Frijoles Fire surges to 11,000 acres, now third-largest fire in NM this year
—John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
A towering smoke plume visible for miles around north-central New Mexico on Sunday dispersed across the region again on Monday, enveloping communities in the charred haze of what is now the third-largest wildfire in the state this year.
Westerly winds on Sunday pushed flames from the Frijoles Fire deeper into the steep terrain of the Pecos Wilderness in Santa Fe National Forest, where nearly 660 personnel from multiple agencies across New Mexico and the U.S. are fighting to contain the now 11,335-acre blaze.
The most recent surge set back overall fire containment, which moved from 12% over the weekend to 9% on Monday after firefighters carved a barrier on the Frijoles’ southwestern flank Friday night.
Hotshots crews today are continuing to build direct containment line toward Cañon Navajo, down the western flank toward Rio Frijoles to protect at-risk communities.
In a Sunday update, Planning Operations Trainee Forrest Gale said crews are also working to implement contingency lines north of the Frijoles Fire along Forest Road 306 and are moving more personnel east into the Pecos Wilderness, where the fire continued to burn on Monday.
Yesterday, crews also completed building contingency lines — backup barriers established ahead of the fire’s main fronts — to protect Gorham Boy Scout Ranch and the small village of Cundiyó, a portion of which was evacuated one week ago as the fire continued to grow amid extremely dry conditions this month.
The Forest Service issued a temporary closure of the Pecos Wilderness in the Española Ranger District on Sunday, but evacuation statuses for nearby communities remain unchanged as of Monday. An evacuation shelter is available at the Pojoaque Valley Middle School gym.
Monday’s forecast called for scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon and a reduced likelihood of precipitation, according to the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. Temperatures will be in the mid 70s with minimum relative humidity dropping to around 20%.
Winds are expected to shift to the southeast, with gusts up to 10 mph possibly driving wildfire smoke back into the Santa Fe area.
Heavy smoke from the fire enveloped nearby communities and even the town of Taos early on Monday, obscuring the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to a faint outline at points throughout the day.
The New Mexico Department of Health issued an air quality advisory for when wildfire smoke is present last week, and the intermittent haze has led to event cancellations and precautions by both Santa Fe and Taos public schools districts.
The fire’s origin due to a lightning strike in the Pecos Wilderness’ precipitous and varied topography on Aug. 4 challenged early access to the fire. Air tankers and helicopters formed the basis of the initial wildfire crew’s preliminary attempts to control the blaze before hundreds of additional personnel were called in over the past week.
Fire managers will hold a second community meeting to discuss firefighting strategies and public advisories at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Santa Fe Convention Center, 201 West Marcy Street.
While still less than half the size of the 31,870-acre Seven Cabins Fire and the 30,144-acre Line Fire this spring, the late-season Frijoles Fire is now the third-largest wildfire in New Mexico this year.
Watchdog to review DEA tactic that allowed fentanyl to hit Albuquerque streets
—Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
The U.S. Department of Justice’s internal watchdog Monday announced a nationwide investigation into how Drug Enforcement Administration agents have chosen not to seize suspected fentanyl shipments during drug trafficking investigations.
Meanwhile, a parallel investigation into the DEA practice by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office appears stalled after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico declined to produce requested documents by a Monday deadline. That could set up a clash in federal court between the two agencies.
The announcement by the DOJ Office of Inspector General in Washington comes under the new leadership of Don R. Berthiaume and after reports by the Albuquerque Journal and The Associated Press that massive amounts of the synthetic opioid have reached the streets during DEA wiretap investigations in New Mexico since 2023.
The DEA administrator Terrance Cole had asked for a narrower probe after the June 21 publication of the stories, which were based in part on a whistleblower complaint filed by a veteran DEA agent in Albuquerque. The agent has estimated that more than 2 million fentanyl pills were “walked” by agents from 2023 to 2025 in an effort to build larger drug trafficking prosecutions.
The OIG inquiry will take a broad look at whether DEA offices in other states are also using the tactic despite an internal DOJ protocol that has required at least a reasonable effort to stop such loads when possible.
“We welcome a third-party review of the tactics DEA and the New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office used to needlessly put Americans at risk of exposure to fentanyl,” said Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, a Fairfax, Virginia-based organization that represents three current or former DEA agents in Albuquerque.
“If other districts used — or are still using — these tactics, it’s imperative that the public be informed, and that DOJ revert to the fentanyl policy it had during the first Trump administration,” Leavitt told the Journal.
Less than a year after Albuquerque DEA agent David Howell filed his whistleblower complaint in 2023, the DOJ relaxed an internal risk mitigation protocol designed to protect public safety when agents conducting wiretap investigations learn of targets’ fentanyl deals.
In the revision released in mid-2024, the word “protocol” became “guidance,” and agents were no longer required to put public safety ahead of the viability of a trafficking investigation.
Since then, President Trump has described fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
Last September, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel reported that Howell’s complaint was unsubstantiated and that no substantial harm had occurred from the fentanyl distributions in New Mexico.
The DEA, which did not respond to a Journal request for comment about the OIG investigation, has previously denied that fentanyl was intentionally not seized but later stated that its investigative decisions, made with federal prosecutors, were lawful and within the agency’s discretion.
Defenders of the practice say not immediately seizing fentanyl allows agents to identify and eventually arrest U.S. ringleaders of organizations that typically acquire their fentanyl from Mexican sources.
But critics, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, have slammed the practice as needlessly jeopardizing the public in New Mexico, which continues to experience high rates of fatal drug overdoses per capita and fentanyl-fueled crime.
New Mexico led the country in drug overdose deaths per capita from February 2025 through January 2026, the most recent 12-month period for which data is available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was more than twice the national average for the period.
The OIG review will focus primarily on the DOJ’s actions during the last two years, “but it may consider earlier events, such as those that occurred in fentanyl-related federal investigations in New Mexico, when necessary to understand the context of the matters under review.”
Among other things, the OIG will examine whether and why risk mitigation strategies, including interdiction, are delayed or declined; who makes and approves such decisions; whether and how those decisions are documented or reported; and whether DOJ personnel conduct after-action reviews. A public report will be issued when the review is completed.
Meanwhile, New Mexico Department of Justice Chief of Staff Lauren Rodriguez told the Journal that as of Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office “has not produced any of the requested records or provided a substantive response.”
Torrez had given First Assistant U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Ryan Ellison until Monday to turn over numerous DEA-related records so Torrez’s office could determine, in part, whether any state criminal violations occurred. Ellison, whose office did not return a Journal request for comment Monday, has previously said the records request did not conform with federal rules.
Rodriguez said her office made clear that Ellison’s “objections were legally unfounded” and gave him until Monday to begin producing priority materials, including DEA fentanyl seizure policies and investigative records.
“Their refusal to be transparent about these operations,” Rodriguez added, “and the harm they caused New Mexicans, is forcing us to take the next step: seeking judicial review to get the answers our state deserves.”
Proposed gas pipeline for Project Jupiter data center delayed to 2027, filings show
—Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
A pipeline intended to transport natural gas to the Project Jupiter data center under construction in southern New Mexico won’t come online until early next year at the soonest, according to new federal regulatory filings.
The pipeline, referred to as the “Green Chile Project” in federal documents submitted by the Dallas-based company Energy Transfer, was initially proposed as a $60 million project that would carry gas from El Paso to Project Jupiter, the Oracle and OpenAI data center planned for Doña Ana County.
New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard recently shot down the developer’s second request to build on state trust land, contending that doing so would impose “extreme” burdens on New Mexico’s finite natural resources.
In filings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission late last week, Energy Transfer wrote that the pipeline’s anticipated “in-service date” has moved from this month to February of 2027.
The delay comes as Energy Transfer, which owns the Transwestern Pipeline Company, seeks approval to build a more than 500-mile pipeline from the Permian Basin to Phoenix, in large part to support data centers.
Energy Transfer first announced the project, which is dubbed the Desert Southwest Pipeline Expansion Project, in August of 2025. At the time, Energy Transfer referred to it as an extension of its Transwestern Pipeline.
Plans show that it would stretch from Waha, Texas, to Phoenix, Arizona, and cross through southern New Mexico in between.
FERC filings from earlier this year show a planned lateral line — meaning it branches off of the main pipeline to serve a specific facility — called the “Red Chile Lateral” is associated with the Desert Southwest Pipeline Expansion Project and will sit just 50 feet from the Green Chile Project.
Energy Transfer did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Oracle wrote in a statement to Source NM that “Project Jupiter remains on schedule, and we continue to work closely with our partners to move the project forward.”
On Friday, the environmentalist organization the Sierra Club announced it had sent thousands of comments opposing the pipeline expansion to Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who voiced support for it earlier this year.
“The Desert Southwest Pipeline is a serious threat to communities in the Southwest,” Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Director Sandy Bahr wrote in a statement. “This massive pipeline threatens our water resources, our fragile desert ecosystems and increases our reliance on fossil fuels at a time when we need to be transitioning away to renewables. Even worse, the pipeline would allow tech companies to move forward with their data center buildout, which our communities continue to fight to stop.”
Bahr added that federal regulators have “a big task ahead” in conducting an environmental review of the proposed pipeline.
“We call on the commissioners to take their time and get this one right, for the health and wellbeing of all our Southwest communities,” she wrote.
NM Tech staff votes 'no confidence' in two administrators
—Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
Staff at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology voted “no confidence” in two administrators, citing alleged harassment, retaliation and other “legally actionable misconduct.”
Twelve of 17 members of the New Mexico Tech Staff Council voted “no confidence” in Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Lique Coolen, and 16 voted “no confidence” in Vice President of Student Affairs David Greene, according to a letter sent by the council to university officials. The council has 27 representatives total but only 17 attended a June meeting when the vote was taken.
The vote reflects “significant and widespread concern among staff regarding current leadership practices,” the letter said.
Concerns include improper hiring and firing practices, budget mismanagement and workplace culture culminating in a “toxic work environment” under both vice presidents.
The alleged misconduct, the staff council board writes, not only “negatively affects staff morale,” and retention, but could leave the university vulnerable to legal action. The board requested a third party review of both Coolen and Greene.
New Mexico Tech spokesperson Katie Ismael said in an email that the university had received the letter but would not comment on personnel matters.
Both Coolen and Greene did not respond to emails from the Journal seeking comment.
New Mexico Tech is a public state university in Socorro with 1,370 students and 145 faculty members. The college appointed a new president, Michael Jackson, in April — its fourth in five years.
Jackson’s appointment follows years of leadership turmoil at New Mexico Tech: His predecessor, Mahyar Amouzegar, resigned after just over a year in the role after the Board of Regents rescinded a job offer he had made to a new vice president who had already moved his family to the area.
Stephen Wells, who held the presidency from 2016 to 2023, filed a whistleblower lawsuit in January 2025 alleging he was forced out in retaliation for challenging financial mismanagement at the university. The case is scheduled for a trial next June.
Greene was hired in 2022 by Wells, according to university staff members.
The faculty discontent at New Mexico Tech is the latest in a string of turmoil at New Mexico’s universities. At New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, former President Neil Woolf and several other high-level administrators were ousted from their positions in May, creating a monthslong tumult culminating in several lawsuits from both sides and a criminal investigation.
At Western New Mexico University in Silver City, former President Joseph Shepard resigned last year in the wake of a probe by State Auditor Joe Maestas into the spending of public funds for lavish travel and furnishings for the president’s residence. The wasteful spending allegations prompted an audit by the state Higher Education Department and a lawsuit from the New Mexico State Ethics Commission.
Lake Powell hits record low, threatening key water and electricity supply for millions - By The Associated Press
The water level at Lake Powell, the United States' second-largest reservoir, has fallen to a record low, heightening concerns about the ongoing crisis in the Colorado River system.
The alarming milestone at Lake Powell, reached Saturday, comes about a week after the river's other major reservoir, Lake Mead, also hit a historic low. Plummeting water levels pose a major threat to the Colorado River Basin, which is a key resource for wildlife, hydropower and more than 40 million people in seven U.S. states.
The historic lows come as the federal government and states that rely on the river — California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado — struggle to reach agreement on a long-term management plan for the dwindling resource. Persistent overuse combined with a record-dry winter and rising temperatures have been depleting both Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
Lake Powell's elevation dropped to 3,519.91 feet (1072.9 meters) above sea level on Saturday, dropping just slightly below a previous record set in April 2023, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The lake is more than 20 feet (6.10 meters) lower than it was at the start of the year, USBR data shows.
The reservoir is now about 30 feet (9.1 meters) away from the point at which turbines would stop producing hydroelectric power. Federal officials warned in April that a "major intervention" would be necessary to avoid reaching that threshold by the end of this year.
USBR in July proposed a 10-year plan that includes major potential water cuts for Arizona, California and Nevada.
The crisis has been in the making for years. Both reservoirs are at the lowest they have been in nearly seven decades, and levels may continue to drop, USBR data shows.
The last time their combined storage was this small was in May 1957 when Glen Canyon Dam that holds back Powell was being built, according to a recent paper published by a group of academics and retired water officials. Powell began to fill in 1963.
The depletion has also impacted Lake Powell's substantial tourism industry, forcing marinas in the reservoir to adapt. Boat ramps have closed or moved, new ones are being added and marinas have been temporarily relocated to deeper waters.
Keller pushes 'abundance agenda' in State of the City - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller on Saturday said he wants to combat the city’s scarcity mindset with an “abundance agenda" by making the local government work more for the people it is serving.
During the hourlong annual State of the City address — held Saturday at the Route 66 Visitor Center just southwest of Albuquerque — Keller said the government is adding to people’s frustrations during an already turbulent time by maintaining a mindset that adds, rather than removes, barriers in day-to-day life.
“Government is actually reducing your freedom,” he said. “It's reducing your set of decisions and it's not helping in any way. It's adding to the friction in everyday life and it's reinforcing a scarcity mindset.”
Prior to the address, an estimated audience of 350 people — including residents, public safety officials and a state senator — sat as Mariachi Herencia serenaded the crowd that could see the entirety of the city while atop Nine Mile Hill.
The address opened with each city councilor getting a moment to share a prerecorded video in which they highlighted new projects in their respective communities, while urging people to visit their district.
Councilor Dan Lewis was notably absent from the montage.
Before Keller was able to begin his speech, a woman began shouting in protest against the Albuquerque Police Department, calling police “murderers” as she was escorted away. A man shouted similar sentiments moments later, stating that people were getting arrested for sitting on sidewalks.
He was swiftly taken away as Keller spoke over the protesters. In total, four people were removed from the property.
“We’re a city at the crossroads,” Keller stated while giving a detailed historical background on New Mexico. “I would argue that our history is actually core to understanding who we are today and where we have to go.”
Keller said New Mexico is a demonstration of resilience that was built on the foundation of a scarcity mindset, hoarding resources with the idea that the state might need them again.
He said people in the state say "no" to infrastructure projects, noting plans like the Rail Trail and the placement of the New Mexico United stadium have been under constant scrutiny.
“When times are good, we have trouble keeping up because we cling to that scarcity mindset,” Keller said. “That’s what holds us back.”
But now, the mayor wants to focus on sharing every asset the city has to offer. With that in mind, he said the city will begin to take a new approach to how the resources will be shared.
Keller detailed initiatives like making it easier to receive a commercial or residential building permit, focusing on local labor agreements and turning city land into affordable housing at the top of his list.
Elected to a third term in November, Keller said he will focus on three key points for the remainder of his term: Public safety, making the local government provide help to those in need, and "building our civic muscle to be able to actually get things done.”
“Folks just want the city of Albuquerque government to help them a little bit, to help ease the pain of everyday life, even if it's in a small way,” he said.
Keller announced a facility rental program that will allow families to rent city-owned spaces, including community centers and theaters, for recreational use such as quinceañeras and anniversaries.
Rental fees will be based on the scale and purpose of the activity for the 20 locations currently available for booking. Certified childcare groups will be able to use the facilities for free, he added.
The mayor took a moment to boast about existing programs, such as Albuquerque Community Safety, the Gateway Center and the School-Based Violence Intervention Program — which he claimed was the most successful program in the state.
Keller said mayors from across the nation have visited Albuquerque to recreate ACS, saying New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani centered his campaign around copying the department. Keller mentioned how Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland said she would recreate ACS statewide, if elected.
Near the end of his address, Keller challenged the federal government and called out the Drug Enforcement Administration for allowing massive quantities of fentanyl onto New Mexico streets in pursuit of larger prosecutions.
As Keller ended his address, he said the city and state have an “opportunity that we haven’t seen in generations," noting that the University of New Mexico recently welcomed a new president just months before the state will elect a new governor.
“We have to push back against the scarcity mindset that is still with us from that history that was the other side of resilience because now we actually can demonstrate abundance,” he said.
Santa Fe National Forest officials issue temporary closure from Frijoles Fire - Santa Fe New Mexican
Because of the ongoing Frijoles fire in northern New Mexico, U.S. Forest Service officials have issued a temporary closure for a large central chunk of the Santa Fe National Forest.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports, the blaze has creeped above 9,000 acres burned and, as of Sunday night, was just 12% contained by firefighters – the first significant jump in substantial progress.
The lightning-caused fire has been burning since August 4th.
The U.S. Forest Service temporary closure order was issued Saturday for an area roughly bordered by the northern and western boundaries of the Santa Fe National Forest, the Santa Fe County line to the east, and the Rio en Medio to the south.
Unless it is rescinded, the temporary closure will last until September 15th.
For now, the only evacuation has been for 10 or so homes in Cundiyo’s Camino del Cañon.
Local officials have asked residents of Cordova, Cundiyó, and Cerro Piñon to be ready for an evacuation if needed.
New Mexico officials say they’re still at an ‘impasse’ with feds over spreading chromium plume - Patrick Lohman, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Environment Department officials said this week that the Los Alamos National Laboratory has not complied with its February demands aimed at quickly and safely stopping the spread of a massive underground chromium plume that recently reached the boundaries of a nearby Pueblo.
The NMED in February issued a$6 million fine against LANL, asserting the federal laboratory had failed to comply with state water standards and the terms of a discharge permit related to its handling of the decades-old plume of chromium. The toxic chemical can increase risk of certain cancers after long-term ingestion.
Lab workers historically used chromium as a way to prevent pipes from rusting in a power plant’s cooling towers and then periodically flushed chromium-contaminated water down Sandia Canyon between 1956 and 1972. The plume was discovered in the groundwater supply in 2005.
Since then, how to mitigate the plume has been the subject of ongoing andsometimes contentious debate between state and federal officials, namely the Environment Department and the U.S. Department of Energy.
In the meantime, the plume has continued to spread. State officials announced in November that the chemical spill had spread beyond LANL propertyto San de Ildefonso Pueblo land.
Federal and state officials have stressed that the plume’s spread does not pose imminent threats to drinking water in the Pueblo or in Los Alamos County because it is not near any known private or public wells.
Santiago Rodriguez, deputy director of NMED’s Resource Protection Division, told lawmakers on the interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee on Thursday that NMED and LANL are still at an “impasse.” The state and federal governments still differ on the best way to treat the contaminated water once it’s been pumped from the aquifer, among other disagreements, he said.
NMED officials contend the treated water should not be reinjected into its original aquifer, saying doing so actually propels the plume forward. They are urging the federal agency and laboratory to come up with alternative measures.
LANL officials stopped attending regular workshops between the Pueblo, state agencies and Los Alamos County shortly after the February lawsuit, Rodriguez said. The workshops were aimed at placing “key decision makers and impacted parties together in one room to discuss and develop plans for a path forward,” he said.
Stephanie Gallagher, a DOE spokesperson, told Source NM on Friday that the department was working on a response to Source NM’s questions regarding the Thursday meeting.
However, the department has held its own public meetings in recent months and also continued to pressure NMED to allow it to resume reinjecting treated water back into the aquifer. In late June, the DOE issued a statement arguing that injecting the treated water should begin as soon as possible.
“Groundwater well sampling data shows that the [reinjection] has a positive effect,” the June 25 statement reads. “Injection establishes a hydraulic barrier in the area of injection, which helps to control and reduce the plume, while also preserving aquifer water, a precious natural resource.”
The DOE also cites recommendations from an independent research team’s980-page report, released December 2024, that says its “single most important recommendation” is to restart injections while other studies and investigations move forward.
Still, NMED officials have pushed the DOE to find alternative uses for the water once the chromium is removed, while also ordering them to pump a minimum of 170,000 gallons per day of contaminated water.
One possible alternative the NMED has pointed to is to “land apply” the treated water, which would mean allowing the treated water to more gently reabsorb into the aquifer by spraying or sprinkling it onto the surface. The NMED’s lawsuit does not identify a preferred alternative to injection but instead seeks to spur federal officials to come up with a plan as soon as possible.
“We are using the tools that we have to hold them accountable,” Justin Ball, chief of the NMED’s Ground Water Quality Bureau, told lawmakers Thursday. “To me, it’s shocking that a world-renowned research institution can’t think of alternative options for disposing of this water, and that they, frankly, won’t even seem to consider alternative options.”
Sheryl Williams Stapleton found guilty on all counts - Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
A federal jury found former New Mexico House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton and a co-defendant guilty Friday on all counts following a trial that set out in detail an elaborate eight-year scheme to steal state and federal education funding.
Stapleton, 69, and her co-defendant, Joseph Johnson, 74, both walked out of the courthouse Friday after U.S. District Judge James O. Browning released the pair pending sentencing. Browning said he would set their sentences within 90 days.
“It has been shown by clear and convincing evidence that neither is a flight risk or a danger to the community,” Browning said.
A jury of five men and seven women found Stapleton and Johnson guilty on each count they faced, including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each was also convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In addition, Stapleton was convicted on three counts of fraud and false statements for failing to declare income on her personal tax returns. She was convicted of 31 felony charges in all, and Johnson on 28 charges.
"We're all emotionally taken aback with respect to the verdict that the jury came back with, and she obviously hasn't had the time to process that," one of her attorneys, Ahmad Assed, said after the verdict outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Albuquerque. Stapleton herself offered no comment as she exited the courthouse.
"It's a difficult thing, and quite frankly, any human being in her position would have a significant emotional impact processing that information," Assed said.
Stapleton showed little emotion as Browning read the lengthy verdict forms. Johnson turned in his chair at one point and looked at his wife, who sat behind him as verdicts were read.
Federal prosecutors declined on Friday to say the maximum prison time Stapleton and Johnson will face at sentencing.
Jurors found Stapleton, a former official at Albuquerque Public Schools, and Johnson, the owner of Washington, D.C.-based Robotics Management Learning Systems, guilty of conspiring to steal more than $2 million in state and federal education funding intended for technical education programs at APS from July 2013 through June 2020.
Jurors reached the verdicts by about 11 a.m. Friday after beginning deliberations late Thursday afternoon.
Stapleton still faces 28 criminal counts in state district court, including racketeering, money laundering, fraud and engaging in an official act for personal financial gain. She is scheduled for trial Oct. 5 in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge David Murphy.
Stapleton's other attorney, Ryan Villa, said the New Mexico Department of Justice should rethink its intention to prosecute Stapleton in state District
Court given her conviction in U.S. District Court. Johnson is not charged with any state crimes.
"We intend to ask the state if they still want to proceed with the taxpayers' money, time, and energy on a trial for essentially the identical charges for which Ms. Stapleton was just found guilty," Villa said. "We don't think it's in the state's best interest to go forward with a case like that."
Stapleton, a longtime Democratic state representative for House District 19, east of the University of New Mexico, resigned from her post in June 2021 after New Mexico Department of Justice investigators served search warrants at her home and offices. She was fired by APS in August 2021.
Stapleton’s attorneys told jurors during the two-week trial that Stapleton admitted stealing money from Johnson’s company but denied taking money from taxpayers, as prosecutors alleged.
“She did take money and she shouldn't have," Villa said last week during opening statements. "We're not here to tell you that she is 100% innocent."
Witnesses testified that APS mailed checks to Robotics to a post office box in Albuquerque in payment for the use of Robotics’ educational software, CyberQuest, which was intended to teach math skills to students in APS’s Career and Technical Education programs.
A former New Mexico Department of Justice agent testified that Stapleton personally retrieved the checks and deposited them in Robotics’ checking account at an Albuquerque bank.
Johnson’s office manager in Washington, D.C., mailed blank Robotics checks to Stapleton, who used 234 of those checks to deposit $1,152,506 into accounts that she controlled, including those of her family’s restaurant, her consulting business and a nonprofit foundation controlled by Johnson and Stapleton, according to the indictment.
Democrats' 2028 presidential calendar gives Black and Latino voters and union members an early say - By Mike Catalini and Bill Barrow, Associated Press
Democrats seeking the party's presidential nomination in 2028 will need to prove themselves early on in states where Black and Latino voters and union members are key supporters, under an election-year calendar approved Saturday.
The primary lineup pushes Iowa from the traditional top spot and makes South Carolina the leadoff state, voting on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1. New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia round out the early states, throughout February, according to the plan endorsed by the Democratic National Committee at its meeting in Texas.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin said that to win the general election, "You have to be battle-tested in a way that you already have campaigned in front of and for the support of various communities throughout the country." That is why the calendar designed by the party matters, he said in an interview.
Some potential candidates in what is expected to be a large field have visited early-voting states such as South Carolina. Party leaders have said the order give candidates the best shot at winning back the White House after Republican President Donald Trump's second term.
"They have to show that they can go to the South and talk to Black voters and rural voters, as well as out west, talking ranching and mining issues, to a border state, to union members," said party strategist Karen Finney, who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns. "Whoever survives will be battle-tested."
Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, a onetime Vermont governor, recalled his tenure as national party chairman, when Democrats solidified Nevada and South Carolina as early states behind Iowa and New Hampshire. The latest change is even better, he said.
"These states look more like the country," as a whole, he said, "whereas Iowa and New Hampshire don't."
Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said bypassing her state in the early going would sideline important voter voices and give a political edge to Republicans, who are expected to keep Iowa atop their calendar.
Nonwhite voters claim top billing
As the first-in-the-South primary, South Carolina was more decisive than Iowa and New Hampshire for nominees Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. All three dominated among South Carolina's large Black population, which can yield more than half the state's Democratic primary electorate.
With Nevada and New Mexico following, that will require candidates to court more Latino voters early in the process.
Shifting from Iowa and New Hampshire does not mean little-known candidates cannot catch fire, as Pete Buttigieg did in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020, when he was a 37-year-old former mayor. They just will not be able to do it with an almost entirely white audience.
"If you can't go to every part of this country and make your case, you should not be running for president," Finney said.
The progressive vs. establishment dynamics may shift
There is disagreement over how Democrats' split between progressives and mainstream liberals may or may not surface in the nominating calendar.
"I think our primary voters up north are probably a little different than primary voters in South Carolina," said Boyd Brown, a former DNC member from South Carolina. "It's not the woke ideologies that we just can't get away from" in other places.
Nina Smith, a former Buttigieg adviser who now works closely with progressive causes, disagreed. Smith said Black South Carolinians, especially, have gravitated to more moderate candidates – twice rejecting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in favor of Clinton and Biden.
But, she said, "Southern Black voters are more progressive than they're given credit for" on policy but also "realists" about what is possible.
"Living through Jim Crow and other oppressive structures will force you to be take that approach," she said.
Smith said that with South Carolina leading off and many Southern states following on Super Tuesday soon after the early lineup concludes, progressives will have to take the time to listen and then tailor their messages.
"A lot of Black voters don't necessarily see themselves in the ideas and arguments that progressives put forward," she said.
Unions will get a spotlight in the early-voting states
Nevada has the service industry unions because of Las Vegas; Michigan has the auto industry and associated manufacturing support industries; Virginia is home to more federal workers than any other state.
"Labor is still so important," Dean said.
Beyond seeking the backing of organized labor, the campaigns and the party will look to unions for help in spreading Democrats' message to voters and getting people to the polls.
More scheduling efficiency for candidates
Campaigns struggle to balance many demands such as meeting voters in person, raising money and the logistics of travel. As a result, places such as Nevada have gotten short shrift in the past because candidates, most from the eastern part of the country, have concluded the investment of time is not worth it.
An expanded calendar offers more clustering opportunities.
A swing to the West could hit two early states — Nevada and New Mexico — and include a fundraising stop in California, full of Democratic donors. A South Carolina trip could mean fundraisers and public appearances in Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh, both in North Carolina. Virginia offers proximity to donors and national TV studios in Washington; the same options are available by adding a New York City stop on the way to New Hampshire.
Bre Maxwell is a DNC member from South Carolina who said the state's smaller size and lower media costs are a financial equalizer, allowing not only the best-funded candidates to have an impact.
"They can campaign from the top to the bottom in a day," Maxwell said.
It's about primaries, with a clear look to November
Of the six early states, all but South Carolina have been competitive in general elections.
That means that even before Super Tuesday, the Democratic candidates will have spent significant time and resources in states worth a combined 43 Electoral College votes. That is not insignificant on the way to the 270 needed to win.
Television ads and news coverage can spill over, as well. Markets targeting parts of South Carolina also reach portions of North Carolina and Georgia.
After all, Brown said, the point is to put a Democrat in the White House.
"This is not a social or a debate club. It is a political party," he said.
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Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.
