Local roundup

Curry manager named to national board

Curry County Manager Lance Pyle has been appointed to the National Association of County Administrators board of directors.

In addition, Pyle will serve as the at-large director for the Mountain Plains Region, which includes New Mexico, Texas and 12 other states, according to a county news release.

NACA “encourages professional development and excellence of county administrators and provides information, training and resources to its members to improve the management of county government,” the news release stated.

“It is an honor and very humbling to be approached and appointed to represent my peers nationwide and work to improve the management of county government,” said Pyle, who has been the Curry County manager for 16 years.

Pedestrian dies in Wednesday accident

A 54-year-old Clovis man died Wednesday morning in a traffic accident near Fifth and Walnut streets.

Joseph Sandoval was found in the roadway after being hit by a vehicle.

Sandoval was transported to Clovis’ Plains Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries, according to a police news release.

The vehicle’s driver, 61, was on scene when police arrived and was cooperating with investigators, the release stated.

Deputy Police Chief Trevor Thron said Sandoval lived near the area where the accident occurred.

The Clovis Police Department’s Major Crash Team was activated and was investigating the incident.

Weather balloon crashes near Clovis

Its mission was to study nearby galaxies so earthlings can better understand their formation and evolution. That mission was aborted about 10 hours after it began, somewhere west of Clovis on Monday night.

FIREBall-2 “experienced an anomaly and began descending in altitude,” NASA reported on its website. “The mission team safely terminated flight at 9:19 p.m. MDT west of Clovis … The cause of the anomaly will be investigated.”

The weather balloon’s flight was the fourth of eight planned from NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program launch facility in Fort Sumner, according to NASA.

The 2023 fall balloon campaign opened Aug. 10 and is scheduled to feature 24 payloads led by teams of scientists, engineers, and students.

“Our annual Fort Sumner campaign is always our most ambitious and packed with cutting-edge science developed from teams here in the United States and around the world,” said Debbie Fairbrother, Scientific Balloon Program chief at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

NASA reported it recovered the failed balloon and its payload, but it wasn’t immediately clear if any data had been collected.

Artists gathering at ENMU

The New Mexico Art Education Association is scheduled to host its annual fall conference Oct. 27-29 at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

NMAEA holds the only content specific professional development for art educators in the state, according to a news release from ENMU.

More than 50 workshops and presentations for best practices and continuous studio skill development are planned for the conference.

The keynote speaker, Mark Kistler, is an artist and an Emmy Award-winning host from PBS.

Texas Tech hosting wildlife conference

LUBBOCK – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, along with other wildlife organizations, is hosting the Panhandle Wildlife Conference Oct. 20-21 at Texas Tech University’s National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock.

The conference will explore the diverse landscape and wildlife of the Texas Panhandle, a region rich in both history and natural resources, according to a TP&WD news release.

“This conference was designed with the Texas Panhandle landowners and land managers in mind,” said Brad Simpson, TPWD Panhandle District Leader. “We wanted to showcase not only what is going on in the Panhandle but also provide land managers the opportunity to see and hear up-to-date information on a variety of topics.”

To register for the event, visit the official conference website at Panhandlewildlife.com .

ENMU students travel to ag conference

Students from the Eastern New Mexico University’s Agriculture Department traveled to Utah to present research and explore agricultural industries at the 2023 Western Region American Association for Agriculture Education Conference Sept. 18-20 in Logan, Utah.

According to an ENMU news release:

ENMU’s Makenzie Drake won a Top 10 Innovative Poster on her project on “Determining Agricultural Literacy at a Small Sized Western Region University.”

ENMU and Texas Tech Students and professors Carlos Duran Gabela, Joshue Lewis Mite, Amy Boren-Alpizar, Kalynn Baldock, Erica Irlbeck, Jessiann Dusenbery, Makenzie Drake, and Brianna Fryman were awarded an excellent poster design award for their presentation on “HERO in Undergraduates Students: A Comparative Study of Two Agricultural Colleges’ PsyCap.”

“This conference was a great opportunity for students to communicate their research ideas and data with other researchers in the field,” said Kaylnn Baldock, department chair and assistant professor of agriculture at ENMU.

“Students were able to meet researchers from other universities within the region and network with other undergraduate and graduate students. Through these opportunities, I hope that students can realize the incredible opportunities available to them after receiving their degrees here at ENMU.”

— Staff reports