The Colorado River is in trouble. Some groups want the government to step up - By Dorany Pineda, Associated Press
Earlier this year, several environmental groups sent a petition to the federal government with a seemingly simple message: Ensure that water from the imperiled Colorado River is not wasted and only being delivered for "reasonable" and "beneficial" uses.
The organizations urged the Bureau of Reclamation to use its authority to curb water waste in the Lower Basin states: California, Arizona and Nevada. They argued it was necessary to help address the river's water shortages.
The concept of reasonable and beneficial use is not new, but it's being discussed at a crucial moment. Chronic overuse, drought and rising temperatures linked to climate change have shrunk water flows. States reliant on the river are approaching a 2026 deadline to decide on new rules for sharing its supplies, and they have until mid-November to reach a preliminary agreement or risk federal intervention.
The petitioning groups argue that reducing water waste could help ensure the river has a sustainable future. But others worry cuts could bring hardship to farmers and consumers.
The river supports 40 million people across seven U.S. states, two states in Mexico and Native American tribes.
"We don't have a management future for the Colorado River right now and it's getting pretty scary," said Mark Gold, adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and former director of water scarcity solutions with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the environmental groups that filed the petition. "We should be dealing with this as a water scarcity emergency, and one of the things that you really want to do in an emergency is, let's deal with water waste first."
The bureau has not responded to the petition. In a statement to The Associated Press, the agency said it continues to operate with the agreements and rules in place and has other strategies to "reduce the risk of reaching critical elevations" at the river's reservoirs, Lakes Powell and Mead.
Defining 'beneficial' and 'reasonable' is not easy
A bureau code says "deliveries of Colorado River water to each Contractor will not exceed those reasonably required for beneficial use."
But Cara Horowitz, director of UCLA's Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic, wasn't sure what that meant or how it's applied. So she and her students sought to find out with government records.
"As best as we could tell, it's never defined the phrase and it does not use the phrase in any meaningful way as it's making water delivery decisions," said Horowitz, who is representing the groups. They believe the bureau needs a reformed process to determine whether states are avoiding wasteful and unreasonable use. In the petition, the groups urged the bureau to address those issues and perform periodic reviews of water use.
Experts say that defining reasonable and beneficial use could be challenging, but some argue it's worth a try. Others worry that allowing an authority to determine what's wasteful could have negative impacts.
"It's potentially a whole can of worms that we need to approach very carefully," said Sarah Porter, the Kyl Center for Water Policy director at Arizona State University. "Who gets to be the entity that decides what's an appropriate amount of use for any particular water user or community?"
The groups see it differently. For example, they think farmers should be incentivized to change "wasteful" irrigation practices and consider growing crops better suited for certain climates. An example they gave of "unreasonable" use is year-round flood irrigation of thirsty crops in deserts. In cities and industries, wasteful use includes watering ornamental turf or using water-intensive cooling systems.
In a 2003 case, the bureau invoked the provision when it ordered water reductions to California's Imperial Irrigation District, the largest river water user, after determining it couldn't beneficially use it all. The district sued and the dispute eventually settled.
Concerns from farmers and cities
California's Imperial Valley relies 100% on Colorado River water. The desert's temperate, mild winters are ideal for growing two-thirds of winter vegetables consumed nationally.
Andrew Leimgruber, a fourth-generation farmer here, has tried to reduce his use with water-savings programs. He grows crops like carrots, onions and mostly alfalfa, which he often flood-irrigates because it fills the plant's deep root system. For up to 60 days in the summer, he doesn't water it at all.
Water cuts because of "unreasonable" use could mean people won't be able to eat a Caesar salad in New York City in January, Leimgruber said. He worries about short-term food shortages and putting farmers out of business.
Bill Hasencamp, manager of Colorado River Resources for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the agency supports an annual process to ensure water is being beneficially used, even as that definition changes, but he doesn't think it's meant to solve the river's existential crisis. He worries invoking this tool could result in litigation. "Once things go to court, there's always a wild card that's sort of out of anyone's control."
A California provision as a model
Some experts point to California's constitution as a potential model, which contains a provision on reasonable and beneficial use. How that is interpreted is fluid and decided by state water regulators, or the courts.
"The way it's written is actually very adaptable to the times, so it's actually about what is wasted and reasonable use in a given time," said Felicia Marcus, fellow at Stanford University's Water in the West program and former chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board. "So things that would have seemed to be reasonable 50 years ago, no longer are."
The state water board has invoked its beneficial and reasonable use provision in times of drought, for example, to help support using less water in cities. It's deemed washing sidewalks or washing cars in driveways as unreasonable. In another case, the water agency argued and won that it was unreasonable for a senior water rights holder to take so much water that fish couldn't swim to cold water refuges.
Water regulators have also threatened to apply their unreasonable use authority to get the holders of water rights to better manage their use. "It's a tool that gets used as both a threat and a backstop," said Marcus.
Addressing shortages requires multiple approaches
Leimgruber, the Imperial Valley farmer, said limiting population growth and expansion in arid areas could help. John Boelts, a farmer and Arizona Farm Bureau president, suggested more desalination projects. And Noah Garrison, a water researcher at UCLA, found in a recent study he co-authored that states could do more to recycle wastewater.
Still, as decades-long droughts plague parts of the basin and with critical deadlines approaching, some experts say it's time for the bureau to be more assertive.
"There's responsibility here to be the water master on the river or it gets thrown to the Supreme Court, which will take years to work its way through," said Marcus. The "beneficial use petition is one way to say, 'Here's a tool you have, step up and consider it.'"
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APS usually gives guns found on campuses to APD. But three sat in evidence lockers for nearly a year. - Noah Alcala Bach, Albuquerque Journal
Three guns recovered from Albuquerque Public Schools campuses sat in evidence lockers — instead of being traced and tested — for nearly a year after being seized from students at three different high schools.
Since 2023, APS police have had an agreement to turn over seized firearms to the Albuquerque Police Department to see if they were involved in a crime or had been stolen.
APS Police Chief Steve Gallegos called the three guns that were not turned over “outliers.”
“We typically turn firearms over to APD quickly and will strive to do that with all firearms in the future,” Gallegos said. He said the guns were turned over to APD on Aug. 15.
Gallegos declined to comment further.
In separate September 2024 incidents at Volcano Vista, Valley and ACE Leadership high schools, district police recovered those firearms from a student.
In the Valley High School incident, a 15-year-old student was suspected of spraying graffiti in the gymnasium. A search of his backpack turned up a loaded gun, not spray paint.
At ACE Leadership — a charter school, of which APS does not oversee day-to-day operations — a handgun was found in a 17-year-old’s bag after a struggle with the school’s CEO. The school’s CEO initially searched the bag for vapes the student admitted they were selling on campus.
That same day, a 16-year-old was also found to have a gun in a Louis Vuitton bag, and was “connected to the vapes investigated,” according to the police report.
And at Volcano Vista, a loaded handgun was found in the backpack of a 17-year-old suspected to have been involved in a felony crime two weeks prior. Additionally, a modified shotgun — which had a serial number that had been filed off — was found in the student’s truck.
In all, 15 firearms were found on APS campuses last year, and the Journal reviewed APS police reports from each. Of the 15 guns seized, serial numbers that were provided in the documents were passed along to APD.
APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said earlier this month that the department had not received the three firearms from the September 2024 incidents.
The Journal sent APS an inquiry about where the three guns were on Aug. 14. The next day they were turned over to APD.
On Wednesday, Gilbert Gallegos said it was his understanding that APD had received five guns from the district on Aug. 15.
According to APS spokesperson Martin Salazar, only three guns were turned over to APD. He added that the district’s police chief ordered an audit following the Journal’s inquiry.
Less than a week into this school year, on Aug. 20, five firearms were seized from APS students in separate incidents. Salazar said that those guns have already been provided to APD.
Guns on district campuses have been a growing problem since the pandemic. Despite fewer students than ever in their classrooms, the district has seen a sharp spike since 2020 in students found carrying guns.
Since students returned to in-person learning classrooms, APS has recovered 62 guns on or near its campuses. Prior to that, from 2016 to 2020, district police recovered 27 guns, according to previous Journal reporting.
Las Cruces police ask lawmakers to toughen laws for children accused of crimes - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
A high-profile mass shooting in Las Cruces earlier this year loomed large over state lawmakers’ deliberations this week as they considered whether to pursue legislation endorsed by local police that would make it easier to detain children accused of crimes even if they are found incompetent to stand trial.
The March 21 shooting at a park in Southern New Mexico’s largest city injured 15 people and killed three. Four people, including three children, face first-degree murder charges for the shooting and are in jail awaiting trial. The Las Cruces police chief in the days that followed joined Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in criticizing lawmakers for not passing a bill that would have allowed more young people to be prosecuted as adults.
Prosecutors in the case are conducting pre-trial interviews with police and civilian witnesses this week, and a three-week trial is scheduled to begin in February, according to court records.
On Tuesday, two Las Cruces Police Department officers showed the interim legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee a compilation of videos other young people posted to social media depicting themselves shooting guns at public parks and from moving vehicles in the city’s residential neighborhoods. They played excerpts of recorded jail phone calls depicting young people bragging to their friends about shooting people and later getting their cases dismissed. The videos and audio recordings did not identify the speakers.
Officer Benjamin Berling told the committee that youth charged with felonies or firearms-related offenses who are found incompetent to stand trial often face dismissal of charges without meaningful treatment or accountability.
He and Sgt. Mark Renteria proposed lawmakers in the next legislative session change New Mexico’s law governing competency proceedings for children to mirror the changes they made earlier this year when it comes to the same proceedings for adults.
They shared with the committee a draft bill that would prohibit judges from dismissing a case solely based on the child’s competency until they have received mental health treatment. If a person under the age of 18 is charged with a misdemeanor and found incompetent, state law requires a judge to dismiss the case, Third Judicial Deputy District Attorney Jeanne Quintero told the committee.
“There needs to be something that we can do — that you guys can do as a Legislature — to alleviate this problem, because this is a giant glaring hole,” Berling said.
Most of the committee’s discussion focused on Berling’s juvenile competency proposal, but he also suggested legislators make it a felony to give a firearm to someone who goes on to use it to commit a violent crime; empower juvenile probation officers to immediately arrest and jail a child found to be violating probation; reconsider a proposal to include digital communication like text messages in the state’s telephonic harassment law; and lengthen prison sentences for people convicted of crimes related to gang activity.
Then on Wednesday, the committee heard from Quintero and Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur who said New Mexico needs more juvenile competency evaluators and more resources for courts to rehabilitate children facing criminal charges.
Quintero, who manages competency cases for the Las Cruces prosecutor’s office, said only two competency evaluators in New Mexico take juvenile cases, and only one speaks Spanish.
“That’s kind of disheartening because it’s hard to get an appointment, because both of them do adults as well, so they’re juggling time and space,” said Quintero, who is prosecuting the mass shooting case along with District Attorney Fernando Macias.
Baur, who was a prosecutor in Santa Fe for five years — including two years in juvenile court — cautioned the committee against enacting new statewide laws based solely on the incidents in Las Cruces depicted in the videos and jail calls.
“In speaking to people who work in the juvenile field, all of those things we saw happened, those children are real, some of those attitudes are real, but I would tell you that I think there’s a consensus that’s not what’s going on everywhere around the state of New Mexico,” Baur said. “We need to trace back and see what’s going on with those children and what we can learn, but we can’t make statewide laws based upon those.”
Lindsay McDonnell-Benatar, who supervises the juvenile division at the LOPD’s Las Cruces office, told the committee since the Young Park shooting, she has not seen any other children charged with actually shooting people but has seen cases in which minors are accused of possessing a firearm.
Quintero said she agrees with McDonnell-Benatar that actual shootings and killings are rare. She said she reviewed every case brought in children’s court in Doña Ana County between Jan. 1, 2023 to July 2025 and found that all gun crimes involving young people have spiked over the last year, with most charges being for possession. She said she thinks the increase is explained by Las Cruces police being “incredibly proactive in looking at juveniles with firearms.”
Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) said when lawmakers amended the competency law for adults earlier this year, they found that cases where competency was raised accounted for approximately 4% to 7% of all criminal cases, and she asked if there is a similar percentage among juvenile cases.
Baur said it’s roughly the same percentage, and McDonnell-Benatar said more community-based mental health resources are needed in Las Cruces and across the state.
“We’ve been talking a lot about kids that are at the end stage, they’re at their worst moment,” McDonnell-Benatar said. “But what we need are more resources, from bottom to top. We don’t have hardly anything that we need in order to help the kids at the crucial moment, before we get to this point where we’re dealing with shootings.”
Mora County declares state of emergency following flooding, road damage - KOB-TV
In Mora County, local officials have declared a state of emergency due to flood waters damage to area roadways from flash flooding.
KOB-TV reports some people in Mora County are trapped in their homes as a result of washed-out roads.
Others have reported floodwaters in their homes, and recovery efforts have been slowed by poor communication between Mora County agencies and the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
First responders are trying to identify those residents who are at medical risk while trapped at home by flood waters.
Travelers in the area should know that part of State Road 434 is closed north of the town of Mora.
About seven miles north of the town limits, the highway suffered major damage from flooding and will be impassable for the time being.
State Road 434 is the road leading from Mora north to Guadalupita and eventually Angel Fire.
Motorists looking to travel between Mora and the Enchanted Circle area are being detoured to State Road 518, which runs between Mora and Taos.
Also, the New Mexico Department of Transportation is advising travelers to avoid State Road 120 in Mora County. That’s the road that runs from Black Lake east toward Ocate.
The road is open as of this report, but state officials recommend avoiding State Road 120 in Mora County for the time being.
Historic Castañeda Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M., sold to trio of locals - Santa Fe New Mexican
The historic and recently restored Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas should have local owners by the holiday season.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports current owner Allan Affeldt has agreed to sell the Castaneda to Las Vegas residents Carlos Lopez, Annette Lucero, and her husband Dennis Lucero. The ownership is scheduled to transfer on Nov. 20.
The Luceros said they plan to re-open the hotel’s bar and restaurant.
Affeldt is a Sedona, Arizona-based developer who bought the building in 2014. The New Mexican reports Affeldt poured millions of dollars into renovating the historic landmark. The Castaneda was re-opened in 2019.
The hotel was completed in 1889 by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company. It was one of the renowned Harvey hotels, operated by the Fred Harvey company until 1948.
The Castañeda was designed by California architect Frederick Roehrig and was one of the first examples of the Mission Revival architectural style in New Mexico. It’s located on the city’s eastern side, and stands alongside the Las Vegas railroad station.