Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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CLOVIS - Clovis High senior Emma Sherwood has been selected to participate in the American Quarter Horse Association's Ranching Heritage Young Horse Development Program, according to an AQHA release. As part of the program, Sherwood received a 2020 buckskin filly American Quarter Horse donated by the AQHA Ranching Heritage Breeder Nixon Quarter Horses in Nara Visa. "I've been around horses since I was a little girl, it's something that I have been very blessed with and I bond...
CLOVIS — Float entries for this year’s Clovis and Portales Christmas parades were down by nearly two-thirds each, but public attendance was observed to be high in the pandemic-friendly conditions. “We were incredibly surprised with the enormous turnout,” Clovis MainStreet Director Lisa Pellegrino-Spear told The News. “Over the recent years we have seen a substantial growth of the Christmas parade but we never anticipated that this year we would see such an incredible turnout.” Road Department staff and the Clovis Police Depa...
CLOVIS - Two years ago, Craig Tatum decided he wanted to make Clovis a little cooler. Last week, the non-profit leader's efforts earned national recognition. Tatum received the President's Volunteer Service Award for his work with Operation Cool Down, which helps families in need during extreme weather. "Regardless of what people think about (President) Trump, I think it's an honor just coming from the White House itself," Tatum said. "Me being small as I am, born and raised i...
CLOVIS — The second round of the Clovis CARES Act grants for small businesses ended last Friday, with Mayor Mike Morris reporting that around 120 applications had been submitted by the deadline. “The number of businesses expressing need and applying in the second round makes it all that more clear just how important it was to have a second round of business grants. And Clovis is going to be better off because of this effort to ensure we didn’t leave any local businesses out,” Morris said. Also on Friday, Morris was handing...
CLOVIS — The Clovis Municipal Schools Board of Education held a special meeting on Monday to consider the resolution and proclamation of a special all-mail election to be held in February. On the ballot for election, for which results will be announced Feb. 16, be the renewal of $10 million in general obligation bonds, as well as the new addition of a public school capital improvements act tax. “The reason for the special meeting is that it has become apparent to us that there is a huge benefit if we can hold a $2 mil...
CLOVIS — So far during the COVID-19 pandemic, Curry County is 10th in the state with 3,441 total, while Roosevelt County is ranked 16th with 1,115. That’s following Monday’s report from the Department of Health, which detailed 22 new cases and one death in Curry County and eight cases Monday in Roosevelt County. The death reported in Curry County was a female in her 50s, who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. In Clovis, the Plains Regional Medical Center reported that they had 27 patients hospitalized for COVID...
CLOVIS — The Clovis Community College Board of Trustees met last Wednesday to go over end of the year business, including approval of the Fall 2020 graduating class. Included in this semester’s class are 86 students receiving associate degrees, 84 certifications of completion, and 80 certificates of achievement for a total of 250 graduates. An in-person commencement has been moved to May 14 at the Curry County Events Center. “I wish to congratulate our fall 2020 graduates,” CCC President Charles Nwankwo said. “These...
CLOVIS — On Friday the New Mexico Department of Health announced that Clovis and Portales will be two of 10 locations in southeast New Mexico that will have their COVID-19 testing expanded to include saliva tests. “The sites are already established under the Public Health Offices and have been providing nasopharyngeal tests to the public since testing began. Those tests will be exchanged next week for the Curative tests in Artesia, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Roswell, Clovis, Fort Sumner, Lovington, Portales, Ruidoso, and Tuc...
PORTALES — The Roosevelt County Commission approved its second round of CARES Act grants for small businesses at their meeting on Tuesday. A total of 12 businesses were approved for funds with the amount cumulating at $118,790.55. This round included El Rancho, Roosevelt Brewing Company, Sievers Sports Medicine, La Casa del Pan Bakery, Subway, Times Remembered Photography, Courthouse Cafe, Village Pharmacy, The Happy Place, Sweetwaters at Landalls, Pregnancy Resource Center and Reflections Hair Salon. Of the 12 e...
SANTA FE — After the state released an outline of the three tiers for reopening counties last Friday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham addressed the public on Monday to discuss details. Implementation of the new health and safety guidelines by color tier will begin today. The colors of the three tiers roughly follow the same format that schools were under to reopen — red is not close to reopening, yellow is closer, and green means good to go. The tiers are based on whether a county is meeting COVID-19 gating criteria of less tha... Full story
CLOVIS — New Mexico chain restaurant Dion's Pizza announced on Monday that it will be opening their 26th location in Clovis next summer. This will be the the 21st location in the state. The restaurant was founded in Albuquerque in 1978 and has set itself up as a New Mexican staple with their pepperoni and green chili pizza and numerous “Best of the City” awards. The new location in Clovis will only be the second location on the eastern side of the state, preceded by a Dion's in Roswell that opened earlier in the year. “East...
SANTA FE — A COVID-19 relief bill was passed by New Mexico Legislature during a special session on Tuesday. The bill will provide over $300 million to various sectors of New Mexicos economy that are struggling during the second shut-down of the pandemic. Funds used by the bill come from $309 million remaining from the federal CARES Act and $10 million in state dollars. The largest portion of the funds will go to 161,000 unemployed New Mexicans who will soon receive a one-time payment of $1,200. Other designated spending inclu...
CLOVIS — Marie Gomez has been with the Lighthouse Mission for 35 years, most recently as its receptionist. But Executive Director and son Richard Gomez said the void she leaves in her retirement this month goes far beyond any job title. “She was just an all-around person,” said Richard Gomez, a co-founder of the organization. “Greeting the people, answering the phones, she was the mother, the grandmother, the friend, the candy lady. Just everything to everybody that walked in.” As mother to the co-founders, Marie Gomez was...
CLOVIS — Though businesses deemed nonessential by the state's health and safety orders are only allowed to operate under curbside pick-up, they are making the most of it for the upcoming Black Friday and Small Business Saturday weekend. Many local businesses are utilizing social media to keep their businesses going during the shutdown. Some have opened online Etsy shops to continue selling their products, others have regularly scheduled livestreams where they show what is available in their shop to buy and pickup curbside. T...
CLOVIS — Mayor Mike Morris said on Monday the city of Clovis will offer a second round of CARES Act applications and cap the first round’s grants at $100,000. The decision was made in hopes of helping businesses whose situation may have changed after the state’s “shelter in place” public health order was issued on Nov. 13, Morris said. But some area business owners are not happy with the decisions, complaining the city changed its own rules after applications had been submitted and processed. “It’s hard to compare busin...
CLOVIS -- Mayor Mike Morris said Monday the city of Clovis will offer a second round of CARES Act applications after the first one attracted only a few businesses, some of which would have been receiving large percentages of the funding. In order to open another round of applications, the city has decided to cap awards for the first round at $100,000, Morris said in a press conference. “We went very hard after the $4.2 million (provided by the state) that we’re able to use to create these business grants, and the purpose of...
PORTALES — The Portales Rotary Club announced Thursday it will be unable to do its annual decorative holiday lighting for local businesses this year. After an evaluation of the current lighting services throughout the town, extensive damage was found that made doing the lights this year prohibitively expensive. “There are multiple reasons for this, including but not limited to, hail damage, old wiring, and electrical code concerns,” a press release by the Portales Rotary Club said. The evaluation came this year when the c...
CLOVIS — Like many other businesses, gyms are temporarily closed because of the shelter in place orders that began Monday. As the holidays near and calorie-dense meals with lots of leftovers loom on the horizon, community members may be concerned about their hard-earned physiques. Others who use gyms as a way to maintain their mental health may be worried that seasonal depression could hit harder this year without those extra endorphins they get from working out. Health experts tell us that during these times it is important...
SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham announced last week that the state’s special session to discuss relief funds for residents would take place Tuesday. She said the state will make a plan to disburse $300 million from the CARES Act to unemployment, housing assistance, and small business grants. To show the rapid spread, and the reasoning behind the recent reset, Lujan-Grisham explained that it took 98 days for the state to originally see 10,000 cases, but it only took seven days more recently for the state to jump fro...
Clovis Municipal Schools will be returning to remote learning after the Thanksgiving break, the district announced in a news release. The decision comes after the state issued a “stay at home order” but left school districts to determine how they will respond to increased virus cases. “It is without question that in-person learning is best for students, and Remote Learning places strains on students and staff. To that end, the District has worked to prolong in-person opportunities as long as possible, however the curre... Full story
CLOVIS — With the holidays approaching and new health and safety guidelines limiting gatherings and businesses, those in need may be wondering how they will access local food drives and meals often offered during Thanksgiving. Non-profits, volunteers, and local health services have worked together to make sure this year is no different for supplying food to those who cannot afford it or cannot go out and get it for themselves. The Lighthouse Mission in Clovis will be making and delivering meals for both Thanksgiving and C...
CLOVIS - With new state COVID-19 restrictions in place for at least the next two weeks, the impact is already being seen in businesses closed or limited in service, and local holiday traditions being pushed to next year. Between Saturday and Monday, eastern New Mexico saw three more COVID-19 deaths. Curry County's 15th death was a woman in her 80s reported Monday. Roosevelt County reached 12 COVID-19 deaths as two men in their 50s were reported, one Saturday and one Monday....
SANTA FE — Citing repeated instances of record-breaking case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19, New Mexico has issued a two-week “shelter in place” order. It’s similar to the public health order issued in the early months of the pandemic, along with more restrictive guidelines and a county-based approach for reopening. The order from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham goes into effect Monday. It states that all “non-essential” businesses are required to close and other entities will face capacity restrictions....
Editor’s note: The News could not cover this meeting as of press time for the Nov. 11 edition due to issues in the meeting livestream. PORTALES — The Roosevelt County Commission approved a declaration designating extreme drought at its Monday meeting. An inquiry into changing the county’s drought and fire danger level came after Commissioner Shane Lee was approached by board members of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NCCS) and other members of the agriculture community, who said they were unable to file for financ...
Anger, frustration, resignation. Those are just a few of the emotions eastern New Mexico residents felt over the weekend, with the state once again on the cusp of a shelter in place order during the COVID-19 pandemic. No one seemed surprised. "I knew we were going to get locked down," Margarita Walton said Saturday morning from her IronCurves Fitness Club, a three-year-old facility that a community of about 40 call their workout home. Walton said the new orders were...
