Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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New Mexico’s business restrictions and face-covering mandate are set to remain in place until Aug. 28, as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday it’s still not safe to downshift amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Also Thursday, a second nursing home in Clovis was added to the state’s list of facilities with positive COVID-19 tests. Wheatfields Senior Living officials on Thursday confirmed two positive tests. The governor, who has faced pressure from Republicans and some local officials to relax restrictions, said...
An outbreak of cases at a privately run detention center near Grants spurred New Mexico’s number of reported coronavirus cases to a new single-day high on Monday. In all, Department of Health officials announced 467 new COVID-19 cases, with 170 of the cases coming from the Cibola Correctional Center in Milan. The 467 new cases shattered the state’s previous single-day high of 343 cases, an amount reported on July 23. Curry County cases also continue to soar. The county has seen 46 consecutive days with at least one pos...
Cities and counties in New Mexico soon will be able to apply for $150 million in federal coronavirus relief funding. Debbie Romero, acting Cabinet secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration, told the Legislative Finance Committee on Wednesday that “simplified” applications and requests for reimbursement from the state for CARES Act funding likely will be available this week. Applications for $28 million that was set aside for tribal governments were distributed Friday, she said. “It’s a simple agreeme...
SANTA FE — Immediately after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced New Mexico would begin giving $100 fines to those who violate its face covering mandate for public settings, at least two things were clear: Enforcement of the more aggressive approach will be tricky and the governor’s decision had not slowed the spread of debate. While some business owners welcomed the governor’s announcement, others suggested it could hurt their sales. And at least one county sheriff said he does not plan on issuing citations or fines to th...
It looks hot and dry out there. Eastern New Mexico was under a “red flag” warning on Tuesday, meaning “critical fire weather conditions” persisted, according to the National Weather Service. But there is hope for moisture on the horizon. As we like to say in the drought-stricken High Plains: It’s monsoon season. “We’re kind of getting into that pattern where we’ll have those daily chances of showers and thunderstorms each day,” said Scott Overpeck, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Albuquerque office. While dry...
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s top medical official said Friday state officials are putting off for at least two weeks a plan for greater reopening of businesses and other activities. In recent days, state officials have re-evaluated whether to take the next step in the gradual relaxing of some business restrictions. New Mexico had a “major setback” in a surge of new virus cases recently, and the state’s intensive care beds “were more than 100% full,” said Dr. David Scrase, cabinet secretary for the state Human...
ALBUQUERQUE — One man was shot in Old Town as a protest over the “La Jornada” sculpture in front of the Albuquerque Museum erupted into violence Monday evening. The shooting occurred during a clash following a peaceful protest to remove the controversial sculpture, a monument that features conquistador Juan de Oñate. The FBI is assisting in the investigation, according to an APD spokesman. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, meanwhile, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the shooting. Albuquerque police said t...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County Detention Center officials on Friday reported an officer has tested positive for COVID-19. The officer, who was not named, was tested on Tuesday and is quarantined at home. The positive test is the first confirmed by the Department of Health at the facility, according to a county news release. The release stated that on May 19-20, all of the RCDC staff and about 75% of detainees voluntarily took tests, with all coming back negative. In partnership with Wellpath, the center’s onsite medical provider...
New Mexico’s coronavirus death toll has hit 400, after four additional deaths were reported Monday. The four deceased all lived in the state’s northwestern region, which has a high Native American population and has been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile the virus has had little impact on the health of eastern New Mexico residents with just 109 confirmed cases and no deaths reported in Curry or Roosevelt counties through Monday. Statewide, New Mexico’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases was at 9,062 on Monda...
SANTA FE — A Clovis business owner is one of about a dozen challenging the authority of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to issue daily fines for health order violations during the COVID-19 pandemic. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in the 9th Judicial District argues the governor’s administration has improperly threatened businesses with $5,000 daily fines, when the state Public Health Act authorizes fines of $100 or less, and seeks a permanent injunction from issuing the larger fines. Lujan Grisham, Public Safety Secretary Mark She...
SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says the state expects to allow dine-in restaurants, salons, gyms, malls and other businesses to reopen by June 1 as COVID-19 numbers continue to improve. New Mexico is now meeting the majority of its benchmarks for reopening, known as “gating criteria,” and the rate of COVID-19 transmission has hit the state’s target for the first time, the governor and health officials said. “We’re not quite seeing a decline in cases, but we are feeling good about the stability of what’s occurring in...
Two regional summer entertainment staples have fallen victim to coronavirus. Heritage Days in Portales and the UFO Festival in Roswell won’t happen in 2020, organizers announced last week. “After a consecutive run of 35 years, we are going to have to take a break this year due to the ongoing pandemic,” Portales Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Karl Terry said of Heritage Days. The event is scheduled the third Saturday in June each year with a street dance on the Friday before. “After announcing last month that we woul...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continued this week to reopen businesses that had closed to slow the spread of novel coronavirus. Phase 2, as he calls it, will allow tattoo parlors, bars and daycare centers to begin reopening. But the dates vary by each industry. And while the new order applies to the entire state, four Texas Panhandle counties — Deaf Smith, Moore, Potter, and Randall — will be delayed by over one week because of ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks. Here’s what you need to know. What’s the problem in the Panhandle? The num...
Staff and wire reports Curry and Roosevelt counties have had just 26 positive cases of COVID-19 reported between them as of Saturday morning, with no deaths. That's the good news. The bad news comes from west of the region, and especially from the east. New Mexico surpassed 3,500 cases of the virus on Friday and the state's death toll reached 131 - up from 2,726 cases and 99 deaths last Sunday. The greater concern is just 100 miles to the east, where Texas Panhandle numbers ha...
More than 90,000 New Mexicans have filed initial unemployment claims over the past four weeks. According to unofficial numbers released Friday by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, 20,085 more New Mexico residents filed for unemployment April 3-9. They join more than 70,000 people who have filed such claims in the past three weeks, since the spread of the new coronavirus began to prompt widespread business closures in New Mexico. On Monday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham extended the in-person business closure...
New Mexico on Friday set unwelcome single-day records for positive tests of COVID-19 and for deaths from the disease. State officials also projected the virus will kill between 2,100 and 4,700 New Mexicans over the next 12 months — a prediction much worse than the 510 state deaths forecast a week earlier by University of Washington researchers. “The only real way to attack this virus is to stay away from it,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during a news conference streamed on the governor’s Facebook page. Eastern New Mex... Full story
The number of positive coronavirus cases in New Mexico neared 300 and the virus’ death total reached four in the state, health officials said on Monday. The most recent deaths were a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 70s. Both died Monday in Bernalillo County, officials said. Both had an underlying medical condition. Officials said 281 people had tested positive for the virus in New Mexico. On March 23, that total was 83. Officials did not release information on the most recent Curry County residents reported as having t... Full story
The numbers have a story to tell. First, New Mexico’s number of residents who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 was up to 191 on Saturday morning. Friday saw the most positive tests in a single day — 55, including a Cannon Air Force Base airman in his 20s. Officials said the man is in self-isolation at his home in Portales. That makes two confirmed cases in eastern New Mexico. A Curry County woman in her 50s is also quarantined at home after testing positive on Monday. And then there’s the economic relief package Congres... Full story
A former Clovis attorney, now a public defender in Santa Fe, says she has tested positive for COVID-19. Jennifer Burrill, who moved to Santa Fe from Clovis in 2016, told The Santa Fe New Mexican that she learned of the positive test result on Tuesday night. The New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender on Wednesday issued a news release stating it has temporarily closed its Santa Fe office and has launched a contact history. The office is closed until at least April 12,... Full story
Tucumcari’s district attorney said he was held in contempt of court after “heeding the governor’s declaration of a public health emergency” and failing to attend a hearing in Carlsbad earlier this month. Timothy Rose is asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to require Judge Lisa Riley to rescind the contempt order, which was issued after Rose’s request to attend the hearing by phone was denied. Tenth Judicial District Attorney Rose had agreed to take on a case in the 5th Judicial District, which prosecutors there were unab... Full story
Several New Mexico businesses and local branches of national chains have announced temporary closures or changes to their hours in response to efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. Among those who’ve made announcements: • Bath & Body Works on Monday announced on its website it will temporarily close all of its stores in the U.S. and Canada. Its employees would continue to be paid, CEO Andrew Meslow said in the announcement. • Walmart on Sunday announced reduced hours: 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. • Cato announced reduced...
SANTA FE — Lobbyists and their clients reported about $151,000 in spending this session — more than $5,000 a day on dinners, receptions and other goodies for New Mexico lawmakers. And that’s just part of the spending. More-detailed reports are due in May. The largest expenditure reported during the 2020 session was $28,000 — a golf promotion for legislators, paid for by the New Mexico Golf Tourism Alliance. The group usually provides free golf passes. Lawmakers didn’t go hungry, either. Members of at least three legislative c...
SANTA FE — Amid fears of declining oil prices, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday vetoed legislation that appropriated $50 million to various transportation projects throughout the state. Senate Bill 232 included $1.635 million for Curry and Roosevelt counties. In a veto statement, the governor noted it isn’t yet known “the degree to which COVID-19 and declining oil prices will impact our state’s economy.” She did not believe SB 232 constituted a sound investment in the state “because it appropriates $50 million to...
The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded more than $1 million in federal grants to New Mexico airports, including $150,000 to Portales Municipal Airport to perform pavement sealing and crack repair of the existing taxiway. Airports in Carlsbad, Deming, Gallup and Hatch also received funds for runway infrastructure improvements. The FAA has also awarded $750,000 to the Roswell Air Center as a revenue guarantee and marketing program to facilitate a future United Airlines direct service to Denver, Colorado. “New M...
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant and his daughter are among nine dead in a helicopter crash Sunday morning near Los Angeles, multiple local and national media outlets have confirmed. Bryant was on his way to a travel basketball game with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, when the helicopter they were in crashed Sunday morning in Calabasas, Calif., according to ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Wojnarowski, another player and parent were among the passengers. Los A... Full story
