DOGE includes Carlsbad WIPP office on list for termination - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appears to have targeted a building lease for the Carlsbad field office overseeing the country’s only underground nuclear waste disposal site, prompting immediate censure from members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation.
The Department of Energy Carlsbad Field Office is in the Skeen-Whitlock building, a 90,000- square foot facility that houses 200 workers who manage the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant – better known as WIPP.
WIPP itself is not at the Skeen-Whitlock building. The underground waste depository lies in a saltbed about 26 miles east of Carlsbad and is the nation’s only storage site for defense-related nuclear waste. Most of the items disposed of are soiled with elements heavier than uranium – such as plutonium.
The building was listed as one of the more than 7,000 leases listed as terminated by DOGE, but there is no additional information. Members of the U.S. The Department of Energy national and Carlsbad Field Office did not respond Tuesday morning to a request for information.
The building’s potential closure poses risks to both the environment and national security, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said in a written statement.
“The abrupt closure of the Skeen-Whitlock building would further strain our ability to manage nuclear waste effectively,” Vasquez said. “It is imperative that DOE and GSA provide immediate clarity on this issue and work collaboratively to ensure that WIPP’s mission is not compromised.”
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) also issued a statement Tuesday, saying he will fight the closure of the facility.
“WIPP is critical to our national security. Now, Elon Musk and President Trump are jeopardizing WIPP’s operations and its ability to safely manage the disposal of nuclear waste”, Luján said. “The Carlsbad Field Office exists to ensure that WIPP can safely and effectively conduct its operations, and a potential closure could lead to delays in nuclear waste disposal and puts our environmental safety at risk.”
Luján’s statement further noted that closing the field office “would not only undermine the safety protocols at WIPP to protect the public and environment but also will put hundreds of federal jobs in one of the most rural areas of our state at risk.”
Members from Vasquez’s office sent an email Monday to the U.S. General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s leases, writing that the closure was “deeply concerning.”
“The Carlsbad Field Office has already lost approximately 30% of its staff in the past month. This office is home to WIPP emergency response staff, who play a critical role in ensuring the safe management of defense-related nuclear waste,” legislative assistant Emily Hartshorn wrote. “Closing this facility would pose a serious risk to national security.”
The GSA acknowledged the email from Vasquez’s office early Tuesday, but did not provide any further information about the leases’ status.
A person answering the phones at Cowperwood Company, which owns the Skeen-Whitlock building, said that the company would not comment nor confirm if it had received a termination notice from the GSA, saying: “that’s just not something we’re willing to discuss at this time.”
Don Hancock, the Nuclear Waste Safety program director and administrator at the nonprofit Southwest Research and Information Center, said the potential closure raises questions about where workers would relocate to or if the termination would mean a larger step to closing the site.
“WIPP can’t operate without workers in Skeen-Whitlock and the WIPP site,” Hancock said. “That obviously has major implications for not only Carlsbad, New Mexico, but also for North Carolina, a major shipper of waste and Idaho, which has a legal agreement requiring WIPP to be open and receiving shipments.”
Heinrich to skip Trump joint address - By Matthew Reichbach, New Mexico Political Report
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said he will not attend Tuesday’s joint address to Congress by President Donald Trump.
“I’m not going to President Trump’s Joint Address tonight,” Heinrich said on social media Tuesday morning. “I’ll start attending when he starts following the law.”
Heinrich is New Mexico’s senior U.S. Senator and recently won his third term in office.
In his role as the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Heinrich has spoken out against a number of Trump’s cabinet members, though he has voted to confirm five of them, including Doug Burgum as Interior Secretary and Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy.
The other members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation will attend, and announced who they would bring as a guest. Each member of the House and Senate can bring a guest to attend, and lawmakers usually use this as a way to prove a political point.
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján announced his guest would be Katy Anderson, a vice president at Roadrunner Food Bank.
“Programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) are lifelines for thousands of New Mexicans,” Luján said. “Gutting these resources hurts our families and threatens our communities and the economy. I hope Katy’s presence is a powerful reminder of the vital role that Roadrunner Food Bank and federal nutrition programs play in keeping our communities healthy and fed.”
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury will attend with Linda Son-Stone, the CEO of First Nations HealthSource. According to the company website, the First Nations Health Source “serves as New Mexico’s Urban Indian Health Center and a Federally Qualified Health Center.”
Stansbury represents the state’s 1st Congressional District.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez will attend with retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Roland “Coopdawg” Cooper. Cooper is the chairman of the Lincoln Otero County Veterans Leadership Council.
Vasquez’s office said in a press release they chose to invite Cooper to reflect the congressman’s “commitment to uplifting veteran voices — particularly those from rural areas — and ensuring New Mexico’s veterans are heard at the highest levels of government.”
Vasquez represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez announced her guest will be Arielle Pines, the spouse of a military member and a former Department of Veterans Affair employee who was fired from her job by the Trump administration, through Elon Musk’s DOGE effort.
Leger Fernandez represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District.
More endangered Mexican gray wolves are roaming the southwestern US, annual survey shows - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
It is a ritual that takes place every winter — federal and state wildlife managers use remote cameras, scat collection, radio telemetry devices and helicopters to count Mexican gray wolves that are roaming mountain ranges in parts of New Mexico and Arizona.
The predators that are captured during the annual survey are weighed and vaccinated, their blood is drawn and their radio collars are checked. It is all part of a decades-long effort to gauge the success of the work being done to return the endangered species to its historic range in the southwestern U.S. and in Mexico.
This year's count shows the recovery of Mexican wolves is inching forward.
The smallest subspecies of gray wolf in North America, Mexican wolves were listed as endangered in 1976, and a binational captive breeding program was started to guard against extinction. The reintroduction program has been the source of many legal battles over the years — with environmentalists seeking to get more captive wolves released into the wild and ranchers fighting to protect their way of life.
HERE IS A LOOK AT MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES BY THE NUMBERS:
286
That is at least how many Mexican wolves there are in the wild in New Mexico and Arizona. It's 11% more than the previous year, and it marks the ninth straight year that the population has grown. Reintroductions began in 1998 with the release of 11 captive-reared wolves in southeastern Arizona.
60
The minimum number of packs that were documented at the end of 2024, with more than half of those living in southwestern New Mexico. Wildlife managers define a pack as two or more wolves that stick to a home range.
26
That is how many breeding pairs are in the wild — 16 in New Mexico and 10 in Arizona.
48%
The survival rate of the 160 pups that were born in 2024. Wildlife managers say 79 pups survived at least through the end of the year.
27
Mexican wolf pups that were fostered in 2024 — captive bred pups that were placed into dens in the wild to be raised by other wolf packs. Officials say cross-fostering pups helps boost wolf numbers and genetic diversity.
30
The number of wolf deaths documented during 2024. That includes six in fourth quarter, with all but one of those being in New Mexico.
99
The number of confirmed cases in 2024 in which wolves killed livestock, with seven investigations still pending. Officials with the wolf recovery team say the number of livestock deaths due to wolves has been decreasing, but ranchers still see it as a safety issue for their families and livelihoods.
290
That is how many times wildlife managers conducted successful hazing operations in 2024 to keep wolves away from rural homes and livestock.
350
There are about that many Mexican wolves living in captivity in zoos and other facilities in the United States and Mexico that work to conserve the species.
$203 million
The price tag of Mexican gray wolf recovery based on a 25-year time frame, according to estimates included in the 2022 revised recovery plan. Environmentalists are concerned that recent federal funding and job cuts could derail the progress made so far.
MLG on proposed Republican healthcare cuts: This is ‘actually a health care tariff’ - Matthew Reichbach, New Mexico Political Report
The top story out of Washington D.C. continues to be the haphazard efforts to slash government services, which has left many worried about the future of the country’s safety net.
Included are cuts to Medicaid, which would not only affect millions of Americans, but also would have a massive impact on state budgets throughout the country, particularly in New Mexico, which has the highest number of residents who get health insurance through Medicaid.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appeared on CBS News to discuss this proposed cut.
“It means that more than 800,000 New Mexicans would be under- or uninsured completely, so we ripped those healthcare benefits [away],” Lujan Grisham said about what it would mean if the House Republican budget plan becomes law.
Lujan Grisham also said because the insurance industry is connected, this would impact those who aren’t on Medicaid.
“This cut is actually a health care tariff to everybody else. That means your health insurance premiums go up, that means your co-pays go up,” Lujan Grisham said. ”That means Medicare covers less, that means your prescription drug costs go up. That means no one has primary care docs.”
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez also spoke out against Medicaid cuts last week. Leger Fernandez spoke from El Centro Family Health in Española.
“Many clinics that look like [El Centro] are in Republican areas, they’re in Pennsylvania, in Texas, in Iowa, they are across this country,” she said. “This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, it’s an issue of keeping our population safe and doing it in an incredibly cost effective manner […] If you believe in babies and family values, you should believe in making sure those babies are born healthy.”
Odds and Ends
All three members of the U.S. House from New Mexico will attend President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress this week. (Note: It’s technically not a State of the Union)
Leger Fernandez told ABC News that she would attend and said it was an opportunity for Democratic women to highlight the impact of Trump and Elon Musk’s actions over the last six weeks.
“We want to make sure that the world knows about the betrayal of America’s women to benefit billionaires that’s going on,” she said in the interview.
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury was on a call from womensforward.us where she discussed Democrats’ plans to blunt the moves by the Trump administration. One activist on the call gave the bullet points on what Stansbury, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, said.
For example: “[Stansbury] said that all 215 Dems are communicating on a scale they never have before and the senators are doing the same. She said they are using their voting power and using actions to put sand in the gears and be unruly even if we’re not seeing or understanding at all.”
An effort by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Tim Kaine of Virginia, both Democrats, to end President Donald Trump’s declaration of an “energy emergency” failed on a party-line vote last week, with the Republican majority defeating the effort.
Trump’s energy emergency declaration is another way to promote fossil fuel production and curb the growth of clean energy such as solar and wind power.
In his role as ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Heinrich joined with U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee to demand more transparency from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on his department’s “action plan” on energy and public lands. The letter says that the Interior Department was a week overdue on providing the plan to the public.
PNM warns of possible power shutoffs amid wildfire risks - Megan Gleason, Albuquerque Journal
Amid a very windy start to the week, the Public Service Company of New Mexico is warning customers near high fire-risk areas the company could shut off power to prevent wildfires.
PNM will give a heads up to customers before turning off power temporarily, a process called public safety power shutoffs, or PSPS. Exactly how long PNM needs to shut off power depends on the extreme weather situation.
“Up until hours before, the weather can change and the situation can change very quickly,” said Michael Mertz, PNM’s vice president of operations.
PNM will implement a temporary power outage if weather modeling tools identify extreme enough weather conditions, like high wind levels or low humidity levels. Areas with a lot of wind fuel content, like trees or grasslands, are more likely to receive power shutoffs.
That includes Santa Fe, the East Mountains, Las Vegas, Ruidoso, Clayton, the Mescalero Apache Nation, Silver City and Tesuque Pueblo, according to PNM.
PNM sends updates to customers living in high fire-risk areas about potential planned power outages due to wildfire risks. Update contact information online at pnm.com or text #ALERT to 78766 to sign up.
More information can be found online at pnm.com/wildfire-safety.
PNM crews will also inspect power lines before turning power back on in a PSPS to ensure nothing like tree branches have fallen into the path of the lines, conducting any necessary repairs.
The utility is also in the process of disaster-proofing its infrastructure.
PNM is covering wooden distribution lines with fire-proofing wrap and converting transmission lines to steel structures, said Omni Warner, PNM vice president of operations and engineering.
He also said the utility is rebuilding existing infrastructure, like if it’s at the end of its useful life, to “grid-harden” it, or make the poles taller and cross arms wider to make lines more disaster resistant. Rebuilding transmission lines will take place over the next five to 10 years, Warner said.
He also said about 40% of PNM’s distribution is underground, avoiding wildfire risks. The company could implement more underground infrastructure in high fire-risk areas in the coming years. He said most of the existing underground infrastructure is in Albuquerque or Rio Rancho, larger communities with less wildfire risks that have fronted the higher costs for converting the infrastructure.
“Those communities are willing to pay more,” he said.
As of Monday afternoon, PNM hadn’t issued a PSPS, utility spokesperson Jeff Buell said. He said the company is issuing public notices for what could come in the windy spring weather.
PNM President and CEO Don Tarry in a news release urged customers to be prepared for the possibility of power shutoffs.
Texas measles outbreak fueled by distrust in public health and personal choice - By Devi Shastri/Associated Press and Carlos Nogueras Ramos/Texas Tribune
Measles had struck this West Texas town, sickening dozens of children, but at the Community Church of Seminole, more than 350 worshippers gathered for a Sunday service. Sitting elbow-to-elbow, they filled the pews, siblings in matching button-down shirts and dresses, little girls' hair tied neatly into pink bows.
Fathers shushed babbling toddlers as their wives snuck out to change infants' diapers.
A little girl in this mostly Mennonite congregation was among those who'd fallen ill with the highly contagious respiratory disease, senior pastor David Klassen said — but she's doing fine, and she happily played through her quarantine. He heard that at least two Mennonite schools shut down for a bit to disinfect.
What he hasn't heard: Any direct outreach from public health officials on what to do as the number of those sickened with measles has grown to 146 and a school-age child has died. And though Klassen is a trusted church and community leader, his congregants haven't asked about whether they should vaccinate their kids — and he wouldn't want to weigh in.
"With this measles situation, I can honestly just tell you we haven't taken any steps as a church," he said. "We did leave it up to the mothers."
As measles — a preventable disease the U.S. considered eliminated in 2000 — spreads through West Texas' rural expanse, Klassen is sticking to an approach on vaccines that is a key tenet for Mennonites. Family leaders are the top decision-making authority — not outside recommendations, certainly not government mandates.
Alongside measles in this region, where voters overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump, there's another outbreak: one of misinformation about vaccines, distrust of local public health officials and fear of governmental authority overruling family autonomy. And on the national stage, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the country's top health official and an anti-vaccine activist, dismissed the Texas outbreak as "not unusual."
"Do I trust all the vaccines? No," Klassen said. "And I get from (Kennedy) that he doesn't trust all the vaccines, either. And he is very well educated in that; I'm not."
In an opinion piece for Fox News Digital, Kennedy wrote about the value of the vaccine but stopped short of calling on families to get it, saying the decision is "a personal one." He urged parents to speak to their health care providers about options.
Vaccine skepticism has also been spurred by state lawmakers who this year filed more than a dozen bills that would strengthen or expand vaccine exemptions, which Texas already allows for "reasons of conscience, including a religious belief."
Doctors on the front lines
At hospitals in Lubbock, 80 miles to the north and on the front lines of the outbreak, babies with measles are struggling to breathe.
Dr. Summer Davies, a Texas Tech Physicians pediatrician, said she has treated about 10 of the outbreak's patients, most very young or teens. She said children have had to be intubated, including one younger than 6 months old. Others come in with such high fevers or severe sore throats that they refuse to eat or drink to the point of dehydration.
"It's hard as a pediatrician, knowing that we have a way to prevent this and prevent kids from suffering and even death," she said. "But I do agree that the herd immunity that we have established in the past isn't the same now. And I think kids are suffering because of that."
In Lubbock County, 92% of kindergarteners are up to date on their measles, mumps and rubella shots, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That's lower than the 95% threshold experts say is needed to prevent measles from spreading. Gaines County, which includes Seminole, has an 82% MMR vaccination rate, though rates for homeschooled or private school students may be much lower. The vaccine series is required for kids before entering kindergarten in public schools nationwide. Many Mennonite families don't send children to public schools.
All of the children admitted with measles to Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock were unvaccinated, officials said last week. Dr. Lara Johnson, the hospital's chief medical officer, told The Associated Press that Covenant has seen more than 20 patients, including children, teens and pregnant mothers, since the outbreak began in late January.
News of a measles case in Seminole, population 7,200, put doctors on a "shared high alert," said Dr. Martin Ortega, a family physician for Texas Tech Physicians in Odessa, about an hour away. The small towns of West Texas may look completely isolated on a map, with little between them beyond oil and gas facilities and sprawling desert. But the region is connected by its people, who regularly travel long distances to grocery stores, hospitals and houses of worship.
Many doctors are seeing measles cases for the first time in their careers. In Lea County, New Mexico, 30 minutes west of Seminole, nine measles cases with no clear connection to the Texas outbreak, rattled doctors and parents. An unvaccinated infant in Austin also tested positive for measles after an overseas vacation.
It's "a little bit surreal," said Dr. Rumbidzai Mutikani, a pediatrician at Nor-Lea Hospital District's Hobbs Medical Clinic. Parents were so concerned "our phones were just ringing," Mutikani said.
Katherine Wells, director of Lubbock's public health department, said West Texas' rural landscape is a major challenge, not just in getting to patients and transporting test samples, but also in getting the word out.
A lot of the messaging is word of mouth, she said, but they are working on public-service announcements featuring trusted Gaines County residents, putting up billboards about measles, handing out flyers and posting in WhatsApp groups.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused "a lot of distrust in public health" and government requirements, Wells said. On Facebook, people have accused her of making up the measles outbreak. They hope her department loses its funding.
It's "really hurtful stuff," she said. "We're really working to help encourage vaccines for our community and help those kids that are infected to make sure they get medical treatment so that we don't end up with another death."
Pro-Trump, but 'not anti-vaxxer'
The reality on the ground can be nuanced, however.
Brownfield Mayor Eric Horton is pro-Trump, he said, but also pro-MMR vaccine.
His county was hard-hit by COVID-19, Horton said, with nearly 90 deaths. So when measles cases came to his town of 8,600, Horton feared for his community. He said the local hospital has been busy administering vaccines since the outbreak started.
"Out here on the south plains of Texas, we are conservative people, but we also are not anti-vaxxers," he said.
Across the region, people echoed this sentiment about routine childhood vaccinations in interviews with the AP and The Texas Tribune. Often, though, they are less supportive of COVID-19 and flu shots.
"It's frustrating that (Mennonites) don't vaccinate, and they put other people's families and children at exposure for it," said Stephen Spruill, a 36-year-old trucker from Seminole.
But "this is America. People have the right to choose."
Macey Lane, 31, of Hobbs, said: "I do support Donald Trump. I don't support not requiring vaccines.""
All of Lane's kids are vaccinated. Praising Sen. Mitch McConnell's vote against Kennedy's nomination, she said the fact that "the only Republican that went against RFK was a polio survivor says a lot." But she said she voted off other issues: her religious beliefs, stance on abortion and who would be best for the region's oil and gas industry.
"As far as RFK being an anti-vaxxer, this is the most important thing: People have to make a decision for themselves and be as informed as they possibly can," Horton said.
But in doctors' offices throughout the region, pediatricians see the consequences of that stance.
Mutikani, the Hobbs pediatrician, said she's seen vaccine hesitancy increase in recent years as parents come to her with worries that line up with what's trending on social media. "Virulent" misinformation is especially worrisome in rural areas with few news sources or where many people who don't regularly see doctors live, she said.
And having "these really big, respected public figures openly going against the grain, going against research and what we know, it makes it really, really difficult," she said.
Most Texans are still vaccinating their kids, including Jennifer Sanchez, a 26-year-old Odessa resident. She took her 6-year-old and 1-year-old to the local public health department last week to get the measles vaccine.
She is disinfecting her house out of an abundance of caution, wishing she had more information on how to stop the spread.
"The government needs to give us more tools so we can protect ourselves," she said.
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AP journalists Mary Conlon and Julio Cortez contributed to this report.
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This story is part of a collaboration between The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to promoting civic engagement, and The Associated Press. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
After fishy debate, Senate approves bill modernizing NM Game and Fish department - By Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico’s Department of Game and Fish would get its biggest facelift in decades under a bill that cleared the state Senate on Saturday.
After a lengthy debate that touched on fishing, wolves, prairie dogs and sand dune lizards, the Senate voted 28-12 to approve the legislation.
This year’s bill, Senate Bill 5, would rebrand the agency as the state Department of Wildlife, restructure the state Game Commission and increase license fees for anglers and hunters.
An in-state New Mexico fishing license, for instance, would increase from $25 to $35, while an out-of-state seasonal fishing license would jump from $56 to $90.
Backers of the legislation say the fee increases would help the agency remain functional. Other funding infusions would allow the department to take on a larger role in regulating and protecting New Mexico wildlife.
They also described the bill as a delicate deal crafted after months of negotiations.
“It is a compromise in which we have addressed concerns from all parties,” said Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, one of the sponsors of the legislation.
The bill has support from a broad coalition of conservation groups, including the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the local chapters of Trout Unlimited and the Audubon Society.
However, Sen. James Townsend, R-Artesia, pointed out groups like the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association still oppose the legislation.
Specifically, Townsend raised concern about whether the legislation would allow game wardens to kill predatory animals and how endangered species would be treated.
“I think we need to be more definitive about what we’re going to protect and what we’re not,” Townsend said.
This year’s bill marks the latest attempt to restructure the seven-member Game Commission, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s removal of several commissioners and other turnover.
The governor pocket vetoed a 2023 bill that would have changed how Game Commission members are appointed, while other measures have stalled at the Roundhouse.
After several changes in Senate committees, this year’s proposal advancing at the Roundhouse calls for the creation of a nominating committee to help vet new game commissioners, as is currently done for judicial vacancies.
The governor would then be able to select names from among a list of nominees.
Fishing and hunting issues have occasionally turned into political flashpoints at the Roundhouse, such as when lawmakers voted in 2015 to allow private landowners to bar public access to streams and rivers running through their property.
The state Supreme Court in 2022 ruled the state Constitution allows public access to such waterways.
Meanwhile, the Saturday vote came after senators rejected a series of amendments proposed by Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, that sought to expand the scope of the legislation.
“To try to change it at this point would be unfair, I think, to the process that got us to this point,” said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe.
He also said the state might need to provide more funding for the Game and Fish department, which currently relies on license fees to fund its operations.
“Putting it all on the backs of the fishermen and the hunters is an interesting way to do business,” Wirth said.
The bill now advances to the House of Representatives with three weeks left in the 60-day legislative session that ends March 22.
Governor appoints two state district court judges - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday announced appointments of two state district court judges, one in her hometown of Albuquerque and the other in the state’s northwest corner.
Matthew Chavez on March 15 will become a judge in the Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque, which has a total of 30 judges.
Brenna Clani-Washinawatok on Saturday became a judge in the 11th Judicial District Court in Aztec and Gallup, which has eight judges in total.
Chavez will leave his current post as chief legal counsel for the state Department of Public Safety. He was previously a public defender at the Law Offices of the Public Defender’s Second Judicial District Office in Albuquerque, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Chavez is taking the seat formerly held by Judge Stan Whitaker, who is retiring after 18 years on the bench.
Clani-Washinawatok is a child support hearing officer and has provided legal counsel to the New Mexico Health Care Authority’s Child Support Division for more than a decade, according to a news release.
An enrolled member of Navajo Nation, she is the first Native American to serve as an 11th Judicial District Court judge, according to a news release the court published in February.
“It is a great honor and humbling experience to serve the people of San Juan and McKinley counties as a judge,” Clani-Washinawatok said in a statement. “I am guided by the rule of law, and look forward to working with the dedicated employees and judges of the court to provide fair and impartial justice for all.”
Clani-Washinawatok replaces Judge Daylene Marsh, who is also retiring after 12 years.
Both Chavez and Clani-Washinawatok graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law. She was admitted to the State Bar of New Mexico in 2005, and he was admitted in 2012.
According to the law school’s Judicial Nominating Commission, one vacancy remains in New Mexico’s district courts: a seat on the bench at the 12th Judicial District Court in Alamogordo.
The nominating commission for the court will meet on March 19 to screen the three people who have applied: Jane Elizabeth Granier, Albert Richard Greene III and Lori Lee Gibson Willard.
District court judges serve six-year terms and handle most of the state court system’s trials, in which they rule on criminal prosecutions and resolve disputes in civil cases.
Their rulings can be appealed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals and, depending on the case, the New Mexico Supreme Court. District courts can also hear appeals of rulings by magistrate courts.