Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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SANTA FE -- The state Public Education Department announced Thursday it will enact a rule requiring 180 instructional days at schools, a plan that has drawn ire from teachers, administrators and lawmakers throughout the state. The version approved by the agency allows exemptions for schools with four-day weeks, early college high schools, and districts and charter schools with significant growth in reading proficiency rates. “We’ve had it with being the last and the worst performing state in the union,” Public Education Secre...
Clovis voters on Tuesday were pretty clear: They didn't want change on the City Commission. That especially held true with the mayoral race. Incumbent Mayor Mike Morris defeated opponent Misty Bertrand, 1,780 votes to 487. Morris said he believed it was his experience and vision that won him the race. "I believe the community recognizes that I have the experience and values to represent Clovis and lead us to the future," Morris said. Bertrand did not respond to requests for co...
MELROSE – Dora limited Melrose to 19 points through three quarters and the 10th-seeded Lady Coyotes held on late for a 49-44 victory in a first-round Class 1A girls state tournament game on Friday night. Senior Bre'Ann Rodriguez led a balanced attack for Dora (19-7) with 12 points, while sophomore Justice Deason and freshman Karen Inge scored 11 points each and senior Faith Jasso added nine. The Lady Coyotes face second-seeded Cliff (26-2) in a 3 p.m. quarterfinal tilt on T...
HOBBS – Senior Jasiah Mendoza pitched a three-hitter and Clovis High’s baseball team spread the offense out over the game en route to an 8-1 victory over Artesia on Friday, the second day of a three-day event hosted by Hobbs H.S. Bouncing back from a Thursday loss, the Wildcats (4-2) scored in five of the seven innings in blustery conditions. Senior Gabe Tapia went 2-for-4 with run-scoring singles in the second and fifth innings, while senior Quinn Culiver doubled and finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. “To...
Portales High's girls led as close to wire-to-wire as you can on Friday night. Junior guard Myleigh Banda knocked down a corner 3-pointer just five seconds in, and the Lady Rams never looked back in beating Hope Christian 69-38 in a Class 4A first-round state tournament game at the Ram Athletic Center. PHS (20-8), seeded fifth in the 16-team field, now faces fourth-seeded Gallup (22-8) in a 3 p.m. quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at The Pit in Albuquerque. Junior forward...
FRISCO, Texas – Eastern New Mexico University’s postseason bid took off in a big way on Thursday night. Shooting a school-record 66 percent from the floor and dominating the paint, the fourth-seeded Greyhounds pulled away to a 103-84 victory over Angelo State in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference men’s basketball tournament at Comerica Center. ENMU (20-9), reaching the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2003-04 with its first postseason victory since the year before that, advanced to a Saturday semif...
LAS CRUCES – It wasn’t Las Cruces High this year, but it was the same result. Since reaching the then-Class 6A semifinals in Danni Williams’ last season at Clovis High in 2015, the Lady Wildcats have made first-round exits in all four of their appearances in the NMAA’s large-school division. The common denominator? All have come in trips to Las Cruces, the first three against the Lady Bulldawgs, while on Friday night the Lady Cats were ousted by Mayfield 31-28. “It’s just so frustrating because you have a chance to win a (s...
Jose Maldonado on Tuesday was sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping, rape and burglary, according to a news release from the Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Maldonado, 25, broke into a home on Sycamore Street in May of 2021 where he raped the victim, records show. Judge Fred Van Soelen issued the sentence. Maldonado will be required to serve 85% of the 30-year sentence, prosecutors said....
A jury on Wednesday found “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin, but acquitted her on charges of tampering with evidence. She was immediately remanded to custody pending sentencing. Gutierrez-Reed was tasked with ensuring firearm safety and storage on the set of the Western, starring Baldwin, when she handed the actor a prop gun that contained live ammunition. Baldwin fired, striking and killing cinematographer Halyna Hut...
Robin Jones, interim president of Clovis Community College in the wake of the resignation of Charles Nwankwo last year, will be resigning the position on July 1. “I’ve given 27 years to this college and it’s time to see whatever life brings. That’s all I have to say,” Jones told The News after Thursday’s regular meeting of the Clovis Community College Board of Trustees. Jones’ resignation was not discussed by trustees at Thursday’s session. Among the items that were discussed, Board President Lora Harlan gave a presidential...
Is there someplace I can take my old eyeglasses where they’ll get used? The Clovis Evening Lions Club takes used eyeglasses, according to club President Mona Burns. “Any of the eye doctors in Clovis have the boxes where you can drop off your old eyeglasses. There’s also a large yellow container at S & S Supermarket where you can drop old glasses,” Burns said. Burns said the club goes through them. The club doesn’t take the eyeglass cases. “We box them up and take them to Midland, Texas, where they are analyzed for the pre...
Utility provider Xcel Energy said in a Thursday statement that its facilities appeared to have been involved in igniting the Smokehouse Creek fire in the Texas Panhandle. The fire, which began in Hutchinson County before engulfing more than 1 million acres, is the largest wildfire in state history and among the largest in U.S. history. Hundreds of firefighters have been battling a cluster of wildfires for more than a week, and officials confirmed at least two people have died in the blazes. Gov. Greg Abbott said in a recent n...
2 Yucca Middle School students have qualified for the national competition, following the 2024 Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) state conference this weekend. This is the first year FCCLA has been offered at Yucca. Nicole Olson, the food and nutrition and FCCLA teacher at Yucca Middle School, said FCCLA teaches students how to prepare for many life skills, such as finance, education, home making, culinary, entrepreneurship, and more. Some students provided insight on what the competition was like....
The Clovis High School Wildcadettes, the school’s drill team, earned 12 awards in weekend competition at the Alamo Classic Dance Championship in San Antonio. According to a news release from Clovis Municipal Schools, the Wildcadettes brought home these awards: • Sweepstakes Award • Gussie Nell Davis Award • Judges Award Pom • Judges Award Military • Judges Award Hip Hop • Best Choreography • Best Precision • Best Technique • Giving Back Award • Academic Champions (highest combined GPA of any team at the contest). • Best in C...
Monday is the fourth anniversary of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s first public health emergency dealing with what was then the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. Although restrictions varied widely throughout the next three years, the public health emergency did not end until March 31, 2023. Under New Mexico’s public health emergency laws governors have wide discretion to make policies unchecked by the Legislature or any other elected body. Objectively, it is hard to see any sig...
When Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro engaged in a legal battle with the Little Sisters of the Poor over their refusal to subsidize birth control for their employees, I got very angry. As a Catholic who takes her faith seriously and an asylum lawyer who knows a little something about religious persecution, it seemed to me that the then-attorney general was violating the rights of some women who just wanted to be left alone to serve God’s glory. Of course, there are those who w...
After having her Bernalillo County gun ban overturned by the court, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tried to do it the right way. She put together an impressive public safety package of proposed legislation that addressed not only guns but also bail reform, sentencing, and police pay and recruitment. If passed, it would have been a huge step toward addressing our state’s gun violence epidemic. New Mexico ranked seventh in the nation in gun deaths, according to a 2020 report by Johns Hopkins, which found that firearms were the lea...
In February 2023, at the first anniversary of the Ukraine war, Gen. Mark Milley told a news conference, “Russia is now a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost — they’ve lost strategically, operationally, and tactically.” That sentiment has been repeated ad infinitum by Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin. At the second anniversary, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing...
“There ought to be a law.” I am disappointed every time I hear that sad phrase. It’s an admission of failure -- both intellectual and ethical. If the only solution someone can see is to call for more government violence -- through legislation -- either they aren’t thinking clearly, or their ethical core is broken. Either way, it’s a problem. Many times when I hear someone say this phrase, there is no real crisis, only something they don’t like. This is a problem, not with th...
Marlowe J. Churchill heard about his family's greatest tragedy many times growing up. He didn't really feel it until he visited the gravesite for his murdered great aunt and her eight children in Farwell in 2017. Tears ran down his cheeks when he placed his hands on the gravemarker and followed the letters of the nine names carved into the stone. "It surprised me, it really did," Churchill said about the emotion that raced through him when he first encountered his ancestors. "...
Stephanie Johnston never had "First Lady of Eastern New Mexico University" on her radar when she was growing up. But as the years passed, her professional signature shows just how long her journey was to get to where she is today. From a bachelor of science to a masters in radiology, Johnston has only continued to add more titles to her name. In honor of Women's History Month, Johnston gave a presentation Wednesday during a luncheon at ENMU to explain how she's faced many...
As bargains go, it’s hard to beat the one being offered this month by the folks who volunteer with Clovis Area Fifty-Plus Olympics. For a $20 bill (or two $10s, a fistful of $5s, or any combination of your choice) anyone who is age 50 and older can register, participate in up to 10 different sports (many with multiple events), nosh on drinks and snacks, and even attend the end of season awards banquet in May. On top of that, for first timers that $20 also covers a t-shirt e...
New Mexico will be the fourth state in the nation to implement stricter regulations on gasoline and fuels used for transportation. That was the word from local lawmakers at Roosevelt County’s Legislative Luncheon on Thursday. Sen. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell, told the audience that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had signed House Bill 41, the Clean Transportation Fuel Standards bill. Nibert said the bill is a carbon tax and will ultimately increase gas prices anywhere from 30 cents to $2 per gallon. Nibert said this will hamper rural...
Gail Tarson believes she won the District 2 seat on Clovis’ City Commission because she represents the conservative values and priorities of the community. “As a small business owner, I understand the importance of fiscal responsibility and economic growth. My commitment to upholding traditional family values resonated with many voters who prioritize stability and traditional principles,” Tarson wrote in an email to The News after Tuesday’s municipal elections. Incumbents won the day as voters returned Chris Bryant, Helen Cas... Full story
Staff of Lowe’s Home Improvement and a “great witness” helped police arrest an armed robbery suspect Wednesday night, according to Clovis Police Capt. Roman Romero. Romero said a 55-year-old woman was robbed of her phone and purse by a man with a firearm in the Lowe’s parking lot about 5:15 p.m. Daniel Acosta, 27, was taken into custody soon after the robbery. He was located and arrested at Motel 7 on Mabry Drive. “Detectives were able to review video footage and observed... Full story
