Rio Grande could dry up in Albuquerque for third time in 40 years - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexicans could face a water shortage and increased costs for fruits and vegetables, if the Rio Grande does not receive a lot more precipitation this year.
“The amount of water in the river is not sufficient to meet irrigation demands while maintaining continuous river connectivity through the Middle Rio Grande Valley to Elephant Butte Reservoir,” said Anne Marken, Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District river operations and telemetry manager, in an email.
MRGCD CEO Jason Casuga said the low snowpack “is showing up in the amount of water that’s making it to the river” and as a result, there’s a chance that this year could be “really bad.”
About 500 cubic feet per second of water from the Cochiti Dam is currently available for use. This is about half of normal, which is over 1,000 cubic feet, he said.
“That’s how different of a year this is,” Casuga said.
Due to the historically dry and warm winter, the Rio Grande has received “about 30% of the usual amount of water we see in a year,” said Andrew Mangham, National Weather Service of Albuquerque hydrologist.
Farther south, the river channel in the San Acacia Reach, near Socorro, dried up for the first time this year, Marken said.
“River channel drying in Valencia and Socorro counties happens every year,” she said. “However, this is the first occurrence in recent history of drying in March. In average years, initial river channel drying doesn’t typically happen until June.
“As flows continue to decline, the extent of dry river miles is expected to expand. I anticipate the river channel drying will extend into the Albuquerque Reach this year. This has only occurred twice in the past 40 years, in 2022 and 2025.”
Amanda Molina, a MRGCD spokesperson, said it is uncertain if any of the new snowpack from a recent storm system will generate a secondary runoff pulse into the river. She said any resulting benefit “may be diminished by upstream storage under federal operations in the Rio Chama system for prior and paramount Pueblo lands, as well as by Colorado diversions that reduce flows crossing the state line, both factors outside MRGCD control.”
Casuga said the situation is “worse than we thought it would be” and the district is reaching out to irrigators “because people are frustrated.”
“They’re used to seeing water right now and they’re wondering where it is and we want folks to understand there are no other sources of water right now,” he said. “There is nothing in storage right now.”
The Fruit Basket ABQ General Manager John Gonzales said farmers told him they have been having a tough time and even had to plant early to make sure they were prepared “for the irrigation (or) lack of it.”
The lack of water will limit the amount of products out there and cause prices to go up, he said.
“Sometimes we can eat it as a business, but sometimes we do have to pass it down,” Gonzales said. “It just (depends) on how drastic a change it is.”
If it doesn’t start raining, Casuga said, “I expect this year to be one we look back on and compare to and say, ‘Hey, at least future years are not like 2026.’ Right?”
Surge of ICE detainees fighting no-bond hold floods New Mexico courts - Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
The Trump administration’s no-bond detention policy for immigrants has spurred hundreds of petitions from detainees seeking relief from New Mexico’s federal courts, according to data from an immigrants’ rights group.
Court records show that to meet the demand, criminal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico have been assigned of late to defend the detention policy for the government. Typically, attorneys in the civil division represent federal and prison officials named in the petitions.
As of last Thursday, the number of so-called habeas corpus petitions filed in New Mexico topped 800 since the policy was enacted last July, according to data from the nonprofit Immigration Justice Transparency Initiative.
That data shows more than 34,590 petitions have been filed nationwide by individuals arrested by U.S. immigration authorities and held without bond pending removal.
The petitioners, typically those who have lived and worked in the U.S. for some time, are usually granted at least a bond hearing after their petitions are considered by New Mexico judges. Sometimes, they are released pending a bond review to see if their circumstances have changed to require incarceration, according to a random case review by the Journal.
The review showed petitioners being held in New Mexico detention centers included a Chinese national working at a nail spa in New York; a citizen of Kyrgyzstan who resided in Maywood, Illinois; and a native of Cameroon who was briefly detained by the Department of Homeland Security after his entry into the U.S. in 2022 and was released on his own recognizance while he applied for asylum.
The Cameroon native was arrested again by immigration authorities on Dec. 16, 2025 and has no criminal history, according to court records.
The federal government contends that all noncitizens in the U.S. without authorization are subject to mandatory detention, whether they have lived and worked here for years, or have recently been caught at a border crossing or port of entry.
The filed petitions contend detention without an individual bond hearing violates their right to due process and causes irreparable harm.
Two federal appeals courts, the 5th Circuit and 8th Circuit, have sided with the Trump administration in finding the practice lawful. But there’s been no ruling by the 10th Circuit, which covers New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.
In New Mexico, the U.S. District Court has seen a significant increase in petitions since September, experiencing the greatest spike from December through March of this year, said Heather A. Small, chief deputy of the court.
From 2020 to 2024 combined, roughly a dozen such habeas corpus petitions were filed, compared to more than 400 from Jan. 1 to the end of February this year, Small told the Journal in an email.
“We’ve never seen this volume of habeas petitions, especially in such a short time,” said Chief U.S. District Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales in a statement. “Every petition is critically important because it involves an individual’s liberty. As a result, the judges are considering each petition with appropriate priority, but this is an added challenge because of the increased criminal immigration cases and other serious criminal cases on our dockets.”
Meanwhile, Ryan Ellison, first assistant U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, told the Journal through a spokeswoman last week, “Consistent with (Department of Justice) policy, we do not comment on internal staffing or attorney assignments.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will fulfill its legal obligations in responding to court filings, including habeas corpus petitions, while continuing to exceed prior prosecution levels,” the spokeswoman stated. “In 2025, narcotics prosecutions increased nearly 30% and firearms-related prosecutions increased by approximately 32% compared to 2024. Additionally, 7,099 immigration and border-related criminal cases were charged in 2025, which represents a 206% increase over 2024.”
It wasn’t clear how many federal criminal prosecutors in New Mexico have added civil habeas corpus petitions to their caseloads.
At least two such prosecutors were found in a review of court records.
Veteran prosecutor, Jack Burkhead, is listed as having represented the government in several such petitions. He is also handling the death penalty eligible case against alleged serial killer Labar Tsethlikai, who is charged with kidnapping, murder, assault and sexual abuse of at least 17 men from 2022 to 2024.
At least a few of the immigration cases have been handled by assistant U.S. attorney Katherine Lewis.
Lewis has been part of the public corruption prosecution of the more than a dozen defendants, including Albuquerque police officers and two attorneys, who have pleaded guilty in the massive racketeering and bribery case involving DWI dismissals.
That investigation remains ongoing, Ellison’s office stated.
Abnormal heat wave leaves most of New Mexico at high wildfire risk- Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A record March heat wave that occurred amid historic snow drought means that most of New Mexico will experience above-normal wildfire risk over the next two months, according to a new outlook forecasters released this week.
The National Interagency Fire Center’s new monthly outlook details the severity of the March heat wave across New Mexico and the West. For example, in Albuquerque, forecasters noted, temperatures hit 90 degrees on March 21, six weeks earlier than the previous record of May 3, set in 1947.
The heat wave contributed to expanded drought conditions across the state and resulted in an early melt-off of an already minimal snow pack across New Mexico and the rest of the West. The melt-off occurred between four and six weeks earlier than normal, according to the outlook, at a time when most locations across the West usually experience their highest snow pack levels of the year.
All those factors contribute to above-normal wildfire risk through April in most of New Mexico, excluding the southwestern and very northwestern parts of the state. In May and June, all but eastern New Mexico will be more wildfire-prone than usual, according to the forecast, before expected monsoons restore the state to normal wildfire risk.
The wildfire conditions have prompted multiple state, local and federal agencies to impose fire restrictions. Officials with the Santa Fe and Lincoln national forests this week both announced Stage 1 fire restrictions, which include prohibitions on building campfires or smoking outside of enclosed vehicles, among other constraints..
Additional restrictions are in effect across State Forestry lands, as well as the Mescalero Apache Reservation and Carlsbad Caverns National Park, according to a New Mexico State Forestry dashboard.
High winds and low humidity also prompted the National Weather Service in Albuquerque early Friday to declare a Red Flag Warning across much of eastern New Mexico, where at least six small fire starts have been detected in recent days. According to local and state officials, all of them were contained or mostly contained as of Friday morning.
According to the Southwest Coordination Center, 270 wildfires had burned more than 7,000 acres across the state as of April 1, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, in a social media post on Thursday, warned that more are expected during a wildfire season that has “arrived early.”
She called on residents to identify evacuation routes in advance should a wildfire come near their homes, as well as prepare a “go-bag,” sign up for county emergency alerts and clear dry brush and debris from at least 30 feet away from structures.
At Acoma town hall, concerns range from health care to elections- Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Pueblo of Acoma residents and leaders on Thursday evening pressed Democratic federal and state officials to rebuff the Trump administration on immigration and elections, while seeking support to address housing and other issues close to home.
In a town hall at the Acoma Pueblo Amphitheater, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, whose 2nd Congressional District spans New Mexico’s southern border and up the state’s western flank, joined state Rep. Michelle Pauline Abeyta of Tohajiilee and Acoma Gov. Charles Riley to address residents’ questions.
Vasquez and Abeyta, who both are campaigning for reelection this year, told the approximate 50 attendees they were committed to representing tribal communities’ interests.
Vasquez said if Democrats win back a majority in the U.S. House in the midterms, “there is hope” for legislation he has introduced to provide housing grants and offer federal benefits for tribal teachers.
“Our priorities are going to be very different than the current priorities that currently exist in which I believe much of Indian country is left as an afterthought,” Vasquez said. “That’s unacceptable.”
Vasquez also offered resources to help applicants to the newly extended Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, to provide lump-sum payments for diseases caused by exposure to radiation from atomic tests or uranium mining.
Abeyta updated attendees about recent laws passed by the state Legislature, such as one establishing free universal childcare. She said improvements to tribal infrastructure, recruitment of rural health providers and establishing affordable solar programs would be the topics of upcoming interim sessions with lawmakers this summer.
The town halls, she noted, offer the chance to address long-standing issues, such as inadequate access to health care, rising costs and push new policies.
“Continue to raise the issues. If you have ideas or solutions, we need to hear them — not only because we’re your voice up there, but we’re the ones working together to make sure it’ll get resolved,” she said.
While the town hall format encouraged residents to ask questions about topics close to home, such as RECA, health care and housing, big-picture concerns about citizenship and elections also emerged.
The recent Supreme Court hearings on President Donald Trump’s executive order to overturn the constitutional right to birthright citizenship “raised alarms” for how it would affect Pueblos, which predate the creation of the United States, Riley said.
“We would be more than happy to try and rally whatever you may need to ensure our birthright citizenship stays in place,” Riley told Vasquez, urging him to “follow up” on the issue.
Attendees also asked about federal legislation pushed by President Donald Trump that would require voters to show photo identification to participate in elections.
Vasquez sought to reassure the crowd that the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act —the SAVE Act — faces long odds, citing bipartisan opposition to the bill in the U.S. Senate.
“Aside from being what I believe is unconstitutional and limiting our access to the polls, it would likely be challenged in court immediately, even if it was passed,” Vasquez said.
Theresa Pasqual, who spent the town hall handwriting postcards to remind residents of important upcoming election dates, told Source NM that, “People are nervous. If the SAVE Act did have a path for passage, it would make voting even more challenging in rural communities like ours.”
Attorney General Raúl Torrez sues Trump Administration over unlawful executive order to exert federal control over elections - KUNM News
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez joined a coalition of 23 other attorneys general and the Governor of Pennsylvania in suing President Trump. This would challenge Trump’s executive order that attempts to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to administer elections by restricting voter eligibility and mail-in voting.
Torrez said that this lawsuit seeks to protect the rights of eligible voters and ensure that elections remain free from unlawful federal overreach.
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to establish a national list of eligible voters and directing the U.S. postal service–an independent federal agency–to transmit mail ballots only to those on the list. The order threatens states and election officials with criminal prosecution and the loss of federal funding if they do not comply with his demands.
Attorneys general argue that the Order would require states to act contrary to their own voter procedures, mail in voting systems and voter registration laws.
In their lawsuit, the coalition explains that the U.S. The Constitution gives states the primary authority to administer elections. And in contrast, the Constitution does not allow the President to impose changes to the federal election procedures.
Furthermore, the coalition argued that the Order would require states to upend their existing procedures and that there would not be enough time to conduct new voter education for the upcoming election.
New Mexico has been a leader in voting, security and mail-in voting. Currently, the state requires any voter who wants to vote by mail to provide voter information and get approved before receiving a ballot.
As Trump orders UFO data released, a question hangs: If aliens exist, what would they think of us? - By Corey Williams, Associated Press
For generations, human beings have wondered: What would alien life from another planet be like? But we rarely ask the opposite: What would they think of us?
It's a question that can produce some, well, uncomfortable answers if you happen to be an earthling.
"If I were looking at Earth from a distance, I would be pretty disappointed," theoretical physicist Avi Loeb says. "Most of our investing is dealing with conflicts to prevent other people from killing us or us killing others. Look at the Ukraine war over a little bit of territory. That is not a sign of intelligence."
The debate on whether little green men or UFOs are among us escalated in February when former President Barack Obama, responding to a podcaster's question, said aliens are "real," but he "hasn't seen them" and "they're not being kept at Area 51." President Donald Trump later announced on social media that he was directing release of government files because of "tremendous interest."
Stepped-up interest in UFOs also is swirling as the United States heads back toward the moon with Wednesday's launch of NASA's Artemis II mission. The four astronauts aboard will do a fly-around of the moon before returning to Earth.
In a world riven by war, civil unrest, climate change and divisiveness, it's easy to wonder what newcomers to Planet Earth might make of us and our struggles. Whatever the case, well over a majority of Americans echo the sentiment of the slogan from "The X-Files": "The truth is out there."
A 2021 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showed about two-thirds of Americans said their best guess is that intelligent life exists on other planets. About half of U.S. adults said UFOs reported by people in the military are "definitely" or "probably" evidence of intelligent life outside Earth.
"We don't want to think this is the only place in this extraordinarily and incomprehensibly large universe where life and intelligence and even technology have emerged," says Bill Diamond, president and chief executive of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
"It sort of says about humans, 'We don't want to be alone.'"
Something is up there. But what?
Americans have been fascinated by the thought of life outside this planet following the recovery of debris in 1947 near Roswell, New Mexico. The military initially said the material was from a flying disc, only to reverse course and tell the public it was from a weather balloon.
Hollywood ran with it. Flying saucers, little green men and eventually humanoid gray aliens became part of popular culture. April 5 even is celebrated annually throughout the iconic "Star Trek" franchise as "First Contact Day" to mark the date in 2063 when humankind, in "Trek" canon, first made contact with Vulcans.
Much in the popular culture suggests any aliens might be aggressive. Priscilla Wald, who teaches about science fiction at Duke University, has a theory as to why.
"It seems to me it's a reflection on who we are, that we're projecting onto aliens the way we treat each other," Wald says. "So the aliens are coming down, they want to conquer us, they're violent. Who does that sound like? It sounds like us."
In 2024, the Pentagon released hundreds of reports of unidentified and unexplained aerial phenomena. However, that review gave no indications that their origins were extraterrestrial.
On two separate occasions, Debbie Dmytro saw things in the sky over Michigan's southern Oakland County. The greenish object Dmytro says she saw March 1 in the sky over Royal Oak, Michigan, looked like neither plane nor helicopter. Dmytro, a 56-year-old medical professional, acknowledges that it could have been some type of commercial or delivery drone.
What she saw in 2023 in the same general area north of Detroit is not so easily explained.
"Four yellow lights, yellowish golden lights and they were all flying very, very low," Dmytro remembers. She says the lights were about 100 feet (30 meters) up at their nearest.
"I've never seen anything so low without any noise and flying in complete uniformity," she says. "Is it something man-made? Is it something that's not manmade? Who knows?"
Who knows indeed? UFOs, the term for unidentified flying objects, has in recent years given way to UAP — unidentified aerial phenomena or unidentified anomalous phenomena.
"Absolutely, there are such things" as UAPs and UFOs, says Diamond, whose SETI — Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — seeks to explore, search and understand the nature of life and intelligence in the universe.
"People observe things in the sky that they can't immediately identify or recognize as either human engineering such as planes or drones or helicopters, or animals, such as birds, and therefore they don't know what they are," Diamond says.
Time for the truth
Like so many, Dmytro wants to know what the government knows. "I think there's more information out there. I'm open to learning more," she says. "I have an open mind. It's always about scientific proof."
Retired Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet says evidence clearly shows there are UAP zipping around the airspace and in the oceans.
"The nonhuman intelligence that operates them or controls them are absolutely real," Gallaudet says. "We've recovered crashed craft. We don't know if they're extraterrestrial in origin."
Gallaudet worked as acting administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He participated in a 2024 congressional hearing on UAP disclosure and says the release of government files promised by Trump is something people find of interest. He just hopes the president follows through.
There are billions of galaxies in the universe and each has billions of stars, so the likelihood life developed elsewhere is fairly high, according to University of Michigan Astronomy Professor Edwin Bergin, who teaches about looking for life elsewhere. He believes that if intelligent beings navigated vast distances to reach Earth they would make themselves known — despite humanity's penchant for creating chaos.
"I would think that they would look at us like we were crazy ... but they would come out," he says. "I mean, why come here otherwise unless you're going to sit and observe."
Loeb, director of the Institute for Theory & Computation at Harvard and head of the university's Galileo Project for the Systematic Scientific Search for Evidence of Extraterrestrial Technological Artifacts, believes in the likely existence of extraterrestrials.
"They might be laughing at us," he says. "They might be watching us ... to make sure we will not become predators, that we will not become dangerous to them."
In the interest of national security
Much of the government's secrecy around UFOs and UAP is tied to national security concerns, according to Diamond.
"We have pretty advanced technologies, satellite, ground-based that are for various purposes mostly national security and defense that are pointing at the sky or things on board aircraft," Diamond says. "Sometimes these pick up objects. The technology behind it is sensitive and protected."
Government data, including a "trove " of UAP video the Navy is sitting on, should be shared with scientists for research and a better understanding of the characteristics of the objects, says Gallaudet, who spent 32 years in the Navy and viewed classified UAP video.
"When you look at these things in our airspace having near collisions with our aircraft, that's a real valid concern," he says. "We are just not sure of what they are and what they intend to do with their interaction with humanity. That could be a national security threat, or not."
"When has ignorance ever been a good national strategy?" Gallaudet asks. "Whether it be scary, harmful or not, or a mix, I think seeking the truth is in our best interest."
Meanwhile, Diamond doesn't think any "true alien encounter could be kept secret."
"If any civilization has mastered interstellar travel, they have technology and capabilities beyond our wildest comprehension," he says. "If they want to interact, they will; if they don't, they won't. If they want to be seen, they will be, and if not, they won't be!"