Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 5814
CLOVIS — After an hour of discussion a potential expansion of the current fair barn at the Curry County Fairgrounds, one thing was clear to county commissioners. They’re not ready to approve anything yet. “If we’re going o get serious about this,” Commissioner Chet Spear said, “there’s a lot of homework that needs to get done. … We’re not there yet; I don’t think we are.” Charlie Kolarik, a principal architect with Populous, gave commissioners a look at what a barn expansion could possibly mean, with options that went fro...
PORTALES - In a school year full of difficult days, the 2021 class of Portales High School closed out high school Saturday with a day of fun, sun and optimistic eyes on their upcoming adulthood. The morning graduation, held outdoors at Greyhound Stadium due to COVID-19 concerns, was postponed from its original schedule of Friday night for what turned out to be well-founded fears of a powerful storm. A sunny morning greeted a crowd of more than 1,000 friends and family, 151...
PORTALES - After nearly an hour in discussion with his potential replacement, the Portales City Council honored outgoing City Manager Sammy Standefer for his 29 years with the city. The council, following a 45-minute executive session, agreed to enter contract negotiations with Sarah Austin, who currently serves as village manager in Milan. Austin told The News she was glad to be there for Standefer's going-away meeting, and realized she'd have some big shoes to fill. Standefe...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County commissioners welcomed the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s new district engineer, and hoped to continue a spirit of communication fostered by the previous engineer. Francisco Sanchez, the engineer for DOT’s District Two, said he wanted to continue the relationship predecessor Tim Parker had with Roosevelt and other counties in the district, and was optimistic new state funding would help the department stay ahead of what he called a “deterioration curve” for state roads. Recent years, Sa...
CLOVIS - As the soon-to-be former students of Clovis High School made their way onto the field of Leon Williams Stadium, they were greeted by a raucous crowd. The celebration, Principal Jay Brady said, was well deserved. "These kids," Brady said, "deserve every inch of this celebration." A senior year of high school, conducted entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic, came to a conclusion for the CHS 2021 class on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Due to virus concerns, the school held...
CLOVIS — In a six-person race, a plurality of Clovis voters selected Mike Morris on March 3, 2020, to be their next mayor. By the time Morris was sworn in to become the third person to hold the elected office, the city and the world were just beginning the COVID-19 pandemic. Morris addressed the city’s work during the pandemic, and many other subjects, during a state of the city address Wednesday at the Clovis-Carver Public Library. The full text of Morris’ approximate 45-minute address is available at easte...
CLOVIS — Officials said arrest warrants have been served on three juveniles, and another warrant has been issued for an 18-year-old, in connection with a May 14 shooting that injured one and left another dead from a subsequent car accident. As of Saturday morning, the only warrant for an adult charged in the case is for Xavier Lucero, 18, who has not been arrested. Lucero faces seven felony charges, including first-degree murder, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, and aggravated assault. Five warrants have been issued in t...
CLOVIS - Tuesday's joint city-county luncheon, the first in more than a year due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions, was intentionally informal with most conversations simply a matter of passing microphones around the meeting room at the Clovis Civic Center. "Today, I don't want anything from you, and I hope you don't want anything from me," Clovis Mayor Mike Morris said in the luncheon of about two dozen representatives of the city and Curry County. "This is about...
An argument preceded a gunshot Friday that left a Portales woman dead, court records show. Shona Williams, who friends and family identified as Quintasha Harris’ girlfriend, was arrested Monday for an open count of murder and tampering with evidence in connection with Harris’ death. Williams, 34, on Tuesday remained in the Roosevelt County Detention Center on a pretrial detention hold. According to an affidavit filed in Roosevelt County Magistrate Court, the Portales Police Department received a call at 5:33 p.m. Friday rep...
CLOVIS - Students graduate every year, even if they don't always get a graduation ceremony. Leaders, Clovis Community College speakers said, never stop learning. The college had its first in-person graduation since 2019 Friday, with a socially distanced group of about 175 blue-robed CCC students getting a metaphorical pat on the back even as COVID-safe protocols prevented congratulatory handshakes from President Charles Nwankwo. "Today marks the end of a chapter in your lives,...
PORTALES — On the eve of the ceremonial conclusion of its spring semester, Eastern New Mexico University’s regents looked forward to what could be coming in capital improvements over its next five years. During a two-hour meeting that focused on various items, regents on Friday approved a five-year capital plan presented by Vice President of Business Affairs Scott Smart. The News attended the meeting via teleconference. The university, Smart said, averages about $10 million in capital projects and $2 million in deferred mai...
PORTALES - The first outdoor graduation ceremony for Eastern New Mexico University in more than 50 years was expected to have a few glitches, as Chancellor Patrice Caldwell told a Greyhound Stadium crowd. She wasn't concerned about a lightning strike, said she'd simply talk faster if there was rain and said that any passing train horn was simply the railroad's way of saying, "Way to go, Greyhounds." Records show ENMU had an outdoor graduation ceremony in 1965, but the...
PORTALES — Since New Mexico public schools went to full re-entry April 5, just two schools have seen a mandatory two-week closure due to COVID-19 cases. The most recent is Portales High School ... or it was Portales High School. The Public Education Department rescinded its mandate to close the school for two weeks Monday, after finding an error was made in its consideration of rapid responses. Now the most recent is Yucca Middle School in Clovis. The PED announced Tuesday that Yucca, which closed voluntarily to in-person l...
PORTALES — Following a year that was unprecedented due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Eastern New Mexico University will have a commencement to match. What is believed to be the first outdoor commencement in university history is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at Greyhound Stadium, with 396 students committed to walk in the ceremony as of Monday morning. The college has 698 spring graduates, and 68 summer graduates who traditionally have the opportunity to walk before they finish up those last few classes. Nick Singer, who will g...
PORTALES — Ruth Chavez came back to Portales High School in 2020 to coach the Ram volleyball program for a second time. Now, she’ll coach the entire PHS athletic program, with an upcoming promotion to the district’s athletic director position. The move was announced during Monday night’s Portales Municipal Schools board meeting, with Superintendent Johnnie Cain telling the board, “I think she’ll be a really good addition.” Chavez, who has also spent time as a track and field coach, said she is looking forward to having inp...
Xcel launching solar program ROSWELL — Xcel Energy is launching a program that will allow New Mexico customers, for an additional fee, to receive all of their electricity from a new solar facility near Clovis. The Solar*Connect program includes an average additional monthly cost of $10.80, and is a way for companies and organizations to meet various renewable energy benchmarks. For residential customers, Community and Economic Development Regional Manager Mike McLeod said, “it’s a convenient option for customers who have...
PORTALES — Following a 30-minute explanation of two months of compressed planning, and what it meant for the year ahead, the Portales school board on Monday approved its 2021-22 budget. The budget, Finance Director Sarah Stubbs said, was largely similar to the prior year’s budget, with a rise in unit value just offsetting an enrollment drop of about 150 students. The budget of $27.186 million is a 0.2% increase over last year’s $27.13 budget. Stubbs said key differences included a 1% increase to retirement, a 1.5% cost of li...
CLOVIS — Jim Turnbough liked to fish when he had the spare time. He also liked to go square dancing when he had the time. But most of Turnbough’s time went to what friends and family said he was born to do, teach agriculture. Turnbough, who died April 21 at age 87, spent 30 years teaching agriculture and the FFA mantra — learning to do, doing to learn, learning to live, living to serve. “Jim was born to be a teacher,” said Betty Turnbough, who spent 35 years as his wife after the two reconnected at a Rogers High School re...
CLOVIS — Clovis Community College’s trustees took care of the most important business before the college’s first in-person graduation in two years — the graduation list — in its Wednesday meeting. The commencement, scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at the Curry County Events Center, will honor 2020 and 2021 graduates, as no 2020 ceremony was held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. President Charles Nwankwo said the college was moving ahead with the in-person graduation based on state public health orders for turquoise counties....
CLOVIS — Pending changes to the state’s Liquor Control Act would allow restaurants with valid beer and wine licenses to convert them into beer, wine and spirits licenses — what is now known as a restaurant liquor license. The state did give municipalities an opportunity to opt out if they saw fit, and the Clovis City Commission declined to do so in its Thursday night meeting. City Attorney Jared Morris told the commission that passage of House Bills 255 and 303 and Senate Bill 2 also altered the Liquor Control Act to inclu...
PORTALES — Come next school year, Portales Municipal Schools students will again have a case of the Mondays. The board, after significant pushback from citizens who attended Monday's special board meeting, voted 4-0 to keep in place the calendar it recently approved with a five-day school week. Superintendent Johnnie Cain had put forward a four-day school week that would, like the current pandemic-impacted year, designate Mondays as off days for all district schools. The News attended the one-hour meeting virtually. Cain, who...
CLOVIS — When Connor Lawson found out he could represent Clovis High School while playing Madden, it was the no-brainer of no-brainers. Now, he and several of his CHS classmates can say they have state championship experience, with the school’s esports team winning the state SMITE championship and taking the runnerup in Madden this weekend. “It’s actually really cool, putting Clovis on the map for something other than sports,” said Lawson, who also plays soccer for Clovis High. “It’s good to know we were able to go to stat...
CLOVIS — The Clovis man charged with killing two men on Wednesday morning ran from police and tried to hide from them in a water-heater closet before he was arrested, records show. Danny Price, 54, was booked into the Curry County Adult Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon. Charges include murder, aggravated battery and firearm possession by a felon in connection with the deaths. Ricky Johnson, 58, died in a Lubbock hospital and Kennedy Hodge, 53, died at Plains Regional M...
CLOVIS — Not that they’d ever take it for granted, but last year’s National Day of Prayer with participants limited to their cars made the non-pandemic events of years past just a little more special. “I miss this openness, being able to pray with everyone,” Sistar Yancy of Clovis’ Christian Believers in advance of this year’s event in downtown Clovis. “Being together, I miss that. I’m excited we can do this again. We need prayer, we need it more than ever at this point.” The event is scheduled for noon Thursday in front of t...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County officials said their detention center employees have performed difficult work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, without the option of working remotely. By a unanimous vote, county commissioners on Tuesday agreed to provide a temporary bump in their paychecks through the remainder of the fiscal year. At the tail end of a roughly hour-long commission meeting, Detention Center Administrator Justin Porter sought permission for a $150 additional stipend per pay period, prorated to 86 hours of work. “The...
