Lightning sparks 8 fires in SF National Forest in 4 days —Daniel Montaño
Federal and state fire officials have reported a flurry of several fires that were started by lightning strikes during monsoon storms in the last few days.
Of the eight fires sparked in the last four days, only one, the High Peak fire near Cow Creek in the Pecos, has been contained. The Lodin Fire two miles south of Jarosa has been contained 20%, and has burned 6 acres so far. The other six fires are all 0% contained.
The largest, the Frijoles Fire, ballooned from 10 acres to 200 acres in one day.Hotshots are on site and planning to build a fireline as of the latest update yesterday afternoon.Smoke jumpers and multiple aerial resources are also battling the blaze, which was first reported Tuesday evening.
It’s currently burning about 3-4 miles east of Cundiyo in the Pecos, but officials say it has a high potential to spread further.
The Lodin fire is the next largest fire and has heavily timbered forest service land, private lands with cabins and more are all within a quarter mile, and has a moderate spread potential.
The remaining fires have all burned less than 2 acres, with two of them having only burned a tenth of an acre, and have a low chance to spread, but personnel are on site building firelines and extinguishing spot fires.
Fire officials remind the public drones pose a serious risk to firefighting and can cause air operations to cease.
New Mexico's fossil roars back after 20 years of mistaken identity — Karmina Conde, Albuquerque Journal
For 12 years, scientists thought a fossil found in the San Juan Basin belonged to a small raptor-like dinosaur. They were wrong — and the real answer just earned New Mexico a new dinosaur species.
Paleontologists from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science ended up finding Dinevenator robustus, a dinosaur species that roamed in New Mexico more than 70 million years ago.
“I think it’s one of those things where this also suggests or shows the importance of keeping fossils and keeping specimens like this somewhere safe,” said Steven Jasinski, the museum’s paleontology curator.
“Because if we had not kept the specimen somewhere safe, if it had not been at a museum or something like that, then we wouldn’t be able to do this research and we wouldn’t be learning new things 20 years after the fossil was collected and first written about,” Jasinski said.
The original fossil was collected in 2005 in the San Juan Basin by paleontologist Robert Sullivan. Initially identified as a Dromaeosaur — a relative of the Velociraptor — for 12 years, Sullivan and Jasinski went back to the research and ended up finding unique anatomical markers: a relatively large brain and bird-like features.
“This new work illustrates the dynamic nature of dinosaur studies as we continue to test what we think we know,” said Anthony Fiorillo, New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science executive director.
“Furthermore, it demonstrates that New Mexico clearly has a prominent place in those global conversations,” Fiorillo said.
Based on data from related species, researchers concluded the dinosaur was a bipedal troodontid, from 8 to 10 feet long and around 150 to 300 pounds. These theropods are known for having unusually large brains relative to other dinosaurs, according to the research paper published in the scientific journal Fossil Studies on Monday.
“It's really important to understand what life was like in the past, so we can get an idea as to why things are the way they are today, and what we might be able to expect moving forward into the future,” Jasinski said.
Although classified within a larger lineage of carnivorous dinosaurs, the study reports Dinevenator likely maintained an omnivorous diet. It may have consumed small mammals, birds, insects, lizards, fruit and plants.
Dinevenator lived in a much wetter and more subtropical climate. The environment consisted of a flood plain characterized by forests, open landscapes and expansive coniferous trees, very different from the New Mexico we know today.
“There’s always change. There was change in the past … so even if we don't think that we are similar to dinosaurs in any way, our world is changing just as their world was changing,” Jasinski said.
While Dinevenator is only known from a single frontal bone on the top of the skull, it is unique among these dinosaurs.
Karmina Conde is a news reporter for the Journal. You can reach her at kconderuiz@abqjournal.com
New Mexico law graduates can become attorneys without the bar exam — Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico soon will allow law school graduates to become attorneys without taking the bar exam.
Would-be attorneys can soon become licensed by completing 675 hours of work in a year under the supervision of a licensed lawyer and submitting a portfolio showing their expertise in legal writing, client meetings, advocacy before a judge and other areas of the law, the New Mexico Supreme Court announced.
A court order last week authorized a committee to begin drafting the framework for the program, which could begin accepting applications by mid-2027, according to a news release.
Court officials hope the pathway to skills-based licensure will help relieve the drought of lawyers in New Mexico, chiefly in rural areas. Two-thirds of New Mexico’s 33 counties have fewer than one lawyer for each 1,000 residents, making them a “legal desert” under the American Bar Association’s definition.
New Mexico ranks 36th out of 50 states for lawyers per capita, according to data from the ABA.
“The bar exam tests on some foundational knowledge of legal issues and legal standards, but I don’t think it tests on things that lawyers need, like being able to counsel their clients, or advise them or give feedback or just practice in a practical setting,” said Allison Block-Chavez, president of the State Bar of New Mexico.
All participants must have a law degree, complete a character and fitness assessment and pass a test on the ethical responsibilities of attorneys, like all prospective lawyers in New Mexico. Applications will be reviewed by the state Board of Bar Examiners, and the traditional bar exam will remain an option.
“There are lots of criteria that are going to ensure that these attorneys are well prepared,” Block-Chavez said. “I’m confident that the Board of Bar Examiners is going to continue to have the same rigorous standards of competence, ethics and professionalism that they have, even for bar takers.”
The new method of licensure will ensure new attorneys “possess the practical, on-the-job lawyering skills needed to help New Mexicans,” New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Julie J. Vargas said in a news release.
New Mexico joins a handful of states with alternative licensure programs already in place, including Arizona, which launched a similar pathway in 2024 for law graduates who narrowly failed the bar exam to become licensed attorneys through apprenticeships in rural areas or public law offices, and Oregon, which grants licenses to law graduates who complete 675 hours of supervised legal work.
For some students, the 675 hours and 12 months of apprenticing under the alternative pathway might prove to be more work than just taking the bar exam, which is usually two months of studying, said Albuquerque criminal defense attorney Sarah Gorman. Still, Gorman said, the alternative pathway could be a viable option.
“To me, it’s something worth pursuing,” Gorman said. “Being a Chicana attorney and seeing how our students of color sometimes don’t perform very well on standardized tests for many reasons — this might be a different pathway that still allows for quality attorneys to be practicing in New Mexico.”
Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.
State Engineer threatens licenses over border wall drilling — Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
Two subcontractors who drilled unauthorized water wells near the border wall in the Columbus and Bootheel areas are facing penalties and the loss of their licenses to operate in New Mexico if they don’t take corrective action.
During 2026, federal border authorities directed contractors to pump local groundwater to support construction of border wall and related infrastructure along a strip of federal land, known as the Roosevelt reservation, that President Donald Trump placed under military control in 2025.
Ranchers in the Columbus and Hachita areas raised alarms about several new water wells on the periphery of their lands that had been drilled without state permits or required studies, raising the prospect of damage to natural springs and depleted resources.
New Mexico’s Office of the State Engineer announced Tuesday that it had issued notices of violation to Wyatt Drilling Arizona LLC and Arizona-based Cascade Drilling LP for repeated instances of nonpermitted well drilling in the Mimbres, Hachita and Lower Rio Grande Underground Water basins.
Both businesses declined to comment when reached by the Journal on Wednesday.
During OSE site visits from March to July, staff alleged they met with “limited cooperation” when they tried to inspect some sites.
"Our permitting process exists to protect the groundwater New Mexico families and farmers depend on — and we enforce it rigorously," State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson stated in a news release. “When outside operators show up in New Mexico and drill without a permit on federal land, it can threaten the livelihoods of New Mexicans, and we’re not going to tolerate it."
Anderson attended a town hall in Deming last month where local ranchers demanded the OSE investigate permit violations and take action against the subcontractors. Anderson and Nat Chakeres, the OSE general counsel, said they were negotiating with Customs and Border Protection for compliance with New Mexico water laws. For past border wall construction, the federal government had purchased water locally or trucked it in from another location.
On Monday, CBP saidit had paused new well construction and was “working collaboratively with local landowners to ensure that construction activities do not adversely impact their water needs.” Local ranchers have called for permanently capping and plugging the wells to prevent future pumping.
OSE said the drillers had not followed construction and plugging requirements and exposed groundwater resources to potential contamination. In particular, it said a borehole collapse at an unspecified site had not been addressed.
The notice gives the companies 30 days to submit corrective plugging plans and remediate the wells to state standards or face losing their well drillers’ licenses and civil penalties up to $3,400 per day.
Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.
New Mexico congressional delegation members demand info on military GPS jamming before fatal crash
—Lauren Lifke, Source New Mexico
Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are demanding answers from federal transportation and defense agencies following recent reports that White Sands Missile Range officials may have contributed to a fatal plane crash in May by jamming the pilot’s global positioning system.
The May 13 crash of a small medical transport plane near Ruidoso killed four people and ignited the Seven Cabins Fire, which burned nearly 17,000 acres in the Lincoln National Forest. A recent preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board notes that the pilot reported issues navigating the plane at the same time that White Sands Missile Range officials were conducting GPS jamming tests.
The military jams GPS to help determine whether United States military weapons systems are vulnerable to interference. These are planned, government-sanctioned activities and military exercises that support national security, according to the FAA’s GNSS Interference Resource Guide.
This week, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) and U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced in news releases that they were demanding information from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Department Secretary Sean Duffy.
“Military technology definitely had a role to play in the flight path of this tragic crash,” Vasquez said in a statement he released Wednesday after a briefing with the NTSB.
But even before the May crash, pilots had warned for years about GPS jamming while flying near the White Sands Missile Range, according to a Source NM review of hundreds of anonymous pilot testimonials contained in the federal Aviation Safety Reporting System. The system allows pilots to voluntarily and anonymously report safety issues to authorities that can investigate and take action.
Since 2010, according to Source NM’s review, nearly 70 different narratives published in the system have mentioned GPS jamming in New Mexico, most of them near White Sands, and sought to alert authorities about the potential dangers.
“This extremely frequent jamming of critical GPS navigation is a significant threat to aviation safety,” one pilot wrote in September 2019. “This jamming has to end.”
Another pilot, in 2014, warned about similar issues navigating the steep terrain in New Mexico at night with a sudden loss of GPS technology.
“The GPS jamming, in a high terrain airport area, at night, with a runway that abuts high terrain, is an accident waiting to happen,” the pilot wrote.
Several pilots said that while they were able to safely navigate their planes without the help of GPS, they received insufficient advance notice of the jamming.
As recently as last year, one pilot flying in New Mexico said he was unaware that his GPS was at risk of being jammed despite receiving official clearance to take off, following a review of weather conditions and other pre-flight considerations, through what is known as a flight release.
“I had searched the flight release for any news of GPS outages prior to the event but I did not see any. It was a bit of a surprise,” one pilot wrote following a flight in July 2025. “This sort of thing ought to be publicized and disseminated to airlines and aircraft operators through FAA communications.”
Source NM requested an interview with Federal Aviation Administration officials regarding pilots’ concerns about GPS jamming in New Mexico. A spokesperson declined to make someone available for an interview, but noted that pilots can use another navigation system, called Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Ranges, if GPS interruption occurs.
“We will continue to maintain these navigation aids to ensure aircraft can safely navigate and land during any satellite outages,” FAA spokesperson Chris Mulloly told Source NM in May.
Several flight experts told Source NM that the safety of the airspace relies on several systems that work together, so the loss of GPS alone shouldn’t cause a crash by itself.
Still, “If you’re getting ready to land, and you’re in the clouds, and all of a sudden you have a disruption of what your position is, that’s not good,” said Robert Joslin, associate professor of the practice at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Joslin said.
Judge orders Meta to pay $567M over harm to New Mexico youth
—James Bennett, Albuquerque Journal
A Santa Fe district judge has ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to pay $567 million and make changes to improve the experience of juvenile users after ruling that the company’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, contributed to a public nuisance that has harmed children and teens in New Mexico.
Chief 1st Judicial District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid issued the decision Thursday following a two-phase civil case brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. In the first phase of the trial, a jury found that Meta violated the state’s Unfair Practices Act, resulting in $375 million in civil penalties for 75,000 violations.
The second phase focused on addressing the broader harm caused by Meta’s platforms. Biedscheid ruled that New Mexico is facing a youth mental health crisis and that Meta’s products are a significant contributing factor. The state argued that the company allowed minors easy access to addictive social media features and exposed them to risks, including exploitation by sexual predators.
The $567 million payment will fund programs over five years focused on youth mental health awareness and prevention, screening and assessment, referrals and coordination, treatment, and evaluation. The largest portion of the funds — $420 million — will go toward treatment efforts.
The judge also ordered Meta to make changes affecting juvenile accounts and submit written progress reports to the court and the state twice a year, on June 30 and Dec. 31, throughout the five-year period.
