NM Public Regulation Commission urges judge to order takeover of San Juan County water system
—Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s utility regulators have asked a San Juan County judge to order a third party takeover of private water utility Rosa Joint Ventures after allegations the utility did not turn over ownership under a prior agreement and failed to pay $275,000 in state fines.
Rosa Joint Ventures serves about 230 people near Aztec, according to the state’s drinking water database. Rosa Joint Ventures could not be reached for comment on the filing Monday, as calls to phone numbers listed for the utility played an automated message stating the number was disconnected. An emailed request for comment remained pending Monday afternoon.
The Jan. 8 legal filing said management of Rosa Joint Ventures failed to relinquish control of the utility and turn over water delivery to a new organization, the Sambrito Mutual Domestic Waters Consumer Association, which the commission ordered in 2021 after three years of hearings.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission regulates all privately-owned utilities in the state, including about 20 or so, mostly small, water utilities.
In a news release, Commissioner Patrick O’Connell said the PRC needs the court’s help to ensure the utility will deliver services in a “safe and reliable” manner.
“The Commission is committed to ensuring the health of our communities and the utilities that serve them,” O’Connell said. “Every order we issue is aimed at serving the public interest and Rosa Joint Ventures has shown no interest in complying with our orders.”
The PRC’s request for a receivership highlights the ongoing struggles of water safety and reliability in rural and small towns across the state and follows a similar request seeking state intervention in Timberon in September.
Along the same lines, the New Mexico Environment Department last May sued the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority in Sunland Park over longstanding problems with reliability and exceedingly high levels of arsenic.
In a December 18 PRC meeting, John Kreienkamp, a hearing examiner, told commissioners that the agency was convening a task force to “better serve the public and regulate these small water utilities.”
He said that would include determining the financial status of each utility, including the cash on hand and rates structure. It would also require information about water sources, and projected demand, and compliance with the environment department’s sanitary standards. As of December 18, they had contacted five of the 20 utilities, he told commissioners.
“We’re reviewing the responses that we’re getting from the small water utilities to figure out what our next steps are,” Kreienkamp said.
PRC Chair Gabriel Aguilera praised the effort.
“It will help us make sure that utilities are compliant with our annual reporting, and we understand their financial health, but more importantly than that is the potential to avoid these situations that leave people without water,” Aguilera said.
Concerns over the state’s water systems have also reached state lawmakers. During a Legislative Finance Committee hearing in November, a coalition of New Mexico municipalities and rural water systems said they would need an extra $200 million to fully fund water infrastructure projects across the state.
Torrance County ICE contract extension ‘likely improper and invalid,’ NMDOJ says
—Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The Torrance County Commission’s abrupt extension of an expired contract last month between the county, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the private prison operator CoreCivic is “likely improper and invalid.” That’s according to a letter the state Department of Justice sent to county officials Friday.
Source New Mexico’s Patrick Lohmann reports that on Dec. 30, the three-person Torrance County Commission convened for a “special meeting.” At the meeting, they acted to extend a service agreement that enables ICE to house immigrant detainees at the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia. Before commissioners met, the contract had been defunct for two months.
The contract extension to March 31 of this year increased the monthly payment ICE makes to the county to roughly $2.4 million, funding the county then passes on to CoreCivic. The parties also backdated the contract to Nov. 1, 2025, the date the original contract expired.
The contract extension got the attention of the New Mexico Department of Justice. On Friday, the NMDOJ alerted county officials via a letter that based on additional investigation the department conducted, the county likely violated the Open Meetings Act by failing to provide proper public notice. One instance the letter cites is that the county placed an advertisement about the meeting in local newspaper Mountainair Dispatch one day before the meeting instead of the required 72 hours.
The letter also raises questions about whether the county could legally backdate a contract, noting that retroactive acts like that typically only occur when a public body is correcting an error.
The Torrance County Commission’s abrupt extension of an expired contract last month between the county, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and private prison operator CoreCivic is “likely improper and invalid,” according to a letter the state Department of Justice sent to county officials Friday.
On Dec. 30, the three-person Torrance County Commission convened for a “special meeting” to extend an inter-governmental service agreement that enables ICE to house immigrant detainees at the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia. Before commissioners met, the contract had been defunct for two months.
The contract extension to March 31 of this year increased the monthly payment ICE makes to the county to roughly $2.4 million, funding the county then passes on to CoreCivic. The parties also backdated the contract to Nov. 1, 2025, the date the original contract expired.
Immigrant legal advocates who have long called for ICE to cease housing detainees at the facility quickly raised questions about the validity of the contract extension and also whether the commission should have provided more notice to the public about the meeting between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
The contract extension also got the attention of the New Mexico Department of Justice. Spokesperson Chelsea Pitvorec told Source New Mexico earlier this week that the meeting “raises real concern regarding backdating a contract, compliance with the New Mexico procurement code, and whether the Open Meetings Act was complied with.”
On Friday, the NMDOJ alerted county officials via a letter that based on additional investigation the department conducted, the county likely violated the Open Meetings Act by failing to provide proper public notice. One instance the letter cites is that the county placed an advertisement about the meeting in local newspaper Mountainair Dispatch one day before the meeting instead of the required 72 hours.
The letter also raises questions about whether the county could legally backdate a contract, noting that retroactive acts like that typically only occur when a public body is correcting an error.
“The apparent retroactive extension of the County’s [agreement] with ICE is likely improper and invalid,” writes Blaine N. Moffatt, director of the NMDOJ’s Government Counsel and Accountability Bureau.
The letter, addressed to County Commission Chair Ryan Schwebach, asks the county to respond in a week with answers about how it publicly advertised the meeting and justified backdating the contract.
County Commission Chair Ryan Schwebach told Source New Mexico on Friday in a brief phone interview that the county did not violate the Open Meetings Act. He said the Torrance County attorney was already at work on a letter in response to the NMDOJ.
“There is not a potential violation of the Open Meetings Act,” Schwebach said. “We do not violate the Open Meetings Act,” he said.
Kroger officials will close Santa Fe Smith's Food and Drug on Cerrillos Road in February
—Santa Fe New Mexican
In Santa Fe, the Smith’s grocery store on Cerrillos Road is scheduled to shut its doors for good in early February.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports officials at The Kroger Co., which owns Smith’s Food and Drug, have decided to close the store, which is one of two Smith’s locations in Santa Fe. The other Smith’s is at 2110 South Pacheco Street.
The grocery store at 2308 Cerrillos Road should close “on or about” Feb. 5th, according to the company. Corporate officials say employees at both the Cerrillos Road and Pacheco Street locations would have the opportunity to transfer to other locations if they choose to do so.
Employees at the Cerrillos Road store were told Thursday night about the planned closure. Greg Frazier, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1564, which represents approximately 80 workers at the Cerrillos store, said the announcement came as a surprise to the store’s workers.
The closure of the store — which opened in 1999, according to Murray — quickly raised concerns for members of a nearby neighborhood group. Bill Adrian, a member of the Casa Alegre Neighborhood Association, wrote in an email that residents there have walked or biked to the store for decades.
New Mexico’s bond rating upgraded amid state’s push to reduce revenue volatility
—Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
Still riding the wave of an oil-fueled revenue bonanza, New Mexico’s solid fiscal standing has been reinforced by an upgrade in the state’s bond rating.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration announced Monday a national credit rating agency had increased the state’s bond rating from Aa2 to Aa1, citing New Mexico’s move to set aside hundreds of millions of dollars into trust funds during recent cash-flush years.
“The rating upgrade is driven by the state’s well-established and prudent governance practices that have partially mitigated its reliance on volatile severance taxes,” Moody’s Ratings wrote in announcing its bond rating upgrade decision.
The upgrade is the first of its kind since the early 1990s for New Mexico, and could lead to lower borrowing costs for infrastructure projects.
Previously, New Mexico’s credit rating was downgraded twice in a two-year period leading up to 2019, due to lingering pension concerns and high Medicaid enrollment, among other factors.
During a Monday legislative hearing at the state Capitol, the top budget official in the Lujan Grisham administration said the bond rating upgrade could make New Mexico more attractive to out-of-state businesses looking to relocate.
“We are a credit-worthy state,” said Wayne Propst, who is the secretary of the state Department of Finance and Administration.
But he also cautioned that Moody’s and other credit rating agencies would continue to closely monitor New Mexico’s ability to weather looming federal funding reductions, which could lead to the closure of rural hospitals and up to 100,000 state residents losing their Medicaid coverage.
New Mexico has seen revenue collections skyrocket to record-high levels in recent years, due largely to a surge in oil production in the Permian Basin. The state is currently the nation’s second-highest oil producer, trailing only Texas.
New estimates released last month project that revenue growth will slow in the coming year, due to falling oil prices and lower-than-expected corporate income tax collections due to impacts from a federal budget bill.
Specifically, the state is projected to take in $13.4 billion in recurring revenue during the fiscal year that ends in June 2026. Budget plans released in recent weeks by the executive branch and the Legislative Finance Committee both call for hefty state reserves — of at least $3.3 billion — even as spending levels continue to increase.
Propst said legislators’ decision not to spend the state’s entire revenue bonanza in recent years and instead set much of the money aside for future use was key to securing the bond rating upgrade.
New Mexico’s permanent funds ballooned to a record-high $64 billion as of this summer, and lawmakers have also created new trust funds in recent years to help pay for behavioral health, early childhood programs and conservation efforts statewide.
“The state has been funding and expanding programs, services and infrastructure for several years now, while also saving and investing for the future,” Propst said Monday.
He also said that investment income from the state’s various permanent funds and trust funds is on track to surpass oil and gas-related tax collections as New Mexico’s primary revenue source by 2030.
For her part, Lujan Grisham described the credit rating upgrade as a significant development, pointing out the state’s credit rating on long-term bonds is now among the highest levels in the nation.
As of last year, there were 17 states with Aaa bond ratings from Moody’s, which is one level higher than New Mexico’s new Aa1 rating.
“This upgrade is the result of years of smart, disciplined budgeting and strategic investments that benefit every New Mexican,” the governor said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the bond rating upgrade comes as New Mexico lawmakers are preparing for the start of a new 30-day legislative session next week,
During Monday’s meeting of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, described the change as a “team win” while other lawmakers asked state officials what it might take for the state to maintain its improved bond rating.
In addition to upgrading New Mexico’s overall credit rating, Moody’s also affixed higher ratings to several types of state bonds. The state typically issues bonds to finance road construction and other public works projects, though New Mexico has used cash to pay for most projects in recent years instead of taking on future debt.
NM distributes $820K for homeless warming centers, a first for new Office of Housing - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Homeless shelters across the state received funding to keep people warm amid a statewide cold snap thanks to a first-ever, state-funded grant program from the new Office of Housing.
The statewide Office of Housing emerged as one of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s priorities during the legislative session last year. The small team within the state’s Department of Workforce Solutions is tasked with overseeing the allocation of more than $100 million on a statewide strategy for affordable housing and homelessness prevention measures, including about $20 million the Legislature approved specifically for “anti-homelessness initiatives.”
That’s the fund where the office found $820,000 to provide to several dozen statewide facilities, including transitional living centers, domestic violence shelters and others, to increase their capacity and warmth this winter, DWS Secretary Sarita Nair told Source New Mexico on Friday.
Individual shelters typically rely on local governments or private contributions to keep unhoused people warm during the winter months. And they often come up short funding-wise, according to a survey of housing nonprofit organizations the Office of Housing conducted shortly after launching last year, Nair said.
“This hasn’t been a role that the state’s played historically,” Nair said of funding the warming centers. “But it has always been a challenge for a lot of these shelters to be able to expand for the additional demand they see in the winter.”
Shelters that applied for the funding received up to $20,000 grants they could use on supplies like cots, portable heaters or blankets and generally to increase the number of people they’re able keep warm during the winter.
“We heard from some folks that, ‘This is the first time that we’ve been able to heat every room in our shelter,’” Nair said. “Really basic things, but that’s how you expand the capacity.”
A news release from the office said the funding has already proven particularly useful in rural areas, where “providers reported improved building heating, increased street outreach efforts, expanded bed capacity, and the ability to offer extended overnight hours with hot meals.”
Nair also said the Office of Housing is already preparing to execute a similar grant funding round to help shelters keep unhoused people from overheating during the summer months.
“We know that cooling centers are becoming equally important,” she said. “And so we would love to do another round of that, if we get more funding.”
Lujan Grisham’s budget proposal for the legislative session beginning Jan. 20 includes $110 million for the Office of Housing, including a $65 million one-time appropriation for affordable housing and $45 million for homelessness services.
Sandia director says ‘our impact today is real’ as lab hits new spending record - Hannah García, Albuquerque Journal
Despite a wave of layoffs and funding uncertainties, Sandia National Laboratories said Friday it has set a new spending record for the 17th consecutive year.
Sandia’s spending for fiscal year 2025 totaled $5.2 billion — nearly $41 million more than 2024. That number is nearly half of the state of New Mexico’s recurring annual budget, lab officials said.
“Our impact today is real, and it’s measurable,” said Director Laura McGill. “But our greatest contribution is what we’re building for the future, the talent, the opportunity and the innovation that will benefit New Mexico and the nation for years to come.”
The annual economic impact report, which covers October 2024 through September, follows massive cuts announced by Sandia last year. About 400 jobs were terminated, 100 of which were “limited-term employees” and another 300 who voluntarily separated.
It also comes about eight months after McGill took the reins as Sandia’s director, replacing James Peery, who held the role for nearly five years. McGill, before taking over the top post, had served as Sandia’s deputy director for nuclear deterrence and chief technology officer.
On Friday, McGill touted Sandia’s $144 million contribution in gross receipts taxes to the state, as well as its $1 billion in spending with hundreds of small businesses, its third consecutive year over that mark.
“You can see, Sandia plays a meaningful role in the state’s overall economic health,” McGill said.
Sandia spent nearly $3 billion on internal labor costs for 2025, reflecting pay raises to achieve an average salary of $145,000 even as it reduced its Albuquerque campus workforce. Sandia said it had 16,320 employees in fiscal year 2025, of which 12,915 are in Albuquerque — a decrease from 16,915 the previous fiscal year.
Touching on the workforce reductions, McGill said “it made us stronger.”
“By bringing our costs into alignment, it allows us to be able to be more efficient about the work we’re doing for the future,” McGill said.
Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Energy made significant cuts to energy projects across the nation last year, including about $135 million in New Mexico. But on the flip side, the agency has awarded thousands of dollars to nuclear science initiatives, according to recent DOE news releases.
While McGill said she doesn’t want to speculate on any potential funding cuts or increases under a second Trump term, she’s confident in Sandia’s bipartisan support.
“We do expect some puts and takes, but generally, (what) the core of our business is — I have no doubt would be supported,” McGill said. “Some of the other programs, where we have some funding coming from other sources, there could be some ups and downs with those. But it’s pretty manageable for us.”
Dry, warm winter could mean a bad fire season - Cathy Cook, Albuquerque Journal
With a historically warm winter and a lackluster snowpack on top of severe drought, New Mexico could be in for an active fire season in 2026.
“Given the fact that the Climate Prediction Center is calling for an overall warm, dry winter the whole way through, we are really getting set up for a particularly dangerous fire season,” said Andrew Mangham, senior service hydrologist for the Albuquerque National Weather Service Office.
The National Interagency Fire Center predicts above-normal wildland fire potential in eastern New Mexico in February and March, according to its January through April outlook released at the beginning of the month. Much of New Mexico has persistent severe to extreme drought, and drought conditions in the Southwest are expected to worsen through spring, according to the outlook. Severe drought conditions are largely focused in western and southern New Mexico, Mangham said.
Several New Mexico cities also had their warmest December on record in 2025, including Albuquerque.
The peak of the state’s fire season — traditionally April through June, when dry winds kick up — is still far enough away for more wet weather to reduce fire risk, according to Mangham. But as of Friday, the snowpack is still 40% to 50% of normal. That’s thanks to recent storms, as snowpack early in the week was closer to 12% of normal in much of the state.
“This storm that just came through yesterday and the day before will certainly help, but I doubt that it will suddenly get us way above normal in terms of our snowpack,” Mangham said Friday.
Top three reasons for fire starts
Most common reasons for fire starts in New Mexico from 2020 through 2025
- Agriculture and debris burns. Agriculture burns are a traditional part of New Mexican culture, but they should be done safely and not on windy days.
- Campfires. This category includes recreational and ceremonial fires, and are typically fires people have started in forested areas that were left unattended or not fully extinguished.
- Equipment and vehicle use. This can mean things like loose tow chains or parking over dry grass.
Snowpack is an important water source for the state. It releases into soil slowly as snow melts, allowing the soil to get lots of moisture, rather than coming quickly like a monsoon rain and running off. That slow release of moisture helps plants green up in spring and makes plant life that could fuel a wildfire more fire-resistant.
Prescribed burns are part of how land management agencies like the U.S. Forest Service or the New Mexico Forestry Division reduce fire risk. The Santa Fe National Forest implemented three pile burns Friday because wet weather created favorable conditions for pile burns, according to a Forest Service news release. Fire crews will use infrared detection devices, like handheld thermal cameras and drones, to help determine when the pile burns are out, a practice members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation pushed for after the devastating 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire.
In the preseason, agencies also train firefighters and coordinate with other agencies. Since July, 450 people have been certified to work as wildland firefighters through New Mexico Forestry Division wildland fire classes, which will continue to be offered through April, said George Ducker, wildfire preventions and communications manager. He saw an increase in New Mexicans becoming firefighters or returning to the profession after the Los Angeles fires at the beginning of 2025.
“I don't know if it was because of the L.A. fires or if it was just coincidence, but it was definitely a wake-up call, I think, for a lot of folks,” Ducker said.
New Mexico’s Forestry Division has been meeting with municipal and federal firefighting agencies to make sure communication and coordination are ready ahead of fire season, Ducker said. The dry, warm winter has not really changed how the Forestry Division approached preparedness. With a forecast of above-normal fire potential in eastern New Mexico, Forestry districts in that part of the state are planning to meet with fire response officials from West Texas, where the forecast is also above normal.
“What's special about the east side of New Mexico is that it's flat grassland, and grasses are really flashy fuels,” Ducker said. “They catch fire really fast, and they can allow fire to move really fast, especially in high winds.”
Keeping grass mowed is one way to reduce fire risk in that area, as well as creating a firebreak between grassland and structures. Traditionally, cattle have been very helpful for keeping those grasslands mowed, Ducker said, but as more ranches have been sold cattle aren't as big a factor.
Although the winter weather could mean a bad fire season, a prediction is just a prediction.
“Last year's outlooks at this time for the spring of 2025 were very dire,” Ducker said. “A lot of New Mexico was red for months on end. And we saw a lot of (fire)starts, sure, but we didn't see a lot of really large fires.”
Actor Timothy Busfield accused of child sex abuse in New Mexico - By Audrey Mcavoy, Associated Press
Authorities in New Mexico issued an arrest warrant Friday for director and Emmy Award-winning actor Timothy Busfield to face a child sex abuse charge.
An investigator with the Albuquerque Police Department filed a criminal complaint in support of the charge, which says a child reported that Busfield touched him inappropriately. The acts allegedly occurred on the set of "The Cleaning Lady," a TV series Busfield directed and acted in.
The child said the first incident happened when he was 7 years old and Busfield touched him three or four times. Busfield allegedly touched him five or six times on another occasion when he was 8.
The child's mother reported to Child Protective Services that the abuse occurred between November 2022 and spring 2024, the complaint said.
Busfield's attorney and agent did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment late Friday.
The arrest warrant, which was signed by a judge, said the charge is for two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor.
According to the complaint, the child, which it identifies only by his initials, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. A social worker documented him saying he has had nightmares about Busfield touching him and woken up scared.
The child was reportedly afraid to tell anyone because Busfield was the director and he feared he would get mad at him.
The investigation began in November 2024, when the investigator responded to a call from a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The child's parents had gone there at the recommendation of a law firm, the complaint said.
"The Cleaning Lady" aired for four seasons on Fox, ending in 2025. It starred Elodie Yung as a Cambodian doctor who comes to the United States to get medical treatment for her son, witnesses a mob killing and ends up becoming a cleaner for organized crime.
The show was produced by Warner Bros., which according to the complaint conducted its own investigation into the abuse allegations but was unable to corroborate them.
Busfield is known for appearances in "The West Wing," "Field of Dreams" and "Thirtysomething," the latter of which won him an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series in 1991.
He is married to actor Melissa Gilbert; there was no immediate response to an email sent to her publicist.