THU: Peña wins re-election to Albuquerque City Council District 3, + More
By KUNM News
December 11, 2025 at 8:18 AM MST
Pena wins re-election to Albuquerque District 3
In Albuquerque, the closely contested runoff election for the city council seat for District 3 appears to have been decided, and incumbent Kalrissa Pena is the winner.
On Thursday, Pena released a statement saying that challenger Teresa Garcia called Pena today and conceded the race. Unofficial returns showed Peña with a 68-vote lead over challenger Teresa Garcia out of 6,608 votes cast Tuesday in the runoff election.
District 3 includes parts of southwest Albuquerque. Pena says her agenda going forward includes completion of the Westgate Community Center, advancing Phase II of the Southwest Public Safety Center, and supporting the Route 66 Centennial.
The Albuquerque Journal reports state law makes a provision for publicly funded automatic recounts in local elections when the margin between the two candidates is one percent or less.
However, Albuquerque is a home rule municipality, meaning it conducts elections under its own city charter.
The Journal reports City Council runoff returns are not eligible for an automatic runoff because the Albuquerque City Charter contains no provision for it.
Tuesday’s runoff election in Albuquerque also determined the mayoral race, as well as the contest for City Council District 1. In those elections, incumbent mayor Tim Keller defeated challenger Darren White to win a third term in office. Stephanie Telles defeated Joshua Neal to win the election for Council District 1. Incumbent Louie Sanchez did not seek re-election.
New Mexico Higher Ed seeks free high school equivalency tests, loan forgiveness – Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Higher Education Department on Wednesday asked lawmakers for $1.5 billion to fund public colleges and universities across the state. The department’s budget request prioritized creating free access to high school equivalency testing, as well as loan forgiveness for teachers and healthcare workers.
Department Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez, who presented the budget request to the Legislative Finance Committee, said that of the $1.5 billion requested, more than $1.3 billion will go directly to higher education institutions. The funding will maintain the Opportunity Scholarship, which covers fees and program costs for state residents who take at least six credit hours of instruction at a public college or university, and cover testing fees for New Mexico adults who want to earn high school equivalency credentials through tests such as the GED. State lawmakers earlier this year passed legislation to make these tests, which the state estimates cost $145 each, free for the first time.
Rodriguez said college enrollment has increased for four consecutive years in New Mexico, while it declined nationally from 2020 to 2023. The nearly 114,000 residents across the state are pursuing educational paths ranging from career training certificates to graduate degrees at public institutions this semester, an increase of 3.6% from 2024, she said.
“I’m incredibly proud of this department,” Rodriguez told lawmakers. “Oftentimes you hear we’re last in education. That is not the case for higher education, adult education and early childhood education.”
The proposed HED budget for the upcoming fiscal year represents a 3% increase in “new money” and a $30 million increase to base funding. Rodriguez proposed directing $976.7 million of the request to instruction and general funding and $128.3 million to research and public service projects.
The budget proposal included new appropriation requests, including $25 million for a health professionals loan repayment program; $5 million for a teacher loan repayment program; $5 million for adult education programs; $3 million for the New Mexico Longitudinal Data System, which analyzes education and workforce data to guide policy discussions; and $1.25 million to cover high school equivalency testing fees across the state.
The new spending comes as the Trump administration moves to eliminate a Biden-era loan forgiveness program.
Representatives from the Council of University Presidents and New Mexico Association of Community Colleges also presented a unified budget request for higher education institutions across the state.
They credited the Lottery and Opportunity scholarships for ranking New Mexico fifth-lowest for student debt in the nation. The group sought funding for employee pay raises, campus safety, cybersecurity, building renewal and replacement equipment renewal and replacement.
Cybersecurity was of particular concern to the group, whose officials cited an April cyberattack at Western New Mexico University. Russian hackers at the time appeared to gain access to the Silver City university’s internal network and claimed to have access to sensitive employee payroll data, Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses.
Elderly inmate dies at University of New Mexico Hospital
Nakayla McLelland, Albuquerque Journal
An elderly inmate charged with murdering his stepson died in hospital care Sunday — weeks after falling ill while behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
William Howell, 89, died at University of New Mexico Hospital, where he had been hospitalized with pneumonia, according to a news release from MDC spokesperson Candace Hopkins.
Howell had been taken from the jail to UNMH on Nov. 2 for an illness, which was later diagnosed as pneumonia, she said. He was pronounced dead by hospital staff around 12:30 p.m.
Hopkins said the state Office of the Medical Investigator will determine Howell's official cause of death.
"In accordance with standard procedures, the incident is under investigation by the MDC Office of Professional Standards," Hopkins said.
Hopkins did not give additional details.
Howell was the seventh person to die at MDC or die after being injured or falling ill at the facility in 2025, Hopkins said. A total of 39 inmate deaths have been recorded since 2020.
Howell had been jailed since December 2023, when he was charged with an open count of murder in the fatal shooting of his 37-year-old stepson, Rastko Starcevic.
Howell, who was found by authorities covered in blood, told detectives he did not remember what had happened, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metro Court.
A day after being hospitalized, a judge ordered Howell — who was found not competent to stand trial in December 2024 — to be committed to the Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas.
NM State Fair Board sees new fairgrounds concepts, as first round of spending nears approval — Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Members of the New Mexico State Fairgrounds District board, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, got their first chance Thursday to weigh in on three new design concepts for how the 236-acre, state-owned property in the middle of Albuquerque could be transformed.
The Legislature earlier this year created a new board entrusted with up to $500 million in bonding capacity to re-think the fairgrounds, including possibly moving the annual State Fair from its home of 87 years. Stantec, a design firm, released three new concepts this week as it finalizes a master plan, which it will release in February, and opened them up for public comment.
The board also celebrated the State Board of Finance’s approval Tuesday of the first round of funding for the project, a $22.35 million bond package to acquire roughly nine additional acres for the redevelopment. That acquisition will happen regardless of what else transpires at the fairgrounds, according to the governor’s office.
Legislative approval in January is the final step before the board issues those bonds, a signoff that Lujan Grisham said Thursday probably won’t occur without “questions and debate.”
Still, she said Thursday, “Our plan is moving.”
Board members did not vote on the design concepts, but they did ask the firm to ensure final designs allow for affordable and sustainable housing, high-quality jobs and agricultural and food opportunities to create a “food oasis,” as Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa put it, in an area surrounded by vacant grocery stores.
The concepts make clear the potential tradeoffs required to fit all the priorities that have emerged for the project, including housing, a large amphitheater, a performing arts center and a park while also allowing the State Fair to continue in its usual footprint.
Moving the fair, as one of the three concepts envisions, would free up 124 acres for redevelopment, allowing more space for a bigger park, more housing and apartment options and more “community benefits,” including a public-private campus, according to the design firm. It could also mean more job opportunities, including for tech and research, according to Stantec.
Keeping the fair would confine the space for redevelopment to between 43 and 51 acres, meaning potential for sales tax revenue is “medium” and housing opportunities are “limited,” according to a Stantec designer’s presentation Thursday.
Neighborhood associations and community advocates hope the fairgrounds investment will benefit nearby neighborhoods, including the adjacent International District. The area surrounding the fairgrounds has two of the deadliest intersections for pedestrians in New Mexico and high crime rates.
It’s also a food desert, thanks in part to recent closures of a nearby CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, and a “heat island,” due to the lack of tree canopy and green space.
The Trust for Public Lands also rates the area as one in the city with the highest need for a public park. Without the State Fair, a park could be as big as 22 acres, according to Stantec, versus between 10 or 11 acres if it remains.
First abandoned uranium mine cleanups have begun under New Mexico initiative – Cathy Cook, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico's Environment Department plans to finish cleaning up at least one abandoned uranium mine by next summer, and has begun site evaluations at 15 uranium mine and mill sites in the northwest corner of the state.
"This initiative is about taking concrete steps to finally address the unfinished business of abandoned uranium mine cleanup," Environment Secretary James Kenney said in a statement.
The agency is developing a new process for remediating long-neglected uranium mines and mills that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn't plan to address, and has started cleanups on five mine sites. Those sites are the Schmitt Decline Mine, Moe No. 4, Red Bluff No. 1, Roundy Shaft and Roundy Mano Strip — all in McKinley County north of Milan. Three of the sites are on state trust land. The Roundy Shaft and Roundy Mano Strip mines are adjacent and sometimes considered one site.
NMED is on track to finish cleaning up one of the smaller abandoned mines by the end of the fiscal year in June 2026, said Miori Harms, NMED's uranium mine reclamation coordinator. The sites were picked based on their proximity to homes, physical hazards and readiness for cleanup partnership. The Moe No. 4 Mine also drains into the San Mateo Creek, which could potentially have indirect human impacts, Harms said.
Evaluations have begun at additional sites to prepare for future cleanups.
NMED has contracted six companies to perform uranium mine clean up work in the Grants Mining District. Three of those companies have begun work on the abandoned mines, including EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., Intera and Entact LLC.
These are the first cleanups under a state initiative to address long abandoned uranium mines. A 2022 state Legislature bill required NMED to hire a uranium mine reclamation coordinator to lead the charge on abandoned uranium mine cleanup. Earlier this year, the Legislature approved $20 million to investigate and remediate neglected contaminated sites. Of that funding, NMED is using $12 million to begin cleanups at the five mine sites.
Northern New Mexico is rich in uranium, a naturally occurring radioactive element that is used in nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. It's also a heavy metal and can have negative health effects like kidney disease if high levels are ingested or breathed in.
The Grants Mining District was a major part of U.S. uranium production from the 1950s until the 1980s, according to an EPA report on the legacy of abandoned mines. During those three decades, the district yielded more uranium than any other mining district in the country, according to a New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources fact page.
The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department has identified 260 abandoned uranium mine sites throughout the state, according to NMED's 2023 Abandoned Uranium Mines Data Gap Analysis. At least half of those sites have had no known cleanup, and more of them have only partial or in-progress cleanups.
Often, the company that would be responsible for the abandoned mine doesn't exist any more or can"t be found, according to the analysis.
"As a result, many potentially hazardous (abandoned uranium mines) remain a threat to humans and the environment," the analysis reads.
The goal of cleaning up an abandoned uranium mine is to limit human exposure to uranium and ensure the uranium does not impact groundwater, which often means burying the material or moving it to another location for disposal, according to Harms. How difficult clean up is or how long it takes can vary widely depending on the mine.
"They're like snowflakes," Harms said. "They have their own needs and requirements."
NMED has started on-site surveys, environmental sampling and community engagement at the five mine sites. Typically, completing survey work, community engagement and cultural resource, radiation and biological surveys for an abandoned mine site would take two years, Harms said.
"For the sites that we've chosen this year to really focus on, it's not representative of what would normally happen," Harms said. "We've really been pushing hard to get all of this work completed in record time."
Harms hopes to demonstrate the program can be successful, so it can secure long-term funding.
"We're hoping that we can show the public that we are going to do the right thing. … I'm hoping that when they see everything we've completed, that they're willing to fund us for more years to get more work done," Harms said.
In Albuquerque, the closely contested runoff election for the city council seat for District 3 appears to have been decided, and incumbent Kalrissa Pena is the winner.
On Thursday, Pena released a statement saying that challenger Teresa Garcia called Pena today and conceded the race. Unofficial returns showed Peña with a 68-vote lead over challenger Teresa Garcia out of 6,608 votes cast Tuesday in the runoff election.
District 3 includes parts of southwest Albuquerque. Pena says her agenda going forward includes completion of the Westgate Community Center, advancing Phase II of the Southwest Public Safety Center, and supporting the Route 66 Centennial.
The Albuquerque Journal reports state law makes a provision for publicly funded automatic recounts in local elections when the margin between the two candidates is one percent or less.
However, Albuquerque is a home rule municipality, meaning it conducts elections under its own city charter.
The Journal reports City Council runoff returns are not eligible for an automatic runoff because the Albuquerque City Charter contains no provision for it.
Tuesday’s runoff election in Albuquerque also determined the mayoral race, as well as the contest for City Council District 1. In those elections, incumbent mayor Tim Keller defeated challenger Darren White to win a third term in office. Stephanie Telles defeated Joshua Neal to win the election for Council District 1. Incumbent Louie Sanchez did not seek re-election.
New Mexico Higher Ed seeks free high school equivalency tests, loan forgiveness – Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Higher Education Department on Wednesday asked lawmakers for $1.5 billion to fund public colleges and universities across the state. The department’s budget request prioritized creating free access to high school equivalency testing, as well as loan forgiveness for teachers and healthcare workers.
Department Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez, who presented the budget request to the Legislative Finance Committee, said that of the $1.5 billion requested, more than $1.3 billion will go directly to higher education institutions. The funding will maintain the Opportunity Scholarship, which covers fees and program costs for state residents who take at least six credit hours of instruction at a public college or university, and cover testing fees for New Mexico adults who want to earn high school equivalency credentials through tests such as the GED. State lawmakers earlier this year passed legislation to make these tests, which the state estimates cost $145 each, free for the first time.
Rodriguez said college enrollment has increased for four consecutive years in New Mexico, while it declined nationally from 2020 to 2023. The nearly 114,000 residents across the state are pursuing educational paths ranging from career training certificates to graduate degrees at public institutions this semester, an increase of 3.6% from 2024, she said.
“I’m incredibly proud of this department,” Rodriguez told lawmakers. “Oftentimes you hear we’re last in education. That is not the case for higher education, adult education and early childhood education.”
The proposed HED budget for the upcoming fiscal year represents a 3% increase in “new money” and a $30 million increase to base funding. Rodriguez proposed directing $976.7 million of the request to instruction and general funding and $128.3 million to research and public service projects.
The budget proposal included new appropriation requests, including $25 million for a health professionals loan repayment program; $5 million for a teacher loan repayment program; $5 million for adult education programs; $3 million for the New Mexico Longitudinal Data System, which analyzes education and workforce data to guide policy discussions; and $1.25 million to cover high school equivalency testing fees across the state.
The new spending comes as the Trump administration moves to eliminate a Biden-era loan forgiveness program.
Representatives from the Council of University Presidents and New Mexico Association of Community Colleges also presented a unified budget request for higher education institutions across the state.
They credited the Lottery and Opportunity scholarships for ranking New Mexico fifth-lowest for student debt in the nation. The group sought funding for employee pay raises, campus safety, cybersecurity, building renewal and replacement equipment renewal and replacement.
Cybersecurity was of particular concern to the group, whose officials cited an April cyberattack at Western New Mexico University. Russian hackers at the time appeared to gain access to the Silver City university’s internal network and claimed to have access to sensitive employee payroll data, Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses.
Elderly inmate dies at University of New Mexico Hospital
Nakayla McLelland, Albuquerque Journal
An elderly inmate charged with murdering his stepson died in hospital care Sunday — weeks after falling ill while behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
William Howell, 89, died at University of New Mexico Hospital, where he had been hospitalized with pneumonia, according to a news release from MDC spokesperson Candace Hopkins.
Howell had been taken from the jail to UNMH on Nov. 2 for an illness, which was later diagnosed as pneumonia, she said. He was pronounced dead by hospital staff around 12:30 p.m.
Hopkins said the state Office of the Medical Investigator will determine Howell's official cause of death.
"In accordance with standard procedures, the incident is under investigation by the MDC Office of Professional Standards," Hopkins said.
Hopkins did not give additional details.
Howell was the seventh person to die at MDC or die after being injured or falling ill at the facility in 2025, Hopkins said. A total of 39 inmate deaths have been recorded since 2020.
Howell had been jailed since December 2023, when he was charged with an open count of murder in the fatal shooting of his 37-year-old stepson, Rastko Starcevic.
Howell, who was found by authorities covered in blood, told detectives he did not remember what had happened, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metro Court.
A day after being hospitalized, a judge ordered Howell — who was found not competent to stand trial in December 2024 — to be committed to the Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas.
NM State Fair Board sees new fairgrounds concepts, as first round of spending nears approval — Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Members of the New Mexico State Fairgrounds District board, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, got their first chance Thursday to weigh in on three new design concepts for how the 236-acre, state-owned property in the middle of Albuquerque could be transformed.
The Legislature earlier this year created a new board entrusted with up to $500 million in bonding capacity to re-think the fairgrounds, including possibly moving the annual State Fair from its home of 87 years. Stantec, a design firm, released three new concepts this week as it finalizes a master plan, which it will release in February, and opened them up for public comment.
The board also celebrated the State Board of Finance’s approval Tuesday of the first round of funding for the project, a $22.35 million bond package to acquire roughly nine additional acres for the redevelopment. That acquisition will happen regardless of what else transpires at the fairgrounds, according to the governor’s office.
Legislative approval in January is the final step before the board issues those bonds, a signoff that Lujan Grisham said Thursday probably won’t occur without “questions and debate.”
Still, she said Thursday, “Our plan is moving.”
Board members did not vote on the design concepts, but they did ask the firm to ensure final designs allow for affordable and sustainable housing, high-quality jobs and agricultural and food opportunities to create a “food oasis,” as Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa put it, in an area surrounded by vacant grocery stores.
The concepts make clear the potential tradeoffs required to fit all the priorities that have emerged for the project, including housing, a large amphitheater, a performing arts center and a park while also allowing the State Fair to continue in its usual footprint.
Moving the fair, as one of the three concepts envisions, would free up 124 acres for redevelopment, allowing more space for a bigger park, more housing and apartment options and more “community benefits,” including a public-private campus, according to the design firm. It could also mean more job opportunities, including for tech and research, according to Stantec.
Keeping the fair would confine the space for redevelopment to between 43 and 51 acres, meaning potential for sales tax revenue is “medium” and housing opportunities are “limited,” according to a Stantec designer’s presentation Thursday.
Neighborhood associations and community advocates hope the fairgrounds investment will benefit nearby neighborhoods, including the adjacent International District. The area surrounding the fairgrounds has two of the deadliest intersections for pedestrians in New Mexico and high crime rates.
It’s also a food desert, thanks in part to recent closures of a nearby CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, and a “heat island,” due to the lack of tree canopy and green space.
The Trust for Public Lands also rates the area as one in the city with the highest need for a public park. Without the State Fair, a park could be as big as 22 acres, according to Stantec, versus between 10 or 11 acres if it remains.
First abandoned uranium mine cleanups have begun under New Mexico initiative – Cathy Cook, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico's Environment Department plans to finish cleaning up at least one abandoned uranium mine by next summer, and has begun site evaluations at 15 uranium mine and mill sites in the northwest corner of the state.
"This initiative is about taking concrete steps to finally address the unfinished business of abandoned uranium mine cleanup," Environment Secretary James Kenney said in a statement.
The agency is developing a new process for remediating long-neglected uranium mines and mills that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn't plan to address, and has started cleanups on five mine sites. Those sites are the Schmitt Decline Mine, Moe No. 4, Red Bluff No. 1, Roundy Shaft and Roundy Mano Strip — all in McKinley County north of Milan. Three of the sites are on state trust land. The Roundy Shaft and Roundy Mano Strip mines are adjacent and sometimes considered one site.
NMED is on track to finish cleaning up one of the smaller abandoned mines by the end of the fiscal year in June 2026, said Miori Harms, NMED's uranium mine reclamation coordinator. The sites were picked based on their proximity to homes, physical hazards and readiness for cleanup partnership. The Moe No. 4 Mine also drains into the San Mateo Creek, which could potentially have indirect human impacts, Harms said.
Evaluations have begun at additional sites to prepare for future cleanups.
NMED has contracted six companies to perform uranium mine clean up work in the Grants Mining District. Three of those companies have begun work on the abandoned mines, including EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., Intera and Entact LLC.
These are the first cleanups under a state initiative to address long abandoned uranium mines. A 2022 state Legislature bill required NMED to hire a uranium mine reclamation coordinator to lead the charge on abandoned uranium mine cleanup. Earlier this year, the Legislature approved $20 million to investigate and remediate neglected contaminated sites. Of that funding, NMED is using $12 million to begin cleanups at the five mine sites.
Northern New Mexico is rich in uranium, a naturally occurring radioactive element that is used in nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. It's also a heavy metal and can have negative health effects like kidney disease if high levels are ingested or breathed in.
The Grants Mining District was a major part of U.S. uranium production from the 1950s until the 1980s, according to an EPA report on the legacy of abandoned mines. During those three decades, the district yielded more uranium than any other mining district in the country, according to a New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources fact page.
The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department has identified 260 abandoned uranium mine sites throughout the state, according to NMED's 2023 Abandoned Uranium Mines Data Gap Analysis. At least half of those sites have had no known cleanup, and more of them have only partial or in-progress cleanups.
Often, the company that would be responsible for the abandoned mine doesn't exist any more or can"t be found, according to the analysis.
"As a result, many potentially hazardous (abandoned uranium mines) remain a threat to humans and the environment," the analysis reads.
The goal of cleaning up an abandoned uranium mine is to limit human exposure to uranium and ensure the uranium does not impact groundwater, which often means burying the material or moving it to another location for disposal, according to Harms. How difficult clean up is or how long it takes can vary widely depending on the mine.
"They're like snowflakes," Harms said. "They have their own needs and requirements."
NMED has started on-site surveys, environmental sampling and community engagement at the five mine sites. Typically, completing survey work, community engagement and cultural resource, radiation and biological surveys for an abandoned mine site would take two years, Harms said.
"For the sites that we've chosen this year to really focus on, it's not representative of what would normally happen," Harms said. "We've really been pushing hard to get all of this work completed in record time."
Harms hopes to demonstrate the program can be successful, so it can secure long-term funding.
"We're hoping that we can show the public that we are going to do the right thing. … I'm hoping that when they see everything we've completed, that they're willing to fund us for more years to get more work done," Harms said.