Legal challenges to Project Jupiter funding meet headwinds
-Algernon d’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
In Santa Teresa, construction is rapidly moving forward at the site of a planned data center campus supporting AI technology.
Meanwhile, $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds and other public incentives authorized by Doña Ana County commissioners supporting the project are facing legal challenges and criticism from a government transparency watchdog group.
In court, the county is seeking dismissal of two lawsuits requesting judicial review of the industrial revenue bond ordinance, and the community organization Empowerment Congress of Doña Ana County has withdrawn as a plaintiff in one of the civil complaints at the request of its nonprofit corporate parent, the Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico. The CAA adopted Empowerment Congress nearly a decade ago.
CAA also confirmed that Empowerment Congress director Daisy Maldonado, who had worked for the organization since 2019 and was a vocal opponent of Project Jupiter, is no longer an employee. CEO Dawn Hommer emphasized that CAA has not taken a public position regarding the data center.
“This has been an extremely difficult year for nonprofit organizations like ours,” Hommer said. “We want to focus on keeping our doors open so we can provide direct services to New Mexican families.”
Maldonado did not respond to queries from the Journal.
The CAA board of directors first learned of Empowerment Congress’ litigation through news reports, Hommer told the Journal. As the lawsuit had not been authorized by CAA, she said Maldonado was directed to remove the organization from the lawsuit, although the employees named as individual plaintiffs were free to continue.
“After waiting a week, our attorney had to intervene,” she said.
The commissioners voted 4-1 in September to approve the historically large industrial revenue bond sale after weeks of local controversy ranging from opposition to the project to complaints that questions about water consumption, carbon emissions and other impacts had gone unanswered.
Town hall meetings leading up to the vote featured contentious debate between opponents and skeptics on one side and, on the other, boosters highlighting economic development and potential revenue for local infrastructure.
Weeks later, opponents filed two court petitions in New Mexico’s 3rd Judicial District asking for a review of the ordinance, claiming it was not lawfully enacted by the commissioners.
Empowerment Congress filed one of those petitions, along with organizers Vivian Fuller and Jose Saldaña. They also asked for a review of commissioners’ approval of Local Economic Development Act funding for the project, arguing Project Jupiter was not legally eligible.
Las Cruces resident Derrick Pacheco filed a petition of his own arguing that commissioners acted improperly in approving the bonds while the project’s land-use authorization was pending before the county Planning and Zoning Commission. He also challenged the basis for approving the ordinance despite some documentation being missing from the commissioners’ packets — an issue that had been raised in public session by Commissioner Susana Chaparro, who voted against the measure.
In a motion requesting dismissal of the claim, the county says Pacheco, a non-attorney representing himself, invoked the wrong legal procedure for challenging an ordinance and, in any case, did not cite a legal error in the IRB’s passage.
The Fuller/Saldaña petition seeks a declaratory judgment invalidating the IRB ordinance, but in court filings the county calls it “an improper attempt to use the courts to halt legislation they dislike.” The county argues that the ordinances only incentivize economic investment in the community and no actual injuries resulting from the ordinance had been presented.
“The Ordinances do not authorize construction, emissions, water usage, or operations,” the county stated in a motion filed Nov. 20. “Every alleged harm to the Plaintiffs depends on future action by both the applicant and other government entities.”
The Fuller/Saldaña lawsuit has been assigned by the state Supreme Court to state District Judge Jennifer DeLaney from the 6th District, after the 3rd District judges recused themselves or were excused. Pacheco’s case appears to be on a similar course.
FOG flags open meetings law
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, a nonprofit that advocates for government transparency and state sunshine laws, sent notice to the commissioners that, in FOG’s view, the county had not sufficiently cured a violation of New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act at the September meeting.
At the Sept. 19 session, Chairman Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez made a motion to go into closed session without clearly stating what was to be discussed outside of open session. The law requires a public body to state the topic of discussion and the legal provision permitting the closed-door discussion “with reasonable specificity.”
In response, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center submitted a notice of violation, initiating a 15-day window for the county to cure a violation, if it occurred, and avoid litigation.
At a subsequent meeting on Oct. 14, the commissioners voted to approve a retroactive clarifying statement about the motion to go into closed session, stating that the information discussed was “covered by attorney-client privilege pertaining to threatened litigation concerning Project Jupiter.”
“This type of attempted retroactive ratification of a prior illegal action by a public body is prohibited by (the Open Meetings Act), and the Board’s violations of OMA with respect to the closed meeting on September 19, 2025, remain uncured,” FOG Legal Director Amanda Lavin wrote to the commissioners.
Kacey Hovden, lead attorney for NMELC, concurred, telling the Journal: “We agree with NMFOG’s analysis that the violation from September 19th is still standing.”
Furthermore, FOG argued the commissioners also violated OMA when it approved the industrial revenue bond ordinance even though some pages were blank and marked “draft.” The ordinance stated that the board chair and vice chair were authorized to approve the final version — after the commission voted and outside of open session.
Under the law, actions taken in violation of the Open Meetings Act are invalid, which, if upheld by a court, would mean the ordinance authorizing the sale of industrial revenue bonds for Project Jupiter is not in effect.
“Doña Ana County has until December 1 to respond (to the notice of violation) and intends to do so,” county spokesperson Ariana Parra told the Journal. “In the meantime, the county will not comment any further until we have officially responded to the notice letter.”
NM AG Torrez pushes back at judge in police manslaughter case
-Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
As a former Las Cruces police officer previously convicted for killing a Black man accused of stealing a beer awaits a possible new trial, his ankle monitor will remain on.
In 2022, Las Cruces Police Officer Brad Lunsford responded to a 911 call that alleged someone had stolen a beer from a gas station convenience store. Lunsford attempted to arrest 36-year-old Presley Eze as bystanders filmed the interaction with their cellphones. Lunsford, who had been involved in prior police shootings, alleged that Eze grabbed his Taser during the struggle. Lunsford drew his service weapon and shot Eze once in the back of the head.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez first filed criminal charges against Lunsford in late 2023. The filing marked the first time in nearly a decade that a police officer anywhere in New Mexico had faced criminal charges for a fatal shooting — the most recent instance was the trial of Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez, the Albuquerque officers who in 2014 killed James Boyd in the Sandia Foothills. Their case ended in a mistrial.
The Eze killing led Southern New Mexicans to be “rightly concerned about whether or not justice is equal in this country,” Torrez said when he announced the criminal charges in 2023.
A jury convicted Lunsford in February of this year.
In October, though, Sixth Judicial District Judge Jim Foy ordered a new trial, which has yet to be scheduled. Foy said he had inappropriately substituted two alternate jurors and dismissed two regular jurors before deliberations began because at the time the court was using a form that incorrectly listed which jurors were alternates.
Foy also said that newly discovered evidence showed one juror held anti-cop bias. Upon his decision, the National Police Association went so far as to publish the headline, “Did an Anti-Police Activist Lie to Get on the Officer Brad Lunsford Jury?”
Torrez pushed back. His New Mexico Department of Justice in October appealed Foy’s decision to the state Court of Appeals and argued that the juror’s answers to pre-trial questionnaires, which included a disclosure about affiliation with the Southern Poverty Law Center, did not seem to alarm Lunsford’s attorneys at the start of his criminal trial. The juror’s academic works about race in early education and parenthood and podcast appearances are all easily accessible by a simple Google search of the juror’s name, lawyers with Torrez’s New Mexico Department of Justice argued.
Foy’s call for a new trial “set aside the jury’s finding of guilt (that) has devastated Presley Eze’s family and further undermines the public’s faith in New Mexico’s criminal justice system,” Torrez said in an October statement. “The presiding judge…has repeatedly mischaracterized the factual record, improperly weighed in on the strength of the state’s case and committed numerous procedural errors that prejudiced the prosecution.”
Torrez’s department filed its arguments in appeals court earlier this month. A decision remains pending.
On Nov. 21, Foy denied Lunsford’s request to modify the conditions of his release, which sought to remove his requirement to wear an ankle monitor and to post a $10,000 bond, pending the appellate court’s decision.
“Our goal in the new trial is to ensure Officer Lunsford receives a fair proceeding before an impartial jury that hears all of the evidence and correctly applies the law,” Lunsford’s attorney Matt Chandler wrote in an email to Source NM. “We remain confident that, in a fair trial, the evidence will show that Officer Lunsford’s actions were lawful, that he was protecting his own life and the life of his fellow officer from a violent, aggressive attack by the suspect, and that he should be acquitted.”
NM Tax Department reports $390M in unclaimed property
The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department this week announced $390 million in unclaimed property, and urged residents to determine if they have either money or other assets being held by the state.
The state can end up with unclaimed property through a variety of circumstances, including death, job changes and moves. Such property runs the gamut, from money to uncashed checks to safe deposit box contents and more.
According to a news release, individual claims average $500. So far, this year, Tax and Rev has paid 6,414 claims totaling $18.5 million.
“The Taxation and Revenue Department wants to reunite owners with their lost property,” Taxation and Revenue Department Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke said in a statement. “The holiday season can be financially stressful, and there’s no better time to check for unclaimed property to help alleviate some of that stress.”
Search and file claims for property at: nmclaims.unclaimedproperty.com Those claims can be made online for individuals claiming $500 or less. For those involving multiple owners, businesses or claims over $500, the state says people can submit claims via a PDF form and documentation.
Most claims are processed quickly, the state says, but the department has 90 days from submission to approve or deny it, followed by 30 days to pay it out.
Steady rise in state civil rights claims draws lawmakers' attention — Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
The amount of money paid out by a New Mexico state agency in response to civil rights claims has steadily increased since enactment of a 2021 law that allowed such cases to be filed in state court.
The rise in settlement payouts — from $6.3 million during the 2022 budget year to nearly $33.4 million last year — has prompted some lawmakers to express concern.
“This is going to be a drain on New Mexico if we don’t get a handle on it,” Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, said during a Legislative Finance Committee hearing last week.
Muñoz also said the “astronomical” rise in settlement costs could potentially impact state education spending in future years, among other impacts.
The rise in civil rights claims — and related payouts — has occurred after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in 2021 signed into law the state Civil Rights Act, a measure that was prompted by protests against racism and police misconduct following the death of George Floyd a year earlier.
The legislation was opposed at the time of its approval by New Mexico cities and counties, along with some law enforcement officials, who expressed concern it could expose taxpayers to expensive settlements and lead to higher insurance costs.
Prior to lawmakers approving the 2021 law, lawsuits alleging civil rights violations in New Mexico could only be filed in federal court, not in state court.
The new law also eliminated qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that law enforcement officers can claim when accused of possible misconduct. But it only allows lawsuits to be filed against public bodies, not against individual police officers or state employees.
Grace Philips, the risk management director for the New Mexico Association of Counties, said the law has led to most civil rights cases being filed in state court, instead of federal court.
She also said settled claims have become more costly due to provisions in the law allowing for attorney’s fees and an escalating cap on damages that’s linked to inflation.
Specifically, the amount of money incurred from law enforcement claims paid by the New Mexico county self-insurance pool increased from about $10 million in 2020 to nearly $27.2 million in 2023, Philips said.
Anna Silva, the acting director of the state General Services Department, told lawmakers during last week’s hearing that civil rights claims were also contributing to an overall increase in insurance premiums paid by state agencies.
Specifically, the premiums paid to the state Risk Management Division for civil rights violations coverage increased from about $10.7 million in the 2022 budget year to roughly $20.5 million last year, according to GSD data.
“We have doctors leaving our state and we have attorneys moving into our state because of our laws,” Silva told legislators. “That’s something we live, breathe and deal with every single day.”
However, former House Speaker Brian Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat, expressed skepticism about some of the criticisms levied at the Civil Rights Act.
Egolf, who pushed for the 2021 law, said attorney’s fees can also be recovered in federal civil rights cases.
He also questioned whether some settlements classified as civil rights claims on the state Sunshine Portal actually stem from violations of other state laws, such as the New Mexico Human Rights Act.
“I think there needs to be a lot more evidence to support counties and cities’ claims on this,” Egolf told the Journal.
The state Sunshine Portal shows that many civil rights claims filed on the state level involve the Corrections Department.
That includes a $285,000 settlement to resolve a lawsuit filed by the family of Katherine Paquin, who was killed by a man mistakenly released from prison early.
The state Supreme Court this year issued a pair of rulings clarifying the scope of the Civil Rights Act, including a July ruling that venue shopping, or filing court cases in a different location, is not allowable.
State canvassing board orders vote recounts in 34 tight races around New Mexico - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
For most cities and towns around New Mexico, the winners of local races were unofficially decided on Election Day this month.
But the votes will be retallied in 34 different races around the state that featured narrow vote margins, after the State Canvassing Board signed off Tuesday on automatic recounts.
The races heading to automatic recount include mayoral, city council, municipal judge and school board contests around New Mexico.
Specifically, mayoral races in Des Moines, Maxwell, Tatum, Jal and Estancia all fell within the vote margin needed to trigger an automatic recount under state law. For local elections, that margin is either less than 1 percentage point between the two top vote-getters, or five or fewer votes separating the candidates.
The recounts in 34 races will be conducted by county clerks starting next week. The state canvassing board will then meet again Dec. 11 to certify results.
If any races are tied after the recount, they will be decided by “lot,” per state statute. That could mean drawing cards, a coin toss or another tie-breaking method.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said Tuesday this year’s election featured the highest-ever turnout for a regular local election, as 25.3% of registered voters statewide cast ballots.
That includes more than 6,000 voters who took advantage of a same-day voter registration option that allows eligible voters to register to vote and then cast their ballot on Election Day, said Toulouse Oliver.
Voter turnout rates are typically higher in statewide elections, and particularly in presidential election years. For instance, last year’s New Mexico general election had a 69.1% turnout rate.
Increasing turnout and reducing administrative costs were the primary goals of the Local Election Act, which was approved by state lawmakers in 2018. Before that law passed, elections for municipal offices, school boards and other local bodies used to be held on different dates around New Mexico.
However, some New Mexico municipalities have declined to opt into the consolidated local election act, a list that includes Rio Rancho, Clovis, Artesia, Santa Rosa and Española.
“We have increased the turnout,” Toulouse Oliver said, referring to voter participation in this year’s local election.
Meanwhile, some New Mexico municipalities use runoff elections to determine the winner of races in which no candidate receives a majority of votes cast.
Three races will be decided in Albuquerque’s runoff election on Dec. 9, including a high-profile mayoral race featuring incumbent Tim Keller and challenger Darren White.
FBI surge leads to charges in 2020 killing in Native American community - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Unconditional love. That's what Vangie Randall-Shorty felt the moment she first held her son. She still feels it — even though Zachariah Shorty is now gone.
"I carry him in my heart every day," she said, while trying to find the words to describe the wave of emotions that washed over her Monday when she learned that federal authorities had charged three people in connection with her son's killing on the Navajo Nation in 2020.
She had waited so long for answers, telling herself with each new year that she would finally see justice for her 23-year-old son. Her wait ended as the U.S. Department of Justice announced the results of the latest deployment under Operation Not Forgotten.
Under the operation this year, more than 60 extra FBI agents, analysts and other personnel were temporarily assigned to field offices in 10 states, ranging from Albuquerque and Phoenix to Seattle, Salt Lake City, Detroit, Minneapolis and Jackson, Mississippi. Over six months, they investigated unsolved violent crimes in Indian Country with the goal of addressing a crisis of disappearances and killings that have left Native American communities frustrated and heartbroken.
Federal statistics show that Native Americans experience some of the highest per capita rates of violent victimization of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. At the beginning of the 2025 fiscal year, the FBI's Indian Country program had about 4,300 open investigations, including over 900 death investigations, 1,000 child abuse investigations, and more than 500 domestic violence and adult sexual abuse investigations.
As part of its intensified operations this year, the FBI's Indian Country initiatives netted 1,123 arrests, along with the recovery of over 300 weapons. More than 450 children who were victims of crimes were identified or located.
FBI Director Kash Patel acknowledged Monday that the challenge of covering such large jurisdictions is complicated by a lack of resources. He described Operation Not Forgotten as "a major step forward" in giving tribal communities the justice that they deserve.
Work to bring more attention to the crisis has spanned decades. President Donald Trump was the first president to formally recognize the issue when he signed an executive order during his first term, establishing a task force to tackle the high rate of killings and disappearances among Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland during her tenure created a national commission to explore ways to bridge jurisdictional gaps and other challenges to curbing crime in tribal communities.
Officials said this year's operation marked the longest and most intense deployment of FBI resources to date to address Indian Country crime.
Advocates say the investment should be made permanent. They fear now that cases will continue to sit on the back burner with fewer federal resources in the field.
Randall-Shorty believes the extra resources helped in her son's case.
She can't help but wonder what her son could have accomplished had his life not been taken. A father himself, Zachariah Shorty loved art and music and aspired to be a tattoo artist. She showed off some of his work, pointing to the inked treble clef on her left hand.
Shorty was last seen at the Journey Inn Motel in the northwestern New Mexico city of Farmington, where he was out with friends to make music, his mom said. He was found days later in a field near the Navajo community of Nenahnezad. He had been shot multiple times.
The indictments provide no details about what might have let to the shooting or how Shorty was connected to the people charged in his death. Defense attorneys say they have yet to be provided with any discovery related to the case.
Austin Begay, 31, is charged with first-degree murder, while Jaymes Fage, 38, is accused of aiding and abetting. Both Navajo men and a third defendant, 40-year-old Joshua Watkins, also face charges for lying to investigators to conceal the killing.
Shorty's mom has spent the last five years attending town halls, task force meetings, prayer circles and community marches to keep the case in the spotlight and to advocate for other families. While she's pleased that charges have been brought, she knows the next step will stir more emotions because she still misses her son.
"My heart is heavy," she said. "But I will continue advocating for Zach and continue being his voice."
Shopping holidays take over this week – Mia Casas, KUNM News
Black Friday gets people out of their homes and into stores to take advantage of deals for their holiday shopping. Cyber Monday has gotten more popular in the digital age – no massive crowds or pushing people in line while shopping from the comfort of your laptop. There is one other shopping holiday coming up this week.
Small Business Saturday isn’t necessarily new, it started in 2010, but shopping local has become more trendy. More than half of Gen Z shoppers are predicted to buy from independent businesses this season.
The holiday is celebrated the day after Black Friday in attempts to take the spotlight off of large chains and boost shopping locally.
Small businesses tend to be more engaged in their communities, so folks see shopping small as supporting their neighborhoods.
When people spend locally, the money circulates within the community. Dollars spent at a local business are reinvested in other local businesses, through a process called the multiplier effect.
Many small businesses will have sales similar to those of Black Friday, but money spent there will go back into the local economy.
There are many gift shops with local goods in Old Town Albuquerque, the Plaza in Santa Fe, and more across the state.
New Mexico lawmakers Pope, McQueen raise questions about New Mexico Gas Company sale - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
A pair of New Mexico lawmakers joined a small group of clean energy advocates and residents Tuesday morning in urging state utility regulators to demand greater transparency in the pending sale of New Mexico Gas Company.
The gas company in late 2024 filed an application to be sold to Bernhard Capital Partners, a New Orleans-based private equity firm, for nearly $1.3 billion. The companies initially had an early November deadline to finalize a sale agreement, but they recently agreed to extend that into early 2026.
A half-dozen people spoke Tuesday morning at a Public Regulation Commission meeting to urge greater transparency surrounding the deal. One, a Santa Fe psychologist named Patricia Brown, said she was alarmed to learn that Bernhard Capital’s founder previously ran a firm named the Shaw Group that FEMA awarded no-bid disaster response contracts 20 years ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
A 2008 report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General determined that FEMA wasted millions of dollars by awarding the no-bid contracts to Shaw and others. A 2011 report commissioned by the state of Louisiana alleged that Shaw appeared to overbill the state by nearly $500,000 for constructing sand berms along the coastline to prevent oil from the BP oil spill from washing onto land.
Brown and others who spoke said it’s troubling that details like these, which the news media reported years ago, had not been introduced into the official record regarding New Mexico Gas Company’s proposed sale.
“We cannot protect the public interest without full transparency,” Sen. Harold Pope Jr. (D-Albuquerque), a 2026 candidate for lieutenant governor, told commissioners Tuesday morning. “That is impossible when critical information is hidden from view. Right now, central evidence about Bernhard Capital Partners’ regulatory compliance history including violations, fines, audits and settlements involving their affiliates and formerly owned companies has been withheld from the record. You can not reliably weigh benefits against risk when the most relevant facts are kept from the public.”
Similarly, state Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-Galisteo), who chairs the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee and is running to be state land commissioner, told commissioners that they should implement a “robust discovery process” and a record that details all of the concerns surrounding companies related to Bernhard Capital.
New Mexico Gas Company referred comment to Bernhard Capital. A company spokesperson replied via email to Source NM’s inquiry and wrote:
“Bernhard Capital Partners has no comment on any allegations and/or statements made related to The Shaw Group, as BCP does not and has never owned The Shaw Group. Information on BCP portfolio companies that is relevant to the proposed NMGC acquisition has already been provided and included in the docket, which can be accessed via the NM PRC website.”
Energy advocates have characterized Bernhard Capital’s response to the scrutiny as “a hand in the face.”
New Energy Economy, a Santa Fe nonprofit that advocates for clean energy legislation, in a statement called Bernhard Capital’s track record cast doubt on whether it “can be trusted to provide reliable, safe and cost effective service.” Among other elements, the group noted that companies owned by the private equity firm have faced allegations of failing “to properly operate and maintain” a Louisiana water treatment facility where inspectors found bloodworms in sludge; mishandling hazardous waste such as asbestos; and failing to pay dozens of workers overtime wages.
“You want to come in and buy our essential utility service and we’re not allowed to know about your background?” Mariel Nanasi, New Energy Economy’s executive director, said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s like applying to be a school bus driver and the public school would say, ‘Let me see your accident history,’ and the bus driver says, ‘Oh, no, that’s irrelevant.’ What are you talking about?”
This story was updated following publication to include a comment from a Bernhard Capital spokesperson.
Bernalillo County OKs funding to install new Tijeras pedestrian bridge - Gregory Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
Bernalillo County will be pouring out over $1.5 million toward replacing a Tijeras bridge and working on a watershed restoration project damaged by flooding earlier in the year.
“The county is committed to quickly rebuilding the pedestrian bridge and the surrounding Tijeras Creek to be more resilient for future storms,” Bernalillo County Commission Chairman Eric Olivas said in an email.
In July, a rainstorm caused flooding and damage to the bridge connecting the Los Vecinos Community Center to A. Montoya Elementary and Roosevelt Middle schools, which is used daily by students accessing programs at Los Vecinos, the Journal reported. Structural engineers determined the bridge needed to be demolished and replaced, according to the county.
The cost to tear down and construct another bridge is about $1.68 million. Of which, $386,000 went toward demolishing the old bridge and designing the new one. The remaining $1.29 million the county commissioners approved at their Nov. 18 meeting will go toward the bridge’s construction, which is expected to be done in summer 2026, according to the county.
“The county acted with haste to assess the site and the damaged bridge and its components ... ,” Olivas said. “I am working to ensure safe and open access between the newly renovated Los Vecinos Community Center and A. Montoya Elementary and Roosevelt Middle schools. Getting the bridge replaced is critical to this mission.”
The old bridge was taken down in October. Design on the new one is expected to be completed in February with construction taking place next summer, Bernalillo County spokesperson Melissa Smith said.
Along with funding the bridge construction, the county agreed to allocate $799,656 for repairs on the Tijeras Creek Watershed Restoration Project, which was damaged by floods in July and September.
The goal of the project is to restore natural drainage by reconnecting the creek with the floodplain and reducing flood risks for downstream residents, Smith said.
Work, which resumed in October, she said, is about 80% complete and expected to be finished by March 2026.
Corrales Christmas parade canceled due to equine virus outbreak - Gregory Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
Three cases of equine herpes (EHV-1) have surfaced in New Mexico, putting metro area horse and stable owners on guard and prompting the village of Corrales to cancel its annual Christmas de los Caballos Parade.
"This is for the best interest of all of our animals, even if they have not traveled out of state or been in contact with an animal, or human, that has traveled to infected premises," the village announced in a Facebook post Monday.
EHV-1 is a common, highly contagious virus that affects horses, donkeys and mules. Humans cannot get infected, New Mexico Department of Agriculture spokesperson Jenny Green said.
Equine herpes spreads through respiratory secretions, shared equipment, trailers and contaminated areas. Symptoms could include: fever, nasal discharge, cough, lethargy, hindlimb weakness, difficulty rising, urinary retention and, in severe cases, an inability to stand, she said.
Dr. Mark Meddleton, with Meddleton Equine Clinic in Corrales, said he recommended the parade's cancellation because of the severity of equine herpes and "the fact there are horses that come from various places" that may spread the virus.
"We felt out of an abundance of caution that we should cancel our event," said Janet Blair, Corrales Equestrian Advisory Commission member.
The village's decision came on the heels of horses testing positive for equine herpes in several states, including Oklahoma and Texas, where two horses died, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
In New Mexico, three horses — two in Eddy County and one in Doña Ana County — tested positive for the virus. Two of the horses were affected after attending the 2025 Women's Professional Rodeo Association and Elite Barrel Race in Waco, Texas, that took place Nov. 5-9. The third horse was exposed to the virus at a property in Carlsbad, according to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.
The horses are "improving with supportive care," Green said.
The Department of Agriculture and New Mexico Livestock Board are urging horse owners to "take immediate preventative measures," she said.
Aside from the cancellation of Corrales' holiday parade, metro area residents have been taking steps to ensure their horses do not catch the virus. Silverberry Farm owner Connie Grindatto, for example, said she turned down out-of-state horses from boarding at her establishment.
"In the next couple of weeks, we will have a good idea of how fast it's going to spread," Grindatto said. "People need to be careful, use good biosecurity measures and keep their horses on the properties. It is containable."