Former New Mexico AG says federal prosecutors haven’t honored Epstein investigation agreement — Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Federal prosecutors investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “to this day” have not upheld an agreement to share New Mexico-related materials with the state’s top law enforcement agency, former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas wrote in a Monday letter to Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
Balderas’ letter says that his office was conducting an investigation into Epstein and his Santa Fe County property, Zorro Ranch, in 2019 when they learned of a broader federal investigation into Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
He wrote that his office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York subsequently came to an agreement weeks before Epstein’s suicide — Balderas’ investigators would stop interviewing potential witnesses, and the federal prosecutors would refer state-related matters to the New Mexico attorney general’s office at the end of their case.
“The agreement with the SDNY prosecutors was not to simply stop or to stay out of their way. Instead, my administration had a firm agreement with the SDNY that they have not honored to this day,” Balderas wrote to Torrez Monday, adding that partially redacted files released under the federal Epstein Files Transparency Act contain handwritten notes confirming the details of the arrangement.
Balderas’ letter comes weeks after Torrez accused the federal government of impeding his agency’s investigation into Zorro Ranch. He has contended that the U.S. Department of Justice has delayed the release of relevant records that contain names of witnesses, abuse survivors and co-conspirators that his agency needs if it is to fully investigate and prosecute any criminal matters.
“Former Attorney General Balderas has confirmed something we’ve said all along: New Mexico honored its side of an agreement with the federal government, and the federal government did not honor its own,” Torrez said in a statement Tuesday. “That breach doesn’t weaken our position, it strengthens it. New Mexico is entitled to these records, and we will use every tool available, including litigation, to obtain them.”
Search begins to fill open seat on New Mexico Public Regulation Commission — Justin Horwath, Albuquerque Journal
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham can select a member of any party to replace state Public Regulation Commissioner Gabriel Aguilera.
The governor can even reappoint Aguilera himself, a Democrat who announced at a New Mexico Public Regulation Commission meeting last week that he would reapply for the position. Lujan Grisham selected Aguilera in 2023 — the year the commission transitioned from an elected to an appointed body.
Aguilera’s four-year term expires at the end of this year, and so the PRC’s nominating process has been set in motion for the first time in two years.
A nominating committee tasked with reviewing the candidates convened in an open meeting at the state Capitol on Tuesday. Members of this committee are appointed by the governor, members of her Cabinet, as well as lawmakers in the House and Senate.
The committee’s members — Michael Barrio, Cydney Beadles, Zach Cook, Kenneth Costello, Ronald Lovato, Catherine Nicolaou and Rikki Seguin — said they hope to submit a list of nominees to the governor by December.
After changing the language surrounding political affiliation, members of the nominating committee decided to publish the application for a new PRC commissioner on job sites and publications across the state.
The commission will accept applications and winnow those candidates down to a shorter list of people who can answer questionnaires. Afterward, interviews will begin. The nominating committee will hold open meetings each month.
“The Committee operates openly, and public participation is welcomed throughout the recruitment process,” the commission said in a statement.
State law prohibits more than two members of the same political party from serving on the commission at the same time. Aside from Aguilera, a Democrat and a Republican sit on the commission. Thus, Lujan Grisham can appoint a member from any political party.
A spokesperson for the governor has not answered emails asking if Lujan Grisham — a Democrat — has a political party preference for her PRC nominee.
The six-year term for Commissioner Greg Nibert, a Republican appointed in 2025, expires at the end of 2030. Commission Chair Patrick O’Connell is a Democrat whose six-year term expires at the end of 2028.
In 2023, the commission became a three-member body with gubernatorial appointees. Previously, five commissioners were elected by voters.
To qualify, a candidate must have a bachelor’s degree and at least 10 years of professional experience in a field regulated by the commission or have attained a professional license or postgraduate degree in such fields.
Federal court readies trial for former state House majority leader — Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
Attorneys on Tuesday hashed out final preparations for the federal trial next month for Sheryl Williams Stapleton more than five years after criminal allegations forced her resignation as New Mexico House majority leader.
A federal judge said Tuesday that court personnel have mailed jury questionnaires to 180 prospective jurors for Stapleton's trial, which he described as the largest jury pool he could recall.
"We may not have 120 jurors by Aug. 3 but I think we'll have enough jurors to get this thing done," U.S. District Judge James O. Browning said at a pretrial hearing attended by Stapleton and her co-defendant, Joseph Johnson, a Virginia businessman.
Stapleton's attorneys asked Browning in April to impanel 200 prospective jurors because of the "intense, consistent media attention" the case has received.
Stapleton, 68, a former Albuquerque Public Schools official, and Johnson were indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024 on 35 criminal counts, including allegations of bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Stapleton’s case has attracted ongoing news coverage since the Albuquerque Democrat resigned from the New Mexico House of Representatives two days after search warrants were executed at her home in July 2021. She represented House District 19, east of the University of New Mexico, from 1994 to 2021.
She was fired in August 2021 from her $79,000-a-year job at APS as coordinator and director of Career and Technical Education.
Also present in the courtroom Tuesday was her co-defendant, Johnson, owner of Washington, D.C.-based Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, who is described in the indictment as a close friend of Stapleton's. Both will be tried together.
Both Johnson and Stapleton have pleaded not guilty to the charges and deny any wrongdoing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fred Federici and Frederick Mendenhall will prosecute the case.
The indictment alleges Stapleton used her position at APS to direct funding to Robotics for the use of the company's software in classrooms. She then allegedly directed $1,152,506 from Robotics' checking account into accounts she controlled using blank checks provided by Robotics, the indictment alleges. The alleged violations took place from July 2013 to June 2020.
Stapleton's attorney, Ryan Villa, raised the possibility Tuesday that his client and Johnson potentially could be in opposition once the trial begins. Villa and his co-counsel, Ahmed Assad, argued in a motion last year that Stapleton should be tried separately from Johnson because he "accused Ms. Stapleton of stealing from him." Browning later rejected the motion and ordered the two tried together.
On Tuesday, Villa argued that he should be allowed to present opening statements after those of Johnson's attorney, Nicole Moss, because of the possibility that Johnson might attempt to blame Stapleton of wrongdoing. An “antagonistic defense” would require Stapleton to alter her defense, Villa said.
Moss replied that she should be allowed to make opening statements after Villa for the same reason.
"If there's an antagonistic defense, that could be antagonistic to Mr. Johnson," Moss said.
Browning ruled from the bench that the U.S. Attorney's Office would present opening statements first, followed by Johnson's attorneys, then Stapleton's attorneys.
Browning also approved requests from defense attorneys that teams for Johnson and Stapleton be seated at separate tables during the trial and work in separate offices in the courthouse.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.
Sierra County enacts 18-month data center moratorium —Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
Sierra County commissioners passed the latest local moratorium on data center development in a surprise move during Tuesday morning’s regular meeting.
The southern New Mexico community joins Santa Fe County and Socorro County in enacting a temporary moratorium to study the impacts of data centers in their community and assess how to regulate them. It comes as state lawmakers propose a statewide moratorium for consideration in the next legislative session.
The commissioners initially took up a resolution simply opposing the development of “large-scale data centers” within Sierra County, as details recently emerged of a proposed solar-powered data center at Spaceport America, which sits on state trust land in the county.
After hearing more than an hour of public comments, nearly all opposed to data centers in the community, Commissioner Sandy Jones proposed amending the resolution to include an 18-month moratorium, to which Commissioner Hank Hopkins avidly agreed. With Chairman Jim Paxon, all three commissioners voted to add the moratorium, a development that drew gasps and applause from the crowded meeting room.
The initial resolution reflected limits on how the county can regulate development at the spaceport, which sits on 18,000 acres leased through the State Land Office, as well as legal boundaries on local governments imposing restrictions that make economical development of private property unfeasible. As presented, the resolution simply expressed the commission’s opposition to such developments.
Although the resolution does not apply to activity on state land, the Green Data proposal at Spaceport America cannot move forward unless State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard approves a sublease. The office said last week no decision has been made, but that the commissioner “has serious concerns about the tremendous strain that some data centers put on water systems and other natural resources.” Garcia Richard, currently a candidate for lieutenant governor, is leaving the State Land Office at the end of the year.
Community organization in opposition to artificial intelligence-centered data centers has spread quickly in New Mexico since the rapid development of Project Jupiter, a hyperscale complex of data centers on private land in Santa Teresa that was first disclosed to the public in August 2025. The project began construction the following month after industrial revenue bonds and tax incentives were approved by Doña Ana County under ordinances approved before the project’s commitments to the county were even finalized.
Project Consequences, an informal group of residents across Sierra County, took form over the last month, after public records obtained by local resident Wil Troup revealed that Spaceport America had been in talks with developer Jason Bak of Green Data/Aetherion Inc. since 2021.
Sulome Anderson, a Monticello resident who is one of the group’s organizers, said Project Jupiter presented a lesson in how quickly data center developments can break ground, with much of the regulatory groundwork laid before the public is aware of it.
“We learned from that and I think Socorro also learned from that,” Anderson said during a break in the meeting. “I would rather jump the gun than miss the opportunity. I don't think there's any shame in anticipating these things because they're happening across the country, and the people who didn't know and waited too long or weren't aware are the people who are suffering the consequences.”
A petition circulated this month supporting a moratorium gathered 408 signatures.
Thirty people presented comments over 70 minutes, nearly all in opposition to data centers and emphasizing concerns about water resources in the Lower Rio Grande community and the need to support other sectors of the local economy.
An exception was Joan Baker of Los Lunas, representing U.A. Local 412, a union chapter representing pipefitters, plumbers and HVAC workers. “Sierra County has a high number of disaffected youth,” she said. “Once I come into town and I train them, where will they work? … I will be sending them to Santa Teresa, El Paso or Pecos, Texas. What do those three places have in common? They're building data centers.”
While many speakers expressed opposition to AI infrastructure in itself, others said Sierra County — where the Elephant Butte Reservoir earlier this month fell below 3% of capacity for the first time since 2018 and the region’s farmers are facing shorter allocations of water for irrigation — is simply not an appropriate location.
“The idea that these data centers are inevitable, or that they're crucial to our economy or our national security, is a fallacy,” Crystal Jones of Truth or Consequences said. “It is not crucial for us as people to have data centers or faster response times for (large language) models — and certainly not at the expense of clean water, air quality, utility prices and our quality of life.”
Commissioner Sandy Jones of Williamsburg, appointed last November following Commissioner Travis Day’s resignation, proposed an amendment adding the moratorium.
Jones expressed alarm over further stressing water resources and raised other questions, including whether data center development at the spaceport could affect the mission of neighboring White Sands Missile Range, from whose restricted airspace the spaceport benefits.
Meanwhile, Jones continued, “There are private lands out there of more than 22 acres that probably could be for sale,” with few means for the county to put the brakes on data center projects.
He said a moratorium would allow time both for the county to complete resource impact studies and allow time to see what regulatory actions the state Legislature pursues in the next two sessions, which will take place under a new administration as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham leaves office at the end of 2026.
The three commissioners agreed to the amendment and unanimously passed the resolution, delivering a move that was more than opponents had hoped for when the meeting began.
“That was a big shock to me,” Anderson said minutes after the vote. “I'm so grateful to our commissioners for doing that, all three of them. And I'm so proud of our community. I'm so proud of every single person, and I think that this will give us the time to nail down these issues.”
Paxon told the Journal after the meeting that his vote was decided by “the will of the people and a need for more information as to the scale of the facility and means of cooling and supplying electricity.” He continued, “The county will do or contract for some studies to find answers. The resolution just gives us time to do that.”
LANL nuke waste cleanup contractor's ex-employees allege safety lapses, retaliation
—Santa Fe New Mexican
People who worked for a contractor that did business with Los Alamos National Laboratory are accusing the contractor of unethical and illegal business practices.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that there are now 15 whistleblowers who have joined a pending lawsuit against the company called Newport News Nuclear-BWXT Los Alamos — commonly known as N3B.
Plaintiffs include the company’s former chief of staff, project managers and directors. They describe a culture of negligence, intimidation, and retaliation against employees. The suit also names N3B’s parent companies, the defense contractors Huntington Ingalls Industries and BWXT.
City of Santa Fe seeks info on missing $300K payment from Railyard Community Corp.
—Santa Fe New Mexican
The Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation has a new executive director. Tunté Vigil started on the job last week. The nonprofit organization manages the city-owned Railyard District.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the Railyard Corporation and the City of Santa Fe remain in a disagreement over a situation wherein the city says that Railyard still owes the city $300,000.
Public Works Director Sam Burnett told The New Mexican the city was working toward a resolution of what might have been a “misunderstanding.”
Burnett says a deferred land acquisition payment of $300,600 was due March 31. Railyard Community Corp. board President Rosemary Romero, told the New Mexican the nonprofit is fully caught up on its payments to the city and actually might have overpaid.
The Railyard Community Corp. board fired former executive director Christine Robertson in February.
The New Mexican reports Robertson alleged in a lawsuit she was pressured by the board to sign off on financial documents she believed to contain inaccuracies. Romero has denied the allegations.
Carson National Forest lifts fire restrictions
—John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
Carson National Forest is dialing back fire restrictions in effect since the spring as it prepares to close the area around New Mexico’s tallest peak, where Taos Pueblo holds private tribal ceremonies each August.
Previous restrictions on smoking, campfires and other permissible forms of burning were rescinded at 6 a.m. Tuesday. The Forest Service cited “a decrease in overall fire danger from sustained monsoonal moisture, increased humidity and high public compliance.”
The order revokes Stage 2 fire restrictions enacted on June 30 and Stage 1 fire restrictions ordered on April 24, but the regulations could be reenacted at any time if conditions change.
National prohibitions on certain forms of burning remain in effect at all times, such as burning without a permit, discharging incendiary or tracer firearm ammunition and abandoning campfires before extinguishing them completely.
Gila National Forest also lifted Stage 2 fire restrictions on Monday, and the Bureau of Land Management Roswell Field Office rescinded restrictions in the Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area and its Rio Bonito acquired lands in Lincoln County on Friday.
Statewide fire restrictions on nonfederal, nontribal and nonmunicipal lands, however, remain in effect under the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
Human activity remains the leading cause of wildfire, but firefighters are responding to an increased number of lightning-caused fires this summer as seasonal monsoon weather brings increased thunderstorms across the state.
Multiple small lightning-caused fires were reported in the Carson forest over the past week, but firefighters were able to contain them quickly due to rainfall and high humidity.
The Carson forest is also reminding the public of its annual closure of Wheeler Peak and three other nearby trails — Williams Lake, Wheeler Summit and Lost Lake — from Aug. 21- 28.
The Williams Lake basin, a popular summer hiking destination accessible from Taos Ski Valley, and the ridgeline from east of Taos Cone to Simpson Peak will also be closed next month.
Taos Pueblo uses the area for private tribal ceremonies each summer on and around the 13,167-foot peak, the highest point in New Mexico.
“We are fully committed to coordinating across jurisdictions with traditional communities, including those that require access to continue cultural practices that predate the Forest Service’s management of the area,” Forest Supervisor James Duran said. “I recognize the inconvenience this temporary closure brings to visitors and do appreciate their flexibility.”
Sandoval County commissioners to weigh $34.4M in bond asks, ethics overhaul and a new assessor Wednesday
—Sandoval Signpost
In Bernalillo, Sandoval County commissioners are scheduled to consider placing three General Obligation Bonds on November ballots at this Wednesday’s regular meeting.
The Sandoval Signpost reports that the measures would fund libraries, firefighter training and the county’s election resources.
All three items total more than $34 million. A public library bond would be $3.4 million, the bond for a new fire training facility would be $9 million, and a bond for a new Bureau of Elections building to securely store voting machines comes to about $22 million.
Wednesday evening’s meeting of the Sandoval County Commissioners is scheduled for 6 p-m in the Commission Chambers at 1500 Idalia Road in Bernalillo.
First of four Santa Fe Charter Review Commission engagement sessions happening Thursday
—Santa Fe New Mexican
This Thursday evening, the City of Santa Fe is hosting the first of four public meetings on the topic of potential updates to the city charter.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports residents will be asked for their perspectives on topics including the "roles and responsibilities" of the mayor and City Council, how the city's budget should be developed, whether the city should have a strategic plan and other topics.
The city’s Charter Review Commission will present a report to the city next year for potential inclusion on the November 2027 local election ballot.
The public input session is scheduled for 6 to 8 p-m Thursday at the National Education Association of New Mexico's building at 2007 Botulph Road. There will be three more such sessions in other parts of the city later this year.
