ABQ asks for immediate removal of encampment at Quirky Books
-Gregory Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
The city of Albuquerque says a homeless encampment outside Quirky Used Books & More needs to be removed immediately, just two days after a fatal shooting outside the store.
On Monday, the city requested a preliminary injunction that would put an end to all camping activities on the property, according to a city news release.
“The emergency filing argues that the city and nearby residents will suffer irreparable harm if the property continues to operate,” the release states.
The request comes two days after Gregory Antone, 28, was gunned down outside the business on Jefferson, near Central.
“For more than a year, the city has documented a persistent pattern of criminal activity, public safety hazards and code violations associated with the encampment operating on the property owned by Jefferson LLC and Gillam Kerley,” the release states.
“Despite repeated notices, hearings and fines, the property owners have continued to allow individuals to camp at the location, creating escalating harm to adjacent businesses, residents and the broader community.”
The bookstore owner said the business will fight the city in court.
“What the city is alleging, once again, are things which have nothing to do with the people who are camping here, but reflect issues with homelessness and crime in this part of the city in general,” Quirky Used Books owner Gillam Kerley said in a phone interview. “So, we will be vigorously opposing this and expect that the court will deny the request for a preliminary injunction.”
Early Saturday morning, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a call of a shooting at the property. When officers arrived, they found Antone’s body, the release states.
According to the city, Antone got into an argument with people at the encampment before being fatally shot.
“The homicide this weekend underscores exactly why the city cannot allow this illegal operation to continue,” City Attorney Lauren Keefe said in a statement. “The neighboring properties have had to deal with drug activity, litter and violence. We are taking decisive action to protect this community.”
Within the past year, APD has responded to 235 calls for services in the area of the property, according to the city. The property had been previously cited for violating ordinances, including the city’s prohibition on outdoor storage and restrictions on overnight camping, the release states.
“It (is) disappointing that the city is exploiting a tragic act of violence in order to escalate their case against us, a case against people who are not responsible for that violence or the other issues that neighboring businesses complain about,” Kerley said.
The fatal shooting happened over a week after city officials asked a judge to declare the bookstore a “public nuisance” because of health concerns and alleged illicit drug use by unhoused people staying in the parking lot, the Journal reported.
If the court grants the city’s public nuisance request, city code enforcement will be allowed to enter the property and evict the people living there. The city also asked 2nd Judicial District Judge Daniel Ramczyk to grant the city permission to petition a judge to sell the property to a new owner if the property remained a public nuisance.
“The city maintains that shutting down the illegal activity at this property is necessary to prevent additional violent incidents, ongoing code violations, and restore safety to the area,” Monday’s news release from the city states.
Taos formally renames Kit Carson Park to Red Willow, with Taos Pueblo's approval
Santa Fe New Mexican
In Taos, a prominent city park has been renamed. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the Taos Town Council on Monday approved a resolution changing the name of Kit Carson Park to Red Willow Park and agreed to several conditions from Taos Pueblo.
Councilors Genevieve Oswald, Darien Fernandez and Corilia Ortega voted to approve the resolution during a special meeting, while Councilor Marietta Fambro voted no. The New Mexican reports Fambro asked for more financial and logistical details about how the measure would be implemented. Mayor Pascual Maestas was absent from the meeting.
Oswald and Taos Pueblo Second Tribal Sheriff Jesse Winters presented the recommended name as the culmination of the work of the Kit Carson Park Renaming Committee, but the name was ultimately chosen at the request of the Taos Pueblo Tribal Council. At an Oct. 23 meeting of the Park Renaming Committee, Tribal Secretary Jeremy Lujan read a letter identifying Red Willow Park as a name that was suitable for “unceded” Tiwa territory, and introducing several conditions from the tribe.
The Taos News reported at the time the word "Taos" is believed to be a translation of “place of the red willow” in Taos Pueblo’s native language, Tiwa. Previous efforts to rename Kit Carson Park date back the early 1970s. The New Mexican reports around 50 people participated in citizen forums during monthly renaming committee meetings, and three times that number participated in surveys about the park and what a new name should represent.
The park is located about two blocks northeast of the plaza and is the site of the Taos Community Auditorium as well as the Kit Carson grave site and cemetery.
Coalition of NM locales says $200 million more needed for water projects - by Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Water infrastructure projects across New Mexico are $200 million short of being fully funded for fiscal year 2026, according to the New Mexico Municipal League.
Leaders with the Municipal League, a nonprofit organization that aims to solve common problems shared by locales across the state, told state lawmakers at a Legislative Finance Committee hearing Tuesday morning that statewide drinking water infrastructure needs have a price tag of more than $3 billion.
In addition to those steep costs, League officials raised concerns about how long the funding process takes and how an eroding tax base is making it disproportionately difficult for smaller cities and towns to pay for their critical infrastructure needs.
In 27 of New Mexico’s 33 counties, the state Water Trust Board has authorized 113 water infrastructure projects with a combined cost of $522 million, according to the League’s report. Those include $16 million in improvements to a Gallup water reclamation facility, $4 million for water meter replacements in Las Vegas and $10.8 million for a lake conveyance project in Raton.
The discussion came as water systems in virtually every corner of New Mexico are feeling strain. Last year, the state identified issues with nearly 140 drinking water systems. More recently, issues of contamination have cropped up in Curry County, where “forever chemicals” were found in drinking wells, and in Doña Ana County, where the New Mexico Environment sued the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority over alleged mismanagement and repeated failed arsenic tests.
“What we saw this year was over $500 million in notices of intent…we’re still $204 million short of what we need to fully fund the applications that came in,” New Mexico Municipal League Executive Director AJ Forte told lawmakers Tuesday. “They just don’t have the revenue in place to update these systems. It’s not in the millions, it’s in the tens of millions to get them updated.”
Forte said much-needed funds for water infrastructure projects stay in an irritating holding pattern after they’re approved. By law, the state Water Trust Board makes loans and grants for water projects, but the money can only be disbursed by the state Legislature during the legislative session. That can delay funding by as much as 180 days, Forte said, and can lead to a host of issues including inflation, supply chain constraints and missed construction windows. In July, the Municipal League said it wanted lawmakers to give the New Mexico Finance Authority the power to greenlight water-related funds for three years.
One state lawmaker pushed back on Tuesday. Sen. George K. Muñoz, D-Gallup, said that removing legislative oversight could cause more problems than it solves.
“When we give up our legislative authority, things can go awry very quickly,” Muñoz, who serves as chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said. If the funding decisions are less centralized, Muñoz said, the state runs the risk of disproportionately funding these sorts of projects in bigger cities with deeper pockets. “You’ll see a large municipality outbidding a smaller pueblo.”
Concerns over funding voiced on Tuesday stemmed from what the Municipal League report called “tax base erosion.” Municipal budgets largely depend on tax revenue to fund costly projects, but local governments often use tax deductions or exemptions to entice developers to build, meaning these locales must rely on a “narrow and volatile base,” the report said.
Some reductions to gross receipts tax revenue have come from state law. The report said that Senate Bill 425, a 2019 law aimed at GRT deductions for defense-related satellite contracts, has led to $1.75 million in reduced taxes; and House Bill 252, a 2024 law that provided GRT deductions for Medicaid home renovations, childcare and geothermal facilities, has led to $12 million in reduced taxes.
Three-quarters of New Mexico cities rely on gross receipts tax revenues of less than $10 million, according to the report. And 40% of cities rely on GRT revenues of less than $1 million, meaning that the cost of a water infrastructure project is likely to eclipse what is often a small town’s largest source of revenue.
“These things really add up. These are significant numbers,” Alison Nichols, New Mexico Municipal League’s deputy director, told lawmakers, adding that the idiom she and her colleagues use for these proposals is, “death by a thousand cuts.”
NM GOP asks for fraud examination in newly approved SNAP audit - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Republican lawmakers in the New Mexico Legislature are urging state officials to expand the scope of an audit into the state’s food assistance program with the help of $50,000 they secured during the recent second special session.
State legislators approved $162.5 million during the Nov. 10 session to pay for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits through January that were threatened amid the federal government shutdown. During negotiations, Democrats in the majority agreed to accept a Republican amendment that allocated an additional $50,000 to conduct an audit of New Mexico SNAP allocations.
Republicans said the audit is necessary, in large part, due to the state’s high SNAP “error rate,” which is a calculation of the state’s over- or underpayments to recipients. At 14.6%, New Mexico has among the highest such rates in the country, according to federal officials.
The high rate poses potentially huge consequences for the state. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” spending bill contains provisions requiring states with high rates to use their own funding to pay administrative costs.
States with rates above 10% incur the highest penalty, which amounts to about $173 million, according to a recent presentation from the Legislative Finance Committee. Under the law, the state has until October 2028 to bring the rate down, state officials said.
But Republicans said Friday that they hope the LFC, which is conducting the audit, expands its scope beyond systematic, state-level errors in SNAP administration and also examines fraud. Democrats noted during the session that the error rate does not include estimates of fraud, which is a crime.
Health Care Authority Kari Armijo affirmed that in testimony during the session, as well.
“Some of [the error rate] is caused by the agency. Some of it is caused by customers that didn’t report accurate information,” she said. “So it’s not really necessarily an indicator of fraud or any other kind of abuse.”
In a statement Friday afternoon, Sen. Crystal Brantley (R-Elephant Butte) cited recent criminal allegations against a Sierra County man accused of selling SNAP benefits in exchange for fentanyl.
“The families in my district—and across our entire state—deserve to know that every SNAP dollar is going where it’s intended: to feed people in need, not to fuel the fentanyl crisis,” she said.
Also on Friday, Republicans in both chambers issued a statement touting the audit funding and asking LFC Director Charles Sallee to use the funding to strengthen eligibility checks; fight Electronic Benefit Transfer card fraud; block payments to undocumented immigrants; and improve food nutrition standards, along with tackling the error rate.
Republican leaders in both chambers wrote to Sallee on Friday and said they are “strongly supportive” of the review.
“The findings and recommendations contained in the review’s final report will likely provide a pathway towards long overdue reforms and improvements,” they wrote.
Helen Gaussoin, a spokesperson for the LFC, told Source in an email Monday that LFC staff “always consider legislator suggestions” on program evaluations.
“We will do that in this case, as well,” she said. “We are still in the process of building the scope for the SNAP review so we don’t know yet how an examination of fraud will fit in.”
Under the Republican amendment, the LFC must present legislative leaders with preliminary findings about the review by Jan. 20 when the 30-day legislative session begins, and issue a final report on or before July 1.
Study shows nearly 3,000 unhoused people in Albuquerque - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
At least 2,960 people in Albuquerque on Jan. 22 called the streets or an emergency shelter their home, having nowhere else to go. Of that number, 1,367 people were completely unsheltered with no roof over their heads.
On Monday, the yearly Point-In-Time, or PIT, count to assess the number of people experiencing homelessness was released. As concerns over homelessness in Albuquerque continue to grow, so do the number of people living on the streets.
This year’s PIT number showed an 8% increase in homelessness in 2025, or 220 people. Last year, the number was 2,740 people.
The count occurs yearly when dozens of volunteers with the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness fan out across the city and count the number of people on the streets or at a shelter and ask about their history with homelessness.
“While the rise is concerning, it reflects what service providers have been seeing for months: growing housing instability, limited affordable options, increase of cost of living and community systems stretched beyond capacity,” the report states.
The PIT count shows the number of homeless individuals in Albuquerque has consistently increased since 2013, with the exception of 2022, when a harsh winter and fewer surveyors may have artificially lowered the number.
Survey respondents answered questions about their experience with homelessness. Most commonly, homeless people said their biggest barrier to housing was missing documentation, at 55%.
The survey did not specify what documents were missing or why they had been missing, but Jen Boylan, with the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, said roughly 80% of respondents in 2024 said they had lost a birth certificate, Social Security card or driver’s license during encampment sweeps.
Lack of housing vouchers and high rental prices followed as the second-biggest reasons, with 43% of respondents citing those as their reasons for homelessness.
“The Point-in-Time Count is useful, but it’s a one-night snapshot with very narrow federal definitions,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “It doesn’t reflect the full scale of homelessness in Albuquerque, which is why we rely on our daily data systems that show roughly 5,000 people cycle in and out of homelessness over the course of a year.”
Demographics
Certain demographics were overrepresented in the data, according to the study.
Despite making up about 9% of New Mexico’s population, 17% of the unsheltered population were Indigenous.
The study showed a massive increase in seniors experiencing homelessness since 2023, with a 23.6% increase. People ages 55-64 had a 43% increase in homelessness since 2023.
People ages 35-44 were the highest number of unsheltered people, with 479 people staying in the streets the night of Jan. 22. The same age group was also the highest in terms of seeking emergency shelter.
William Bowen, a continuum of care program officer for the coalition, said the boost might show a change in older people being able to work. However, seniors also sought out emergency housing at a higher rate than other age groups. They made up 34% of people in shelters.
The report showed of the 1,367 unsheltered people, 49.8% of them said they were experiencing homelessness for the first time, a “sharp uptick” that may be linked to things like inflation and repeals of pandemic-era relief programs, including an eviction moratorium, according to Bowen.
Nearly half of respondents were not from New Mexico, the study found. A majority of transplants said they were from Texas, Arizona or Colorado. About 36% of those respondents said they were not homeless prior to moving to New Mexico.
“It is more common for people to become homeless after relocating,” Bowen said.
Limitations
The PIT report cautions that the 2,960-person count is a “conservative estimate” rather than a full look at homelessness in Albuquerque.
“It is important to note that the scale of this increase is likely far greater than reflected in the PIT Count,” the study states.
If a person happened to be housed on Jan. 22 — whether through a friend or family member who offers a bed for the night, purchasing a hotel room, being hospitalized or sent to jail — they would be excluded from the count.
Children also tend to be underrepresented in the survey because “parents will often do everything in their power to make sure their child remains hidden, even if the parent is forced to sleep on the street so the child can receive temporary housing,” the report states.
Encampment sweeps may also affect the count, though the report states the city of Albuquerque agreed to pause encampment sweeps for the survey.
Additionally, some choose not to participate in the survey, skewing the numbers further. Over 878 individuals refused to participate in this year’s survey.
“We cannot lose sight of the fact that every person counted deserves stability and dignity,” Bowen said. “This report strengthens our resolve to push for the housing and services our community needs — and that every person deserves.”
Castelion Corp. chooses Sandoval County for hypersonic manufacturing campus - Matthew Narvaiz, Albuquerque Journal
The long-range, hypersonic missile manufacturer Castelion Corp. has chosen Sandoval County for its 1,000-acre campus, ending months of speculation over whether the company would ultimately select the site.
The California-based company and state officials made the announcement Monday morning, with Castelion co-founder and Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kreitz saying they decided to launch in New Mexico because of “its technical talent, regional infrastructure and history of scientific achievement.”
The selection of Sandoval County for the solid rocket motor manufacturing site follows a highly competitive offer by county officials, including $125 million in industrial revenue bonds approved in August, as well as finalized leases and a notice of intent in September.
Dubbed Project Ranger, the facility is expected to generate up to 300 high-paying jobs and an investment of more than $101 million, officials said in August. The economic impact could stand at more than $650 million over the next decade.
“Project Ranger represents a critical step in restoring America’s capacity to produce the advanced systems our country needs,” Kreitz said. “We’re proud to partner with a community with a long history of innovation that has powered some of our nation’s greatest leaps forward.”
Sandoval County was one of three sites whittled down from 40 initial locations across a dozen states, officials had said, with the proximity to national labs, research institutions and Spaceport America ultimately playing a key role in the county’s selection.
President Donald Trump’s administration’s plan to spend more than $1 trillion nationally on defense will likely be a boon for Castelion, founded in 2022, as it continues to grow. While the Defense Department’s budget request is slightly lower than last year’s, $150 billion in mandatory defense funding was also included in the reconciliation bill Congress passed over the summer.
Last month, the company said it had secured contracts with the U.S. Army and Navy to deploy its Blackbeard weapon systems.
The IRB package, which spans 30 years, is essentially a payment in lieu of taxes for the company, allowing it to free up money that it can use for construction and during operation. The site is made up of land Sandoval County purchased from Amrep, a landholder and developer, as well as 550 acres it is leasing from the State Land Office, County Manager Wayne Johnson previously told the Journal. The land — between 29th Avenue and King Boulevard, near Paseo del Volcan — will ultimately be subleased to Castelion by the county.
The state, city and county have pitched in $6.7 million in Local Economic Development Act, or LEDA, funds for the project. Another $3.3 million from the county went to property acquisition, survey, environmental and cultural review, and road construction, a state Economic Development Department spokesperson said.
“Sandoval County has demonstrated to Castelion through a rigorous site selection process that we are a solid business partner and are ready to help the company realize its vision and support its success,” Johnson said. “We appreciate Castelion’s vote of confidence by choosing Sandoval County as its next production site for rocket motor manufacturing and look forward to a mutually beneficial business relationship.”
The company, founded by former SpaceX executives Kreitz, Sean Pitt and Bryon Hargis, would manufacture and test tip-to-tail hypersonic missiles at the Sandoval County site — a priority for the U.S. as its adversaries are rapidly developing and fielding the technology.
The company said Monday that it expects to break ground early next year, though construction could begin even sooner.
“Securing this investment propels our innovation economy forward, creating high-tech careers and reinforcing our position as a hub for advanced manufacturing and national security,” said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rob Black.
Court affirms conviction of teen who threw baby in dumpster after giving birth - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of a Hobbs teen who was accused of abandoning her newborn baby in a dumpster in 2022.
“We are pleased that the New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld justice and reaffirmed the conviction against Ms. Avila for throwing her newborn baby in a dumpster,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez in a news release on Monday.
“My office, alongside District Attorney Dianna Luce, prosecuted this case and we are extremely fortunate that the child survived this horrific ordeal. My office will now focus on providing the support necessary to get Ms. Avila remanded back into custody.”
In 2022, then 18-year-old Alexis Avila was charged with first-degree child abuse resulting in great bodily harm after a group of dumpster-divers found a baby inside of a trash bag. Authorities estimated the child had been in the trash bag for six hours before he was discovered.
Investigators used surveillance video to identify a car suspected of being involved, which led them to Avila, who told police she had given birth at another location before leaving the baby in the dumpster.
Avila told officers she did not know she was pregnant until shortly before she had given birth.
On April 14, 2023, Avila was found guilty of attempted first-degree murder in state district court in Lovington and sentenced to 16 years behind bars.