Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 798
PORTALES - Angel Loya was sentenced Wednesday morning to six years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the April 2018 shooting death of Dylan McKay in Portales. "I'm truly sorry for what happened," Loya told McKay's loved ones in the crowded court hearing. "It was never my intention to take Dylan's life." Loya, 23, faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted at trial on his original charge of second-degree murder. Attorneys said in...
CLOVIS - What does it sound like when a speeding car crashes into the truck parked in front of your house, sending that truck careening through the wall of your den? "Like a bomb," agreed siblings Sandra and Isai Gonzalez, who were inside the adjoining kitchen with their mother at the time of the Monday night incident. According to their mother, Zandra Lozoya, who had been inside that den just a few minutes earlier, it felt like getting a new lease on life. Lozoya might have s...
CLOVIS - A four-hour standoff Tuesday in Clovis ended with one man hospitalized with minor injuries and for a mental health evaluation, police said. Timothy Batchelor, 35, was charged with misdemeanor resisting, evading or obstructing an officer and negligent use of a deadly weapon after he allegedly threatened to commit "suicide by cop" while holed up alone for hours in a Clovis residence with a shotgun and loaded AR15 rifle. Clovis police responded around 3 p.m. to the...
TEXICO — A young girl missing from Texico was located unharmed in Portales and reunited with her family after an exhaustive community-wide search that stretched through Wednesday night. Police found 9-year old Roberta Manzanales Thursday morning, locked in a church closet, and the “family friend” alleged to have left her there was arrested that evening on first-degree felony kidnapping charges. Augustin Gallegos, 34, of Portales, cried in an interview Thursday afternoon with Texico police officers and admitted that he did n...
CLOVIS — A four-hour standoff Tuesday in Clovis ended with one man hospitalized with minor injuries and for a mental health evaluation, police said. Clovis police responded around 3 p.m. to a residence on the 1100 block of Calhoun Street following reports that a 35-year old man there had a military-style automatic weapon and was threatening self-harm. More than three hours of negotiation followed, during which police blocked off 11th through 13th streets between Thornton a... Full story
CLOVIS — A man charged in 2017 with battery and child abuse was sentenced Monday to 19 years in prison through a plea agreement. Jackie Cubit Jr., 32, pleaded guilty to first-degree felony child abuse and admitted to prior felony convictions in Texas during a plea hearing in the court of Judge Matthew Chandler. He was charged in November 2017 with two counts of felony child abuse and one count of misdemeanor battery, for which he previously was scheduled to face a two-day trial this week in Curry County. The lesser child a...
PORTALES — Johann Astner’s loved ones across the ocean are mourning his tragic death last month on the highway outside Portales, but they take some peace in knowing his last days were filled with new sights and adventure. Prior to being struck and killed on his bicycle April 8 while en route to Portales, Astner had voyaged the past two weeks through the American west, roughly following the path of Route 66 from Los Angeles. His bike tour started off March 25 in California and his progress east included over two dozen location...
CLOVIS — The vehicle from which Aaron Chavez fled in the moments before an officer shot him to death Oct. 8 was reported stolen the day before. It had been involved in a high speed chase that evening in Portales, according to police records. Officials last week released over 150 pages of documents attendant to New Mexico State Police’s investigation of the incident last year in which Clovis Police Officer Brent Aguilar fatally shot Chavez, 22, four times during a foot pursuit south of the Prince Street overpass. Those rec...
CLOVIS — Russell Muffley was serving people all his life — as a funeral director, a judge, a cook, a sports announcer, a family man — and last month turned over that legacy of service to his surviving family and friends. "On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, Russell Muffley was shaking hands with friends and family who greeted him as he arrived in Heaven," said his obituary. "Through the 40 plus years of greeting people with a firm and sincere handshake, people came to know and trust Russell Muffley." Those four decades followed the p...
Click to watch Shooting Video Click to watch Interview Video CLOVIS — Brent Aguilar said he was in fear for his life and that of his fellow Clovis police officer when he used deadly force Oct. 8 while pursuing a car-thief suspect. “Officer Aguilar began to shed tears and indicated if he had gotten hurt or worse from the suspect stabbing him, who was going to watch over Sergeant (Dagoberto) Rodriguez if Sergeant Rodriguez was hurt and if the suspect would have turned on him.” That’s according to a report by Gerardo Hernand...
Through craft booths and interactive demonstrations Saturday, anthropology students and staff at the Blackwater Draw site endeavored to show the public that people's fundamental needs have not changed much in thousands of years. "The main lesson is, probably, whether it's 10,000 years ago or today, we're all human," said Eric Blinman, director of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs' archaeology program. "Every survival, aesthetic, entertainment need that you have...
PORTALES - In the interest of having "a seat at the table," the Roosevelt County Commission on Tuesday approved a resolution urging more attention from the Air Force regarding the chemical contamination to groundwater stemming from nearby Cannon Air Force Base. Four commissioners present at Tuesday morning's regular meeting unanimously approved a resolution "requesting action and assistance from the United State Air Force to abate and prevent further spread of PFOA, PFOS, and...
PORTALES — Do the county dirty and pay the price — that is essentially what comes Tuesday before the Roosevelt County Commission. In their regular meeting Tuesday morning, commissioners are scheduled to consider a resolution “prohibiting illegal dumping and authorizing a reward payment for information leading to the conviction of persons who illegally dump on property located anywhere in the unincorporated areas of Roosevelt County.” The topic has come up before in recent commission meetings, and if approved would potenti...
CLOVIS — The state will not pursue additional charges on the man who shot himself in the face following an hours-long standoff last year at the Curry County jail, court records show. Wesley Flores, 29, was arrested Feb. 1, 2018, in Clovis on a warrant for failing to appear at a court date the month before on charges involving fraudulent use of a credit card. In a pre-booking vestibule on the way into jail, he pulled a gun from his clothes and ultimately shot himself in the face after officers introduced pepper spray into t...
CLOVIS - It was a short meeting, but Thursday evening the Clovis City Commission saw to items for both the young and the old in the area. Commissioners named May 14 as Nonagenarian Day, and to mark the occasion will hold its 52nd Annual Nonagenarian Tea that afternoon, 2 p.m. at 908 Hickory St. in Clovis. The event is open to all those "90 years young and older," said Senior Services Director Barbara Riggan. "If you're 89, you can come on in and see how much fun you're going...
CLOVIS — Law enforcement officers on Thursday unexpectedly came into new evidence tied to last month’s Portales homicide. Prosecutors said Daniel Harrison, 38, was found in possession of the 9mm Jimenez handgun at play in the April 7 shooting death of Adam Holts in Portales. Harrison and another man were arrested outside a Clovis gas station Thursday on unrelated charges. Investigators described Holts' killing as the deadly outcome of an armed robbery effort to recover that same handgun. Four people have been arrested and...
CLOVIS - There are still "more questions than answers" regarding the water contamination plume near Clovis. But state agencies maintained in a public meeting Monday night that it was monitoring the situation while pursuing action from the federal level. Some four dozen attended the meeting in a town hall room of Clovis Community College, among them elected officials, landowners and dairy industry representatives. The meeting was hosted by the New Mexico Environment Department...
ALBUQUERQUE — You can’t change horses midstream, but you can change the state’s horse racing commission before it picks a new racino licensee. That’s what Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham did last week. In the latest sudden development to the contested process since last year in awarding the state’s sixth racino license, the New Mexico Racing Commission has an all new lineup as of Thursday. Previous NMRC Chairman Ray Willis told reporters he learned Wednesday evening via email that he’d been terminated from his position. T...
PORTALES - Two people charged with conspiring in an armed robbery plot that left one Portales man dead were approved Thursday for release on bond. Two others charged with murder in connection with the incident remained in jail without bond on a pre-trial detention order. On Friday morning, a grand jury indicted all four co-defendants on felony charges related to the April 7 shooting death in Portales of 35-year old Adam Holts. Manuel Silva Jr., 23, and Korbin Baldridge, 19,...
CLOVIS - The Clovis Municipal Schools Board of Education announced Tuesday that Renee Russ would be the successor to outgoing Superintendent Jody Balch. The word followed an executive session of over 30 minutes at the end of the school board's regular meeting Tuesday evening. Russ was one of three finalists selected this month from among nine applications that met the board's minimum requirements. Serving as deputy director of federal programs since October 2016, Russ has been...
CLOVIS - The Clovis Municipal Schools Board of Education announced Tuesday that Renee Russ would be the successor to outgoing Superintendent Jody Balch. The word followed an executive session of over 30 minutes at the end of the school board's regular meeting Tuesday evening. Russ was one of three finalists selected this month from among nine applications that met the board's minimum requirements. Serving as deputy director of federal programs since October 2016, Russ has been...
Here’s a spring cleaning tip from law enforcement: start with your medicine cabinet and ditch the old pills. That’s the idea with the “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day” scheduled Saturday in Clovis and Portales, encouraging the public to anonymously drop off old medications at local sites for disposal. It “addresses a crucial public safety and public health issue,” according to the Drug Enforcement Agency’s website for the event. A 2017 survey estimated 6 million Americans “misused controlled prescription dr...
PORTALES — Two men charged in a shooting death this month in Portales will remain in custody pending trial, while two other people charged in connection to the incident have hearings on the matter scheduled in the coming days. All four remained in jail Tuesday, awaiting additional court appearances. Investigators allege the April 7 slaying of Adam Holts, 35, in Portales was an armed robbery effort gone awry. Police recently issued arrest warrants on Manuel Silva Jr., 23, and Korbin Baldridge, 19, on charges of first-degree m...
PORTALES — Police on Tuesday announced they had obtained arrest warrants on four people in connection with a Portales homicide investigation. Three were in custody that afternoon and the only one still at large was arrested that evening. Court documents describe the April 7 shooting death of Adam “Florida” Holts as an armed robbery turned fatal, with two men charged with first-degree murder and two others charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Manuel Silva Jr., 23, and Korbin Baldridge, 19, “will be served with th...
CLOVIS — A “person of interest” sought last week in relation to a Portales homicide investigation was arrested Sunday afternoon following a vehicle pursuit that meanwhile involved a car crash with a Clovis police officer. Officers commenced a vehicle pursuit around 4 p.m. Sunday from near the intersection of 13th and Lea streets. Manuel Silva Jr, 23, initially stopped driving the black Volkswagen Jetta for police’s emergency lights but “as the Officer approached the vehicle it fled,” according to a Clovis Police Department...
