PNM, private equity firm contend $400M stock sale didn’t violate state law
—Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Officials for New Mexico’s largest electric company and the private equity firm looking to acquire it told state regulators this week that they stand behind their $400 million stock sale. Critics, including environmental advocates and the New Mexico Attorney General, had previously questioned whether the sale violated state law and state regulators opened a formal investigation into the matter.
The state investigation was the latest development in the controversial proposed sale.
PNM’s parent company TXNM Energy Inc. and private equity firm Blackstone Infrastructure first announced their plans for an $11.5 billion acquisition in 2025, setting in motion regulatory approval by the state Public Regulation Commission. Opposition to the sale emerged in both procedural filings and public hearings.
In February of this year, the Albuquerque anti-poverty nonprofit Prosperity Works and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez raised concerns that a mid-2025 $400 million stock sale between TXNM and a Blackstone affiliate had violated the state Public Utilities Act, which charges the PRC with overseeing stock sales. The law states in part that stock sales can only happen “with the prior express authorization of the commission.”
The state Public Regulation Commission in March opened a formal investigation and gave PNM and Blackstone until this week to submit proof that the deal did not violate any laws.
The utility and the private equity firm have contended that the $400 million sale was necessary to support TXNM’s operations while the merger is pending.
“The stock sale was for the purpose of funding TXNM’s operating and capital budgets and did not benefit or support our efforts to acquire TXNM,” a Blackstone spokesperson wrote in an email to Source NM.
In a Monday filing, PNM and Blackstone argued that their opponents’ arguments rely on an interpretation of a law that “appears beguilingly simple at first blush” and wrote that the state Supreme Court has not relied on a simple interpretation of this law when it would lead to an “absurd” result.
In the filing, the companies also proposed an alternative. If the commission finds that the stock sale required prior authorization, the companies proposed an alternative arrangement that would allow the utility to hold on to the money and bar Blackstone from being a shareholder until the PRC made a final decision.
“The stock issuance was done in good faith, communicated publicly with advance notice, and with no intent to circumvent any rules or regulations,” a PNM spokesperson wrote in an email to Source NM, adding that the stocks were not sold in exchange for control.
Critics, however, say the alternative proposal would make the existing law little more than window dressing.
“They want the commission to ignore the law so they can keep the benefits of an unlawful stock acquisition,” Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the Santa Fe clean energy advocacy organization New Energy Economy, told Source NM. “That’s a textbook attempt to do indirectly what the law forbids directly. You can’t take an unlawful transaction, rename it and keep the money. That would render the statute meaningless.”
In a Monday filing of its own, Torrez’s New Mexico Department of Justice countered that the merger hinged on the stock sale and violated state law because the PRC did not get a chance to approve the sale before it took place.
Target officially set to anchor Lobo Crossing project in Southeast Albuquerque
—Kylie Garcia, Albuquerque Journal
The sale of a major piece of property on the University of New Mexico’s South Campus is complete, moving the area one step closer to welcoming a major retail hub.
Arizona-based developer SimonCRE is officially the new owner of roughly 38 acres of land previously owned by UNM after a transaction that began last year closed on Tuesday, founder and CEO Josh Simon told the Journal.
Simon also confirmed a portion of tenants slated to join Lobo Crossing Shopping Center — a 363,000-square-foot, open-air food and retail development planned for the land SimonCRE has acquired.
The tenants officially leased so far include Sierra, HomeGoods, Marshalls, Michaels, Burlington, Boot Barn, Five Below, Spencer’s and Jersey Mike’s Subs.
Target will headline the list, according to a memorandum of lease document reviewed by the Journal on Tuesday.
“This is a pretty powerful lineup,” said Tom Neale, chief operating officer of UNM’s real estate arm, Lobo Development Corp. “This is also the first major retail center in Albuquerque in over two decades, and we’re really proud that it’s in the South Campus and it’s helping out the southern tier of the city.”
The Target lease document ends months of speculation and years of conversations — the first of which were made public when university officials revealed talks to potentially incorporate a Target into UNM’s South Campus Tax Increment Development District, or TIDD, in 2023.
Simon could not comment on Target but said the project’s anchor tenant “does offer grocery” and will help to address UNM South Campus’ current existence as a food desert.
Target’s inclusion marks a significant moment for the project, which Simon called “by far the biggest thing that’s been built in Albuquerque, from a retail standpoint, in decades.” As Lobo Crossing’s anchor tenant, Target is the national, large-scale food and general merchandise retailer that SimonCRE had to secure for the deal with UNM to go through.
“I think a lot of people in town were doubting if this thing was even going to happen,” Simon said. “We’ve been working on this project for several years, and there’s been plenty of times where I thought the same. So I think it’s great to finally see this first hurdle pass, now that we’ve closed on it.”
The sale comes several months after UNM announced last year that its Board of Regents had approved a transfer of ownership for the vacant South Campus property, located east of Interstate 25 in Southeast Albuquerque near the UNM Lobo Sports Complex, Lobo Village and the Science & Technology Park.
Lobo Development Corp. had been working with SimonCRE on the project for about two years prior to last year’s announcement.
SimonCRE agreed to purchase the property for $11.75 million, which Simon said is roughly where the final acquisition cost landed. With the sale finalized and the project almost fully permitted, the developer currently plans to break ground this month with the aim of opening the majority of Lobo Crossing next fall.
Undeveloped land from the Raising Cane’s on Gibson Boulevard in October 2025. The University of New Mexico South Campus’ uneven terrain has made attracting development to the area a challenge for years. Kylie Garcia/Journal
The milestone is especially meaningful for Neale, who said the university’s efforts to get a project like Lobo Crossing underway in the South Campus stretch even further back than SimonCRE.
“This was a decade in the making,” Neale said, citing an unsuccessful attempt to get a project similar to Lobo Crossing off the ground several years ago before the creation of UNM’s TIDD. That attempt is what made the need for a TIDD evident, Neale said.
UNM’s TIDD sets aside up to 75% of incremental gross receipts and property taxes from the state, city and county for public infrastructure projects. It was created in 2023 to incentivize development and transform UNM’s largely undeveloped South Campus into a hub of activity.
Lobo Crossing — expected to be the South Campus TIDD’s single largest revenue generator — “wouldn’t have happened” without the district, Simon said.
When all is said and done, Simon said Lobo Crossing will cost “probably in excess of $150 million” to develop. SimonCRE will fund the majority of the project, with support from the TIDD.
Other tenants slated to join the shopping hub are Old Navy, Ross and Skechers, with those leases currently pending. Leases are also in the works with a national cellular company, dental office and cable provider, while a national dessert company and a breakfast tenant have submitted letters of intent, a flyer for Lobo Crossing shows.
“For the big box spaces, the pre-leasing that we’ve done is incredible,” Simon said. “Being (more than 90% leased) before closing is very rare. It speaks to just how there has been just a dearth of (new development) activity and high demand for retail space in the Albuquerque market.”
Neale said that paucity of activity has been particularly dramatic for UNM’s South Campus due to “challenging site conditions,” including the presence of a major drainage structure and uneven terrain. These challenges have left the area “completely underserved” and lacking in retail services, Neale said.
To see Lobo Crossing reach this hurdle after years of conducting analysis and trying to justify why a TIDD was needed is “rewarding,” Neale said. The COO said Lobo Crossing is an example of people and entities across the city, county and state working together to make a project happen.
“I think this is going to be a real big benefit to the community, as well as UNM and our aspirations for really creating a vibrant sports entertainment and technology district,” Neale said.
The milestone comes as the university moves forward with other efforts to revamp one of the area’s major complexes, University Stadium. UNM announced in October that it had retained Albuquerque architecture firm Dekker for a planning and feasibility study to renovate the stadium, and it asked the Legislature for $50 million to help fund the project in January.
SimonCRE will now turn its attention to finding local and regional businesses and restaurants to fill the remaining space — an undertaking that local brokers with Albuquerque’s Base 5 Retail Partners will assist with.
“It’s been a long road to get to this point, and we’re excited,” Simon said.
New Mexico congressional delegation lambasts Trump’s threats against Iran - by Source New Mexico Staff,
In statements released Tuesday, New Mexico’s all-Democratic congressional delegation condemned President Donald Trump’s threats against Iran, which included a post on social media that said, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
“President Trump’s latest social media posts offer no reassurance to the American people, our service members, or their families,” U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján said in a statement. “His reckless, deranged, and immoral threats to destroy a ‘whole civilization’ are dangerous and have further escalated tensions, putting Americans and our allies at even greater risk.
Americans, Luján’s statement continued, “did not vote for this war. The president dragged our nation into it without a plan, without congressional authorization, and without public support. Now, families here at home are facing rising costs and the consequences of his chaos.”
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s statement characterized Trump’s statement as both “unhinged” and one that threatened a war crime.
“This is not some real estate deal that’s dragging on,” Heinrich said. “We are talking about the very existence of a nation and the millions of innocent civilians within it, folks whose oppression President Trump claimed to care about only weeks ago. Let me be clear: No one gets to indiscriminately harm civilians. It’s against international and U.S. law, and it is wrong.”
U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernández, who represent the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts, respectively, both called for Trump to be removed as president.
In a video on social media, Stansbury said Trump’s statements were not just “unbefitting a president,” but represented “threats against humanity and warm crimes under international law.
Leger Fernández, in a statement, also said Trump “must be removed” and called upon Republicans to do so.
“The Constitution gives Republicans in the Cabinet the power to remove him under the 25th Amendment,” she said. “Republicans in Congress hold the power to impeach him. They have the power to stop this madness. What will my Republican colleagues do? Do you support his war crime threats? And if not, will you use your power to stop this?”
Leger Fernández also exhorted “Republicans to bring Congress back into session to pass a War Powers Resolution to stop his illegal war, and to impeach him now. We must act before it’s too late.”
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who represents New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, did not explicitly call for Trump’s removal, but did call upon his Republican colleagues “to find the courage to take the violent threats made this morning seriously and work across the aisle to prevent our great nation from having blood on its hands. The American people want stability and security now.”
New Mexico health officials say state prepared to handle disease testing amid CDC ‘pause’
—Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico health officials said a recent ‘pause’ by federal officials on dozens of diagnostic tests, including for rabies, poxviruses and various parasites, will not disrupt the state’s day-to-day operations, but could impact its resources for handling unusual cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on March 30 it was temporarily making such tests unavailable as part of a “routine review” for infectious diseases tests.
New Mexico State Laboratory Director Michael Edwards told Source NM he is certain New Mexico can handle the necessary tests for disease tracking.
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“In most cases, we’re OK, we have the abilities to test, we can protect the people that live here,” he said.
Edwards said the state also can rely on help from other public labs in surrounding states, with agreements for testing if needed.
“The public health laboratory system is robust,” Edwards said. “If there’s pauses or shortages we work together to find out how to fill those gaps.”
Previous pauses by the CDC have lasted for several weeks to several months, Edwards said.
However, staff cuts to the federal agency have impacted the state, New Mexico Department of Health Medical Epidemiologist Chad Smelser told Source NM. The CDC’s workforce has shrunk by nearly a quarter under the Trump administration, with federal personnel data showing a net decrease of more than 3,000 employees.
Smelser said the CDC informed the state at the end of March that experts who were previously on-call 24-7 to advise states on rabies cases are no longer available.
“They told us they do not have the staff to respond” to the rabies inquiries, Smelser said, “and they have asked us to deal with those ourselves, when they are not available.”
Smelser said state health officials each year successfully field hundreds of calls about rabies and test potentially infected animals in the state.
“When we do need to see the CDC’s expertise, it’s when we’re dealing with something rare like an animal bite abroad or a potential human rabies case,” Smelser said. “Since there are only a few human cases each year in the United States, we rely on their extensive knowledge about these rare events, and not having those resources is a burden on us.”
Only one to three human rabies cases are reported in the U.S. each year, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, compared to the average of about 5,000 animal cases reported annually. In March, New Mexico officials euthanized a rabid bobcat following its attack of several dogs in Sierra County, which also prompted two people to receive rabies vaccinations out of precaution. The state confirmed 13 rabies cases in 2025.
Smelser said it’s unclear when the agency will be fully staffed to answer state inquiries.
A statement provided to Source NM from U.S. Health and Human Services Press Secretary Emily Hilliard did not address questions about staffing levels, but noted that some of the lab tests will likely be available again in coming weeks.
“In the meantime, CDC stands ready to support our state and local partners to access the public health testing they need,” Hilliard said.
Ranked choice voting defeated in Albuquerque - Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque City Council killed a proposal Monday night to use ranked choice voting for municipal elections.
Proponents argued that this process would save millions of taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, opponents said that the new system would confuse voters and that most were not educated enough to research and rank multiple candidates.
Ranked choice voting is already used in municipalities across the country, including locally in Santa Fe and Las Cruces.
“I’m not calling people dumb or confused,” said Councilor Dan Lewis.
Instead, Lewis argued that the ranked choice system itself is confusing. Lewis pointed to Santa Fe, where even years after implementation, some voters are still unclear on the process.
Ultimately, the measure was voted down Monday on a 6-3 vote.
Lewis and fellow city councilors Dan Champine, Brooke Bassan, Renée Grout, Joaquín Baca and Council President Klarissa Peña voted against the ordinance. Councilors Nichole Rogers, Tammy Fiebelkorn and Stephanie Telles voted in favor of ranked choice voting.
How it works
In the current system, citizens vote for one candidate and must return to the polls if neither candidate wins at least 50%. If adopted, ranked choice voting would enact this process instantaneously.
If no candidate receives 50% of the first-choice votes, the least popular candidate is eliminated. Voters who chose that eliminated candidate would have their vote transferred to the tally of their second-choice candidate.
This continues until one candidate receives a decisive majority vote, effectively eliminating the need for a runoff election.
For and against
Political blogger Paul Gessing told councilors that the ranked choice voting was “too confusing.”
“Not all (voters) are attending city council meetings,” Gessing said. “They don't all have their top five candidates or six candidates listed out and are not able to necessarily do the research for that.”
Gessing suggested that the city should instead eliminate runoff elections by returning to a plurality. The current system requires one candidate to receive at least 50% of the vote; otherwise, a runoff is triggered between the top two vote recipients.
Supporters, including school teachers, refuted Gessing, saying that ranked choice voting is used and understood by children to choose elective classes and vote in class elections.
“Surely you don’t consider Burqueños less capable of understanding than a 5-year-old,” said public commenter Kristen Cummings.
Supporters also argued that ranked choice voting is fiscally responsible and would encourage higher voter turnout.
Leadership at the county agreed with supporters.
According to Bernalillo County Clerk Michelle Kavanaugh, ranked choice voting could save taxpayers millions by eliminating runoff elections.
Last year, the city spent $1.8 million to host a runoff election for the mayoral and city council races, Kavanaugh said. At a minimum, runoff elections cost the city around $500,000, Kavanaugh said.
Kavanaugh also assured councilors that the county, which is responsible for coordinating the election, was ready to implement ranked choice voting.
“Now’s the time,” Kavanaugh said during public comment.
Despite the failed vote, Fiebelkorn said she sees ranked choice as an inevitability and that eventually the City Council will have to catch up.
“This is coming,” Fiebelkorn said.
Tuesday is deadline for public comment on expanding drilling near Chaco Canyon - Mark Haslett, KUNM News
The Trump administration wants to expand oil and gas drilling near Chaco Canyon, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management gave the public just one week to comment. Tuesday is the deadline. State and tribal leaders say the federal government is trying to rush the changes through.
A Biden administration order placed a 20-year ban on oil and gas development on federal lands within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The site is considered sacred by numerous Native tribes and holds architectural structures more than a thousand years old.
A seven-day public comment period on the proposal to revoke the protections ends Tuesday. The agency posted notice of a one-week comment period on Monday last week. The period included Easter and Passover, as well as Tribal holidays.
All five members of New Mexico’s Congressional delegation have criticized the BLM for the brevity and the timing of the public comment period. Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard called the failure to schedule a public meeting on the matter “a slap in the face to the people who have called this place home long before there ever was a United States government.”
The Navajo Nation government favors rescinding the 10-mile ban. The All-Pueblo Council of Governors wants the protections kept in place.
As her tenure nears end, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signs off on hefty salary increases for staffers - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
As Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham nears the final months of her tenure as New Mexico’s chief executive, she has doled out another round of hefty salary increases for top Governor’s Office staffers.
The pay raises for more than 20 employees — approved last month — range from less than 1% to more than 16% in at least one instance, according to state personnel data.
In any case, most of the approved pay raises are far larger than the 1% salary increases most state workers will receive in July, after being included in a $11.1 billion budget bill signed by the governor last month.
A Lujan Grisham spokesman said Monday the governor feels it’s important to reward the commitment of staffers who work under “intense demands” and are constantly on call.
With Lujan Grisham set to leave office at the end of this year and New Mexico’s next governor likely to appoint their own inner circle, some staffers are also starting to leave for new jobs, the governor’s spokesman, Michael Coleman, said.
“Salary increases help to retain experienced employees who must assume an even greater workload as other staffers leave,” Coleman told the Journal.
“Gov. Lujan Grisham intends to finish strong, and retaining experienced staff through the end of her term ensures continuity and the ability to deliver on her priorities for New Mexico,” he added.
However, the salary increases could rankle some rank-and-file state employees who are facing rising costs for gasoline and many basic grocery items.
Megan Green, the president of the Communications Workers of America Local 7076 union, expressed frustration about the pay raises, saying most rank-and-file state workers cannot ask for merit-based salary hikes.
“We have to go every year and beg for a raise that almost never meets the increase in the cost of living,” Green told the Journal.
She also cited stubbornly high vacancy rates at many state agencies, while adding an overhaul of the state’s classified compensation system has not led to more advancement opportunities for state employees.
Among the Governor’s Office employees who received sizable raises last month are the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Diego Arencon, and Director of Cabinet Affairs Caroline Buerkle, both of whom saw their salary levels rise from $208,000 to around $225,000 per year — a roughly 8% increase.
An even larger pay raise was received by Rebecca Roose, the governor's senior infrastructure advisor, whose pay rate increased by more than 15% from $171,600 to $198,199 per year. The pay raises were first reported by The Candle, an online publication covering New Mexico news.
The two-term Democratic governor has now signed off on several rounds of salary increases for top appointees. Similar pay raises were doled out last year and after her reelection campaign in 2022, as well as during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lujan Grisham herself has not seen her $110,000-per year salary increase since taking office in 2019, since pay levels for statewide elected officials are set in statute. The governor did sign a 2023 bill increasing those salary levels, but the pay hike for the governor will not take effect until next year — after she leaves office. The state’s next governor will make $169,714 per year.
Meanwhile, the timing of the latest pay raises stems from the fact the governor and her chief of staff, Daniel Schlegel, meet to evaluate the performance and compensation of Governor’s Office staffers after the legislative session and bill-signing period conclude, Coleman said.
While Schlegel himself did not receive a salary increase in the latest round of raises, he did get a pay bump last year.
New Mexico enacts sweeping statewide fire restrictions to prevent wildfires - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico forestry officials announced sweeping statewide fire restrictions Monday to prevent wildfires during the state’s unseasonably hot and dry spring.
The restrictions ban smoking; fireworks; campfires; any prescribed agricultural and debris burning; or oil and gas production flaring on state lands. The state will allow exceptions on a case-by-case basis if weather or other conditions are met, according to a news release.
The order will remain in place until officials at the state’s Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department cancel the ban following improved conditions and lower wildfire danger.
The order will remain in place until officials at the state’s Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department cancel the ban following improved conditions and lower wildfire danger.
New Mexico State Forester Laura McCarthy said 2026 is already a severe fire season, with 288 wildfires recorded in the first three months, more than double the average 136 fires recorded over the same period, for the last five years.
She said the dry conditions and state of vegetation compares to the state’s most devastating fire year on record.
“The snow pack is worse than it was in 2022, it was bad then, but it wasn’t this bad,” McCarthy said.
The state is working to hire additional firefighters, she said, with 180 applicants so far.
“We are preparing for an extraordinary wildfire season, with fire engines that are appropriate for wildland fire response already positioned around the state,” she said.
While the state’s order does not affect municipal, federal or tribal lands, it overlaps with recent fire restrictions adopted by counties and federal agencies.
County officials in Rio Arriba, Guadalupe and Catron have issued fire bans within their borders. Last week, the U.S. Forest Service issued higher-level fire restrictions in the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands, which limit vehicles and machinery uses along with open flames.
Lower level fire restrictions are in place for the Santa Fe National Forest and Lincoln National Forest, which only allow campfires in specific stone-lined rings at campsites and ban smoking.
Santa Fe County Fire Department and Edgewood to sever ties - Gregory R. C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
In less than three months, Edgewood residents may be without fire and emergency medical services after the town agreed to terminate its contract with the Santa Fe County Fire Department (SFCFD).
Last week, the town and fire department announced their joint powers agreement will end on June 30.
“After June 30, 2026, the town has no expectation of fire suppression, rescue, emergency medical services, fire prevention, or other services the county is providing under the JPA,” a Friday SFCFD news release states.
Under the agreement that has been in place since 2005, firefighters provided 24/7 fire and emergency medical services. Over 80% of the fire and emergency medical services calls in the area are within Edgewood, according to the fire department. In exchange for the services, the town agreed to pay county impact fees it collected on development “and the equivalent of the county fire protection excise tax imposed in the unincorporated area of the county,” the release states.
“When approached to resolve its delinquency payments, town management asserted that the amount due in fiscal year (2023-)2024 was $10,319.21 and $10,035.12 through May of fiscal year (2024-)2025, a significant decrease from the $658,077.19 the town had itself calculated and paid in fiscal year (2022-)2023,” according to the fire department.
Edgewood Mayor Mike Rariden said “there were different interpretations in the joint powers agreement as to exactly what the amount was to pay and I believe the prior town administration did everything possible to follow guidelines, follow legal procedures and get that interpretation interpreted so that we could pay.”
As a result of the settlement, the contract will be terminated, which “ends all claims with no financial payment by either side,” according to the town’s news release.
The end of the agreement has many Edgewood residents worried.
Old Mill Edgewood Manager Jennifer White said she is concerned about losing the highly qualified first responders. On social media, people’s comments ranged from well wishes to the fire department to being upset over a decision that has left them wondering what will happen next.
Rariden said the town is looking at different options to replace the fire and emergency services it will be losing. This includes contracting with an air ambulance service and working with fire departments in Bernalillo and Torrance counties.
“One thing that we try to relay to the folks is, ‘We live here, too, and we want to make sure our homes and our properties and families are protected as well,’” he said. “So, we have a vested interest in making sure we’re doing everything we can to get this done and get it done better than it was before.”
At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Town Commission will have a closed-door meeting – 171A N.M. 344 – “with a public body’s (Santa Fe County) attorney pertaining to threatened or pending litigation in which the public body is or may become a participant,” according to the agenda.
In a social media post, the firefighters union, Local IAFF 4366, requested people to attend.
“This decision will leave the residents we took an oath to serve without the protection they’ve come to expect, and tragedy will result if this decision is not reversed,” according to the post.