New Mexico Democratic lawmakers discuss possibilities for proposed statewide data center moratorium - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Two Democratic New Mexico state lawmakers pitched a panel of their colleagues on taking up a data center moratorium in the 2027 legislative session.
Reps. Micaela Lara Cadena (D-Mesilla) and Angelica Rubio (D-Las Cruces) spoke before the interim Science, Technology and Telecommunications Committee in Socorro on Tuesday about what they envision for the proposed moratorium, which they first announced alongside fellow Democrats in July.
The pair said there are key questions to answer in the months leading up to formally sponsoring legislation for a moratorium, such as what types of data centers should this apply to, and how long should a moratorium last?
Rubio, who along with Lara Cadena has been a vocal critic of the Project Jupiter data center campus under construction in southern New Mexico, compared it to other extractive industries the state has long relied on, such as oil and gas.
The two said that the state needs guardrails around data center development, and cited multiple ongoing lawsuits that accuse Doña Ana County officials of violating the state Open Meetings Act and voting on draft versions of documents when they approved Project Jupiter and issued $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds for it last year.
“Extractive industries and false promises from corporations have been part of New Mexico’s legacy for generations. Our communities have been told time and time again that the jobs will come, that they will be sustainable and that this time, things will be very different,” Rubio said. “Constituents in Doña Ana County are being handed the same promise, just with a fancy new label: artificial intelligence and data centers.”
Republican lawmakers on the committee told Lara Cadena and Rubio that they should conduct a study on how a moratorium would affect the state’s economy and job growth. Rep. Joshua Hernandez (R-Rio Rancho), in particular, questioned the wisdom of a moratorium.
“All of the cat pictures, pictures of our kids, everything we post on Facebook — it’s still going to live somewhere,” he said. “The reality is everybody’s not going to stop posting to social media or consuming that content.”
Lara Cadena and Rubio clarified that there can often be a significant difference between the energy needs of cloud storage data centers and hyperscale AI data centers that often propose to construct their own electric grid for power.
“We need to figure out how to define data centers. That’s going to be really important,” Lara Cadena responded.
Watchdog for $46 billion tribal gambling industry can't enforce the law without a chairperson - By Savannah Peters, Associated Press
On opening day at the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma's new Harrah's-branded casino, the tribe's chairman watched customers pack the gambling floor while a queue of cars spilled out of the parking lot.
"We couldn't let them in because we were so full," Chairman Jacob Keyes said. "That's a direct impact from the Harrah's name."
But a vacancy in Washington is preventing the tribe's partnership with the gambling giant from moving beyond branding. Plans for Harrah's parent company to take over day-to-day management of the casino in Chandler, Oklahoma, stalled after it opened in April, because no one is at the helm of the federal commission that oversees tribal gambling.
The last chairperson of the National Indian Gaming Commission stepped down from the role in January. President Donald Trump has not nominated anyone to fill the vacancy. Absent a chair, the commission is unable to perform some key responsibilities, like enforcing legal and safety violations, approving new tribal gambling laws and certifying management agreements between tribes and casino operators.
Industry leaders say the agency's inertia risks delaying business deals, weakening oversight and leaving tribes without a key advocate in Washington as they grapple with an emerging threat posed by online prediction markets.
"At this crucial time, the (National Indian Gaming Commission) is operating with one arm tied behind its back," said Jonodev Chaudhuri, a former NIGC chair from 2013 to 2019 and a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. "That's a very precarious position for tribes and Indian gaming."
There's a lot at stake for tribes that rely heavily on casino revenue to fund healthcare, housing, education and other vital services. Tribal gambling brought in a record $46 billion in 2025, nearly triple the annual casino revenue of gambling powerhouse Nevada.
The commission's core powers are vested in its chair
With its Harrah's contract stuck in limbo, the Iowa Tribe's small government staff finds itself managing the 175,000-square-foot (16,258 square-meter) casino, a mammoth task it had intended to outsource.
"It's discouraging. We're paying a fee and not getting the full value," Keyes said.
The decision to outsource management was strategic: Harrah's branding would bring in more business than existing staff could accommodate. Instead, staff has to balance management with other priorities like preparing tribal budgets and overseeing social programs, Keyes said.
The three-member gaming commission was formed in 1988 to regulate casino-style gambling and promote economic development on tribal lands. Some 250 tribal governments across 29 states now operate 545 gambling facilities, the commission said.
Under federal law, its enforcement powers are vested solely in the chairperson. Industry leaders say its inability to cite casinos for violating federal law or force the emergency closure of unsafe facilities is particularly troubling.
In a typical year, the commission issues several citations to tribes for operating casinos on unauthorized lands, failing to submit required financial statements, misusing revenues and other violations. The commission's last enforcement action was issued on Jan. 12 — the same day acting chairperson Sharon Avery's term expired. She remains on the commission.
The commission declined an interview request and said in an emailed statement that tribal officials and its field staff provide "excellent regulation" amid the leadership gap. But Steven Light, an expert in tribal gambling law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the lack of enforcement power could discourage investment in tribal gambling and slow business growth.
"Markets function best when there's stability and certainty around processes and rules," Light said.
Prediction markets have emerged as a new threat to tribal gaming
The commission vacancy comes as the popularity of online prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket explodes. Tribal leaders fear those platforms, which allow users to wager on the outcome of virtually any event, could violate their sovereignty and take a bite out of gambling revenue.
"Every dollar generated by Indian gaming goes to fund healthcare for our people, education for our children, housing for our elders," said David Bean, chairman of the Indian Gaming Association and a citizen of the Puyallup Tribe.
At least eight tribes have sued prediction market platforms, alleging they accept bets from tribal lands and in states where tribes have exclusive gambling rights in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which the gaming commission is tasked with enforcing.
Prediction markets argue their users are engaging in futures trading, not gambling, and dispute claims that they are circumventing regulation.
The commission chairperson typically serves as an advocate for the tribal gambling industry in Washington, according to former commissioners and staffers. Yet it's been conspicuously silent while the federal government weighs how to regulate prediction markets, said Joe Valandra, the commission's chief of staff from 2005 to 2007 and a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
James Siva, who leads the California Nations Indian Gaming Association and is vice chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, said the Trump administration's support of and business ties to the prediction markets industry could explain why it hasn't filled the vacancy.
"These things are happening in conjunction with each other," Siva said in April at a news conference with the Indian Gaming Association. "It is not a coincidence by any means."
The leadership gap spans two administrations
The commission's last Senate-confirmed chairperson termed out under former President Joe Biden without a successor in place.
A White House spokesperson called the commission a "valued board" but did not say when a new nomination will be made.
In April, Trump appointed Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, to the commission. That's raised questions about potential executive branch influence over an agency designed to be independent.
"This crosses that threshold in an uncomfortable way," said Shannon O'Loughlin, the commission's chief of staff from 2015 to 2017 and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Keyes said a crucial opportunity to develop his tribe's economy hangs in the balance. He doesn't see the commission vacancy as partisan play.
"I don't want to sound like sour grapes, but when have Native American issues ever been prioritized by the federal government?" he said.
Frijoles Fire exceeds 6,000 acres in Pecos Wilderness - John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
The Frijoles Fire had grown to 6,214 acres in the Pecos Wilderness within the Santa Fe National Forest as of Tuesday morning, making it one of the largest fires to erupt in what is typically New Mexico’s peak rainy season.
Santa Fe County established a temporary shelter for evacuees from Camino de Cañon, a street in Cundiyó that was set to “Go” status Monday afternoon.
The remainder of Cundiyó and the nearby village of Cerro Piñon remain in “Set” status, meaning residents should be ready to leave with essential belongings should the fire threaten their homes.
Meanwhile, Santa Fe Public Schools on Tuesday opted to hold indoor recess for students. The district also canceled outdoor athletic practices due to poor air quality from heavy wildfire smoke, which has blanketed parts of north-central New Mexico in recent days.
Sean McNearney, a spokesperson for the Forest Service, said air tankers and helicopters supporting the fire since it was discovered one week ago were grounded for the second time since Saturday due to a drone incursion around noon Tuesday.
“When drones are sighted within the temporary flight restriction zone, which is a zone that's placed around an active fire, all aircraft are notified, and their suppression efforts are essentially halted until we can verify that the drone is no longer within the zone,” McNearney said.
The Forest Service has called in a Complex Incident Management Team to manage the fire due to its continued growth in recent days. McNearney said more than 100 personnel are now on-site helping to fight the fire, including hotshot ground crews digging handline, aircraft teams and incident command managers.
The fire is located in rugged terrain in the Pecos Wilderness and is one of more than a dozen believed to have been caused by lightning in state national forests since late July.
McNearney said the fire has plentiful dead and downed debris, but said he could not comment regarding past forest thinning projects in the area.
He emphasized the rarity of a fire of this magnitude during New Mexico’s monsoon weather pattern, which meteorologists last week told the Journal has been unusually weak so far in late summer, though more precipitation is in the forecast for later this week.
“This fire in this area, this time of year, is generally considered uncharacteristic,” he said, “and really that's exhibited by the dry lightning storms that have gone through with strong outflow winds and then the high heat and low humidities.”
GOP members of Epstein truth commission say Deb Haaland reference omitted from interim report - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
The two Republican members of a legislative truth-finding commission focused on Jeffrey Epstein’s past ties to New Mexico on Tuesday accused the panel’s Democratic chairwoman of removing the name of gubernatorial nominee Deb Haaland from an interim report released last week.
Reps. Andrea Reeb of Clovis and Bill Hall of Farmington said the four-member commission previously had agreed that reference to Haaland’s 2014 flight on an airplane chartered by Epstein would be included in the report.
But mention of the flight, which was widely reported by news outlets earlier this year, was removed without their knowledge, the two GOP lawmakers said.
The names of several other individuals who traveled on airplanes owned by Epstein — including former Gov. Bill Richardson and former President Bill Clinton — were included in the 119-page interim report.
“The only justifiable reason to remove Haaland's name from the report is to protect her from any political fallout while she is campaigning to be New Mexico’s next governor. This is unacceptable,” Reeb said.
“We must be able to assure the public that political considerations are not influencing what is included or excluded from this investigation.”
However, Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, the truth commission’s chairwoman, disputed the claims by her GOP colleagues, saying all members of the bipartisan panel were included in crafting the report.
“All of our members worked with our legal team to compile a draft report with the agreed-upon content, and it was the responsibility of every member to ensure the report reflected what we want to convey,” Romero said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
She also said the truth commission had come to a “collective decision” not to name Epstein survivors and victims, or individuals with “tangential interactions” with the disgraced financier and sex offender, who died in 2019.
Haaland’s campaign has confirmed the 2014 flight occurred, but insisted she had no relationship with Epstein and no knowledge of how the flight was chartered.
At the time, Haaland was running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with fellow Democrat Gary King. The flight carried both candidates, along with several campaign staffers, to Washington, D.C., for a fundraising trip.
Fellow Democrat Sam Bregman cited Haaland’s link to the Epstein files in television ads during this year’s primary election cycle. But Haaland ended up defeating Bregman in a landslide in the June 2 election and is set to face off against Republican Gregg Hull in the November general election.
A Haaland campaign spokeswoman said Tuesday there had been no communication between her campaign and members of the legislative truth commission about the panel’s report.
The truth-finding commission was created during this year’s 30-day legislative session and is tasked with determining whether gaps in New Mexico law and favorable treatment from law enforcement officials allowed Epstein to sexually abuse underage victims at his Zorro Ranch near Stanley.
After releasing its interim report last week, the panel is scheduled to submit a final report by the end of this year.
But the simmering dispute over the commission’s processes could cast doubt on its ability to function in a bipartisan manner going forward.
Romero said Tuesday she was “shocked” to hear of Republicans’ concerns through news outlets and said the commission would work to improve its internal processes.
Members of a legislative truth-finding commission tasked with investigating Jeffrey Epstein's past ties to New Mexico discuss the commission's interim report during an Aug. 5 meeting at the Roundhouse. Eddie Moore/Journal
“The commission will maintain an open, transparent process focused on the important work in front of us, not the headwinds of the day or attempts to politicize our pursuit of justice for victims,” she said.
As for the two Republican members of the truth commission, they said they were not able to review last-minute changes to the interim report before it was publicly released. The issue of the report omitting Haaland’s name was first raised this week by Senate GOP floor leader William Sharer of Farmington.
Meanwhile, the two GOP commission members also said they were committed to continuing the commission’s work, but only if the panel operates as a “truly bipartisan effort.”
The next meeting of the legislative truth commission has not yet been scheduled.
Lake Mead hits historic low water level as Colorado River struggles - By Ty Oneil and Dorany Pineda, Associated Press
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, another sign of the crisis plaguing the Colorado River system.
Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4 feet (317.1 meters) above sea level on Friday, according to federal data. That's just below the record set on July 28, 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
"It's extremely significant and extremely concerning. You have three-quarters of the population of the Colorado River Basin, some 30 million people, who are directly impacted by risks to Lake Mead," said J.B. Hamby, chairman of the Colorado River Board of California and a board member of the Imperial Irrigation District, the largest user of the river's water.
Hamby said it is vital for states that use Colorado River water to reduce water use.
Drought and dry conditions have stretched along the length of the Colorado and are particularly intense at its source in the Rocky Mountains.
Melting snow provides important water for the river. This past winter, however, saw the worst snowpack on record for the Colorado River Basin, adding more stress on farmers, industry, wildlife and hydropower producers, as well as the 40 million people across seven U.S. states, tribal nations and Mexico who rely on the waterway.
Years of overuse combined with drought and rising temperatures have been depleting Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country's second-largest reservoir. Both are the lowest they have been in nearly seven decades.
To protect the strained system's ability to produce hydropower, federal officials said Thursday that they will not release cool Lake Powell water from Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona to protect a threatened native fish, the humpback chub, whose habitat is between the reservoirs.
Federal officials recently announced a short-term proposal to stave off a crisis in the beleaguered waterway, after states that rely on it — California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — failed to reach an agreement on how to share the dwindling resource in the long term.
The federal proposal called for the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada to take less water. The Bureau of Reclamation, which released the plan, said it was flexible: Deeper cuts could happen in drier times, while states would have more time to collectively agree on how to manage the scarce resources.
Severe drought in 2022 on Lake Mead, which is held back by Hoover Dam, exposed human remains and forced water officials in Las Vegas to pump water from deeper within the reservoir to continue to supply water to millions of people.
Levels at Lake Powell have dropped so much that it has become difficult to descend far enough to reach the water. Boat ramps have had to move, shut down or be built anew.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell are not alone. Of the 54 Western reservoirs tracked by the Bureau of Reclamation, nine recently recorded their lowest levels in the last three decades.
Federal officials do not believe the record will stay where it is. According to modeling done in July, Lake Mead is forecast to continue dropping through much of the rest of the year.
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Associated Press writer Michael Phillis in Washington contributed.
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