Update

A secluded desert ranch where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests is coming under new scrutiny in New Mexico, where two state legislators are proposing an investigative "truth commission" to guard against sex trafficking in the future.

Lujan Grisham said Thursday she would call lawmakers into a special session Nov. 10 to extend food benefits to New Mexico residents reliant on federal food aid.

President Donald Trump has nominated former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce to serve as director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Pearce is a conservative Republican who represented New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District for multiple terms.

Across New Mexico in roughly half of the state’s 33 counties, voters will cast their ballots in the Nov. 4 local elections, deciding the outcomes for 997 contests, which include mayors and other municipal officials; hospital board members; soil and water districts; and various school boards.

The Trump administration is initiating formal meetings with Native American tribes in the southwestern U.S. as it considers revoking a 20-year ban of oil and gas development across of hundreds of square miles of federal land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park. With its sweeping vistas and monumental stone structures, the UNESCO World Heritage site has been at the center of a fight over drilling for decades.

Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously today that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Tuesday night, after city councilors delayed deciding whether to shut the facility down, voting instead during a long and crowded meeting to hire an independent hearing officer to make a recommendation.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Wednesday she would tap a $30 million state contingency fund to continue covering food costs for residents enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for a 10-day period starting on Nov. 1.

In New Mexico, more than 450,000 individuals rely on SNAP to feed their families. That’s 21% of the population, the highest in the nation.

A state court has given the green light for the City of Santa Fe to impose a three percent excise tax on the sale of homes valued greater than $1 million.