Update

More than two months after a first-term Republican state senator's abrupt resignation, his GOP-leaning seat in southern New Mexico remains unfilled.

The New Mexico Department of Justice is reviewing whether the Torrance County Commission violated the state Open Meetings Act last week when it quickly approved a contract extension enabling a federal agency to continue housing immigrant detainees at a local jail, an NMDOJ spokesperson told Source New Mexico.

Cecily Barker was named to the interim role last week. The move follows the retirement of Harold Medina, a 30-year law enforcement veteran who spent more than four years as police chief.

In Legislative Finance Committee hearings in November and December, state agencies presented their funding requests to lawmakers and repeatedly faced warnings: The state is at its lowest point for “recurring funds” — which refers to ongoing spending, such as increasing the number of full-time employees at a state agency — since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senate Bill 120 requires health insurance plans to continue to cover the full cost of behavioral health services. The measure was part of a larger suite of behavioral health bills passed by the Legislature during the regular 60-day session in 2025.

Ryan Berryman has been named New Mexico’s interim athletic director following Fernando Lovo’s departure for the University of Colorado, the school announced Tuesday.

Lovo enjoyed a successful, 13-month tenure as athletics director at the University of New Mexico.

New Mexico's seven-day waiting period for most gun purchases is dead for now, after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals opted against a rehearing of the case by the full court.

Threatened cuts to federal homelessness funding next year will have ripple effects across a state overwhelmed with a rising unhoused population, including at an emergency shelter in Santa Fe that already has a long wait list, according to the shelter’s head.

The Santa Fe Association of Realtors is continuing its legal challenge to a City of Santa Fe excise tax on high-end home sales. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the so-called “mansion tax” is in the state’s court system once again.