mastodon 4.7.3Southern NM correspondent, Albuquerque Journal. Formerly with the Las Cruces Bulletin, Deming Headlight, Las Cruces Sun-News and Gannett.
There are reasons for writing or coding on one’s own.
Otero County’s new contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for civil immigration detention is unlawful, Attorney General Raúl Torrez argued in an emergency court petition asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to intervene.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/ag-sues-to-block-otero-countys-ice-contract/3014749
#NewMexico #ICE #immigrationdetention #immigration #OteroCounty
For a change of pace, I write about a nice restaurant in Sunland Park.
Half a year has passed since the city of Roswell blocked a local Food Not Bombs chapter from distributing free food at the city-owned Pioneer Plaza downtown.
Now, the group is taking the city to court.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/food-not-bombs-sues-roswell-over-plaza-ban/3037557
100 caught with their cocks out in Chaves County.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/cockfighting-bust-near-roswell-detains-100/3013836
A prominent government transparency advocate is accusing the city of Las Cruces of unlawfully convening a select committee that conducted public business out of public view for years.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/government-watchdog-says-city-held-secret-policy-meetings/3053084
Heath Haussamen writes, “For those of us who live in these communities, Project Jupiter’s agreements with Doña Ana County are moral documents. They promise jobs we desperately need and pledge to limit use of water we must protect.
“But to the developers, this is nothing more than a financial transaction.”
https://haussamen.com/2026/04/24/we-need-a-better-deal-from-project-jupiter/
Stars and Stripes ombudsman, fired by our war pastor, pens farewell column.
The “scientists are disappearing” meme is not holding up to scrutiny. But something is happening to scientists, all right: They’re getting laid off and losing federal funding. From Daniel Engber.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/2026/04/missing-scientists/686885/
State Auditor Joseph Maestas presented a special audit report to Doña Ana County commissioners Tuesday, expressing “grave concern” over systemic failures in governance and management in the seat of New Mexico’s second most populous county.
“There is no ideal place for them,” Bencomo told the Journal. “Ideally, we wouldn’t live in a militarized border community, but this is the reality.”
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/cbp-considers-new-border-patrol-station-in-las-cruces/3016113
Contour Airlines will begin four weekly flights June 25, giving Ruidoso its first regular passenger link to Denver International Airport and a wider travel network.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/direct-denver-flights-set-for-ruidoso/3037613
John Hinckley shot President Reagan outside this hotel 45 years ago. This does not make him an expert on either the hotel or Secret Service protocols. Nevertheless, here is The Hill treating Hinckley as a subject expert. He has nothing particularly helpful to say — and why would he?
Clicks, clicks, clicks.
Getting ready to conclude my vacation, I applaud my small hometown weekly newspaper, which printed some interesting reporting and profiled some community members. Keep at it, folks, and don’t sell your paper to the vultures.
This review of Deming’s Adobe Deli, published last year, won an award last weekend at the Society of Professional Journalists “Top of the Rockies” journalism awards. News organizations from New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming all compete.
The former Las Cruces mayor is running for governor as an independent. He sat for a 90-minute Q&A at the Albuquerque Journal Monday.
Congressman Gabe Vasquez visited Camp East Montana and gave it a very low Yelp rating.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/vasquez-calls-for-closure-of-fort-bliss-ice-detention-camp/3017602
Doña Ana County commissioners secured a new healthcare provider for the county detention center Tuesday morning, ensuring services will continue uninterrupted as YesCare withdraws amid bankruptcy proceedings.
On Monday, state and local officials as well as some of their Chihuahua counterparts and Mexican port officials gathered near the border wall to cut a ceremonial ribbon in front of a massive flood diversion project more than a decade in the making.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/major-flood-diversion-project-opens-first-phase-in-columbus/3054581
For this, we compared No Kings gatherings in ABQ and Truth or Consequences (the latter in red Sierra County). I was in TorC.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/thousands-rally-against-trump-in-no-kings-protests-statewide/3011833
With a week or even less to find a new healthcare provider for the Doña Ana County Detention Center, county commissioners were aghast Tuesday as staff pulled a contract approval from consideration and told commissioners they were back at square one.
A new letter from Desert Sage: "Fascism and dystopia, that smog of scum and stupidity, certainly darkens the skies and soils the ground. It is morally exhausting.
"But I have gremlins around me, young and old, who are hard to tame and don’t stay down when they fall."
https://desertsagenm.substack.com/p/life-you-insouciant-flower
Sen. Ben Ray Luján heard from producers and ag economists about the rising costs of fertilizer and fuel stemming from the war in Iran.
Yet current events only exacerbate long-term conditions particular to New Mexico and the American West, they emphasized, such as long-running droughts, labor shortages, price inflation trending upward since 2000 and, above all, water scarcity.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/lujan-holds-roundtable-on-fertilizer-fuel-costs/3039739
My colleague Natalie Robbins on the shakeup (read: bloodbath) at NM Highlands.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/new-mexico-highlands-shakeup-expands-beyond-president/3038182
No bottom.
Also at Top of the Rockies: Our team coverage of the Young Park shooting last year took first place for breaking news coverage. This was our initial story and the first of many in a case that is ongoing and wounds that will heal, for some, across a lifetime.
Borzou Daragahi on how Iran and to withstand the pressure of the blockade longer than the U.S. can maintain it.
My colleagues Natalie Robbins and Gillian Barkhurst on those ads everyone has been seeing in support of Project Jupiter.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/who-are-the-people-behind-pro-project-jupiter-ads/3028394
Ninety days into his administration, Mayor Holguin issued a public call for probes into the city that aimed new allegations against political foes.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/anthonys-new-mayor-calls-for-forensic-audit/3025991
A swath of unused land sitting amid farm fields and irrigation canals may sport a new community solar farm in 2027.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/county-approves-financing-for-vado-solar-farm/3013252
Memento mori.
(Follow me for Latin puns.)
A cattle industry lawsuit challenging the removal of unauthorized cattle from the Gila Wilderness was dismissed Wednesday by a federal appeals court. Both sides in the dispute found some vindication in the outcome.
#newmexico #gilawilderness #gilaforest #forestservice #ranching #livestockfarming #cattle
On watching the 2016 documentary film, "Weiner," 10 years later -- with some thoughts on tragedy and farce.
https://open.substack.com/pub/desertsagenm/p/weinglorious
#Weiner #AnthonyWeiner #movies #documentaries #politics #tragedy
From Dan Boyd: Reb Dow of TorC is back on the ballot.
Remember Afghanistan? Where we waged war for 20 years, picked up and left for the Taliban to take over again, and then got rid of USAID?
So, they’re dealing with air strikes by Pakistan, food shortages, floods and a deadly earthquake.
A majority of school board members leaned toward removing César Chávez’s name from a Las Cruces elementary school Tuesday night, but they will not take action before April, and one board member cautioned against moving too quickly.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/las-cruces-board-avoids-rush-on-changing-schools-name/3009494
“Thucydides never used the word ‘trap’,” put great emphasis on human agency (arguably was the inspiration for Hannah Arendt’s notion of ‘action’) and had a way of spreading out his messages all through the book in such a way that many readers fail to notice the connections among them.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/22/the-thucydides-trap-according-to-thucydes/
With the approaching 400th anniversary of New Mexico viticulture in 2029, the state’s winemakers see an opportunity to raise their products’ profile nationwide and reach new markets — in particular, with high-quality and low-priced sparkling wines.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/for-deming-winemakers-the-future-looks-bubbly/3052034
The push to get us completely 'digitalized' approaches a crucial milestone. A new letter from Desert Sage on the impending demise of the letter delivery.
https://desertsagenm.substack.com/p/im-going-to-outlive-the-postal-service
#postalservice #USPS #letters #correspondence #tech #Technology
That explosion and home fire in Las Cruces last week has been linked to an acetylene tank kept in a car trunk.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/las-cruces-home-explosion-linked-to-acetylene-tank/3054622
An interesting essay about expectations (and negative consequences) imposed by new technologies.
https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/helen-dewitt-is-the-psycho-we-need
A majority of the Las Cruces City Council joined Mayor Eric Enriquez on Monday in supporting the repeal of an ordinance that allegedly enabled a select committee to conduct public business in secret.
On Monday, New Mexico's State Auditor granted Doña Ana County an extension of time to respond to dozens of potential findings in a special audit.
