National search announced for next University of New Mexico president - Noah Alcala Bach, Albuquerque Journal
The University of New Mexico’s Board of Regents on Tuesday outlined the next steps for a national search to find a successor to President Garnett Stokes, who announced her retirement last month.
“The Board will soon appoint an advisory search committee tasked with assisting the Board in identifying qualified candidates for the presidency,” UNM wrote in a news release.
Stokes will serve as president of the university through the end of the academic year. She is the first woman to hold the position and has led the university for over seven years, making her one of the longest-serving presidents in UNM’s history.
“This search represents an important moment in UNM’s history — an opportunity to find a leader who will build on the incredible momentum already underway,” Board Chair Paul Blanchard said in a statement. “We are searching for a leader who brings integrity, vision, and the ability to turn ideas into action.”
Along with appointing a search committee, the board will select an external firm to assist in the search. The board is in the process of finalizing the contract with a firm, so a final cost is not yet available, according to Ben Cloutier, spokesperson for the university.
The estimated cost of the contract would be around $200,000 — roughly a third of Stokes’ salary.
According to UNM, the committee and firm will “lead a rigorous nationwide effort to identify candidates, host public forums and candidate visits, and make recommendations to the Board.”
By late spring 2026, regents are slated to select and name a president, who will begin their tenure upon Stokes’ retirement.
New Mexico’s efforts to regulate PFAS attracts national industry pushback - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico officials this week will share information about forthcoming laws requiring labeling for products that contain so-called “forever chemicals.”
The virtual meeting on Wednesday follows recent proposed rulemaking for both labeling and restricting such products, and comes amid national pushback from industry.
The proposed rules come via House Bill 212—the PFAS Protection Act—passed by lawmakers in the 2025 legislative session. The bill institutes the phasing out of most intentionally added per and poly fluoroalkyl substances— PFAS—from in everyday items.
This class of manmade chemicals, which has thousands of variants, resist breaking down in nature and can accumulate in water, soils and increasingly in the blood and bodies of humans and animals around the world. Because of PFAS’ durability, they’ve been used extensively in materials for waterproofing, nonstick cookware, makeup, carpets and firefighting foams.
Studies on PFAS’ health impacts remain ongoing, but have thus far been linked to kidney and reproductive cancers, decreased fertility, fetal developmental delays, disruption of immune responses and liver functions in people.
American Chemical Council, an industry group representing 190 chemical companies, said it opposed the labeling requirements and called the department’s proposed rule “inconsistent” in an Oct. 14 statement to Chemical and Engineering News.
The group plans further participation in rulemaking, officials told Source NM in a statement.
“There are a number of concerns and questions about the scope of the New Mexico proposal, and we’ll be actively engaged in the rulemaking process to advocate that any requirements are based on credible science, do not mislead consumers or users of products, or create overly burdensome requirements that could negatively impact innovation and economic development,” Senior Director of Product Communications Tom Flannigan said.
Secretary James Kenney told Source NM that he expected the department to “face headwinds,” on rulemaking.
“We know that we’re going to face national resistance, and the question that I need New Mexicans to wrestle with –- and to be clear, we’ve wrestled with it — ‘Why are we going to let outside voices from Washington, D.C., telling you what should be on your kitchen table with or without PFAS, with or without your knowledge.”
Carla Hutton, the senior regulatory analyst for Bergeson and Campbell, an international law firm based in Washington, D.C. that often represents chemical industry groups before federal and state regulators, said the labeling requirement issued by New Mexico came as a real “surprise.”
Hutton said the law firm won’t take a position on the rulemaking, but said officials there will be watching it closely to see how it affects industry, including how labeling requirements in other states impact New Mexico’s rulemaking.
“The labeling requirement is a big ask,” she said. “It’s complicated. It’s not as though a single company or factory manufactures all the bits and pieces and puts them together there, so there’s a lot of questions about how companies will have to work through the supply chains and determine what needs to be labeled and how.”
Environmental groups who have supported legislation to limit the sale of products containing PFAS in other states said they’ll be watching New Mexico’s rulemaking. Gretchen Salter, the policy director at Safer States, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating chemical exposure in the environment, said the concern for PFAS extends over the lifetime of the a product, whether it’s in production, being used or disposed into landfills.
“Consumers have a right to know, and they want to know whether they’ve got PFAS in their products,” Salter said. “And it doesn’t matter the kind of PFAS, because there really is no safe PFAS.”
While the new rulemaking and HB212 aims to prevent new pollution, state officials said they’re still addressing the consequences of contamination from decades of PFAS use on military sites.
To that end, New Mexico environment and health department officials will travel to the Clovis Civic Center on Thursday and present the results of a recent study evaluating blood tests from Curry County residents. The meeting will also be livestreamed here.
While the presence of PFAS in 99% of the Curry County samples is on par with national studies of PFAS across the nation, New Mexico environment officials previously told Source NM in August, the presence of PFAS used by the U.S. Air Force firefighting foams in people’s blood was a “direct correlation,” to the contamination that migrated off-base.
The report also found that 14 people tested had very high PFAS levels, similar to levels found in other states where the chemicals were manufactured or spilled. For comparison, only an estimated 9% of adults nationwide have those levels present.
According to a news release, the New Mexico Department of Health will offer one-on-one private health consultations, even for non-participants.
The New Mexico Environment Department, will also offer sign-ups for free private drinking water well tests and installation of free PFAS filtration systems if the levels exceed drinking water standards.
Auction house to sell Gene Hackman's Golden Globes, watch and paintings he collected and created - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
An auction house plans to sell off a variety of actor Gene Hackman's possessions in November, including Golden Globe statues, a wristwatch and paintings he collected and created himself.
Hackman died at age 95 at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after transitioning from an Oscar-winning career in film to a life in retirement of painting, writing novels and collecting.
Auction items include a still-life painting of a Japanese vase by Hackman and Golden Globe awards from roles in "Unforgiven" and "The Royal Tenenbaums." There are annotated books from Hackman's library, scripts, posters, movie memorabilia — and high-brow art including a bronze statue by Auguste Rodin and a 1957 oil painting from modernist Milton Avery.
Anna Hicks of Bonhams international auction house said the sales "offer an intimate portrait of Hackman's private world."
Listings start as low as $100 for Hackman's everyman Winmau dart board or $600 for a shot at his Seiko diver's wristwatch.
The catalog includes a likeness of Hackman from portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinstler, who painted U.S. presidents and drew for comic books.
Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead inside their home on Feb. 26 — sending shock waves through a high-desert city refuge for famous actors and authors seeking to escape the spotlight. Authorities determined that Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer's disease about a week after Arakawa, 65, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by the droppings of infected rodents.
Hackman made his film debut in 1961's "Mad Dog Coll" and went on to appear in a range of movie roles, including as "Superman" villain Lex Luthor and as a basketball coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite "Hoosiers." He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for "The French Connection" in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for "Unforgiven" two decades later.
He retired from acting in the early 2000s.
Massive virtual arcade on the Las Vegas Strip files for bankruptcy after just one year in business - The Associated Press
A massive virtual arcade located on the Las Vegas Strip filed for bankruptcy after just one year of operation, facing a pending eviction and millions in unpaid claims, court documents show.
The Electric Playhouse in Las Vegas, a high-tech gaming and dining center inside a mall at the world renowned Caesars Palace resort, submitted the filings in federal court on Monday. The filing requested that the motions for bankruptcy be heard on an accelerated timeline so that current employees can be paid on Friday.
The sprawling 10,000-square-foot Las Vegas gaming venue is equipped with a network of sensors that track the movements of guests to create a digital avatar, "similar to a player inside a video game," the website said. Guests use their bodies to play games instead of controllers or consoles, with the walls and furniture of the kaleidoscopic, windowless rooms responding to body movements to create interactive games.
The company has between $1 million and $10 million in assets, and will not be able to pay unsecured creditors after administrative fees associated with the bankruptcy are paid, according to court filings.
The venue opened in Las Vegas, a city known for pricey shows and around-the-clock gambling, just three years after the first location opened in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2021.
The court filings didn't list a reason for the company's financial turmoil and an attorney for the company couldn't be reached for comment.
Tourism in Las Vegas was markedly down this summer, with resorts and convention centers reporting fewer visitors compared to last year, especially from abroad. There was an 11% drop in June 2025 compared to the same month the year prior, when the new Electric Playhouse opened. In that time, hotel occupancy has also fallen by about 15%, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Still, many businesses in the world famous partying destination characterize the downturn as a return to normal after a post-pandemic spike, and remain optimistic.
New Mexico universities, colleges grappling with $134 million in federal cuts - Santa Fe New Mexican
New Mexico colleges and universities are navigating the new fiscal year having received a total of $134 million in federal cuts.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports lawmakers are reviewing the effects of the cuts during meetings of the Federal Funding Stabilization Subcommittee, a state government ad-hoc group convening this week in Las Cruces.
A little more than $10 million of that total is Title V funding, which is a funding source for schools with student bodies composed of 25% or more Hispanic students. Tribal colleges and universities have received about $4.5 million in cuts. Most of those cuts came through DEI grants.
State lawmakers heard presentations from college and university officials this week. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology vice president of research Lique Coolen was among those addressing legislators. The New Mexican reports Coolen said federal research priorities are narrowing, with defense, advanced computing and critical infrastructure taking priority.
Coolen also described how the Department of Energy recently terminated $42 million worth of funding for a carbon storage hub. The project was planned to be a collaboration between New Mexico Tech and UNM, along with other universities and laboratories.
The New Mexican reports lawmakers have asked schools to identify particular funding priorities for the state to address. State Sen. Linda Trujillo, a Santa Fe Democrat, pointed out this week that the state cannot make up for all the lost funding.