No sparks allowed: Local governments enact sweeping burn and firework bans in New Mexico
–Ross Cayton, NM.news
State and local governments are cracking down on open burning and illegal fireworks in advance of the coming Independence Day weekend and ongoing drought.
NM.News reports the Bernalillo County Commission has voted to ban all open burning in unincorporated areas of the county.Valencia and Santa Fe counties have also halted burn permits.
In Corrales, the Village Council has banned the sale and use of all fireworks within village boundaries. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that bans on personal fireworks remain in effect in the City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County. And the Las Vegas Optic reports local officials there have announced a zero-tolerance policy regarding illegal fireworks in the Las Vegas city limits.
Those actions follow Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declaring drought and severe fire conditions statewide. Her executive order urges New Mexico counties, municipalities and other governments to implement firework bans and water conservation measures. State Forester Laura McCarthy last month placed sweeping restrictions on fire activity.
Celebrate the United States of America’s 250th birthday with events across New Mexico - Elizabeth Secor, Albuquerque Journal
Fireworks will light up the New Mexico night sky for the Fourth of July. As the United States turns 250, celebrate at one of these events across the state.
Pancakes on the Plaza
WHEN: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Santa Fe Plaza, 63 Lincoln Ave., Santa Fe
HOW MUCH: Tickets start at $12 at pancakesontheplaza.com
Freedom Run
WHEN: 7:30 a.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Tingley Beach, 1800 Tingley Drive SW (race parking at ABQ BioPark Aquarium, 2601 Central Ave. NW), Albuquerque
HOW MUCH: $12-$40, plus fees, at tcrproductions.com; prices increase on race day
33rd annual Fourth of July Celebration
WHEN: Noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Socorro Rodeo & Sports Complex, 1 Rodeo Drive, Socorro
HOW MUCH: Free
July 4th Extravaganza
WHEN: 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Venus Park, 181 N.M.-344, Edgewood
HOW MUCH: Free
NM Red White And Blue Run
WHEN: 8 a.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Rio Rancho Aquatic Center, 745 Loma Colorado Blvd. NE, Rio Rancho
HOW MUCH: $18-$45, plus fees, at runsignup.com
Corrales Fourth of July Parade
WHEN: 10 a.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Parade route travels down Corrales Road in Corrales
HOW MUCH: Free
4th of July/Mayor’s Benefit
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Rotary Park, 7725 Quintana Drive NE, Bernalillo
HOW MUCH: Free
Freedom 4th
WHEN: 3-10 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Balloon Fiesta Park, 4401 Alameda Blvd. NE, Albuquerque
HOW MUCH: Free
Fourth of July at Franklin E. Miles Park
WHEN: 4-10 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Franklin E. Miles Park, 1027 Camino Carlos Rey, Santa Fe
HOW MUCH: Free
4th of July Spectacular
WHEN: 4-10 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Overlook Park, 580 Overlook Road, White Rock
HOW MUCH: Free
4th of July Celebration
WHEN: 5-10 p.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Campus Park, 2516 King Blvd. NE, Rio Rancho
HOW MUCH: Free
4th of July in Angel Fire
WHEN: Events start at 5:30 p.m. Friday, July 3, and 8 a.m. Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Angel Fire
MORE INFO: visitangelfirenm.com
United 4th of July Match
WHEN: 7:25 p.m Saturday, July 4
WHERE: Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park, 1601 Avenida Cesar Chavez SE, Albuquerque
HOW MUCH: Tickets start at $24 at newmexicoutd.com
Las Cruces senators organize Project Jupiter community meeting, oppose air permits
–Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
Four Democratic members of the New Mexico Senate who represent Doña Ana County gathered by the Rio Grande at Las Cruces’ La Llorona Park for a combined news conference and rally Thursday focused on the Oracle/Open AI data center complex known as Project Jupiter.
Sens. Carrie Hamblen, Bill Soules, Joe Cervantes and Jeff Steinborn presented common ground about the development’s transparency and interactions with the public, while Cervantes said he is not categorically opposed to AI infrastructure.
“We share the same concerns that those who live and work in this area, many for generations, have about the future of their livelihoods should this move forward,” Hamblen said before a crowd of about 200.
The lawmakers criticized county leaders for backing out of commitments county leaders had made to hold a listening session in June. The meeting was to have been an opportunity for community members to ask questions and express concerns about environmental impacts and other consequences of a planned campus of four data centers, microgrid power generation facilities and an office complex spanning more than 1,200 acres in Santa Teresa.
Construction on the project began in September and the county says the developers intend to begin initial operations by the end of 2026.
Days before that meeting in June, social media posts promoting the event showed a different date and revealed that instead of a listening session, it would be an open house and job fair promoting the project. Two county commissioners who attended later reported they got varying or unreliable answers to their own questions.
Cervantes was among those disappointed about the lost opportunity to get answers. Meanwhile, he said, “we continue to see example after example where the promoters, including the county government and the state government, are misrepresenting and misleading the public.”
The senators announced they would hold their own public listening session in August at New Mexico State University’s Las Cruces campus, with the hope that state agency representatives would attend. Cervantes said he had invited Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland to be there as well.
Cervantes argued that the project’s location in New Mexico’s southernmost county — with few news organizations, less community organization and a community hungry for jobs — was no coincidence.
“They are purposefully treating this community and this project as a guinea pig, because it is a place where there will be less accountability, less scrutiny, and ultimately less oversight,” Cervantes said.
Steinborn called on the state Environment Department to deny an air quality permit sought by the developer under the company name Yucca Growth.
Despite Oracle recently announcing a lower-polluting fuel cell technology by Bloom Energy, public notices still estimated the facility’s air pollution at 10.1 million tons of greenhouse gases annually. He urged Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, an enthusiastic advocate for the project last year, to publicly oppose the air permit.
“It will accelerate climate change. It will hurt air quality. And yes, it will impact people’s public health,” Steinborn said. “Ten million tons a year is equivalent to 75% of our state’s entire electric carbon emissions. It is more than Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined.”
Steinborn repeated his call for the developers to make a “massive investment in green power that should be gifted to the state of New Mexico” if it moves forward.
Steinborn and Soules argued that the state’s 2025 microgrid law allowing data centers that generate their own power to duck renewable energy requirements, and said they would press for legislation tightening microgrid regulations and oversight.
Hamblen said the meeting would be free and open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 11 at New Mexico State University’s Corbett Center.
Oracle responded Thursday evening to a Source New Mexico report earlier in the week that some New Mexico residents were reporting comments supporting the project were being submitted to environment officials under their names, without their knowledge or consent. The residents said they discovered the comments after providing their information to paid canvassers conducting public outreach for Project Jupiter in New Mexico’s largest cities — Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Rio Rancho.
A spokesperson for Oracle denied the canvassers were involved, stating: “Our outreach teams are supervised, clearly identified as Project Jupiter representatives, and trained to ensure that any public comment is submitted only by residents who voluntarily choose to do so. We do not authorize or condone the submission of public comments without a resident’s knowledge and consent, and residents who are not ready to submit a comment are provided printed educational materials so they can review the information on their own.”
The spokesperson continued, “This outreach is one of the many ways we are listening to community feedback, sharing facts about the project, and supporting a transparent public process.”
New Mexico lawmakers announce proposed statewide moratorium on data centers
–Julia Goldberg, Source New Mexico
Several Democratic state lawmakers on Thursday announced they intend to introduce legislation in next year’s legislative session to create a statewide moratorium on “large-scale” data centers.
State Reps. Eleanor Chávez of Albuquerque and Micaela Lara Cadena from Mesilla, along with Rep. Angelica Rubio and Sen. Carrie Hamblen, both of Las Cruces, say the moratorium would “prohibit new large-scale data center projects” while the state developed a “framework” for evaluating such developments’ impact on water, energy, emissions, ratepayers and overall “community benefits related to this industry.”
A news release announcing the legislation said it would be paired with a push to protect residents’ data security and close what some lawmakers and critics describe as a “microgrid loophole” allowing such companies to skirt the requirements of the state’s Energy Transition Act. Lawmakers also introduced a microgrid oversight bill in the session earlier this year that passed the state Senate but failed to make it to a House vote.
Several local governments, most recently Santa Fe County this week, have already passed moratoriums on data centers, proposals for which have been introduced across the state. In Santa Fe, commissioners amended their moratorium to strip it of “large-scale” language so that it would apply to a broader range of developments. Leaders in Socorro County, about an hour south of Albuquerque, also recently adopted a yearlong data center moratorium. Raton leaders, on the other hand, recently postponed a decision on adopting a data center moratorium after previously signing a memorandum of understanding with a data center developer.
“New Mexico cannot keep saying yes before we understand what we are saying yes to,” Rubio said in a statement. “We are watching this industry move faster than our laws, our water systems, and our communities can keep up with. A moratorium gives us the time to get this right, instead of finding out the consequences after the concrete is already poured.”
The lawmakers’ announcement notes the ongoing controversy facing Project Jupiter, a large-scale data center being built in southern New Mexico. Source NM reported this week that residents from three different New Mexico cities reported their names falsely appearing on letters urging state environment officials to approve air quality permits for the project after they were approached by canvassers. Litigation related to the project also remains pending.
“Project Jupiter moved so quickly that the same county officials who approved the tax break worth billions and took ownership of this project still can’t provide details or information for constituents seeking accountability on water use and emissions,” Lara Cadena said in a statement. “That’s exactly what happens when speed replaces scrutiny, and when deals are made with dishonesty and deception. A statewide moratorium is necessary so that we can ensure all industries meet our clean energy standards and operate within our scarce water realities.”
Los Lunas Schools settles with parents over Facebook discussion page
–Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
Los Lunas Schools has settled a lengthy legal battle with two parents who created a Facebook page to discuss district happenings.
The “Los Lunas School District Parents Discussion Page” prompted several cease-and-desist letters from the district since its launch in 2011. Co-founders Rowena Tachias and Monique Dereta sued the Los Lunas Schools Board of Education and former Superintendent Dana Sanders in 2021, alleging the attempts to shut the group down were a violation of their First Amendment rights.
The court sided with Tachias and Dereta. The district appealed the ruling, and a judge again sided with the plaintiffs.
Sanders was granted a trademark for the name “Los Lunas Schools” in 2019, and pursued legal action against Dereta and Tachias on the basis that they were unauthorized to use the name and were providing false information about the district on the Facebook page. The two sued the district after an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the trademark dispute.
“Regardless of what is on the Facebook page, this lawsuit was fundamentally about free speech,” said Jacques Chouinard, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “What the Los Lunas school board did was attempt to discriminate against them on the basis of the content of their speech, and that is flatly unconstitutional.”
Tachias and Dereta were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, Chouinard and attorney Matthew Beck. Beck and Chouinard are employed at Peifer, Hanson, Mullins and Baker, an Albuquerque firm which handles, among other things, cases of First Amendment law for clients including the Albuquerque Journal.
In a statement from Los Lunas Superintendent Susan Chavez, district officials said they never attempted to shut down the online forum. Los Lunas Schools officials said they took issue with the use of its name in the title of the Facebook page, claiming members of the public incorrectly believed the page was affiliated with the district.
“Los Lunas Schools neither then nor now or any time in between tried to suppress, stifle or impede speech protected by the first amendment,” the statement said.
A settlement of $145,000 will be paid to the plaintiffs by the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority. Tachias and Dereta will each receive $3,750 and their attorneys will receive $137,000.
Dereta and Tachias both said the small settlement amount was the district’s attempt to “make an example” of the two.
“We look at it more as a moral victory,” Dereta said.
Tachias said the district avoided negotiations for years, stretching the legal battle out for nearly a decade.
“Unfortunately, this could have been solved seven years ago with a simple across-the-table conversation,” Tachias said.
Santa Fe County commissioners shoot down controversial housing plan by La Tierra trails
–Santa Fe New Mexican
Santa Fe County commissioners have rejected a plan for a residential development near the La Tierra trails system.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports at a June 30 meeting, commissioners voted 3-2 to reject the project. The vote followed hours of debate about the proposed Camino Verde subdivision.
The 158-home proposal would have been built just north of N.M. State Road 599. Some of the lots in the project would be smaller than an acre.
The New Mexican reports some nearby residents oppose the project, in part because they say it would change the character of their neighborhoods.
Commissioners expressed concerns related to roadway and wastewater infrastructure.
After commissioners emerged from a closed session in which the project was discussed, Commissioners Cacari Stone, Justin Greene and Hank Hughes supported a motion from Hughes to deny the project. Commissioners Adam Johnson and Camilla Bustamante voted against the motion.
State claws back $22.5M from primary care clinic project
–Taos News
In Taos, Holy Cross Medical Center’s plans for new facilities are in doubt, because of questions about state funding.
The Taos News reports that Taos County failed to meet a deadline related to state funding. As a result, the State of New Mexico is now clawing back millions of dollars that had been anticipated for the hospital’s new urgent care and primary care clinic.
The Taos News reports June 30 was the deadline by which Taos County was to have spent $22.5 million in state infrastructure funds for the design, engineering and construction of the new clinic.
Because that money was not spent by the deadline, the $22.5 million will now “revert to the general fund.” Taos County Commissioner Bob Romero told the Taos news he hopes the county will “regain some of the lost funds in the next two legislative sessions.”
Trump administration's $46 billion 'smart wall' races ahead on the US-Mexico border - By Rebecca Santana, Associated Press
For decades, all that separated the U.S. from Mexico was barbed wire.
Now, after a massive infusion of cash from Congress, President Donald Trump's administration is swiftly building what it has dubbed a "smart wall," a combination of 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) steel fencing and an array of sophisticated technology like sensors, cameras and towers allowing Border Patrol to surveil the territory.
The wall is under heavy scrutiny for the billions of dollars being dedicated to it when border crossings are at their lowest in decades. Critics say the U.S. is militarizing the border as it increasingly deploys sophisticated surveillance technology to the area, impacting local communities.
"We are seeing a massive expansion of surveillance and surveillance technology across the borderlands," said Ricky Garza, border policy counsel at the Southern Border Communities Coalition, an advocacy group. "The wall in all its forms is harmful to communities."
Officials say the technology is complementary to the physical wall and frees up agents for other tasks.
"It's a smart wall. It's not just a barrier," Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said during recent congressional testimony. "It maximizes the use of our most valuable resource, which is our agents."
Contracts for hundreds of miles of wall already inked
The wall has been a top priority for Trump, a Republican, since he first ran for president.
During the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, the border emerged as a flashpoint, with thousands of people seeking to cross into the country each day. Those numbers started to taper off shortly before Trump returned to office last year and then slowed to a trickle, with his broader immigration crackdown serving as a deterrent for would-be migrants.
Flush with $46 billion to finish the wall after an infusion by Congress for immigration enforcement, CBP is inking tens of billions of dollars in contracts to build the wall and push along the president's signature project.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently that a preliminary part of the wall will be finished by "this time next year." Scott said his agency is putting up 6 miles (10 kilometers) of wall a week.
Hundreds of miles had already been built before Trump returned to office. As of mid-June 2026, CBP has erected another 74 miles (119 kilometers) and aims to build hundreds more. There is no wall planned for roughly 535 miles (861 kilometers) of the roughly 2,000-mile-long (3,200-kilometer-long) border, because rugged terrain already serves as a barrier. Ground sensors and towers will be used instead.
CBP is also going back to hundreds of miles of already built wall and adding more technology, lights and roads. Along the long stretches of river in Texas that mark the border with Mexico, they're deploying 12- to 15-foot-long (3.7- to 4.5-meter-long) cylinder-shaped buoys meant to keep migrants or smugglers from crossing the border.
More technology being deployed on the border
Technology is playing a greater role in the Trump administration's effort to make illegal crossings along the border more difficult, part of a broader transformation of CBP in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, into an intelligence operation with a mass surveillance network whose reach extends far beyond the nation's frontiers, according to reporting by The Associated Press.
And critics say the border technology poses a threat.
The Southern Border Communities Coalition says surveillance technologies can push migrants into more dangerous routes to avoid being detected.
Garza, the group's policy counsel, warned that surveillance technology infringes on the privacy rights of border residents and that locals have found ground sensors used to detect smuggler or migrant traffic placed on their property without their consent.
Nayda Alvarez and her relatives own land along the Rio Grande roughly 125 miles (200 kilometers) inland from the Gulf of Mexico. She has found cameras placed on her family's land, and just last week she spotted a surveillance tower about a quarter of a mile (almost half a kilometer) down the river from her house.
"Are we expecting a war or something?" she said. "It doesn't make me feel safer."
Dave Maass, director of investigations for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on civil liberties related to digital technology, said the technology has made the border area "a hostile environment" for locals and would-be migrants.
The foundation has published a guide on the various types of surveillance towers in use along the southern border designed to help local residents.
These can range from fixed towers with video, infrared and radar technologies that have a range of roughly 8 miles (13 kilometers) to remote video surveillance systems that have cameras and a spotlight fixed on top. Some are mounted on the backs of trucks so agents can drive them to different parts of the border.
Increasingly, these towers are autonomous. They can scan an area, analyze what they're seeing using artificial intelligence and alert Border Patrol agents to something suspicious. Proponents say this helps keep Border Patrol agents out in the field instead of sitting in front of computer screens watching for activity. But it also increases AI decision-making along the border when experts have warned about the technology's potential for bias or other problems.
The big GOP tax cuts and spending bill passed by Congress last summer requires that CBP buys only the autonomous towers, and the department is deploying an additional 95.
Underground, buried fiberoptic cables can sense movement, capturing data that is also then analyzed by AI.
"We follow the contour of the land. We go through trees. We go down into the river banks. We can go absolutely everywhere," said Magnus McEwen-King, CEO of Sintela, which has a contract with CBP to install the cables. He spoke at a recent border security expo in Phoenix, where some of the technology was on display.
CBP also uses ground sensors and trail cameras to detect smuggling routes.
Concerns over cost and future plans
The nonpartisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has questioned both the huge amounts of money for the wall-building and whether taxpayers are getting their money's worth.
In 2011, under Democratic President Barack Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano pulled the plug on a project to build a "virtual wall" of integrated technology like radars, sensors and cameras across the entire border after it ran over budget, faced technological glitches and was behind schedule.
Josh Sewell, director of research and policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said the organization would like to see more "robust evaluation" of the technologies being used to avoid similar scenarios. And he criticized the Trump administration for lack of oversight on how the money is being spent, a charge CBP has denied, citing "oversight mechanism."
In the Big Bend area of southern Texas, opposition to the department's wall-building plans gathered strong bipartisan support especially in the most sensitive areas that run through a state and national park and a wildlife area.
CBP now says it is not planning to build a 30-foot-high (9-meter-high) bollard wall in those areas. Its recently announced plans include installing patrol roads and some barriers designed to stop cars and using detection technologies.
Clara Benson, who is one of the founders of the No Big Bend Wall coalition, says bright lights in the area designed to illuminate the border could pollute the skies in an area renowned for having some of the best views of the stars. Even without a 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) steel wall running through the land, there is concern about CBP's plans.
"There's still a lot of fear and dread that the plan is still going to be quite damaging," she said.
Western US emergency experts say FEMA response still favors East Coast hurricanes over Western fires - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A group of emergency management experts from Western states convening in Utah this week said Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to prioritize hurricanes and other Eastern perils over much more common wildfires in the West.
A bipartisan group of Western governors, including New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, has gathered in Deer Valley, Utah for the annual Western Governors’ Association conference. Their Wednesday discussion — “The Road Ahead for FEMA” — comes on the heels of a report the FEMA Review Council published in May that suggests, among other recommendations, the federal government should define its role as “supporting” versus “leading” state, local and tribal governments after disasters.
The report also notes that FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which helps state and local governments prevent and limit damage from natural disasters, concentrates on hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, leaving “gaps” when it comes to wildfires, drought and earthquakes.
Ali Rye, the state director for New Mexico’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said she found the report “disappointing” because state and local governments are already taking on as much as they can bear.
She also recounted a story of trying to meet with FEMA officials earlier this week at a wildfire summit in Boise, Idaho.
“We were super excited” to speak to officials including President Donald Trump’s nominee for FEMA administrator, Cameron Hamilton, “only for them to get on the screen and tell us that they were too busy to fly to Boise, and instead they had to sit there and brief the president on hurricanes,” she said.
In response, Rye noted that hurricanes are far less common than the wildfires currently running rampant through many Western states.
“We receive a wildfire every single year. And for many of us, especially for us sitting in this room, we don’t just receive one. We have four, five, six,” Rye said.
Lujan Grisham at that point chimed in to note that the state has more than a dozen large, active wildfires, “and then countless other smaller ones” across the state. The New Mexico governor earlier this week approved $500,000 for DHSEM to help support local efforts to combat the McCauley Springs Fire near Jemez Springs, as well as other wildfires throughout the state.
Rye and Lujan Grisham’s comments echoed those of other panelists who said Western states, particularly rural areas, continue to receive less support from FEMA headquarters. Those criticisms come amid ongoing efforts by Trump and the Department of Homeland Security to enact sweeping reforms of the agency.
“Everything that comes out of the federal government is East Coast-centric, or it’s population-dense programs and policies, and the Western states are just kind of an afterthought,” said Kris Hamlet, director of the Utah Division of Emergency Management. “Everything keeps going back to what’s happening in the hurricane states on the East Coast.”
Hamlet urged the governors to advocate as a coalition for more Western-state representation in FEMA decisionmaking.
“We have debris flows and post-fire flooding and other things, but yet we’re waiting for the federal government to decide what they’re going to do with the review of these mitigation dollars that should be coming our way after we’ve had these big fires,” he said, before directing his comments to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat who is the new chair of the Western Governors’ Association. “So for me, Governor, I think just a seat at the table to be represented would go a long way.”
Santa Fe Fire Department responds to structure fire at shuttered St. Catherine's Indian School - Dan Boyd & John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
Smoke and flames poured from the shuttered St. Catherine’s Indian School near Santa Fe National Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, drawing a full response from the city’s fire department.
“The building’s on fire, and it’s spreading in the building, for sure,” said Peter Olson, communications director for the city of Santa Fe.
The fire was reported about 3:45 p.m., prompting a “full callout” from the fire department.
Twenty-seven firefighters, five fire engines, multiple ambulances and additional support vehicles were on scene as of about 6 p.m. The Santa Fe County Fire Department also responded.
Firefighters could be seen directing water at the blaze from multiple angles, pumping approximately 2,800 gallons per minute to suppress flames that leapt skyward, according to an update from the city.
“We’re doing an attack scheme called ‘surround and drown,’ which means surrounding the fire and making sure it doesn’t spread,” Olson said.
Personnel from Santa Fe Public Utilities Department were also on hand to help ensure adequate water pressure. The city asked residents to “limit water use” as crews continued to battle the fire.
The defunct school is on Rio Grande Avenue, near Griffin Street, across from a large residential area on the edge of downtown.
Nervous neighbors gathered to watch firefighters respond to the blaze, with some saying they planned to pack up their belongings in case of an evacuation order.
“I looked out my window and said, ‘Oh my God,’” one resident told the Journal.
The former Indian boarding school, also known as St. Catherine’s Indian School for Boys, consists of 19 buildings on the city’s northwest side, adjacent to Rosario Chapel and Cemetery, according to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation. The campus has been closed since 1998 and is now owned by the city of Santa Fe.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deb Haaland has said her maternal grandparents were both sent to the school, and has talked openly about the generational trauma of the boarding school policies.
A suspect was taken into custody in connection with the fire, according to the city, but no further details had been released Thursday evening regarding any criminal charges or the exact cause of the blaze.
NMDOJ seeks records related to federal drug agents’ fentanyl investigations in NM - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Justice on Thursday announced it was demanding a wide array of records related to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s fentanyl investigations in New Mexico between 2022 and 2025. That’s the time period during which allegations have been made agents allowed large quantities of the drug to enter communities without seizing them.
NMDOJ officials said the records request New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sent Wednesday to acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and acting DEA Administrator Robert Murphy marks an “important formal step” in the investigation Torrez announced June 26 following a request for one by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“The people of New Mexico deserve a full accounting of the decisions that allowed deadly fentanyl to reach our communities,” Torrez said in a statement. “This records request is an important step in our investigation to determine what occurred, whether federal policies were followed, and whether anyone should be held accountable.”
The five-page demand for materials seeks the DEA’s policies, investigative reports, communications between agents and prosecutors, court filings, whistleblower complaints and an array of other materials that could shed light on an operation that the NMDOJ said allowed millions of pills to flow un-seized through Albuquerque and other New Mexico communities.
The letter urges the federal agencies to produce the records by July 31 or, barring that, to produce a timeline by which it would provide them that reflects the “urgency and gravity of this matter.”
In statements to the Albuquerque Journal and Associated Press, which first reported on the DEA’s practice and a 2023 whistleblower complaint, the DEA has said its decisions were lawful and consistent with department guidance, and the administration defended the practice by saying agents allowed fentanyl to enter communities in hopes of catching high-level dealers and suppliers further down the line.
The revelations have prompted swift outcries from local, state and federal elected officials, as well as calls for congressional and other investigations. The officials have noted New Mexico has ongoing struggles with opioid addiction and overdoses. Lujan Grisham and other state officials on Monday called for the state to receive restitution from the federal government over the alleged activity.
The state’s drug overdose death rate has been one of the highest in the nation for most of the last two decades, and has more than tripled since 1990.
In such an environment, Torrez said in the statement that the NMDOJ expects the federal government to “cooperate fully so we can establish the facts and provide New Mexicans the answers they deserve.”
New Mexico regulators order Blackstone, TXNM to unwind $400 million stock sale - Juston Horwath, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico regulators on Thursday moved to unravel a $400 million stock sale that gave Blackstone Inc. a foothold in the state’s largest electric utility, ruling that the transaction should have gone through a review process it never received.
The three-member New Mexico Public Regulation Commission voted 2-1 on the order, siding with hearing examiners who recommended in early June that commissioners reverse the sale of 8 million shares of TXNM Energy Inc. stock to Blackstone. The sale gave the private equity firm a 7.59% stake in TXNM.
The companies must show within 45 days that they are complying with the order. The order includes $100,000 in fines against TXNM and $200,000 against Blackstone affiliates.
The vote is a major setback for Blackstone’s efforts to acquire TXNM, which is the parent company of Public Service Company of New Mexico. The commission did not ask Blackstone and TXNM to refile their acquisition application itself, as some parties had requested.
Instead, the commission late Thursday published an order that alters the procedural schedule of the case, which was set to begin in mid-August.
New Energy Economy Executive Director Mariel Nanasi, an intervenor in the case, said the order cancels hearings tied to that schedule, meaning that the commission will likely not be able to decide on the case by the end of the year.
“Another huge victory today — and possibly the nail in the coffin” for the deal, she said.
The hearing examiners in their June report said the transaction violated a law prohibiting utility mergers without prior approval from the PRC. TXNM and Blackstone argued the stock sale was not connected to the proposed $11.5 billion sale of the energy-holding company, which was filed with state regulators in August.
Neither Blackstone nor TXNM answered whether they would proceed with the acquisition or how they would unwind the stock transaction. Blackstone declined to comment. A TXNM spokesperson said the company is evaluating its options.
“It is important to us that our customers know that the stock issuance was completed in good faith, publicly disclosed well in advance and undertaken with no intent to circumvent any rules or regulatory requirements,” TXNM spokesperson Lisa Goodman said.
In a statement, the commission said parties will have a chance to comment on the compliance filing before determining “the appropriate procedural path for the acquisition case.”
Regulatory compact
Commissioners Pat O’Connell and Gabriel Aguilera voted in favor of enforcing the hearing examiners’ recommended decision.
Greg Nibert voted against the proposal, saying that requiring the companies to unwind the stock sale will harm TXNM’s finances — and by extension more than half a million ratepayers in the state.
But Nibert’s argument did not prevail.
“You’ve got to follow the law or else the regulatory compact doesn’t work,” O’Connell said.
Don Tarry, president and CEO of TXNM, in June testified to the commission that TXNM has already used the $400 million in proceeds from the stock sale.
“Specifically, among other things, this funding was used to pay down TXNM debt (and) to provide equity contributions and term loans” for PNM and Texas-New Mexico Power Co., Tarry said.
Albuquerque nonprofit Prosperity Works filed a motion earlier this year saying the stock transaction violated New Mexico law, triggering a review of the issue by the commission.
Steven Michel, a Santa Fe lawyer who represented the nonprofit before the commission, pointed to a $350 million termination fee baked into the agreement that requires Blackstone to pay TXNM that amount under certain circumstances.
“They’ve never not been able to raise capital,” he said when asked about concerns that unwinding the sale will harm TXNM’s credit.
Dozens of protesters who oppose the proposed sale gathered outside the Roundhouse before the hearing began. The hearing had to be moved to a larger room inside the Roundhouse to accommodate the audience.
The commission chair asked the audience how many people supported the deal. Nobody raised their hands.
“Ensure that New Mexicans don’t have to pay money to these billionaires,” Sadie Gónzales Root told commissioners. “Don’t let the bad guys win.”
The only support for the deal came from some elected officials.
Rep. Meredith Dixon, an Albuquerque Democrat, said she supported the acquisition, calling it an “economic-development driver.”
“This investment creates the long-term stability needed to grow the company,” Dixon said.
Sen. Gabriel Ramos, a Republican from Silver City, said he supports the merger because Blackstone will provide money “to stabilize our infrastructure.”
Stephanie Telles, an Albuquerque city councilor, said she did not support the merger.“Before the deal has even been approved, they’ve already demonstrated a willingness to ignore the laws that govern them,” she said.
Archdiocese of Santa Fe to close 2 Catholic schools - KOB-TV
The Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe announced this week it is closing two Catholic schools due to declining enrollment and financial challenges.
KOB-TV reports that Holy Ghost Catholic School in Albuquerque and Holy Cross Catholic School in Santa Cruz, near Española, will close.
The archdiocese said Catholic education remains a key church ministry, but said its future depends on support from families, parishes and other backers.
