Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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New Mexico could see about $9 billion as part of the virus relief package President Biden signed on Thursday. And more than $23 million is earmarked for government entities in Curry and Roosevelt counties. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said the exact amount New Mexico will receive is still being calculated. But the $9 billion within the 628-page bill includes $2.5 billion for New Mexico governments; individual benefits most people in the state will qualify for; grants for businesses and farmers; $1.2 billion to school...
The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers by Alec MacGillis, photography by Celeste Sloman ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Everything looks the same on either side of the Texas-New Mexico border in the great oil patch of the Permian Basin. There are the pump jacks scattered across the plains, nodding up and down with metronomic regularity. There are the brown highway signs alerting travelers to historical...
SANTA FE -- Roosevelt County reached green status, while Curry County stayed in yellow status as the state of New Mexico revealed its latest data in its “Red to Green reopening framework on Wednesday. Since Nov. 30, the state has applied a color-coded designation to each of its 33 counties, based on whether they meet the metrics of 8 daily cases per 100,000 residents or less and 5% test positivity or lower. Red counties meet neither, yellow counties meet one, green counties meet both and turquoise counties have reached g...
CLOVIS — The Countyline Fire District is still five months away from being a certified volunteer fire department, and probably at least two years from having an official fire station. But the district’s fire chief and county officials are optimistic. Presuming certification happens in August after Countyline’s 12-month probationary period, Chief John Novak said, it would be responsible for approximately 140 square miles south of Curry Road 8 and between Curry Roads E and W — basically, south of Clovis between Melrose and Tex...
New Mexico education and health officials announced Monday that all public school students will be allowed to return to in-person schooling with a goal of reaching full re-entry by April 5. A Public Education Department release stated that COVID-19 vaccines will be offered to all school staff members across the state over the course of the next three weeks in an attempt to allow staff and students to return in full as safely as possible. The release said more than 45,000 educators have registered to receive the vaccine with...
I am an English major. I am an English major who wears many hats in my work and the various aspects of it, but most of them are colored by the fact that, as I mention yet again just before I step off a verbal cliff and fall into triple redundancy, I am an English major. My wife married me anyway. She says that as a young lass she’d always thought she’d marry a preacher or a farmer. I’ve long wondered why a girl would dream of a life almost guaranteed to produce very modes...
CLOVIS — It took every bit of effort for Clovis Christian to squeeze out a volleyball win over a hungry Grady squad on Saturday. Momentum went back and forth through the five-set match before the Lady Eagles finally laid claim to a 20-25, 25-17, 25-11, 14-25, 16-14 District 6-1A victory at the CCS gym. Senior Lola DeGroot posted 21 kills, four blocks, seven digs and three aces as Clovis Christian (2-1, 2-1 district) inched above the .500 mark with its second consecutive win. “It was definitely back and forth,” DeGroot said...
MIDLAND, Texas — Finally, Eastern New Mexico University’s baseball team can claim a series win … and a Lone Star Conference series win as well. The Greyhounds were outhomered 7-1 by Texas Permian Basin for the weekend, but earned a pair of 7-3 victories in Sunday’s series-ending twin bill to take three of the four games, including two of three LSC contests. The finale, a seven-inning matchup, was not a conference tilt. ENMU (4-8, 3-8 LSC) has now won four of six after an 0-6 start to the campaign. The Hounds’ last series wi...
CLOVIS — The Clovis Wildcats hadn’t played a meaningful down of football in 468 days, so it could be understood and probably condoned if the rust outweighed the rhythm Saturday night at Leon Williams Stadium. But rust and rhythm eventually gave way to resiliency, and the Wildcats simply found a way to top rival Hobbs 14-10 and keep the “Rebel” traveling trophy in Clovis — where it has stayed since 2014 and will be at stake again later this year when the spring 2021 season ce...
CLOVIS - Elida has been successful after restarting its football program three years ago, earning trips to the state 6-man finals each of the past two seasons. Meantime, Clovis Christian made its return to the sport on Saturday after a five-year hiatus and served notice it might be a team to be reckoned with, posting a season-opening 22-12 victory over the Tigers at Jim Hill Field. Junior running back Noah Ashford rambled for 155 yards and a touchdown while senior Kane Duong...
PORTALES - Friday's season-opening 21-0 win over Moriarty at Greyhound Stadium served an almost ideal purpose for the Portales High football team. Most important, the Rams came away with the win. They also have a lot of areas they can shore up in looking ahead to the rest of their abbreviated spring season. "We have some work to do, but we have a lot of potential for sure," Rams junior tackle-defensive end Braydon Mignard said on Monday. "It was definitely a good first game....
CLOVIS — Think about 468 days, because the Clovis Wildcats and Cleveland Storm have done plenty. It’s a year, plus a weekend. It’s five weeks short of 500. And up until Saturday, it was the number of days that separated the Clovis Wildcats from the 2019 Class 6A semifinals against Cleveland. The Wildcats got back into the win column, 14-10 over Hobbs, while Cleveland was idle. And now it’s the Storm, which played the following week in the 6A championship, coming back from the longest of offseasons. “It’s been a long time,...
SANTA FE — Student athletes at New Mexico colleges and universities would be allowed to earn compensation from product endorsements and similar work under legislation nearing passage in the state Legislature. The proposal, Senate Bill 94, advanced through a House committee Monday and is now headed to the full House for consideration — the last approval necessary to send the measure to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Sen. Mark Moores, an Albuquerque Republican and former college football player, said the legislation would uph...
LUBBOCK — The Lubbock Chamber, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is encouraging businesses across the city to continue operating safely, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues despite the state’s latest executive order. The Lubbock Chamber is encouraging businesses to join the Rally for Recovery Commitment, an effort for employers to continue to do their part to help protect employees, customers and communities, to reignite the economy, and to defeat the pandemic, according to a news release. “Last week’s announc...
In the fall of 1967, clutching a fat pencil, a box of crayons, and a Big Chief tablet, I became one of the 28 little kids in Peggy Prater's first grade class at Dora Elementary School. By the end of the first day, I had fallen head over heels in love with my teacher. Fifty-four years later, that hasn't changed. Though I knew she was under hospice care, when her daughter notified me on Saturday that sweet Mrs. Prater had died, I was heartbroken. I suspect that I am one of...
It’s been a year since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 hit New Mexico. Let’s recall a few of the details. This state took a liberal approach to the pandemic — our governor liberally applied health and safety restrictions to stem the tide of infections. Perhaps that’s owed to the fact that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is a former director of the state’s Department of Aging and Long-Term Services and secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health, but from the beginning of this pandemic it appears she’s tried to follow th...
The Righteous and Holy Arbiters of What is Acceptable now seek to cancel Dr. Seuss. This may be my final last straw with “cancel culture.” Yes, some of Dr. Seuss’ illustrations look insensitive today because he and his drawings aren’t from today, but from an earlier time. I seriously doubt he would draw them the same if he were drawing today. Even then, someone would be offended. His illustrations make everyone look ridiculous in one way or another. Even animals, plants, and g...
When I look in the mirror, I do not do a jig. A thin face with wrinkles, a nose that’s too big. Ears that stick out like a wind-powered rig If I couldn’t laugh, I’d wind up in the brig. If Theo “Seuss” Geisel drew me, it is sure, The likeness would be its own caricature On an elephant ride in Kuala Lumpur. If it helped a kid read, it’s a pain I’d endure I looked in the paper and learned of the news. It wasn’t a good thing. It gave me the blues I learned that the world was now changing its views Of that dearly beloved. That m...
Warnings of fire danger were issued early this week and concerns will remain through Friday. But forecasters expect cooler temperatures and a good chance of rain this weekend. Wind gusts could top 50 mph today across New Mexico, with Clovis-Portales-area high temperatures in the 70s. “We’re going to see blowing dust, and we’ll have problems with crosswinds on the roads and widespread critical fire conditions everywhere except the Four Corners area and some of the higher terrain above 8,000 feet,” said National Weather...
CARLSBAD — The Portales Lady Rams completed an impressive opening week on Saturday, posting a 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 25-20 victory over Carlsbad on Saturday. Senior Rheagan Courtney had eight kills and four aces to help pace the Lady Rams (3-0), who won at six-time defending Class 2A champion Texico on Tuesday and defeated Clovis High in straight sets on Thursday at the RAC. “They’re a good team; they’re very athletic,” PHS coach Ruth Chavez said of the Cavegirls (0-2). “They pushed us, and we needed that. “Our hitters did w...
SANTA FE — The battle over paid sick leave for New Mexico private sector employees took a new twist Monday, with backers agreeing to delay the effective date of a mandatory leave bill until July 2022. The pushed-back implementation date, which the bill’s sponsor said was chosen with input from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office, frustrated some bill supporters and did not win over business groups that have strongly opposed the measure. But the revised measure, House Bill 20, ultimately cleared its first assigned Senat...
Curry County reached yellow status in the state’s COVID-19 reopening plans two weeks before Roosevelt County did. With another two-week data collection period complete, it appears Roosevelt will beat Curry to green status. The state has, since Nov. 30, graded counties every two weeks on meeting gating criteria of 8 daily cases per 100,000 residents and test positivity at or below 5%. Green counties meet both, yellow counties meet one, red counties meet neither and turquoise counties make green for two consecutive data c...
On this date … 1941: The region was recovering from “the worst duster since the Black blizzard days of January 1935,” the Clovis News-Journal reported. A teenage Clovis newspaper delivery boy rode his bicycle into the side of a moving freight train, but was not seriously injured. Billy Martin had his head down, trying to avoid the sand blowing in a 50-mph wind when the accident occurred. Skid marks on the road suggested Billy heard the train just before impact. His bike,...
PORTALES — The Portales Municipal School District plans to return to full re-entry on March 23, following its spring break. Two months after that, the Portales High School seniors can anticipate a more normal graduation. The school board has approved a PHS graduation for 7 p.m. May 28 at Greyhound Stadium. “At this point, we don’t know what the graduation rules will look like by the time we get to May, but we think with it being outdoors it will be something acceptable at that time,” said Superintendent Johnnie Cain. With CO...
With Monday's announcement that New Mexico public school students will be allowed to return to in-person school full-time came the announcement that music programs can now rehearse in person but with a few stipulations. The Public Education Department announced that music students can practice outdoors with "enhanced" social distancing of 9 feet, face coverings and coverings on their instruments. Clovis High Band Director Bill Allred said students already attending school in...
