Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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After a bruising midterm election in which Republicans not only failed to make gains but lost their only congressional seat in the state, Steve Pearce will try to hold on as chairman of the New Mexico GOP for a third term during an internal election Saturday in Las Cruces. Pearce, a former congressman and state representative who has served as state Republican Party chairman since losing the 2018 gubernatorial race, is facing four challengers, including a conservative radio host with a loyal following and a former state...
One-third of companies that received taxpayer money in six recent fiscal years under one of New Mexico's signature economic development incentive programs failed to meet their job creation obligations, and the state allowed some of them to walk away despite their unfulfilled promises. Analysts with the Legislative Finance Committee reviewed 101 Local Economic Development Act agreements signed between fiscal years 2016 and 2021. At least 33 failed to meet their job creation requirements, which was part of the agreement to...
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her Republican rival Mark Ronchetti duked it out during a heated one-hour televised debate Wednesday, clashing on crime, abortion and other key issues while hurling insults at each other. Ronchetti accused the governor of making "a blizzard of excuses" for her failed policies, while Lujan Grisham cast the former television weatherman as an inexperienced "TV personality" whose only real plan is to ban abortion in New Mexico. The governor's race debate, sponsored by KOAT-TV, the...
The U.S. Treasury announced Monday the state of New Mexico will receive $1.75 billion in federal pandemic relief aid, part of an effort by President Joe Biden and Congress to help governments respond to the economic fallout from COVID-19 and position the nation for recovery. Though the Treasury also released details on how the money can be spent, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and legislative leaders remain in a stalemate over which branch of government has the authority to appropriate federal funds from the American Rescue...
The Republican Party of New Mexico is holding its annual state convention next month, but it won’t be in-state. The three-day event, dubbed Operation Freedom, will be held in Amarillo, which has much looser COVID-19 restrictions than New Mexico, where mass gatherings under even the most lenient conditions are limited to 150 people. “It was named ‘Operation Freedom’ because had we been able to have it in our own state, we would not have to travel,” Kim Skaggs, the state GOP’s executive director, said in a telephone i...
Calling cannabis a "game changer" for New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill into law Monday that legalizes recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older. "Congratulations to every single one of us in New Mexico for getting this right," the governor said during a windy and socially distanced news conference on the west side of the state Capitol. "I couldn't be prouder." The governor also signed into law a separate measure that expunges certain cannabis-related convictions, which could affect tens of thousands...
Private employers in New Mexico may no longer get to decide whether paid sick leave is a benefit they want to offer their workers. A bill that would ensure employees in the state have access to paid time off when they’re sick cleared the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee on a party-line 6-3 vote Sunday. “Access to paid sick leave protects workplaces, families, and communities statewide,” read a tweet sent from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s account minutes after the vote. “I appreciate so many key stakehold...
At the same time Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was urging New Mexicans to not mix households, she was holding in-person meetings with Cabinet secretaries and small groups of legislators at the governor's mansion in Santa Fe. The meetings, however, were sporadic and followed COVID-19 safe practices, such as social distancing and face masks, the governor's spokesman, Tripp Stelnicki, said Thursday. "There's a difference between inviting someone into your house for the Super Bowl...
Why did the chicken cross Old Santa Fe Trail? To lobby at the Roundhouse in support of legislation that would create a better living environment for egg-laying hens. A bill that prompted a couple of lawmakers to do a double-take and then crack some jokes after it was introduced last week would prohibit large commercial egg producers from selling eggs in New Mexico if they came from caged chickens. Senate Bill 347, dubbed the Confinement of Egg-Laying Hens Act, also would...
By The Santa Fe New Mexican SANTA FE — A Roswell Republican who voted in favor of repealing an antiquated anti-abortion law has left the GOP. State Rep. Phelps Anderson, who broke ranks with his party in the vote last week on a 1969 bill that criminalizes abortion, has changed his voter registration to a “declined to state,” House Minority Leader Jim Townsend confirmed Friday. “I received a letter from him, and I have had a conversation with him, and he has left the Republican Party,” Townsend said. Anderson declined a reques...
SANTA FE — A Republican lawmaker in the New Mexico House of Representatives and four staff members at the Roundhouse have tested positive for the coronavirus. The cases at the Capitol come just two weeks into a 60-day legislative session that requires everyone but lawmakers to receive weekly nasal COVID-19 tests to be admitted into the building. In an email late Thursday, House Republican spokesman Matthew Garcia-Sierra wrote that he had been “informed one of our members tested positive, and I am also aware that there wer...
