakers still meet on a regular basis during the interim, when a full legislative session isn’t ongoing. On Monday, legislative staff briefed the Legislative Council on what interim committee meetings have on their agendas. Staff quickly zipped through reports on 18 committees, touching on everything from public saf...
RUIDOSO — While the investigation into the South Fork and Salt fires’ origin continues, some full-time Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs residents came back on Monday to look at their properties. Don Spencer, however, said in a Monday phone interview that the search and rescue operations prevented his return. He already knows his house burned down. “This is at a disaster level most folks haven’t been around,” he said. Officials have said two people died in the fires that began June 17. As of Monday, 29 people were listed as missin...
Residents will be allowed back into Ruidoso beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, village officials announced on Saturday morning as fire dangers subsided. Re-entry is for local, full-time residents only. Village officials are asking that second homeowners and tourists "refrain from coming to Ruidoso to give residents time to get back to their properties and survey any needs or damages," the village announced. The resort community was evacuated early last week after two wildfires raged...
Authorities have recovered the remains of two people killed as the growing South Fork wildfire edged toward the Village of Ruidoso this week, a New Mexico State Police spokesman said Wednesday. One of those killed was Patrick Pearson, 60, who died Monday evening while trying to walk away from a Ruidoso hotel where he had lived since 2021, said his daughter, Hilary Mallak of Rio Rancho. On Tuesday, just before noon, State Police officers were called to a scene less than a mile away, south of Alto. They found a person located...
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has declared a state of emergency in Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation and deployed additional National Guard to the area in response to the South Fork and Salt fires that began Monday outside Ruidoso. The Governor's Office said at least one person has died in the fires, but didn't have any additional details. Residents of Ruidoso remained under an evacuation order Wednesday, as wildfires continued to threaten property and buildings in the southern New Mexico resort community....
New Mexico’s Environment Department is getting $18.9 million in federal dollars to help the state deal with PFAS and other emerging contamination in public water systems, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday. New Mexico is the first state in the region to receive this funding, said EPA Region 6 Administrator Earthea Nance. The funds can be used for studying PFAS contamination, cleaning up contamination and investing in new technologies, said New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney. “These forever che...
ALBUQUERQUE -- The body camera worn on the chest of New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare the early morning of March 15 captured the image of a stranded motorist on Interstate 40 who wanted a lift into town. The NMSP-issued device recorded the sound of the first gunshot, causing the 35-year-old Hare to slump over in his patrol vehicle, an FBI agent testified Tuesday in federal court. The video footage showed the assailant come around to the driver’s side, “briefly pausing as a semi-truck passed by,” and then shoot...
The Secretary of State’s office has lost a battle to keep New Mexico voter information from being published online by a national conservative organization after a judge on Friday ruled the information is public under federal law. The 329-page ruling by U.S. District Judge James Browning of Albuquerque found that Voter Reference Foundation LLC was entitled to information from New Mexico voter registration rolls and that the Secretary of State’s office, or SOS, violated a federal election transparency law in denying the fou...
Say it ain't so. Albuquerque has the worst drivers. That's according to Forbes magazine, anyway. There is plenty of bad driving and traffic issues in other, more crowded cities. With unending traffic jams and chaos in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York or Miami, it's hard to think the Duke City can compare. So why Albuquerque? Forbes Advisor released its findings about Albuquerque last month after collecting and analyzing data that compared the 50 most populated U.S. cities across five key metrics. Those metrics, which...
SANTA FE — That's a wrap on the 2024 Legislature. Here are some key bills that are law or have a chance to become law as of Friday morning. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed three bills into law. At the end of the session at midday Thursday, nearly 70 bills sit on her desk awaiting her signature. Any legislation Lujan Grisham doesn't sign by March 6 is pocket vetoed. The effective date for signed legislation without an emergency clause or specified date is May 15. Signed by the governor HB1, Feed Bill — Annual adm...
SANTA FE — The state's enormous budget of more than $10.19 billion passed the full Senate on Monday afternoon with bipartisan support. Agreement on both sides of the aisle can be a rare occurrence when talking about how to set aside dollars for all of state government. Senators voted 31-10 to move the budget to its next step, which is the House. If approved by the House, the legislation goes to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has the power to veto individual line items. The Senate amendments added $31.6 million to the H...
SANTA FE — Daniel Melgar's mother died in 2020. So too did his father-in-law. In 2021, his father died, and his mother-in-law died. He needed time off for bereavement. Yet the bills kept coming in. So his employer at Cafe Castro paid for him to take time off every time. Cafe owner Alma Castro took it out of her profit, something she said is already running on a slim margin. With what she paid to cover Melgar's time off, she said she could've paid for an entire year of a paid leave program that lawmakers are trying once a...
SANTA FE — After a lively Senate welcomed special guests — actress Jennifer Garner and former Maryland legislator Mark Shriver — to the Roundhouse Thursday morning, lawmakers sent along two educational measures to the House. Senate Bill 137 would modify rules for school boards, including mandated training hours and updated campaign finance reporting requirements, and Senate Bill 153 would add another $95 million to the early childhood education and care program fund in fiscal year 2025. Both measures passed with simil...
SANTA FE -- The state House of Representatives on Thursday passed high school graduation reform legislation, known as House Bill 171, sending the measure to the Senate side of the Roundhouse. While keeping the total number of units students would need to graduate at 24, HB 171 would afford high schoolers more choice in the classes they take, said bill sponsor Rep. G. Andrés Romero, D-Albuquerque. "We're at a time when our attendance is very low amongst our students," he said. "We need a way to engage them, and the way to...
New Mexico is one of more than a dozen states weighing legal challenges to Donald Trump’s eligibility for office because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Two states have made historic decisions to remove Trump from their primary ballots after state officials found his actions violated the anti-insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment. In New Mexico, attorneys are waiting for a ruling from a federal judge following a Nov. 28 hearing in U.S. District Court of New Mexico. John Anthony Castro, a l...
Imposing headlines blazed across the top of the Dec. 8, 1941, Albuquerque Journal and other state newspapers, reporting the devastating Japanese attack the day before on the United States Naval Base at Pearl arbor in Hawaii. Another story high up on front pages that day told how members of New Mexico’s National Guard, as well as Air Force units that had been stationed in Albuquerque, were in the war zone in the Philippines. One article noted the New Mexico guardsmen had been in the Philippines about two months. “Despite the...
Xcel Energy, the national company that services eastern and southeastern New Mexico with electricity, has appointed its first manager for Corporate Economic Development in the company’s Texas-New Mexico service area. Tonya Tyler, a longtime employee of Xcel, will fill that role, the company said. In her new position, she will help promote the company’s support for regional economic development in the area. “Tonya has spent her career building relationships in our communities and assisting our customers with every need,” Brad...
