The Eastern New Mexico News - Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

The government has no right to tell me what I can eat, drink, smoke, snort or inject. It can prevent me from doing those things in public. And it can hold me responsible for any crimes I commit after having done those things,... — Updated 4/17/2021

Rodeo may be the only college sport that isn’t knee-deep in hypocrisy. That’s because rodeo is not part of the NCAA, and has never held romanticized notions about the purity of amateur athletics. The sport has always been... — Updated 4/10/2021

The New Mexico Legislature is not a co-equal branch of government, and that’s by design. The New Mexico Governor’s Office is modern and up-to-date; and operates much like other governor’s offices throughout the country. The... — Updated 4/3/2021

Every bill passed by the New Mexico Legislature begins with a conspiracy to break the rules and then cover it up. And every member is in on it. Before the start of floor debate on any bill, the sponsor has to read the following... — Updated 3/27/2021

I did not like “Green Eggs and Ham.” I thought the book to be a scam. I knew that it could not be right for all the eggs I'd seen were white. I was then too young to see the humor in absurdity. The notion of an egg gone green... — Updated 3/20/2021

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” The above quote is attributed to Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat, but the first time I heard it was in a George Harrison song, and it stuck with me. I... — Updated 3/13/2021

I’m not sure if the Super Bowl is a testament to our persistence and ability to overcome challenges, or more evidence that our priorities are all screwed up. But I will admit that I’m surprised they made it to the finish. When... — Updated 2/13/2021

LAS CRUCES — Today I can report that the state of our state is … TBD. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham broke with tradition and skipped the State of the State address, which has always been given by the governor a couple of hours... — Updated 2/6/2021

LAS CRUCES — Trumpism was an ugly and violent political movement that was always destined to die an ugly and violent death. A mere election loss was never going to be enough to kill the movement, regardless of how decisive that... — Updated 1/23/2021

This is the time of year when people all over the world join in a collective wish that next year will be better than the last one. Never in my lifetime has that bar been set so low. Former children’s TV host Fred Rogers famously... — Updated 1/9/2021

Sen. John Arthur Smith told me several years ago that he was sold on the potential for Spaceport America after hearing space industry executives gush about the possibility to conduct secretive testing and research in the remote... — Updated 12/12/2020

LAS CRUCES — I was originally not going to include Libertarian candidate Bob Walsh in the U.S. Senate election interviews we conducted recently on community radio, but my co-host, Peter Goodman, argued that if Walsh was on the... — Updated 11/28/2020

Every four years at this time, I have the same thought: Isn’t there a better way to do this? Much of my frustration is tied to the fact that we don’t pick our nation’s leader in a national election. Instead, we have 50 local... — Updated 11/7/2020