Update

Now that a judge has struck down a federal regulation that limited compensation only to economic losses from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, a New Mexico legal aid attorney is urging fire victims to try to articulate the fire’s emotional toll, if only for themselves.

In a letter on Thursday, New Mexico’s congressional delegation urged President Biden to designate the Caja del Rio a national monument in his administration’s final days.

As the Biden administration comes to a close, Interior Sec. Deb Haaland is considering running for New Mexico governor. But, she’s not the only New Mexican in Washington D.C. eyeing the state’s executive branch. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich is too.

Political turmoil erupted at one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S. on Monday as the attorney general for the Navajo Nation announced that an investigation had cleared the Navajo president of sexual harassment allegations by the vice president.

The deadline is this Friday, Dec. 20, to file an initial claim for damages from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire.

Federal regulators determined this week that Los Alamos National Laboratory and the county’s municipal system will require stricter regulation due to high levels of pollution running off during storms tainted waters downstream, including the Rio Grande. Pus, the Governor’s Office Friday announced Robert Doucette, Cabinet Secretary for the General Services Department, will step down from his position at the close of the year.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will push the Legislature to boost spending on housing, behavioral health, water protection and child welfare in the upcoming session, according to a proposed $10.9 billion budget her office released Thursday afternoon.

Most New Mexico college students face food and housing insecurity. Now, the state’s Higher Education Department is including meeting these basic needs in its efforts to see more students graduate.

New Mexico U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich has been advocating to make it easier for organizations to clean up polluting, abandoned mines. Tuesday, a bill that makes that possible passed the U.S. House with bipartisan support. It now heads to President Biden for his signature.

The state’s biggest-ever wildfire in 2022 did just not upend the lives of thousands of New Mexicans. In fact, about a third of New Mexico state agencies endured some sort of financial loss when the fire the size of Los Angeles tore through the mountains of northern New Mexico.