NM land commissioner seeks probe into allegation of two girls buried near Epstein ranch - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard on Tuesday called on federal and state law enforcement to investigate allegations that two girls were buried in the hills surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.
The allegations are contained in an anonymous email that conservative talk show host and former Albuquerque mayoral candidate Eddy Aragon received in November 2019, several months after Epstein died in federal custody, and are part of the trove of recently released Epstein documents.
The email came from an encrypted account from someone who claims to have been a former staff member at Zorro Ranch, the 7,500-acre property Epstein purchased from former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King in 1993, who had “been there and seen it all.”
The letter’s author says two “foreign girls” died of strangulation during “rough, fetish sex” and were later buried on “orders of Jeffrey and Madam G,” a potential reference to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate and former business partner currently serving a two-decade federal prison sentence for sex trafficking.
The letter does not say when the girls might have died or when or where they were buried, except that the burial site is “somewhere in the hills outside the Zorro.” The author also claims to have taken seven videos from Epstein’s home, including ones depicting sex with minors, as “insurance in case of future litigation against Epstein.”
The author offered to send the videos on a thumb drive to Aragon in exchange for 1 bitcoin, an untraceable digital currency, that would have been worth about $8,000 at the time.
Aragon told Source New Mexico in a phone interview Tuesday that he forwarded the letter to the FBI right after receiving it and that he did not respond to the author or pay for the videos.
“It felt very legitimate to me,” he said of the letter. “That’s why I forwarded it.”
He said he received assurances from the FBI at the time that investigators would tell him whether they investigated and what they found, but he never heard anything back.
At the time of the letter, Aragon said he was repeatedly bringing up Epstein’s local ties and concerns about Zorro Ranch on his radio show, and that he’d been speaking regularly to current and former Zorro Ranch staff members.
“I happen to think that letter came from someone I had already talked to that was employed at the ranch,” he said, though he declined to specify further.
The letter was among millions of records the Department of Justice released recently due to a law Congress passed late last year. That’s where Garcia Richard, who became land commissioner in 2019, first became aware of the allegations, spokesperson Joey Keefe told Source on Tuesday.
The State Land Office manages state trust lands adjacent to Zorro Ranch. “Given the proximity of the state trust land to the ranch,” Garcia Richard “felt it was important to investigate further,” Keefe told Source NM.
Garcia Richard sent a letter to New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and First Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Ellison on Tuesday asking them to investigate the “disturbing allegation” and report back on any findings.
A spokesperson for Ellison did not respond to Source’s request for comment about Garcia Richard’s request.
Torrez’s office, in a response letter his office shared with Source on Tuesday afternoon, said the state’s lead law enforcement agency needs additional information to “meaningfully evaluate these allegations.”
“As we understand it, the allegations appear to be unsubstantiated and stem from an anonymous individual referencing events that purportedly occurred more than six years ago,” Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson wrote in response to Garcia Richard. “We will work to obtain the original, unredacted emails and any underlying files, as access to complete and authentic materials is critical to our assessment and planning.”
If the office receives that additional information, Grayson wrote, it will determine the “appropriate next steps.”
Epstein’s company, Cypress Inc., held two state leases near the ranch in 1993. Commissioner Garcia Richard terminated the leases in 2019, according to her office’s announcement Tuesday, and “proactively provided” the NMDOJ with records related to the lease back in 2019.
Epstein’s activities on the ranch are the target of renewed national and local interest following the release of the Epstein files. Two state lawmakers are also asking the House for approval to hold a truth commission later this year that will be focused on a number of unanswered questions about Epstein’s time in New Mexico, including what crimes occurred at Zorro Ranch, the extent of his ties to local officials and what came of investigations launched into Epstein after his death.
Two House committees have passed the resolution, which now heads to the House Floor for final approval.
FAA closes airspace around El Paso, Texas, for 10 days, grounding all flights - Associated Press
The Federal Aviation Administration is closing the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days, grounding all flights to and from the airport.
A notice posted on the FAA's website said the temporary flight restrictions were for "special security reasons," but did not provide additional details. The closure does not include Mexican airspace.
The airport said in an Instagram post that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded from late Tuesday through late on Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. It suggested travelers contact their airlines to get up-to-date flight information.
The shutdown is likely to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area. El Paso, a border city with a population of nearly 700,000 and larger when you include the surrounding metro area, is hub of cross-border commerce alongside neighboring Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta all operate flights there, among others.
Environmental group sues county over Project Jupiter financing - Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
Doña Ana County is facing a new lawsuit pertaining to its support for Project Jupiter, the AI-training data center complex under construction in Santa Teresa.
The new claim, brought by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, alleges commissioners violated the state’s Open Meetings Act on the brink of its approval, last September, of $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds in addition to other incentives helping finance the private development. Developers BorderPlex Digital Assets and Stack Infrastructure are building the facility for tenant Oracle, which will operate the center on behalf of OpenAI.
The lawsuit alleges the commissioners violated the law by going into closed session during the Sept. 19 meeting as they were discussing the controversial measure during an open session packed with supporters and opponents of the project.
“The sunshine laws in our state, like the Open Meetings Act, exist to ensure that when public government bodies make decisions that stand to impact communities’ health, safety, environment, and lives — these decisions are made in the public eye where community members have the opportunity to meaningfully participate and inform the outcome of their futures,” Environmental Law Center staff attorney Kacey Hovden stated in a news release.
New Mexico’s open meetings law generally requires public business to be discussed in public, with certain exceptions. Public bodies may enter into closed session, but the law states, “...the authority for the closure and the subject to be discussed shall be stated with reasonable specificity in the motion calling for the vote on a closed meeting.”
The county board chairman at the time, Commissioner Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez, made a motion to go into closed session at the Sept. 19 meeting without stating what qualifying topic was to be discussed behind closed doors.
The closed meeting was not on the agenda and Schaljo-Hernandez read from a written description of reasons public bodies may enter closed session, broadly stating the meeting was “for a limited personnel matter, the purchase, acquisition or disposal of real property and water rights, and to discuss information covered by attorney-client privilege pertaining to threatened or pending litigation, as authorized by § 10-15-1(H)(2), (7), and (8).”
In the seconds following, after commissioners voted to go into closed session and began to leave the chambers, several people in attendance called for more specificity. The interim county attorney, Cari Neill, responded from the dais that the discussion would be for “attorney-client privileged matters” and declined to elaborate.
The Environmental Law Center filed a notice of violation to the county soon after, providing 15 days for the county to cure a violation, if it occurred, and avoid litigation. At a subsequent meeting in October, the commissioners retroactively approved an amended version of Schaljo-Hernandez’s motion, this time stating that the information discussed was “covered by attorney-client privilege pertaining to threatened litigation concerning Project Jupiter.”
In its complaint, filed in New Mexico’s 3rd Judicial District on Feb. 6, the ELC says the county defended the closed meeting by stating it presumed the public would understand that Project Jupiter would be the topic of discussion, since the closed meeting occurred while a motion was on the table.
The ELC argues that the closed session was not properly noticed in advance and that its explanation during the meeting was insufficient. It further contends that the county’s action to cure the violation in October still did not meet the law’s requirements. If a court agrees, it could render the subsequent actions invalid and potentially disrupt financing for Project Jupiter unless the county cures the violation to a judge’s satisfaction.
As a recent example, the city of Las Cruces held a special session last year to cure alleged open meetings violations in the hiring of its city manager at the urging of the New Mexico Department of Justice. The matter was resolved without a lawsuit.
The ELC lawsuit asks the court to find that the county violated the Open Meetings Act, void two ordinances supporting Project Jupiter financing and order any funds distributed to be returned, as the contractual terms would be legally invalid. The lawsuit is also seeking recovery of legal fees and court costs.
The lawsuit had yet to be formally served to the county, according to court records on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the county did not respond to a query from the Journal, but the county typically refrains from commenting on open litigation.
House approves bill increasing criminal penalties for certain felons in possession of a firearm - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
After several years of unsuccessful attempts, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's push to crack down on gun violence perpetrated by repeat offenders is halfway around the Roundhouse.
The House of Representatives voted 54-9 on Tuesday to approve a bill backed by the governor that would increase the criminal penalty for individuals with violent felony convictions who are found in possession of a firearm.
House Republicans and all but nine Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, House Bill 49, which now advances to the Senate with just over a week left in the 30-day legislative session.
"Raising the penalty for serious violent felons who flout the law by possessing firearms is a monumental step toward reducing gun crime and violence in New Mexico," Lujan Grisham said in a statement after Tuesday's vote.
This year's bill has advanced at the Roundhouse after several recent law enforcement standoffs that ended in violence. Just days ago, Las Cruces police officers fatally shot 28-year-old Johnny Ray Morales, who was facing criminal charges, including possession of a firearm by a felon and allegedly firing at an officer.
Specifically, the legislation would make it a second-degree felony with a mandatory sentence of at least nine years in prison for an individual previously convicted of a "serious violent offense" to possess a firearm. Under state law, serious violent offenses include murder, manslaughter, rape and kidnapping, in addition to other crimes.
Increasing the penalty for the state's felon in possession law — such a crime is currently a third-degree felony punishable by up to three years in prison — would likely increase incarceration rates and could cost the state an additional $27,200 per year, according to a legislative analysis of the bill.
While critics have raised concerns that the increased severity of the penalty could be too drastic, supporters of the legislation have argued the change is needed to better protect New Mexico residents and law enforcement officials alike.
"This legislation will help reduce gun violence and increase accountability for serious, repeat offenders by bringing New Mexico’s penalties more in line with the federal law,” said Rep. Joy Garratt, D-Albuquerque, after Tuesday's vote.
However, attempts in recent years to stiffen the state's current felon-in-possession law have been unsuccessful at the Roundhouse amid a prevailing wariness among lawmakers about the effectiveness of increased criminal penalties.
That includes an attempt during a 2024 special session that ended with the Democratic-controlled Legislature declining to take up the governor's crime-focused agenda.
New Mexico has seen its crime rates decrease in recent years, but the prevalence of homicides and aggravated assaults in the state was more than twice the national average as of 2024, according to FBI data. The state also has one of the nation's highest rates of firearm-involved deaths.
Record snow drought in Western US raises concern for a spring of water shortages and wildfires - By Dorany Pineda and Seth Borenstein, Associated Press
A record snow drought with unprecedented heat is hitting most of the American West, depleting future water supplies, making it more vulnerable to wildfires and hurting winter tourism and recreation.
Scientists say snow cover and snow depth are both at the lowest levels they've seen in decades, while at least 67 Western weather stations have measured their warmest December through early February on record. Normal snow cover this time of year should be about 460,000 square miles — about the size of California, Utah, Idaho and Montana — but this year it's only California-sized, about 155,000 square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
"I have not seen a winter like this before," said center director Mark Serreze, who has been in Colorado almost 40 years. "This pattern that we're in is so darned persistent."
The snowpack — measured by how much water is trapped inside — in Oregon is not only record low, but 30% lower than the previous record, said Jason Gerlich, regional drought early warning system coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Much of the U.S. east of the Rockies is snowbound and enduring more than two weeks of bone-chilling abnormal cold, but in West Jordan, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Trevor Stephens went to the store last week in gym shorts and a T-shirt.
"Right now there's no snow on the ground," he said in a video interview, looking out his window and lamenting the lack of snowboarding opportunities. "I'd definitely rather have icy roads and snow than whatever is going on out here right now."
Concerns over water supply and wildfires
Ski resorts had already been struggling through a difficult season, but the lack of snow has been persistent enough that concerns are growing about wider effects.
Oregon, Colorado and Utah have reported their lowest statewide snowpack since the early 1980s, as far back as records go.
A dry January has meant most states have received half their average precipitation or even less. Along with sunny days and higher-than-average temperatures, that's meant little snow buildup in a month that historically gets a lot of snow accumulation across much of the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies. Because of heavy rains in December, California is in better shape than the other states, scientists said.
As of Monday, it had been 327 days since Salt Lake City International Airport got 1 inch (2.54 centimeters) of snow, making it the longest stretch since 1890-91, according to the National Weather Service.
The meager snow in Colorado and Utah has put the Upper Colorado River Basin at the heart of the snow drought, said Gerlich.
A robust mountain snowpack that slowly melts as winter warms to spring provides a steady flow of water into creeks and rivers. That helps ensure there's enough water later in the year for agriculture, cities, hydropower electric systems and more.
But lack of snow or a too-fast melt means less water will replenish rivers like the Colorado later in the season.
"This is a pretty big problem for the Colorado basin," said Daniel Swain of the University of California's Water Resources Institute.
Experts said the snow drought could also kick-start an early wildfire season. Snow disappearing earlier than average leaves the ground exposed to warmer weather in the spring and summer, which dries soils and vegetation quicker, said Daniel McEvoy, researcher with the Western Regional Climate Center.
Too warm to snow
While it's been dry, the record-low snowpack is mostly due to how warm the West has been, which is connected to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, several scientists said. Since Dec. 1, there have been more than 8,500 daily high temperature records broken or tied in the West, according to NOAA data.
Much of the precipitation that would normally fall as snow and stay in the mountains for months is instead falling as rain, which runs off quicker, Swain and other scientists said. It's a problem scientists have warned about with climate change.
Going snowless happens from time to time, but it's the warmth that has been so extreme, which is easier to tie to climate change, said Russ Schumacher, professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University and Colorado State Climatologist.
"It was so warm, especially in December, that the snow was only falling at the highest parts of the mountains," McEvoy said. "And then we moved into January and it got really dry almost everywhere for the last three to four weeks and stayed warm."
Wetter, cooler weather is coming
Meteorologists expect wetter, cooler weather across the West this week with some snow, so this may be the peak of the snow drought. But it'll still be warmer than usual in many areas, and scientists aren't optimistic the snow will be enough.
"I don't think there's any way we're going to go back up to, you know, average or anywhere close to that," said Schumacher. "But at least we can chip away at those deficits a little bit if it does get more active."