Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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SANTA FE — The New Mexico Supreme Court, in a 3-1 decision, ordered a pair of former Portales daycare owners be granted release from prison pending an appeal on their 2019 convictions. Sandi and Mary Taylor, former owners of the Taylor Tots Daycare, were sentenced to 30 and 36 years, respectively, for reckless child abuse. The charges were in connection to the death of 22-month-old Maliyah Jones and injuries to then 2-year-old Aubri Loya. Prosecutors believe the two girls were left in a hot car for approximately two hours a... Full story
SANTA FE — Five positive COVID-19 cases in Roosevelt County schools were among seven reported Thursday by the New Mexico Public Education Department. The PED began daily updates of positive tests earlier this week, and reported one case on Wednesday. According to the Thursday update, the infected individuals are staff members, including two teachers. The individuals were last in the school building or a district office Sept. 9, Friday and Monday. The report does not identify which district or districts had the infections. T... Full story
SANTA FE — Noting she believes the state is “trending in exactly the way we are hoping to” on COVID-19, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham introduced recreation-related changes to the state’s public health order aimed at reopening the state while keeping virus spread low. Also, Curry County moved into the “green” status for counties allowed to begin hybrid learning on Thursday. The county has 7.7 daily cases per 100,000 residents with test positivity at 3.9%. The state requires 5% test positivity or less and eight daily cases or le... Full story
PORTALES — The Portales school district doesn’t plan to begin hybrid learning until Oct. 20, regardless of what data shows on Roosevelt County’s daily case count and test positivity show on COVID-19. By the time that date comes around, Portales Municipal Schools will have dealt with untold interruptions to normalcy. Superintendent Johnnie Cain participated in the school board’s Monday meeting from home, where he is quarantined until Sept. 25 following a positive test in central office. Cain said four others are in similar...
PROGRESS - A Muleshoe school bus driver and two 10-year-old students were injured Monday afternoon when a tractor trailer rig collided with the rear of the parked bus near Progress on U.S. 84. Muleshoe schools Superintendent R.L. Richards said all three were treated and released from the Muleshoe hospital on Monday night. Richards said the bus had stopped to let a student off to go home. That student was not injured. "The truck evidently went between two other vehicles and...
CLOVIS — State Human Services Secretary David Scrase spent about 30 minutes Tuesday morning with the Curry County Commission, and found himself on the wrong end of a few uncomfortable questions from commissioners. Scrase spoke for about 15 minutes during the commission’s virtual meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic and Curry County’s progress and worked through slides that featured public dashboard information. “A lot of people think this data is a secret,” Scrase said. “It isn’t a secret. You can go online, you can choose yo...
CLOVIS — Two people arrested in connection with a Friday kidnapping and shooting were arraigned Monday afternoon in Curry County Magistrate Court. Carlos Sanchez-Trillo, 31, of Clovis was arrested Sunday without incident. He is charged with kidnapping, aggravated battery, assault with intent to commit a violent felony, and possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon. An incident report from the Sunday arrest was not cleared for public release by the CPD as of Tuesday morning. Adriana Diaz, 29, of Clovis was a...
PORTALES — A Roswell man was in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound to the head in an apparent robbery attempt Friday in Portales. Court documents filed Monday in Roosevelt County Magistrate Court show two arrests, but other charges are anticipated, including adult sanctions against a 14-year-old who claimed to have shot Brady Vallejos, who was listed in critical condition in Lubbock. Brady's father, Rikk Vallejos, said his son was barely hanging on Tuesday morning and told The News his son was in the wrong p...
CLOVIS - A Clovis man was arrested Sunday after leading police more than three miles in a stolen truck, according to the Clovis Police Department. Kristoval Diaz, 20, was arrested after attempting to flee on foot from a high-speed chase that began on the 1700 block of Simmons and ended on the 900 block of Cypress with officers holding Diaz at gunpoint. Diaz remained in the Curry County Adult Detention Center on Tuesday morning. He made his first appearance Monday in Curry...
Booked The following were booked into local jails (Friday-Tuesday): Clovis • Jose Padilla ,35, shoplifting • Benjamin Devenport, 27, failure to pay fines, probation violation • Elvia Martinez-Gastellum, 34, failure to appear, failure to pay fines • Eugene Higgins, 64, operating a vehicle without interlock, driving while license suspended or revoked, open container • Jerry Clewis, 62, driving while license suspended or revoked • Michael Morales, 54, driving on suspended or revoked license • Jorge Ordonez, 26, failure to pa...
CLOVIS - John Burns, owner of the Burns Do It Center hardware store in Clovis, was awarded a $20,000 grant Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program. The store is putting the grant towards purchase and installation of a solar panel array which will generate more than 65,000 kilowatt hours of energy every year - enough to power six homes. The grant is part of more than $816 million invested to help rural New Mexico businesses lower energy...
BOVINA — Just two seasons ago, New Deal found itself playing for a Class 2A Division I Texas state championship at “Jerry’s World,” home of the Dallas Cowboys. The Lions might not be quite as strong as that squad, but they should give Bovina all it wants in Friday’s 7 p.m. (CDT) matchup at Bovina. The Mustangs (1-2) have played competitively well into the second half in each of their last two games, both losses. Now they’re looking for a way to get over the top as they await the return of senior quarterback Cole Emery, who...
Some wrecks you simply cannot see coming; others, well, it’s almost criminal negligence not to see them heading your way. The latter can and should be avoided. If you are busy minding your own business as a good citizen when you are suddenly dispatched (tragically, for sure) by falling space junk, or perhaps by a less flashy but nonetheless spectacular, garden-variety meteorite, I don’t see how anyone could rationally criticize you for not seeing the danger coming. Of cou...
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department announced last week that parent copayments for the Child Care Assistance program will be waived for the months of September and October. The department will cover the revenue child-care programs would have received from parent copayments and will include this amount in their regular monthly reimbursement checks. “The pandemic has created economic challenges for New Mexico families — and for child care providers. By waiving parents’ copayments, we’re m...
On this date ... 1975: Eastern New Mexico University had narrowed its list of candidates for president from 322 to six. Officials said they would keep the names confidential "to prevent any of the applicants from withdrawing," the Clovis News-Journal reported. Charles Meister had resigned earlier in the year as ENMU's fourth president. Warren Armstrong was ultimately selected as his successor. 1965: Eastern New Mexico University head football coach B.B. Lees said his team was...
We are a society filled with daily choices. Paper or plastic? Table or booth? Regular or decaf? Red or green? (For the record, my answer to all of these is, “It depends.” I like to make life as riddled with complications as possible.) Given our obsession with options, however, perhaps it should not have caught me off guard when I reported to a doctor’s office a couple of weeks ago for a covid test and was offered a most unexpected choice. (Also for the record, in case you’v...
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a climate emergency. If you haven’t been impacted by extreme weather conditions yet, you will be. Stick your head into the sand if you want, but the evidence is overwhelming: • The West is burning like never before, choking on the smoke of wildfires raging from the states along the Pacific to as far east as Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Here in New Mexico, we’re battling blazes in the Gilas, in Lincoln National Forest and a little north of Santa Fe, all of which seems...
I wish people were more consistent. Many people in this country say they are for smaller, or “limited” government. Most change their minds as soon as they think of something they want government to give them or do for them. If it takes bigger, more powerful, and intrusive government to get what they want, they’re happy to sacrifice you on this altar. Big government is suddenly their friend. They are against reckless government spending until they’re hoping to get a check....
Earlier this year, South African-born comedian Trevor Noah hit at the heart of a serious problem hurting America right now. “Nuance doesn’t sell as well in America,” Noah said in an interview with CBS. “Nuance means you can’t just take a stand and fight the other person. Nuance means we have to talk a little bit more. And until the American political system can find a way to represent the nuance that exists within America, you are going to create this false impression that there is This or That.” In a nation sharply div...
PORTALES — After suddenly losing its county clerk last month, the Roosevelt County Commission approved a family gesture to honor Stephanie Hicks McMath going forward. County Manager Amber Hamilton told commissioners during their Tuesday meeting at the Jake Lopez Community Building that she was approached by Hicks McMath’s family, who asked for permission to place a bench in her memory under the shade tree outside of the clerk’s office at the Roosevelt County Courthouse. The commission approved the request, with Shane Lee noti...
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Supreme Court will hear an appeal involving two former Portales daycare owners now in prison for the death of a child who was under their care. Oral arguments begin at 9 a.m. today in a petition on behalf of Mary and Sandi Taylor, who were convicted last year and sentenced to 36 and 30 years, respectively, on charges of reckless child abuse. The charges were in connection to the death of 22-month-old Maliyah Jones and injuries to then 2-year-old Aubri Loya. Prosecutors believe the two girls were l...
CLOVIS — The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority is heading south, following an eight-figure grant agreement Monday with the Bureau of Reclamation. The authority board voted 4-0 in a 20-minute special meeting at the authority offices to approve a $37.188 million grant from the BOR, with much of the money dedicated to its Finished Water 3 project. The authority is tasked to complete the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System, which will eventually connect entities in Curry and Roosevelt counties to the Ute Reservoir i...
