Bregman highlights Haaland's link to Epstein files in new TV ad as primary race heats up - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
The long shadow cast by Jeffrey Epstein in New Mexico has crossed into the state’s race for governor.
Democrat Sam Bregman released a television ad Wednesday that spotlights his primary opponent Deb Haaland’s appearance in the Epstein files, millions of records released by the U.S. Department of Justice related to the disgraced financier who died in 2019.
“Unlike others, I’m not in the Epstein files,” Bregman says in the 30-second TV ad, without mentioning Haaland by name. “So I can hold perpetrators who committed crimes at Epstein’s ranch accountable.”
A flight log included in the released files shows former gubernatorial candidate Gary King and Haaland, his running mate, took a jet in 2014 chartered for King by Epstein to Washington on a fundraising trip with several campaign staff.
Haaland’s campaign has downplayed the significance of the log, which has been reported on by local and national media outlets, saying she had no relationship with Epstein and no knowledge of his involvement in securing the charter flight.
In response to Bregman’s new ad, Haaland campaign spokeswoman Hannah Menchhoff on Wednesday called the insinuations a “false attack” that have been fact-checked by news outlets.
“Deb says that Jeffrey Epstein was a despicable predator who committed heinous crimes and she supports a full investigation into his crimes,” Menchhoff told the Journal. “She knew nothing about the way in which the plane was chartered and supports a full investigation into Epstein’s crimes.”
With Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham term-limited and set to step down at the end of this year, Haaland and Bregman are the two Democrats vying to be New Mexico’s next governor. Three Republicans are also running, and additional independent and minor party candidates could file this summer.
Haaland, who served as U.S. Interior secretary under former President Joe Biden, has outraised Bregman and her other rivals in this year’s race, as reports filed this week show she has collected more than $11.1 million since launching her campaign in February 2025. She has already spent about $6.7 million of that amount, primarily on campaign staff and advertising.
For his part, Bregman, who is currently the Bernalillo County district attorney, has raised roughly $3.7 million for his campaign, including contributions from his son, Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman, and other family members.
Bregman’s campaign is paying more than $31,000 to run the TV ads on several network stations, according to public filings. Both the TV ads and similar radio ads also tout Bregman’s policy proposals in this year’s race.
Meanwhile, Haaland launched her own TV ad this week highlighting her personal background as a single mother and her willingness to fight against President Donald Trump’s policies.
Political impact of Epstein legacy
The past connections of Epstein to New Mexico have been rekindled in recent months, with Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office reviving an investigation into possible sexual abuse and other criminal activity at the Zorro Ranch that Epstein owned outside Santa Fe.
In addition, the state House approved the creation during this year’s 30-day legislative session of a truth-finding commission with the authority to issue subpoenas to individuals connected to the ranch.
University of New Mexico political science professor Jessica Feezell said the prominence of the Epstein files in political ads reflects public dissatisfaction with how investigations into alleged human trafficking and sexual exploitation involving Epstein and a broad circle of associates have been handled.
“As long as invoking Epstein-related connections offers a political advantage, candidates will continue to use it, particularly in campaigns where they are trailing financially or in public support,” Feezell told the Journal.
She also said research shows that male candidates tend to use more negative advertising when facing off against female opponents.
On a national level, the Democratic National Committee has also launched ads against Republican incumbents in the U.S. House, accusing them of stonewalling the full release of the Epstein files.
Governor’s role likely limited
As for Bregman’s claims he would hold perpetrators of criminal activity at Zorro Ranch accountable, it’s unclear how much authority he would have to do so as governor — or as Bernalillo County’s top prosecutor.
That’s because any potential criminal case would likely be led by the state Department of Justice, an independent state agency that has said it plans to work closely with the legislative truth commission.
Lujan Grisham said in February she welcomed the reopening of the investigation into activities that took place at Epstein’s former ranch.
"We don't care who you are, if you did something related to this Epstein case ... we will find you," the governor said at the time.
Epstein purchased the Zorro Ranch from the family of former Gov. Bruce King, the father of Gary King, in 1993. The property is located near Stanley on more than 7,500 acres of land and features a 33,339-square-foot mansion, pool, hot tub and other structures.
It was sold for an undisclosed price in 2023 to the family of Texas real estate mogul Don Huffines, who has said he plans to turn it into a Christian retreat center.
Gardeners beware: Potential final freeze expected this weekend - Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
Before you dust off your garden trowel and get to planting your summer garden, check the forecast.
The National Weather Service predicts strong winds will blow a cold front into Albuquerque on Friday, ushering in a final freeze Saturday morning that may dip temperatures between 28 and 32 degrees, depending on location.
The North Valley and Corrales can expect a hard freeze at 28 degrees, while the Northeast Heights may have a soft freeze at 30 to 32 degrees. Throughout the day, temperatures will rise to a high of 69 degrees, according to the forecast.
With unseasonably warm March weather, NWS meteorologist Todd Shoemake said many plants bloomed early and now may “be at risk," especially where temperatures will be lowest.
“This year’s been very unique,” Shoemake said.
In March, Albuquerque hit multiple record high days on the tail end of an atypically dry winter. With this warmer weather, many gardeners may have started their growing season early, Shoemake said.
At Alameda Greenhouse in the North Valley — though staff advised against it — many customers have already bought plant starts, eager to begin growing.
“A lot of people were telling us, ‘Oh, there won’t be another freeze,'" said Alameda Greenhouse Assistant Manager Veronica Eash.
Though Eash advises against planting this weekend, there are a few options to protect your seedlings if you’ve already done so.
Gardeners can cover in-ground plants with a light, breathable material, such as frost cloth, burlap or an old sheet. This preserves higher ground temperatures and may prevent roots from freezing and frost from developing on fragile budding leaves, Eash said.
For an extra layer of protection, add bark mulch or leaves to your garden bed to cover roots.
If possible, gardeners, especially in the valley, should bring potted plants indoors. However, Eash said, some pots are rated to withstand freezes, and gardeners can check the packaging to find out.
This may be the last freeze of the season if weather follows historic trends, Shoemake said. Despite March breaking records, this freeze comes at its usual time. Typically, the last freeze for the Northeast Heights happens on or around April 14, while the valley often sees its last freeze at the end of the month, around April 23, Shoemake said.
Though this may be the last freeze, Shoemake said, it’s too early to definitively say, so keep your frost cloth ready.
NM Secretary of State asks Supreme Court to keep incumbent state Rep. Rebecca Dow off the ballot - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Lawyers for the New Mexico Secretary of State on Wednesday asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to uphold a lower court’s decision to kick incumbent state Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Elephant Butte) off the ballot for the June 2 primary election in a move that would leave the district with only a Democratic write-in candidate.
A state district court judge last week ruled to remove Dow from the ballot after Democrat Tara Jaramillo, who previously held Dow’s seat in the state House of Representatives while Dow mounted an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, argued that the incumbent inappropriately filed screenshots of her nominating petitions rather than the forms themselves.
At the time, Dow vowed to appeal and wrote on social media that the judge’s decision “came down to a dispute over paperwork—a technical issue that has now resulted in our district having no candidate on the ballot.”
Dow, who first won election to represent District 38 in 2016, appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court on Monday. In her appeal, she contended that the issue at hand is “at worst a formatting mistake.”
Jaramillo and Dow did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a Supreme Court filing Wednesday, Secretary of State general counsel Peter Auh wrote that Dow, indeed, fell “considerably short” of the requirements to make the ballot.
In addition to not being the forms required to run for office, Auh argued that Dow’s screenshots do not contain critical information to be a candidate, such as the addresses and voter registration status of the people who signed the nominating petitions.
Jaramillio’s attorney, former state lawmaker Daymon Ely, wrote in a filing that Dow “failed to accomplish this relatively simple task” of filing the correct nominating paperwork.
Roblox gaming platform reaches $12 million settlement with Nevada enhancing youth protections - By Jessica Hill, Associated Press
Roblox, a gaming platform popular with kids, will implement increased protections for young users and pay more than $12 million to the state of Nevada in what state Attorney General Aaron Ford on Wednesday called a first-of-its-kind agreement.
"This settlement will create a safer environment for our children online, and I hope that it will serve as a bellwether for how online interactive platforms allow our state's youth to use their products," the Democratic attorney general said Wednesday.
Roblox, which is used by nearly half U.S. children under 16, will give $10 million over three years to support programs like the Boys & Girls Club and other nondigital activities, Ford said. It will also fund a law enforcement liaison position to respond to safety concerns about the platform and fund an online safety awareness campaign, Ford said.
The settlement, which was agreed upon in lieu of litigation, includes enhanced protections for minors who use the app, such as requiring age verification for all users and restricting nighttime notifications for minors. The gaming platform faces litigation in other states, including Texas and Kentucky, which allege it fails to protect children.
"Roblox is proud to have worked alongside Attorney General Ford to reach this landmark agreement, which builds on our work to establish a new standard for digital safety," Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said in a statement.
Kaufman said the agreement creates a blueprint for how industry and regulators can work together to protect children.
The settlement comes as prosecutors have filed lawsuits against social media companies over the role they play in children's lives. Last month in California and New Mexico, social media companies like Meta and YouTube were found liable for designing their platforms to hook young users and were ordered to pay over $375 million in penalties.
Ford also has lawsuits pending against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Kik, alleging the companies failed to implement safety measures for children.
As part of the agreement, Roblox will implement facial age estimation technology to limit younger users' chats to only those in similar age groups. Adult users and users under 16 will not be allowed to chat unless they are communicating with a trusted friend, Ford said. A trusted friend can be added through a QR code or their phone contacts to ensure the child knows the person outside of the platform, he said. The company will also monitor activity to see if a user lied about their age, he said.
Roblox will create kids accounts for users under ages 16 that blocks access to adult-rated content and provides games vetted for suitability. The agreement also expands parental oversight to users under 16. That oversight was previously available for users under 13.
Donch'e King, supervising criminal investigator at the attorney general's office, said half a million online predators pursue children at any given moment, often across multiple platforms. The majority of predatory contact occurs through chat rooms and instant messaging, he said. He urged parents to communicate frankly with their children about the platforms they are on and to report concerns to law enforcement.
"Protecting Nevada's children is not an option; it's our duty," King said.
NM housing authority agrees to spend $5M on buying down interest rates for new homebuyers - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority on Wednesday agreed to direct $5 million of recent legislative funding toward reducing interest rates for low- and middle-income homebuyers, a move officials hope will spur more housing development.
The authority, also known as Housing New Mexico, received roughly $50 million during the recent legislative session toward its Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which historically has provided down-payment assistance, as well as other grants and low-interest loans, for low-income homebuyers.
But Chief Lending Officer Jeff Payne told board members Wednesday that the trust fund could have a bigger impact on mortgage affordability by targeting interest rates, which have steadily risen since the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing inflation.
The board agreed to launch a pilot program that will pay to knock 1% off mortgage rates for roughly 400 homebuyers, as long as they meet income requirements; are using the home as a primary residence; and are buying a home built within 12 months of the purchase date.
Payne calculated that, for a $300,000 home, the authority would have to pay about $12,000 to reduce a mortgage rate from roughly 6.3% to 5.3%. Doing so would save a homeowner about $180 a month, equating to savings of about $2,200 a year and nearly $70,000 over the life of the 30-year mortgage.
In contrast, an MFA program that reduced the amount of the loan for that same home by $12,000, either through down-payment or other assistance, would only reduce a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment by about $70, or about $840 a year, Payne calculated.
The pilot program could launch as soon as July, Payne said. He said he is unaware of any other state that uses taxpayer funds to buy down interest rates, he said, and authority officials will re-evaluate the program once all the funding is spent to “tweak whatever we think is not working with some of the feedback that I’m sure we’ll receive.”
The program received enthusiastic support from board members, including State Treasurer Laura Montoya.
“The buydown is actually a game-changer for people who are middle class, that are right on the threshold,” she said. “They make decent enough money, but because of today’s market, are not able to think of the idea of having their own home and building their own home as generational wealth.”
The Legislature approved more than $110 million during the 2026 legislative session for housing assistance and homelessness prevention, the latest of several sessions that invested significant state funds in tackling a statewide affordable housing shortage. According to recent estimates, the state lacks more than 32,000 affordable housing units, and the state could lack as many as 90,000 units across the income spectrum.
Rep. Vasquez presses federal agricultural officials as New World screwworm cases creep toward border - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) led a letter this week from congressional lawmakers asking top federal agricultural officials to report on their efforts to curb the spread of a parasitic fly through Mexico, and prevent its penetration into U.S. herds.
The New World screwworm is named for the maggot’s behavior of burrowing into flesh and causing serious or fatal wounds in animals. Last year, it advanced northward through Mexico after being mainly contained in Central America for several decades. Before U.S. officials declared the fly eradicated in the 1960s, the wounds from parasites would kill wild and domestic animals, sometimes at a rate of one-in-five animals in an infected herd.
The April 13 letter, addressed to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, requests a formal briefing to update members of the House Agriculture Committee on the federal response to “numerous cases” of New World screwworm reported near the border, as fly activity is expected to rise with warmer temperatures.
To date, more than 20,000 cases have occurred, mostly in Mexican livestock, according to federal data, including three active cases in the northern state of Nuevo León.
USDA did not respond Wednesday to Source NM’s request for comment on the letter.
Last July, the USDA closed ports of entry to livestock to prevent the fly’s advance, which has cost the largest crossing in New Mexico more than $1 billion.
To combat the outbreak, agriculture officials in the U.S. and Mexico in recent weeks have dropped 100 million sterile male flies in active cases near the Texas-Mexico border and broke ground on a new facility to ramp up their production by November 2027. Since the flies have a lifespan of about 21 days, sterile flies can significantly curb screwworm numbers by ensuring eggs go unfertilized.
Vasquez, in the letter, requested an update on the status of sterile fly production and dispersal around Texas, a description on how $100 million to address the problem is being spent and which criteria USDA will use to possibly reopen the border crossing for livestock.
The letter stated that an outbreak would worsen grocery prices, noting that domestic cattle herd declines have already raised the cost of beef.
“Any outbreak in the U.S. would be devastating to livestock producers and push cattlemen and women near the border to liquidate their herds, which would compound the herd contraction that we’ve seen across the country,” the letter said.
In addition to Vasquez, six other Democratic members of Congress signed the letter, representing California, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota and Nevada.
The letter followed the April 10 announcement of the northernmost active New World screwworm case: an infested dog reported in Nuevo León, Mexico about 88 miles south of the Texas border.
The detection prompted a warning from Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who urged additional sterile fly production and more awareness for early detection. Miller criticized the federal response, saying, “the reality is the spread of the New World screwworm has not been successfully contained to date.”
He urged Texans to be familiar with the signs of infestation such as rapidly worsening, foul-smelling skin wounds with visible maggots or eggs.
“There is zero margin for delay when it comes to screwworm. Early detection is the difference between containment and a full-blown crisis that could devastate herds and livelihoods,” he said in the statement.