Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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The passing of soccer legend Pelé at the age of 82 triggered a massive outpouring of love and respect for the greatest of all time. The GOAT debate is spirited in soccer, as in every sport. The international expanse of soccer and the nationalist fervor it stirs makes the discourse especially passionate. But Pelé has long remained above that fray, up on a higher plain. Perhaps other greats could rival his skill and his achievements, but nobody could match his far-reaching impact marketing the sport and his decades-long s...
DETROIT – New Mexico State University beat Bowling Green, 24-19, in Monday’s Quick Lane Bowl played at Ford Field. Aggies quarterback Diego Pavia threw for 167 yards and two first-half touchdowns and rushed for 65 more yards in earning the game’s Most Valuable Player award. NMSU scored the game’s first 17 points. Pavia found Star Thomas on a 15-yard TD toss at the 9:39 mark of the first quarter, then hit Eric Marsh from 2 yards out halfway through the second quarter. Ethan Albertson kicked a 35-yard field goal and Ahmonte...
A water main break just south of the intersection of Grand Avenue and Prince Street caused a closure of southbound Prince Wednesday. Matt Atwood, EPCOR water company Senior Communications Advisor said the leak was “on a four inch water main near the intersection of North Prince Street and Grand Avenue.” Atwood said the leak impacted three businesses for about an hour while repairs were made. “The pipe has since been repaired and services have been restored,” Atwood said. ...
SANTA FE -- A Santa Fe jury awarded more than $66 million in damages last week in a case filed by a Los Angeles cameraman who suffered a spinal cord injury on a New Mexico movie set in 2016. The award — which includes $36 million in punitive damages — is among the largest in state history. Plaintiff James Razo, 55, said the jury's verdict Friday was "a huge emotional relief" and would help him put the life-altering incident behind him. "I can finally begin my healing journey," he said in a phone interview Tuesday. Razo sai...
Quentin Ray has been named the new district attorney for the Ninth Judicial District by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. "I got the call this morning," Ray said Tuesday. Ray believes he will be sworn in Friday at a time and place yet to be announced. Ray has been with the Ninth Judicial District Attorney's office since 2013. He had been in private practice with two area law firms prior to coming to the DA's office. The opening came when the present district attorney, Brian...
One way the city of Portales is reducing its water demand is to mandate a watering schedule to reduce residents’ outdoor water use. At the meeting last week, the council heard its annual water report by consultant Charles R. Wilson. The city needs to reduce its water demand by 40 million gallons a year for the next eight or so years until the Ute Pipeline is operational and can bring water to the city, Wilson said in his presentation of the report. He said the thickness of the High Plains Aquifer, from which the city draws i...
Booked The following were booked into local jails (Friday - Tuesday): Clovis • Paul Osorio, 40, failure to appear on misdemeanor charge • Kelly Carter, 43, larceny • Rico Cruz, 21, disorderly conduct • Destinee Cerna, 19, failure to appear on misdemeanor charge • Caleb Peterson, 26, driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug, speeding, failure to maintain traffic lane, driving or moving an unsafe vehicle • Dennis Huggins, 55, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, larceny • Malachi Gallegos, 19,...
After contending for years, Emma won it all in 2022 – the most popular girl name for newborns in New Mexico. The Department of Health's Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics has been compiling lists of newborn boys and girls names since 2014. Emma has been among the top 10 every year, but 2022 was the first time it was No. 1. The most popular name for boys this year is Liam. Noah was No. 1 a year ago, followed by Liam. DOH reports: • Nine of the top 10 girl names fro...
Big stories of 2022 in Portales begin with the city council unanimously approving a three-year contract for City Manager Sarah Austin. Austin took the job on a probationary basis in June 2021, coming to Portales from Milan, near Grants in Cibola County where she was village manager. Austin replaced Sammy Standefer, who retired in May 2021 after 29 years with the city, six of those years at the top post. COVID-19 was still a concern in the early weeks of 2022 as demonstrated by cases and quarantines continuing seemingly...
And here we are. One more year. Almost as far as you can get from Christmas Day. I hope your Christmas has been, and is being, filled with everything good. I’m quoting me to me here: “Christians who know the real meaning of the holy days should celebrate everything that is good about them — lights, trees, candles, songs, family, services, bells, friends, snow, sleds, presents, candy, laughter — with more joy than other people and not less. If we truly love Christ more than Ch...
U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) issued a release on Thursday outlining the many New Mexico projects the Omnibus Appropriations Agreement for Fiscal Year 2023 will fund. The release was issued prior to passage of the appropriations bill by the House the next day. The $1.7 trillion FY23 spending bill contains $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, a 22% increase for VA medical care and $858 billion in defense funding, the release states. “The Appropriations process gives us the...
CLOVIS – Two members of Clovis’s Sinner’s Den Boxing Club at Roy Walker Center were victorious in state Silver Gloves (ages 8-16) competition on Dec. 17 in Albuquerque and are moving on to a seven-state regional next week in California. Coach Elijio Sena said King Reese in the 9-10-year-old 70-pound division and Xavian Silvas in the 15-16’s 165-pound class were winners on unanimous decisions at Albuquerque. Silvas is a two-time New Mexico champion. Two other members of the club lost their bouts – Kasson Peppin in the 11-12 75...
CLOVIS – In a year of ups and downs, 2022 comes to a close with Eastern New Mexico University looking for a football coach and area high school squads dreaming of potential state championships in the months to come. A brief recap of some of the events by month: January Portales High’s boys held off a late Clovis rally to subdue the Wildcats 60-56 at the RAC in Portales. At the end of the month, the CHS girls edged the Lady Rams 55-53 at The Rock on a buzzer-beating basket in overtime by senior guard Yvonne Fuerte. Fort Sum...
As seems to happen more and more frequently, the curtain is dropping on yet another year. Rather than looking back at the year as it winds down, I want to look ahead without trying to predict anything. I don’t know if the past year was a good one for you, but I hope it was. Either way, you’ve about made it through. This is no finish line; only a checkpoint. The good news is, you’re still here and you’re still going forward. If you want this next year to be an even better...
Wow. Another “existential” year. It seems they all are these days. COVID hit in 2020 and we, as a nation, argued over masks. Then 2021 brought vaccines and deeper divisions after an attempted insurrection. And this year is ending with a “tripledemic” and a stage set for a divided Congress and, probably, a more deeply divided nation. It must have been a couple of years ago when “existential crisis” became staple mainstream media language. Now it’s almost cliché, even if it is justified in its use — between a changing climate...
You don’t have to be an animal lover to appreciate why a recent federal court order involving the future of more than 30 chimpanzees at an Alamogordo research facility is a big deal. The case is as much about the rule of law, reining in a rogue federal agency, and wise use of tax dollars as it is about the moral aspects of denying mankind’s closest living relatives the space and freedom they deserve to live out their lives the way nature intended. The ruling paves the way for the National Institutes of Health to relocate the...
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has cautioned horse owners not to feed alfalfa cubes that are part of a manufacturer recall. On Dec. 16, Manzanola Feeds of Manzanola, Colo., announced a recall of certain lots of Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes. The FDA is cautioning horse owners not to feed Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes with the following date codes: 111222, 111322, 111422, 111522 and 111622. This list of recalled products is also available on the FDA website. Some of the alfalfa cubes have been reported to...
New Mexico’s minimum wage is increasing, effective Sunday, in accordance with an amendment to the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act signed into law by Gov. Lujan Grisham last April. Beginning Jan. 1, the state minimum wage will be $12 per hour and the state tipped minimum wage will be $3 per hour. The minimum wage is the lowest hourly that an employer can pay to workers. The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions’ (NMDWS) enforces both the state and federal minimum wage, although the cities of Albuquerque, Las Cruces and San...
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas has announced that his office has resolved its opioid litigation against retail pharmacy chain operators Walmart, CVS, and Albertsons in a statewide deal that will deliver more than $132 million to the state and to local communities to fund opioid abatement efforts within the next 90 days. When combined with previously announced settlements obtained from other manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, Balderas’ office has obtained more than $368 million in opioid abatement f...
Curry County has been awarded $6.5 million grant from New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, Local Government Division, to put towards the County’s plan to build a new multi-purpose livestock pavilion at the county fairgrounds. Plans for the new facility include demolishing the existing 60-year-old livestock barns at the fairgrounds and building the new pavilion fully equipped with portable stalls. The plans for the new livestock pavilion include a 41,400 square foot facility with approximately 252 stalls. T...
The FBI in New Mexico is warning parents and children about a significant increase in the number of sextortion reports during the past year. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 19, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received 168 e-tips or calls about possible sextortion cases in New Mexico. During the same period in 2021, the NTOC received 38 e-tips or calls for New Mexico. Even though some tips might reference the same incidents, the increase is serious enough that the FBI wants to bring this crime to the public’s attention as sch...
The last days of December are a good time to reflect on life lessons. Here’s one of mine from a while back. A friend had been to our house for some event — probably a branding — and the interaction led to a need for me to swing by her house a few days later to pick up some papers. What exactly the papers were isn’t important to the story (plus, I can’t remember). What is germane to this anecdote is that my friend told me she wouldn’t be home when I came by, but that her ba...
On this date … 1972: A special meeting of the Clovis Chamber of Commerce Highway Committee was held following a crash near Fort Sumner two days earlier that left 19 from a Texas church dead. Clovis Mayor Chick Taylor and Fort Sumner Mayor B.J. Rogers criticized state officials for failing to make needed repairs on bridges throughout the region. The accident occurred when a bus carrying members of an Austin, Texas, church collided with a cattle truck on a narrow bridge. Investigators reported the bridge was 20 feet wide. E...
The bridge on what is now Red Lake Road near Taiban still shows the scars – exposed rebar and sheared railings – from the crash 50 years ago Monday that took 19 lives, most of them Austin, Texas, high-school students on a church bus en route to the Taos area. At the time, Red Lake Road, now not much more than a hard dirt road, was part of U.S. 60-84. A half century later, the scars were still evident in about 40 survivors and family members gathered on Monday, the 50th ann...
HOUSTON – Texas Tech wraps up its first season under head coach Joey McGuire tonight when it meets Mississippi in the TaxAct Texas Bowl in Houston. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. (MST) on ESPN. This will be Tech’s 40th bowl appearance and its fourth time to face Ole Miss in a bowl game. MSU has won all three previous bowl encounters against Tech, most recently in the 2009 Cotton Bowl. The Red Raiders come into the game with a 7-5 record and riding a three-game win streak. They finished the regular season Nov. 26 with a 51-48 ove...
