Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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ROSWELL - Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce will step down as the state party's leader this month, touching off a crowded race to succeed him. Ash Soular, communications director for the party, confirmed in an email Nov. 26 that Pearce, a former congressman, will not be running for a fourth two-year term. "Chairman Pearce is not seeking another term but will remain involved with the Party," Soular said. She was unable to provide a statement from Pearce...
America’s free press is in crisis. Local journalism, necessary to maintaining an informed and active citizenry, is struggling to survive as Big Tech companies — namely Meta and Google — have used their power to manipulate news and magazine publishers for their own financial gain. They set the rules for how, where and when we see news content online and how much revenue is made. By not negotiating with local news publishers on usage terms and refusing to pay them fairly — or at all — for their work, Big Tech has driven ma...
ROSWELL - Officials have determined a lightning strike was the cause of the South Fork Fire that scorched areas in and around the village of Ruidoso and the Mescalero Apache Reservation. "The identification of the point of origin and all evidence and data support lightning as the cause of the fire. Human activity and factors did not contribute to the cause," said a press release issued last week from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Several fire and law enforcement...
According to a press release by the U.S. Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, four existing national wildlife refuges will expand, “which will allow for the voluntary conservation of up to 1.13 million acres of wildlife habitat in New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas.” The expansion concerning New Mexico is part of the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge, located in the Southern High Plains of New Mexico and Texas. The press release states that the refuge “may now conserve up to 700,000 acres of habit...
ROSWELL -- A Roswell man with a daughter curious about space travel is the 5 millionth person to visit the International UFO Museum & Research Center. Chris McDonald of Roswell took his daughter Hannah to the museum on Nov. 21 to learn more about the UFO-space alien phenomenon, Museum Executive Director Karen Jaramillo said. “Very rarely do we see a visitor from Roswell come into the museum, so we were all shocked when we learned our 5 millionth visitor was actually from Roswell,” Jaramillo said. The museum annually dra...
ROSWELL -- The girlfriend of the man fatally shot inside a Roswell Walmart store on Oct. 14 has been arrested on a tampering with evidence charge. Roswell Police, in a press release Thursday, said Zayleen Thyberg, 22, turned herself over to the police a day after a warrant was issued for her arrest on the charge. Police say Thyberg took a gun from the hand of her boyfriend, 19-year-old Steve Soltero, after he was shot by 18-year-old Joshua Martinez. Thyberg is accused of hiding the handgun on her person for several minutes...
ROSWELL - Keep Roswell Beautiful has unveiled a new anti-littering program inspired by nature itself. It asks people to consider how trees might react if they saw a person littering near them. Through the use of signs as well as a billboard pointing north on the 700 block of North Main Street, next to the UFO-themed McDonald's restaurant, these signs exclaim this warning: "Nature is watching you!" There are 42 trees in several city parks with unique faces that exhibit a range...
ROSWELL - UFO XPO, the Roswell Daily Record, Main Street Roswell and Galacticon have teamed up for festivities taking place on March 10-12. Talks, films, music, cosplay, food and more will take over downtown Roswell for the weekend. The event will feature conversations with well-known personalities of Ufology, including former military police officer and CIA operative Derrel Sims. "Come hear amazing stories of UFO/UAP/alien contact. Watch and see the video clips of these tales...
ROSWELL - One group of Roswell city councilors has rejected the idea of having a TV series featuring Roswell police officers, and the elected officials also have tabled an action to fund a home-building incentive program so that city staff can work instead on a “fee holiday” plan to replace the program. The TV production company’s request and the fate of the Municipal Reimbursement Incentive Program (MIRP) were two of many items that came before the Roswell City Council Legal Committee. Half Moon Pictures LLC of New Jerse...
ROSWELL — New Mexico Supreme Court Justices heard arguments but declined to rule Jan. 9 on a challenge to the state’s new congressional map, and whether New Mexico courts can weigh in on claims of partisan gerrymandering. Chief Justice Shannon Bacon said given the seriousness of the issues presented and the fact the next congressional elections are not until 2024, the justices did not feel the need to immediately reach a decision. “This is an issue of significant importance and we want to be deliberative,” Bacon said to atto...
New Mexico agricultural producers have seen a decline in cash receipts and income since 2019, according to the latest agricultural statistics published by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Statistics Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When compared to 2020, though, state total agricultural productivity grew about 5% in 2021, according to New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture Jeff Witte in his introductory letter to the 2021 New Mexico Statistics Bulletin released Thursday. “New Mexico a...
ROSWELL — Despite internal divides and scant gains in November’s midterm elections in New Mexico, a top official with the state Republican Party says she is optimistic about her party’s prospects moving forward. “I would say don’t give into media hype, don’t get down. It’s all a matter of perspective. We are going in the right direction,” Mari Trujillo Spinelli, secretary of the Republican Party of New Mexico, told an audience in Roswell. Spinelli made the remarks at the Roswell Convention Center on Dec. 28 at the Chaves Coun...
New Mexico House Republicans recently moved to overhaul their leadership team, after a southeast New Mexico lawmaker decided to abandon his bid to retain the party’s top post in the State Legislature. In leadership elections in Albuquerque, members of the House Republican Caucus tapped Aztec state Rep. Ryan Lane to be the next House Minority Leader when they convene on Jan. 17 for the 60-day legislative session. “I am incredibly humbled and honored to share that yesterday my friends and colleagues in the NM House Rep...
ROSWELL — A Denver-based company is working with four counties and two municipalities in the area to develop a $44.5 million regional mental and behavioral health treatment center in Clovis, a facility that government leaders think could serve a key role in reducing prison populations in the area. The presentation by Initium Health to Chaves County commissioners Thursday was a corollary to a discussion during the same meeting about challenges facing county detention centers in New Mexico. “Unfortunately, as you know, New Mex...
New Mexicans will receive about $38.8 million in student loan forgiveness, according to an Aug. 16 announcement by state Attorney General Hector Balderas, following a decision by the U.S. Department of Education to discharge all federal student loans that borrowers received to attend ITT Technical Institute. Nationwide 208,000 borrowers will receive about $3.9 billion in full loan discharges if they attended ITT from Jan. 1, 2005, until its closure in Sept. 2016. No additional action is required on the part of the borrowers....
The majority of people in the Ruidoso and Nogal areas previously ordered to evacuate their homes and properties have been allowed to return, as firefighters reported making significant progress Saturday on containing the two wildfires in Lincoln County. Village of Ruidoso Public Information Officer Kerry Gladden said that an estimated 4,000 to 4,500 people in Ruidoso had been under mandatory evacuation orders after the two wildfires began April 12. She said only a small number, about 30 to 40 people, took shelter in the...
ROSWELL — A citizens’ commission chose not to recommend permits for a California company wanting to develop community solar projects east of the city. The Chaves County Planning and Zoning Commission voted April 5 to make recommendations to deny the special use permits sought by Cenergy Power of Carlsbad, California, also known as BAP Power Corp. The matter now goes to the Chaves County Board of Commissioners, which is expected to consider the two zoning cases on April 14. The Planning and Zoning commissioners said that the...
More area businesses may be contracting with Cannon Air Force Base after a federal program has made a change expected to lead to significantly more federal contract dollars each year for women-owned businesses. The Small Business Administration has expanded the number of industries that will be allowed in the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program. The decision went into effect March 31, with the SBA indicating that the change could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars more each year in set-aside contracts...
The legal sale of recreational marijuana in New Mexico began April 1, but don’t expect to buy any in Santa Rosa or Roswell just yet. In Santa Rosa, according to licensing information from the state’s Regulation and Licensing Department database, no one has applied for a license to open up a dispensary for retail sales in Guadalupe County, although three have applied for licenses to produce cannabis there. In Roswell, no dispensary in the city will be licensed to sell marijuana for recreational users until May at the earliest,...
An independent oil producer from Roswell and members of the Concerned Citizens for New Mexico group have filed petitions in New Mexico district courts seeking to have citizens' grand juries convened to hear allegations of state constitutional violations by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. It's an action they call “drastic” but a necessary “citizens' remedy” to address executive overreach. A spokeswoman for the Governor's Office said the office does not comment on pending litigation, but also noted that courts have upheld the gov...
ROSWELL — A representative with a relatively new governmental agency says any business, including any agricultural business, could be hit by a ransomware attack. One attack reported in the United States began July 3 and could cost the main business targeted - the integrated technology firm Kaseya VSA - and the thousands of customers who used the firm for remote monitoring of its technology products tens of millions of dollars, according to recent news reports. The ransom requested for a decryption key has been reported as $...
The U.S. Small Business Administration has published information in English and Spanish on how restaurants, bars, bakeries, catering operations and other food and drink establishments can apply for grants from the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The information is available at www.sba.gov/restaurants or www.sba.gov/restaurantes . The launch date for the actual application portal will be announced at a later time. During the next two weeks, the SBA plans to test the application portal and conduct outreach and...
ROSWELL — Few topics of conversation have been more stigmatized in the United States over the past 70-odd years than sightings of unexplained aerial phenomena. Anyone admitting to a possible “UFO sighting” runs the risk of ridicule. Those on the receiving end of such an unburdening? They experience a defensive reflex. No matter how intriguing the report, few will admit to taking it seriously lest they be lumped in with perceived kooks. The Chupacabra, Bigfoot, Nessie ... flying saucers and little green men. It’s a short w...
LAS CRUCES — A Roswell man pleaded guilty Oct. 10 to the unlawful possession of explosives during an appearance in federal court in Las Cruces. Jeffrey Blake Vanover, 53, of Roswell, entered the plea of guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement, according to a press release from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. The release stated that Vanover was arrested April 7 on a charge of being a prohibited person in possession of explosives “because he was an unlawful drug user and addict and bec...
ROSWELL — About 40 Dexter High School students protested Oct. 2 outside the high school building following what they described as disciplinary action against a teacher. Some students were trying to encourage others nearby to join them, but said they had been told there could be harmful consequences, including suspension, for taking part in the action. David Guajaca, junior class president, who participated in the demonstration in the presence of his mom, Annette Aguirre, said a teacher had been disciplined early that day, s...
