Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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CLOVIS — Three people were confirmed dead in a Tuesday morning house fire, according to the Clovis Fire Department. The fire at 420 S. Wheaton was reported to CFD at 4:04 a.m. Tuesday, Deputy Chief Byron Dixon told The News. The fire was knocked down in about 45 minutes, but crews spent the next few hours monitoring hot spots. Three adults were confirmed fatalities in the blaze. Dixon did not have information on their identities as of Tuesday afternoon. As of 2 p.m. T...
CLOVIS -- A Clovis police officer was taken to Plains Regional Medical Center on Wednesday night after being involved in an auto accident at First and Sycamore streets. Clovis Fire Chief Mike Nolen said the officer was responding to an auto accident on Mabry Drive when the officer's wreck occurred. Nolen said the officer did not appear to be seriously injured, though the police car collided with a utility pole. Nolen said he did not know the officer's gender and had no... Full story
Curry County remained in the yellow zone, Roosevelt County reached it and both nearly made the green designation as New Mexico released its latest two-week data in its “Red to Green” reopening modeling. A release from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office also added a fourth level, turquoise, with more relaxed public health orders. The key framework remains in place, with counties measured every two weeks on whether they meet gating criteria of 8 daily cases per 100,000 residents and test positivity of 5% or less. Green count... Full story
Tiger Woods underwent "a long surgical procedure" on his leg, foot and ankle after being seriously injured in a rollover accident in Rancho Palos Verdes on Tuesday. Doctors had to insert a rod into his leg and placed screws into his foot and ankle, according to a statement posted to Twitter, which described Woods as "awake, responsive and recovering." Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where Woods was treated, described "comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions...
SANTA FE -- Bipartisan legislation seeking to overhaul New Mexico's liquor laws passed the House Tuesday afternoon, despite an outcry of opposition from current liquor license holders. House Bill 255 was approved 41-27 and now heads to the Senate. The bill would create an entirely new license that would allow restaurants to sell liquor without full licensure, change the tax code for existing owners of liquor licenses and allow alcohol delivery under some circumstances. "This is the first time in 40 years a liquor bill has...
SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's recent suggestion that this might not be the right time for New Mexico lawmakers to pass bills imposing new requirements on businesses — including mandatory paid leave and a higher minimum wage — surprised advocates who say such measures are needed to protect front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. And backers of the bills, which have already drawn fierce debate during the 60-day legislative session, said Tuesday they would keep pushing the measures despite the gover...
Booked The following were booked into local jails (Friday-Tuesday): Clovis • Bryanna Olivares, 25, aggravated battery against a household member • Nathaniel Duran, 36, parole violation • Eustacio Nevarez, 64, driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor • Noel Garcia, 34, parole violation • Christina Acosta, 31, failure to appear on a felony charge, failure to appear on misdemeanor charge, probation violation • Terance Abeyta, 19, receiving/transferring stolen motor vehicles • Marc Pate, 30, failure to appear on m...
Sirens. Lots of them. I might not have heard them, but one of my sons and I were engaged in a dart game or a few out in the garage. The recent blizzard had receded. We had the garage door open. And we started hearing sirens. I didn’t know exactly what had happened, but it was pretty certainly something pretty bad. I still don’t know, but some other friends who were outside that evening told me the next day that they’d actually heard the sounds of a massive crash, metal into...
FARWELL - Farwell senior Presley Agee has been chosen the girls co-player of the year for Texas District 3-2A. Agee shared the honor with senior Madalyn Richards of Vega. The Lady Blue went 19-11 overall and tied for the district title with Vega at 9-1, losing a tiebreaker playoff game to the Lady Longhorns for state playoff seeding purposes. On Jan. 22, Agee reached the 2,000-point milestone for her Farwell career in a home win over Olton. Farwell also had two other special...
CLOVIS - Everyone was adjusting - and gladly - on Monday as New Mexico high schools began playing spring football. For the most part, all were just happy to have the opportunity to begin full practices in preparation for opening weekend of an abbreviated slate on March 5-6. "Yes and no," Clovis High coach Cal Fullerton said about whether it felt different playing at this time of year. "I thought the excitement of playing would be good, and it was, but I thought it would be a l...
CLOVIS — A 26-year-old Clovis man on Monday was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple car thefts, according to District Attorney Andrea Reeb. According to a news release from the DA: Uriel Ramirez was convicted of seven counts of receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, two counts of conspiracy to commit receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, and one count of possession of a controlled substance. Officials in October 2019 began investigating numerous vehicles reported stolen a...
CLOVIS — The city of Clovis is seeking volunteers for seven vacancies on lower boards and committees, according to a series of city releases. Applications for the Senior Services Committee, Economic Incentive Board, Public Works Committee, Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board and Parks, Recreation and Beautification Committee are available at the city manager’s office, or by calling 575-769-7828 or emailing administration@cityofclovis. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. March 12. • The Senior Services Committee, which meets a...
On this date … 1936: John Teal, the alleged slayer of a Bailey County school teacher 18 years earlier, had been apprehended in the Pacific Northwest and was awaiting trial in Muleshoe. Teal was accused of shooting Evelyn Monts after she refused to marry him, the Clovis Evening News-Journal reported. He was being denied bail. Monts, 23, had been shot to death outside her home north of Muleshoe. Teal ultimately confessed to killing her and received an eight-year prison sentence. Teal testified that he had planned to divorce h...
There are no two ways around it. This last year has been a tough time to host fundraisers. Our community service organizations have had to cancel many long-standing events because of the ongoing health restrictions. Fortunately for local chili lovers, the members of the Kiwanis Club of Portales have come up with a way for us to satisfy our annual craving this Friday evening and stay safe: chili to go. Here’s the plan, but first a caveat: I am writing this on Monday, and this i...
We have known for a long time that pumping unlimited groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer is unsustainable. The future of water for eastern New Mexico communities like Clovis and Portales depends on us securing an alternative supply. That's why I have worked so hard over the last decade to support the construction of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Supply Project, also referred to as the Ute Pipeline Project. I first voted in 2009 to authorize the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System to provide potable water to eastern...
This legislative session is bringing real change to New Mexico, but not the kind we think New Mexicans are looking for. This session has brought to the table several bills squarely aimed at making law enforcement the enemy of the people, while simultaneously introducing other bills that are designed to lift the burden on the criminal. House Bill 4 and Senate Bill 227 are examples of this detrimental proposed legislation. How and why is this happening? Why would legislators in one of the most violent states in the country...
Halfway through this year’s legislative session and we’re close to another pandemic relief package for New Mexicans. Senate Bill 1 (SB1) passed its original chamber Feb. 15 with unanimous support. It’s on to the House side now and will likely become law soon. Its primary beneficiaries will be New Mexicans who earn less than $15 per hour and some but not all restaurants and bars. SB1 is intended to help essential workers who earn less than $31,200 a year by giving them a $600 rebate when they file their 2020 state income taxes...
I thought the past year had taught people to be prepared and less dependent on rescue by others. It seems I was wrong. This has been quite the year for “preppers.” Just one crisis after another, with the recent cold snap and power outages the latest chapter. If you’re still not a prepper, you have no one to blame but yourself when you get caught off-guard by the next event. You’ve had plenty of warning, and you’ve seen that politicians aren’t able to save you, even if the...
The details of what went wrong in Texas last week — most likely the biggest forced blackout in U.S. history — will take time to establish. So will exactly what to do about it. But this emergency already underlines something that should’ve been obvious before. As the growing threat of extreme weather puts vital economic systems at risk, climate resilience needs to be taken much more seriously. Even Friday morning, nearly 190,000 homes were still without power as Texas grappled with an unusual weather pattern that sent tempe...
PORTALES — Roosevelt County commissioners on Monday approved a resolution “supporting legislation focused on meaningful public safety reform while opposing legislation that would detrimentally and disproportionately impact Roosevelt County and rural New Mexico.” County Manager Amber Hamilton said while Roosevelt County acknowledges the need for public safety reform, she said very few of the bills currently being considered by the state Legislature address the root causes of problems in public safety but instead, work towar...
CLOVIS — Clovis Community College was one of seven colleges selected nationwide to participate in a rural workforce initiative. Building Resiliency in Rural Communities for the Future of Work is a program run by Achieving the Dream, a non-governmental nonprofit that helps reform institutions of higher education. This rural initiative is designed to buildup colleges’ existing career readiness programs to help prepare students for success. “Building Resiliency in Rural Communities for the Future of Work capitalizes on the local...
Area suppliers of natural gas or propane said they anticipate price increases for customers in the wake of severely cold weather that strained supplies and sparked widespread power outages, but they weren’t prepared to say how much those hikes would be. Natural gas supplies across the country are warning of spikes after frigid conditions constrained supplies and caused the spot market for gas spiral wildly upward. In one case, the city of Grove, Oklahoma, was forced to buy natural gas Wednesday at $622 per dekatherm when i...
A consistent string of single-digit case days for COVID-19 has created some sense of optimism that Curry County will remain in the yellow zone when “Red to Green” results are announced today and that — fingers crossed — Roosevelt County will emerge from the red zone after just missing it Feb. 10. The state has, since Nov. 30, graded counties every two weeks on meeting gating criteria of 8 daily cases per 100,000 residents and test positivity at or below 5%. Green counties meet both, yellow counties meet one and red countie...
PORTALES - Doing a stage performance without a stage can be challenging. But the Eastern New Mexico University Theatre Department will be performing "Everybody" - a modern adaptation of the 16th Century play "Everyman" - on the digital video platform Zoom Thursday-Sunday. "Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we've had to do all rehearsals via Zoom, so we have not met in person at all, so rehearsing has been a little bit of a challenge," said play Director Ricky Quintana. "We're...
CLOVIS — A series of delays, both man-made and nature-driven, have slowed work for the city’s shooting range at Ned Houk Park. But City Manager Justin Howalt is optimistic the project won’t finish too long after its original projection of May’s end. Howalt told the Parks, Recreation and Beautification Committee on Monday evening that work was focused on clearing land for the facility’s roadway, main building and house for trap/skeet shooting. The two recent delays, Howalt said, have come from last week’s winter weather and...
