New Mexico lawmakers propose a Jeffrey Epstein probe of activity at secluded desert ranch - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A secluded desert ranch where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests is coming under new scrutiny in New Mexico, where two state legislators are proposing an investigative "truth commission" to guard against sex trafficking in the future.
Democratic state Rep. Andrea Romero of Santa Fe said several survivors of Epstein's abuse have signaled that sex trafficking activity extended to Zorro Ranch, a sprawling property with a hilltop mansion and private runway about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of the state's capital city. Yet not enough is known about what went on there for the state to take precautions against abuse in the future, she said.
"This commission will specifically seek the truth about what officials knew, how crimes were unreported or reported, and how the state can ensure that this essentially never happens again," Romero told a panel of legislators on Thursday. "There's no complete record of what occurred."
The investigation, with a proposed $2.5 million budget, would thrust New Mexico into an international array of probes into Epstein's associations that is roiling the U.S. Congress and prompted King Charles III on Thursday to formally strip brother Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of the title of prince.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
The case was brought more than a decade after he secretly cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida to dispose of nearly identical allegations. Epstein was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them.
Epstein purchased the Zorro Ranch in New Mexico in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a 26,700-square-foot (2,480-square-meter) mansion. The property was sold by Epstein's estate in 2023, with proceeds going to creditors.
While Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, the state attorney general's office in 2019 confirmed that it was investigating and had interviewed possible victims who visited the ranch.
In 2023, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez ordered an investigation into financial businesses utilized by Epstein and their legal obligations, said agency spokesperson Lauren Rodriguez. That resulted in agreements with two banks that dedicates $17 million to the prevention of human trafficking, she said.
On Thursday, Democratic and Republican legislators expressed guarded support for a new probe, amid concern that New Mexico laws allowed Epstein to avoid registering locally as a sex offender long after he was required to register in Florida.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution under an agreement that required him to spend 13 months in jail and register as a sex offender — an agreement widely criticized for secretly ending a federal sex abuse investigation involving at least 40 teenage girls.
"I do feel like this is a unique opportunity to help victims," said Republican Rep. Andrea Reeb, a former district attorney from Clovis. "I do believe New Mexicans do have a right to know what happened at this ranch. And I didn't get the impression it was gonna be a big political thing."
But another Republican legislator demanded, "Why now?" — noting tensions related to President Donald Trump and his vow to release documents related to the late sex trafficker.
"Why not a long time ago?" said Rep. Stafani Lord of Sandia Park. "Every time I ride my motorcycle past there (Zorro Ranch), I get sick to my stomach."
Results are at least two years away. To move forward with a truth commission, approval first is needed from the state House when the Legislature convenes in January to create a bipartisan oversight committee of four legislators, said Democratic state Rep. Marianna Anaya, a cosponsor of the initiative.
After 19-year-old cyclist killed, Albuquerque City Council tightens traffic law - Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
When a car struck and killed 19-year-old cyclist Kayla VanLandingham at a bike crossing on Carlisle, the driver had done nothing wrong, according to the law.
That law is set to change after Wednesday, when the Albuquerque City Council unanimously voted to update the traffic code, mandating that all vehicles stop at flashing safety lights and yield to pedestrians, cyclists and other “vulnerable road users” in crosswalks.
“If this code existed in its current form, I truly believe Kayla would still be with me today,” Melinda Montoya, VanLandingham’s mother, said at Wednesday’s council meeting.
In VanLandingham’s obituary, family and friends recalled her loving relationship with her mini Australian service dog, Moki, her “sweet giggle” and dedication to challenging herself and others. VanLandingham was also a childhood cancer survivor and often volunteered with Children’s Cancer Fund of New Mexico.
VanLandingham also worked at the city-run Esperanza Bike Safety Center.
“Kayla’s courage and tenderness touched everyone around her,” her obituary read.
While the City Council was spurred into action after VanLandingham’s death, 23 pedestrians and four other cyclists were killed in crashes in Bernalillo County this year, according to data from the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico Department of Transportation.
Road safety is a longstanding issue in the state, with New Mexico being ranked worst in the nation for pedestrian fatalities for the past eight years, according to the annual reports from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association.
Turning things around will take more than laws, said the legislation’s sponsor, Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn.
“While we just passed a really important update to our traffic code — it’s only as good as our education and outreach with the community so that everyone knows about it,” Fiebelkorn said.
Alongside the traffic code change is a public education campaign directive, which the council unanimously approved Wednesday. Once developed, the city will put up billboards, take out print, radio and television ads about the law change, update its own mandatory training for city employees and deliver educational materials to schools.
The law change is meant to give the Albuquerque Police Department the ability to enforce traffic laws surrounding crosswalks with hopes of reshaping Albuquerque’s driving culture over time.
In many West Coast cities, it’s common and codified in their laws for drivers to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. In Albuquerque, advocates said that drivers often ignore crosswalks entirely.
The amended law also expanded the definition of a crosswalk to include bike crossings — such as where VanLandingham was killed — and unmarked crosswalks, which exist at every intersection regardless of whether it’s delineated with the signature striped white lines.
The law also codifies the “Idaho Stop,” which allows cyclists to pedal through stop signs and pause at red lights and continue if clear. The Idaho Stop was passed statewide during the regular legislative session earlier this year.
An update with new technology was also added to the outdated law, creating a list of “vulnerable road users” that includes pedestrians and cyclists, as well as people on e-bikes, scooters, skateboards and motorized wheelchairs.
It also explains how drivers should treat different kinds of crossing lights, such as high-intensity activated crosswalks, or HAWK lights, that are being installed across the city in the wake of VanLandingham’s death.
When a pedestrian presses the button on a HAWK light, it triggers a flashing yellow light to let drivers know to slow down. It will then turn red so the pedestrian can cross. After several seconds the light will begin flashing red, which means the driver may proceed if the pedestrian has finished crossing.
Where VanLandingham was killed, there was an overhead flashing yellow light meant to alert drivers to yield, although it legally didn’t require them to stop. Those yellow lights have been criticized for confusing to drivers and causing crashes.
Bike safety advocates, including Montoya, have asked for the installation of HAWK lights, which they say are safer, at bike crossings with heavy traffic.
In response, the city announced in August that it plans to install seven HAWK lights across the city, including where VanLandingham was killed. Three such lights will be placed along the Bear Canyon Arroyo Trail where it crosses Wyoming, Eubank and Morris. Two more will be placed along Central, where pedestrian fatalities are highest.
The lights will go on the intersections of Brit and Central, near Eubank and Dorothy and Central, near Juan Tabo.
Next to VanLandingham’s memorial, a white ghost bike decorated with yellow daffodils, orange marigolds and plastic butterflies, a construction crew worked Thursday to put up the new light.
For members of VanLandingham’s family, this change comes too little too late.
“Honestly, I’m angry that it has had to be the death of my granddaughter and the advocacy of my daughter to bring this issue to light,” said Diana Zamora, VanLandingham’s grandmother and Montoya’s mother at Wednesday’s meeting.
Despite the tragedy, Montoya said that making the streets safer for everyone is something her daughter would have wanted.
“Kayla also worked at Esperanza Bicycle Safety Center, where she shared her love of bikes and her belief that riding brought freedom, joy, and the ability to ‘do the hard things,’” her obituary reads.
When VanLandingham was killed in July, she was the third employee from the city-run center to die after being hit by a car in recent years.
Though Montoya plans to take her advocacy to the Roundhouse in the spring, she said this local update is a good first step.
“I say ‘thank you’ and I know Kayla would, too,” Montoya told councilors.
State of New Mexico says FEMA denied ‘indispensable’ aid for Ruidoso flood recovery - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Officials with New Mexico’s state emergency management agency said Thursday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency opted to withhold disaster prevention funding following deadly flooding in the Ruidoso area, a decision they are appealing.
FEMA’s decision not to award funding from its Hazard Mitigation Grants Program “puts lives and property at risk unnecessarily during new or cascading life-threatening flooding events,” said Ali Rye, deputy secretary of the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, in an appeal letter Oct. 24. The appeal also calls the funding “indispensable.”
The mitigation program enables the state to prepare for future disasters and prevent so-called “cascading events” from causing repeated damage or undoing progress in disaster areas, according to Rye’s letter.
Earlier this summer, flooding devastated the Ruidoso area, causing widespread damage to homes and business and prompting numerous swiftwater rescues. Also, three people, a father and his two kids, died after floods swept them out of their home.
Flooding and debris flows have continued to threaten the area since the Salt Fork and Salt Fire last summer. Rain that falls on burn-scarred mountainsides often becomes powerful floods, and the state and other agencies have been working since last summer to harden the area against future flooding.
President Donald Trump on July 22 declared a presidential disaster in Lincoln County, a couple of weeks after storms, floods and landslides devastated the area in and around Ruidoso. Then FEMA in mid-August announced that Doña Ana County residents could also qualify for aid after separate flooding. Local governments and other public entities in Otero County can receive some funding to recover from floods under the same disaster declaration as well.
The letter did not specify how much funding FEMA is withholding. DHSEM spokesperson Danielle Silva told Source New Mexico that there is no “set number” on how much the grant is worth, but that it can be as much as 7% of the total cost of the disaster. She did not immediately respond to how much the disaster cost, but some estimates put it at at least $10 million.
Rye’s letter says FEMA denied the funding without adequate reason and that agency officials lack the discretion to do so under the law. She also said that FEMA officials “articulated verbally” to the state that they withheld the grant funding because the state hasn’t fully spent the money it’s received in previous disasters.
But Rye’s letter disputes that premise. Instead, she writes, FEMA has provided the state with only about $20 million of about $120 million it’s promised for mitigation grants for multiple recent disasters.
FEMA officials did not respond to Source New Mexico’s request for comment Thursday.
Despite withholding the mitigation grant funding, FEMA has provided about $11 million in response to the disasters in Southern New Mexico, according to the latest figures. That includes a little more than $8 million to about 600 households affected in the disaster.
New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham calls special legislative session Monday to extend food benefits - Julia Goldberg, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday she would call lawmakers into a special session to extend food benefits to New Mexico residents reliant on federal food aid.
At the end of October, the governor and state legislators announced $30 million in state funding to compensate for SNAP after the United States Department of Agriculture announced it would not pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits during the federal shutdown. Federal judges since then have ordered the Trump administration to pay out the benefits, but they remain delayed and are expected to be less than usual.
The $30 million appropriation runs out on Monday.
A news release from the governor’s office said the special session is expected to last one day. It will be the second time the governor has called state lawmakers into session to address federal fallout from reduced appropriations for benefit programs. During the three-day session that began Oct. 1, lawmakers ultimately passed an approximate $162 million spending package to compensate for health care and food assistance cuts at the federal level
In a statement Thursday, the governor—who is currently attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil— said the state “acted fast in October when the Trump administration abandoned New Mexican families, and now the legislature is coming back to finish the job. We are fortunate that several years of economic prosperity and sound fiscal management have enabled us to support New Mexicans in this time of need. However, we will not be able to fund these state supplements forever. Republicans in Congress need to come back to the table to end the longest government shut down in American history and get everyone back to work.”
Approximately 460,000 New Mexico residents receive SNAP benefits. In their absence, food banks across the state have reported a spike in clients.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that families don’t go hungry waiting for this essential nutrition program to resume,” Health Care Authority Kari Armijo said in a statement. “This special session will allow us to continue serving New Mexicans while federal funding for the SNAP program remains uncertain.”
Democratic legislative leaders Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth and House Speaker Javier Martínez, of Santa Fe and Albuquerque, respectively, both backed the special session in statements provided in a news release from the governor’s office.
“No New Mexican should go hungry because of inaction and uncertainty in Washington D.C.,” Wirth said. “The legislature is ready to step up again to ensure our families have the food assistance they need.”
State Republican legislative leaders, however, said congressional Democrats are to blame for the federal shutdown and the lost benefits and called out New Mexico’s two U.S. senators in particular.
“Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich have made it crystal clear: They don’t care about you,” Senate Republican Leader Bill Sharer (R-Farmington) said in a statement. “They have repeatedly prioritized party politics over serving their constituents back home. While we’ve seen their antics before, Senators Luján and Heinrich have set a new low by holding the hard-working people of New Mexico hostage as political pawns for their partisan theatrics, forcing state lawmakers to have to shoulder the cost so that vulnerable New Mexicans can put food on their tables for the holidays.”
House Republican Leader Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena), issued a comparable statement that said Luján and Heinrich “are refusing to fund SNAP benefits for the neediest New Mexicans. I would much prefer the Governor use her authority and influence to urge our Senate delegation to end this crisis by voting to reopen the federal government. Instead, they are holding vulnerable New Mexicans hostage for political leverage.”
One of the pilots killed in the UPS plane crash was from Albuquerque – KOAT-TV, Associated Press
One of the pilots killed when a UPS flight crashed and exploded in Louisville, Kentucky, was from Albuquerque.
KOAT-TV reports First Officer Lee Truitt was one of the crew members killed while operating the flight on Tuesday.
Truitt graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2006 and was a registered pilot rated to fly single engine commercial planes. He also had a rating to fly multiengine transport planes.
Truitt was also a former radio DJ volunteer with KUNM.
The inferno destroyed the enormous plane and spread to nearby businesses, killing at least 13 people, including a child and three UPS crew on the cargo hauler.
AP reports the plane had been cleared for takeoff Tuesday when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.
GOP state Sen. Steve Lanier announces candidacy for New Mexico governor - Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
Republican state Sen. Steve Lanier of Aztec announced his bid for governor Thursday. Lanier is the second Republican to officially enter the race. Lanier has represented the New Mexico Senate's District 2 since 2024.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Lanier spent 28 years as a teacher and coach at Aztec High School after graduating from Western New Mexico University. He was elected to the San Juan County Commission in 2020 before moving to the Legislature four years later.
Gregg Hull, Rio Rancho’s longest-serving mayor, entered the race as a Republican earlier this year and made it official in October. Three other Republicans have filed to run with the state Secretary of State's Office, although Hull is the only one raising money so far, according to the latest campaign finance disclosure data.
Democrats Deb Haaland, a former congresswoman and U.S. interior secretary, Sam Bregman, who is the district attorney in Bernalillo County, and former longtime Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima are also in the running.
Whoever wins the Democratic nomination would start out favored to win in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 130,000 and where Democrats hold all state-level offices, although Republicans have expressed optimism about building on President Donald Trump's 2024 gains in the state.
The Democratic and Republican primary elections will be in June 2026, with the general election in November 2026.