WED: New Mexico House commission hires Albuquerque firm in Epstein probe, + More
By KUNM News
April 29, 2026 at 6:41 AM MDT
New Mexico House commission hires Albuquerque firm in Epstein probe
—Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The bipartisan New Mexico House investigatory subcommittee tasked with documenting the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s activity at his Santa Fe County Zorro Ranch property has hired an Albuquerque law firm to assist in the investigation.
The committee on Tuesday announced the appointment of Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C., a law firm with offices in both New Mexico and Texas, to serve as the special counsel. According to the state’s request for proposals for the work, the firm will provide legal services for the commission, gather evidence for its Epstein investigation and manage any collaborations with the New Mexico Department of Justice.
Shawna Casebier, the director of the Legislative Counsel Service, told Source NM Wednesday that 10 firms sought the contract for the subcommittee. The contract caps payments to the law firm for its services at $750,000.
In a news release, the commission said the appointment of special counsel ensures that investigation will be “thorough, transparent and legally sound,” and that public meetings will be scheduled later in the year.
“The Truth Commission has a responsibility to pursue the facts with care and credibility,” subcommittee chair state Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) said in a statement. “Engaging experienced legal counsel ensures that our work is conducted with the rigor and independence necessary to build public trust and deliver meaningful accountability.”
The subcommittee was established unanimously by the New Mexico House in the most recent legislative session. It has a budget of $2 million from a 2023 settlement with the state and several financial services companies for failing to identify the abuses at the ranch.
Attorney Joshua Conaway, a partner at the firm with more than two decades of experience, said in a statement the subcommittee’s work “is both significant and sensitive, and we are committed to helping ensure that its efforts are conducted with integrity, diligence, and respect for all involved.”
A call to Conaway Wednesday was not immediately returned.
In February, NMDOJ announced it was reviving an investigation into Epstein and Zorro Ranch. Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas previously told Source NM his office was investigating Epstein until federal prosecutors in 2019 asked him to shelve the query. Earlier this month, NMDOJ investigators searched the sprawling 7,500-acre property that Epstein bought from former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King in the 1990s.
The commission is scheduled to make an interim report on the investigation to the House of Representatives by July 31, and a final report by the end of 2026.
Judge: New Mexico must halt universal childcare or contest ruling - by Esteban Candelaria, Searchlight New Mexico
A state judge on Tuesday ordered Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration to pause New Mexico’s free, universal childcare program or present an argument for why the initiative should not be permanently halted.
Second Judicial District Judge Elaine Lujan issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez and other members of the GOP, which seeks to invalidate several rules expanding free childcare to all New Mexico families, regardless of income.
Duke Rodriguez Rodriguez, who has argued the state jumped the gun by rolling out rules for the childcare assistance expansion before the Legislature approved funding for the initiative, celebrated the ruling Tuesday.
“Today’s order represents a victory for the New Mexico Constitution, for government transparency, and for the people of New Mexico,” he said in a statement.
Lujan Grisham slammed Rodriguez in a statement Tuesday evening on Facebook, calling him a “third-tier Republican candidate for governor — who lives in Arizona,” and describing his complaint as “frivolous” and a “despicable attempt to mislead New Mexico families and generate headlines for a campaign that is going nowhere.”
She said, “Universal child care is in effect and it is NOT being shut down, despite what this desperate candidate claims.”
The state has 30 days to contest the ruling and must appear for a court hearing June 11.
Lujan Grisham, New Mexico Early Childhood Cabinet Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky and State Records Administrator Rick Hendricks were all named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Included as plaintiffs are state Sen. Steve Lanier, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate who was disqualified from the June primary ballot, and Rio Rancho businessman Zachary Anaya, who is running for the GOP nomination for a state House seat.
Michael Coleman, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, noted in an email the judge rejected Rodriguez’s request for the universal childcare program to be halted outright, instead giving the state an opportunity to argue its case.
He wrote in an email the judge’s order is a “routine response that allows the state to respond before the court takes any action.”
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham celebrates with a crowd gathered to witness her sign universal child care into law in March 2026. Gabriela Campos/New Mexican file photo “Universal child care remains in effect and New Mexico families have no reason for concern,” Coleman wrote. “The New Mexico Legislature settled the legal question when it passed Senate Bill 241. The governor is confident the courts will agree and toss out this ‘controversy’ manufactured by a Republican political candidate.”
Lujan Grisham’s statement said, “New Mexicans should know this: A man who wants to lead this state made a calculated decision to scare working families — parents who depend on child care to hold down jobs, pay their bills, and build a future here — because he is losing and he knows it.”
Early Childhood Education and Care Department spokesperson Julia Sclafani echoed Coleman’s point that the judge’s ruling mainly gives the state a chance to fight Rodriguez’s lawsuit. The agency is actively working on a response, she noted, and is “confident the court will agree this case is without merit.”
“Universal Child Care is here to stay,” Sclafani wrote in an email. “... Families should rest assured that ECECD remains fully committed to protecting access to the services they need and rely on. The department will not waver in its mission to make quality child care accessible to families across New Mexico.”
Lujan Grisham announced plans to make the state’s childcare assistance program universally accessible in September 2025. The early childhood department proposed a number of new or amended rules shortly afterward. Among several changes, the agency dropped previous eligibility requirements for families and gave them “presumptive eligibility,” which makes it easier for applications for the benefit to be preapproved.
Lujan Grisham and lawmakers struck a deal, known as SB 241, during this year’s legislative session to draw up to $700 million for the program from the state’s now more than $11 billion Early Childhood Education and Care Fund over the coming five fiscal years.
Rodriguez’s lawsuit asks a judge to stop the state from enforcing rules directly related to expansion of eligibility to all New Mexico families, a section establishing families’ presumptive eligibility, language currently waiving copayments and other requirements.
The complaint argues the state moved forward with the new rules without legislative approval — specifically, funding for the initiative.
The lawsuit is the second challenge Rodriguez has filed against Lujan Grisham and her administration. The first, filed late last year, sought to invalidate the governor’s line-item vetoes on a spending bill passed during a special session in the fall. The New Mexico Supreme Court tossed that lawsuit.
Leah March, another spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, wrote in an email to The New Mexican earlier this month Rodriguez’s lawsuit related to the childcare expansion “demonstrates that Mr. Rodriguez misunderstands how state government works.”
Rodriguez shot back Tuesday, saying he does understand the process. He argued the way Lujan Grisham’s administration rolled out the childcare program demonstrates not that New Mexico is a poor state, but a “poorly managed state.”
“I filed this suit because New Mexicans deserve more from their government,” Rodriguez wrote. “With the court’s order in hand, the Governor can now do the right thing and start over, or she can continue to create chaos for families.”
Writ of MandamusDownload
This article first appeared on Searchlight New Mexico.
Future of Lindy’s Diner remains in limbo - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
The fate of the historic Bliss Building and anchor tenant Lindy’s Diner remained uncertain Tuesday after a portion of the building collapsed the day before.
The northeast exterior wall of Lindy’s Diner in Downtown Albuquerque fell Monday afternoon — days after the restaurant was ordered to close because of structural safety hazards — sending a flood of bricks and debris down with it.
Diner and building owner Steve Vatoseow said Tuesday that when he saw the diner’s walls collapse, it was like “watching a horror movie,” adding that his ultimate goal is to save the building.
“It was terrible, seeing your life collapse in front of you. We put our whole lives into that place, and we’re still in shock, to be honest,” Vatoseow said. “It’s a piece of Albuquerque history and it would be devastating to turn it into a parking lot or something.”
Vatoseow previously told the Journal that he knew the building would need work at some point. He estimated it would take a minimum of $100,000 to resolve the immediate issues that caused the city to deem the two-story building hazardous.
The city gave Vatoseow until May 4 to take corrective action, though by Monday it was already too late. It is up to city officials and structural engineers to assess the damage and determine the future of the property.
“The City of Albuquerque is reviewing reports from the Planning Department and will provide an update on the future of the site tomorrow morning,” said Mikayla Ortega, a spokesperson for the city.
Ortega urged the public to stay away from the area due to concerns about the building’s instability.
The building and bordering streets were lined with yellow caution tape Tuesday afternoon, and winds swept the remaining dust and debris into the air.
But the aftermath of the city’s determination won’t solely affect Lindy’s Diner.
Flamenco Works — a local nonprofit flamenco school that shares a wall with Lindy’s Diner — was closed Tuesday afternoon.
Directors Jesús and Amalyah Muñoz said they were out of town at a Utah dance competition when the collapse happened. They learned of the news from social media videos and were devastated when they came back to Albuquerque and saw the rubble near their building.
“Our kids rely on our classes, so we’re trying to find another place,” Amalyah Muñoz said. “We can’t afford to shut down and the kids depend on us.”
The two said they were hoping to find another location to temporarily house their classes — which run through May — along with a June summer camp that is expected to have at least 30 children in attendance.
505 Central Food Hall owner Mark Baker said his business faces economic uncertainty after some roads were closed for debris. Fifth Street between Gold and Copper was closed to traffic Tuesday.
“It’s made it more difficult for people to find their way to 505 Central Food Hall, so hopefully the reconstruction or demolition happens quickly and decisively and we don’t end up in this economic limbo for much longer,” Baker said.
Baker said he’s worried that indecisiveness from the city could prolong the situation, even as local curiosity-seekers visited the food hall to see the Lindy’s Diner scene at 500 Central SW.
Though Vatoseow was disheartened to see the building fall into shambles, he said the amount of love Lindy’s Diner has received from the public was heartwarming.
“That’s been the one bright spot,” he said. “Just to see what that place meant to a lot of people is really heartwarming, and it means a lot to us. It’s everyday people that came in and supported us, and those are the ones we’re going to miss the most if we can’t do something to bring it back.”
As passersby took photos and videos of the building Tuesday afternoon, a lone brick plummeted to the street, adding to the growing pile of wreckage that was contained by fencing placed by city officials.
NM audit finds ‘widespread’ mismanagement of Mora County’s wildfire recovery funds - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A new audit released Monday by the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor found that Mora County officials mishandled millions of dollars in state disaster loans and also repeatedly skirted competitive bidding requirements to award contracts in a community where, as one county employee described it to auditors, residents are “all pretty much related in one way or another.”
State Auditor Joseph Maestas told Source NM on Tuesday that the audit’s 21 findings represent the most “widespread” public trust abuses he’s seen in three and a half years in the office.
“There’s every type of violation under the procurement code here,” he said, “which is really troubling.”
The 100-page special audit’s central finding involves $3 million that the county earned in interest from $41.1 million the county received from Senate Bill 6, a 2023 bill intended to quickly award disaster funds through zero-interest loans to public entities struggling to recover after wildfires and floods in 2022.
Despite the Legislature’s aim to allocate funds quickly, Mora County has yet to spend any of the funds and county officials believed the $3 million in interest constituted “unrestricted” funds. As such, auditors couldn’t determine where the money had been spent and noted that the interest payments were commingled in the county’s general fund and often used for unspecified “operational expenses.”
The auditors concluded that the mismanagement of the $3 million in interest payments may make the state ineligible to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement for those funds.
Mora County Commission Chair George Trujillo told Source NM on Tuesday that he believed “most” of the $3 million went to disaster-related expenses, like clearing debris-clogged culverts or road repairs. He could not immediately recall Tuesday where any additional funding might have gone.
He also stressed that the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, one of several state agencies helping local governments with the loans, had told county officials that the county could use the interest payments for whatever it deemed fit.
“All I have to say is there’s no money missing, and we had permission to spend that [$3 million] that they’re crying about,” he said.
DHSEM officials did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment.
Potential conflicts in contracts
In addition to the interest payments, the auditor specified several instances of potential conflicts of interest or procurement code violations related to the county’s post-disaster spending.
County Sheriff Americk Padilla’s snow removal company received nearly $6,000 in an emergency contract in December 2023, for example. He did not properly file a required conflict-of-interest form with the county, and the contract violated state procurement requirements, according to the audit. Padilla did not immediately return Source NM’s request for comment Tuesday.
Commission Vice-Chair Johnny Trujillo, who worked for a gravel company that received county contracts specified in the audit, defended the potential conflicts in his statement to auditors. Mora, he said, “is a small town. Everyone is related in this town. And no one is giving any business based on relationships. Just recommendations.”
In one instance, Tina Cruz served as county attorney during a bidding process for the county’s hiring of outside counsel to represent it as it sought FEMA funding. Cruz also had a subcontract with firm Singleton Schreiber, the law firm that ultimately received the contract.
According to the audit, Cruz told commissioners that she did not have a conflict of interest as long as she did not bill the county for her work with Singleton Schreiber on behalf of the county’s FEMA claim. However, she did bill the county for 17 separate instances of work in September 2024 related to the wildfire, according to the audit.
Auditors could not determine how much Cruz received in “overbilling,” and they did not interview her as part of their audit.
Cruz, in a statement Tuesday to Source NM, denied that she ever “double billed” the county. She said she ultimately opted out of becoming a Singleton Schreiber subcontractor because of the “logistics” of working for both the firm and the county. As a result, she said she never received payment from Singleton Schreiber and billed the county only “nominally” for her work on its behalf.
Her statement did not specify how much money she asked for from the county for her work.
“All other work, which was a significant investment of time and effort on my part, went unbilled,” she said. “I opted to provide the support to the County pro bono to better assist Singleton Schreiber with the aim of helping my client recover from the devastating wildfire.”
In another contract auditors criticized, Cordova Contracting and Development LLC, an Albuquerque-based general contractor, received an “emergency” county contract in April 2024 for clearing plugged culverts.
Because the base contract was for only $60,000, county officials were not required to issue a request for multiple competitive bids. The contract Cordova received did not specify the contract duration or how county officials arrived at the $60,000 figure, according to the audit.
The company ultimately received more than $100,000 in compensation from the county, nearly twice as much as the contract specified, even though auditors could find no supporting documentation showing which culverts Cordova cleared over an 11-day period.
Company founder Mark Cordova told Source NM on Tuesday that he had not seen the audit, but he said the company cleared “quite a bit of” culverts under the contract. He referred additional comment to his wife and fellow owner Shari, who did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment.
FEMA reimbursements jeopardized
The audit outlined other instances in which the Mora County Commission used “emergency” contracts inappropriately and noted the county will likely not receive FEMA reimbursement as a result.
The state procurement code has specific requirements for emergency contracts, including that they can only be issued in instances where an imminent threat exists to “public health, welfare or safety” due to floods, fires, riots, acts of terrorism or other disasters. And public entities are required to solicit competitive bids if possible even during those periods.
Trujillo told Source NM that the county was dealing with “emergency after emergency,” including repeated rounds of flooding each year since the 2022 wildfire, and that the three-member county commission did its best in trying to respond.
“To me, it’s a learning lesson,” he said of the audit’s findings. “We got to do things right in the procurement thing. But, you know, we’ve been under an emergency since 2022.”
Maestas told Source NM on Tuesday that the auditor’s office is continuing to monitor Mora County and that it has made referrals to other state agencies for additional investigations based on the findings. He also said the New Mexico Department of Justice may be interested.
“We found no potential criminal behavior, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist,” he said.
He also said the audit underscores the need for additional oversight of small local governments, especially those that receive windfalls of state funds.
“The state really needs to think about any entity that they want to appropriate money to, that they’re capable of effectively managing it,” he said. “I think troubled governments really, really require adequate oversight. … And a statewide inspector general could possibly provide that kind of oversight.”
Two inmates die at MDC in 48-hour span - Nakayla McClelland & Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
Two men died behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in separate incidents over a two-day span.
Candace Hopkins, an MDC spokesperson, said a man in his 30s died Tuesday but gave no other details.
“More information will be released as soon as it is available, and the next of kin notification has been completed,” she said.
On Monday, an 18-year-old died at the facility, one month after he was booked.
A corrections officer found Derrick Benavidez around 4:49 a.m. in “medical distress,” Daniel Trujillo, another MDC spokesperson, said in a Tuesday news release.
MDC staff and the University of New Mexico Hospital medical team arrived and administered life-saving measures.
“Despite these efforts, Mr. Benavidez was pronounced deceased at 5:34 a.m. by UNM Hospital staff,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo said the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator will determine the cause of death. No additional details were given.
Benavidez and the man in his 30s were the sixth and seventh MDC inmates to die in 2026. The fifth was Andrew Witt, 45, who died inside a halfway house in early April “while serving his sentence on the Community Custody Program (CCP),” Trujillo said.
Benavidez was booked into MDC on March 15 after being charged with breaking and entering, possession of drug paraphernalia and concealing his identity.
He was on probation at the time and — although he was released on his own recognizance on the new charges — Benavidez was ordered on April 8 to serve “at least” 45 days in jail for violating probation, according to court records.
Legislative report finds 32,000 young New Mexicans not working, attending school - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
About 32,000 New Mexicans between the ages of 16 and 24 don’t work or go to school, according to a new Legislative Finance Committee report, which found these young people are more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system, make less money in their careers and experience worse health outcomes than their peers.
The report released Monday, “Reconnecting Disconnected Youth,” found that young people who don’t work or go to school cost New Mexico taxpayers approximately $623 million annually, primarily through lost tax revenue. By the time they reach their 30s, adults who didn’t go to school or work in their teens and early 20s typically earn $38,4000 less per year, are 45% less likely to own a house and are 42% less likely to be employed, the report found.
More than half of these “disconnected youth” reside in Bernalillo, Doña Ana, San Juan and McKinley counties, according to the report. Surveyed youth listed housing instability, a lack of skills or training, health conditions and disabilities, low wages and obligations to care for family members as the top five reasons why they were not actively seeking employment.
Connecting just 10% of these young people to an education or a job would bring New Mexico in line with the national average, LFC program evaluator Josh Chaffin told lawmakers at a Monday presentation.
“These 32,000 young people represent a meaningful share of the state’s workforce gap,” he said.
The report gave lawmakers recommendations to reach a goal of connecting 10% of these affected young people over the course of three years. It recommended that lawmakers require the state Public Education Department to create a program to refer students who drop out to support programs; have the state Workforce Solutions Department create target goals for enrolling out-of-school youth in programs; and track employment, education and earnings outcomes among young people in support programs.
The report also recommended that the governor’s office create a cross-agency body tasked with tracking outcomes for disconnected youth who go through these programs.
Some lawmakers said the report could be “overcomplicating” the issue of keeping kids in school.
“Give the kid a reason to come to school,” state Rep. Brian Baca (R-Los Lunas) said at the hearing. “Many kids are disconnected because they have not had a win in school for years…if you’re an artist, let’s fund these arts programs.”
Yazzie/Martinez plaintiffs ask to rewrite New Mexico education reform plan themselves - By Bella Davis, New Mexico In Depth
Fed up with the state's repeated failures to fix an education system that a court found in 2018 was failing most of New Mexico's students, plaintiffs in the landmark Yazzie/Martinez case are asking a judge to allow them to rewrite the Public Education Department's reform plan.
In a joint motion last week, plaintiffs outlined their vision for a potentially eight-month process for the revision.
The request comes after they and several tribes earlier this year asked the court to reject PED's plan, itself court-ordered.
"As it stands, we do not have an actual plan to transform education in New Mexico," Alisa Diehl, an attorney who is part of the Yazzie legal team, said in an interview. "This is really what we believe would be the most robust process to end up with a plan that has the level of detail that it really must have in order to make a difference."
It's been over a decade since parents and school districts sued New Mexico for failing to provide a sufficient education — a right guaranteed by the state constitution — to Native American students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and English language learners. A state judge agreed in 2018, but PED never finalized a plan to respond to the ruling.
Plaintiffs went back to court in 2024, arguing PED was continuing to violate students' rights. Last spring, First Judicial District Court Judge Matthew Wilson ruled the agency had failed to comply with previous rulings and ordered it to develop a "comprehensive remedial action plan."
After a series of public meetings and a statewide survey, PED delivered a 190-page plan in November.
Plaintiffs say the document "provides no credible basis to conclude" New Mexico "will ever remedy the constitutional violations or extensive deficiencies" identified eight years ago. It doesn't adequately tailor programs to each of the four student groups identified in the case as at risk, they argue, and doesn't provide cost estimates for actions it does propose.
Defending its plan last month, PED argued the court didn't direct it to include every detail of every program, which would make the plan "unworkably lengthy." The department will evaluate programs as they're introduced, it argued, and it needs to be able to make adjustments.
Plaintiffs maintain the plan "relies on generalities, postpones critical decisions, and omits enforceable commitments."
They want to rewrite it in collaboration with experts, with PED providing up to $200,000 to pay those experts for their work. Plaintiffs also want the court to require PED to estimate what it would cost to carry out the revised plan and share the analysis with them for their comment before being submitted to the court. Diehl said cost estimates, which the state's plan doesn't include, are crucial for ensuring the plan can be implemented.
A PED spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from New Mexico In Depth.
The rewritten plan would include "specific actions required to remedy each constitutional violation"; identification of which entities, like school districts and the Legislature, are responsible for each action; a five-to-seven-year implementation timeline; and evaluation metrics.
Plaintiffs would rely in part on feedback PED gathered from communities around the state last year. It's possible more public meetings would be held while they were revising the plan, according to Diehl.
Within four months, the plan would be shared with tribes, the Legislative Education Study Committee, and others for feedback. Plaintiffs would incorporate that input within two months and submit the plan to PED for review. Within another two months, plaintiffs and the department would meet to make changes and present any disputed items to the court.
Plaintiffs anticipate they'll have a chance to go before Wilson and argue for that process likely in the next two to three months, Diehl said.
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This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
—Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The bipartisan New Mexico House investigatory subcommittee tasked with documenting the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s activity at his Santa Fe County Zorro Ranch property has hired an Albuquerque law firm to assist in the investigation.
The committee on Tuesday announced the appointment of Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C., a law firm with offices in both New Mexico and Texas, to serve as the special counsel. According to the state’s request for proposals for the work, the firm will provide legal services for the commission, gather evidence for its Epstein investigation and manage any collaborations with the New Mexico Department of Justice.
Shawna Casebier, the director of the Legislative Counsel Service, told Source NM Wednesday that 10 firms sought the contract for the subcommittee. The contract caps payments to the law firm for its services at $750,000.
In a news release, the commission said the appointment of special counsel ensures that investigation will be “thorough, transparent and legally sound,” and that public meetings will be scheduled later in the year.
“The Truth Commission has a responsibility to pursue the facts with care and credibility,” subcommittee chair state Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) said in a statement. “Engaging experienced legal counsel ensures that our work is conducted with the rigor and independence necessary to build public trust and deliver meaningful accountability.”
The subcommittee was established unanimously by the New Mexico House in the most recent legislative session. It has a budget of $2 million from a 2023 settlement with the state and several financial services companies for failing to identify the abuses at the ranch.
Attorney Joshua Conaway, a partner at the firm with more than two decades of experience, said in a statement the subcommittee’s work “is both significant and sensitive, and we are committed to helping ensure that its efforts are conducted with integrity, diligence, and respect for all involved.”
A call to Conaway Wednesday was not immediately returned.
In February, NMDOJ announced it was reviving an investigation into Epstein and Zorro Ranch. Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas previously told Source NM his office was investigating Epstein until federal prosecutors in 2019 asked him to shelve the query. Earlier this month, NMDOJ investigators searched the sprawling 7,500-acre property that Epstein bought from former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King in the 1990s.
The commission is scheduled to make an interim report on the investigation to the House of Representatives by July 31, and a final report by the end of 2026.
Judge: New Mexico must halt universal childcare or contest ruling - by Esteban Candelaria, Searchlight New Mexico
A state judge on Tuesday ordered Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration to pause New Mexico’s free, universal childcare program or present an argument for why the initiative should not be permanently halted.
Second Judicial District Judge Elaine Lujan issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez and other members of the GOP, which seeks to invalidate several rules expanding free childcare to all New Mexico families, regardless of income.
Duke Rodriguez Rodriguez, who has argued the state jumped the gun by rolling out rules for the childcare assistance expansion before the Legislature approved funding for the initiative, celebrated the ruling Tuesday.
“Today’s order represents a victory for the New Mexico Constitution, for government transparency, and for the people of New Mexico,” he said in a statement.
Lujan Grisham slammed Rodriguez in a statement Tuesday evening on Facebook, calling him a “third-tier Republican candidate for governor — who lives in Arizona,” and describing his complaint as “frivolous” and a “despicable attempt to mislead New Mexico families and generate headlines for a campaign that is going nowhere.”
She said, “Universal child care is in effect and it is NOT being shut down, despite what this desperate candidate claims.”
The state has 30 days to contest the ruling and must appear for a court hearing June 11.
Lujan Grisham, New Mexico Early Childhood Cabinet Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky and State Records Administrator Rick Hendricks were all named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Included as plaintiffs are state Sen. Steve Lanier, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate who was disqualified from the June primary ballot, and Rio Rancho businessman Zachary Anaya, who is running for the GOP nomination for a state House seat.
Michael Coleman, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, noted in an email the judge rejected Rodriguez’s request for the universal childcare program to be halted outright, instead giving the state an opportunity to argue its case.
He wrote in an email the judge’s order is a “routine response that allows the state to respond before the court takes any action.”
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham celebrates with a crowd gathered to witness her sign universal child care into law in March 2026. Gabriela Campos/New Mexican file photo “Universal child care remains in effect and New Mexico families have no reason for concern,” Coleman wrote. “The New Mexico Legislature settled the legal question when it passed Senate Bill 241. The governor is confident the courts will agree and toss out this ‘controversy’ manufactured by a Republican political candidate.”
Lujan Grisham’s statement said, “New Mexicans should know this: A man who wants to lead this state made a calculated decision to scare working families — parents who depend on child care to hold down jobs, pay their bills, and build a future here — because he is losing and he knows it.”
Early Childhood Education and Care Department spokesperson Julia Sclafani echoed Coleman’s point that the judge’s ruling mainly gives the state a chance to fight Rodriguez’s lawsuit. The agency is actively working on a response, she noted, and is “confident the court will agree this case is without merit.”
“Universal Child Care is here to stay,” Sclafani wrote in an email. “... Families should rest assured that ECECD remains fully committed to protecting access to the services they need and rely on. The department will not waver in its mission to make quality child care accessible to families across New Mexico.”
Lujan Grisham announced plans to make the state’s childcare assistance program universally accessible in September 2025. The early childhood department proposed a number of new or amended rules shortly afterward. Among several changes, the agency dropped previous eligibility requirements for families and gave them “presumptive eligibility,” which makes it easier for applications for the benefit to be preapproved.
Lujan Grisham and lawmakers struck a deal, known as SB 241, during this year’s legislative session to draw up to $700 million for the program from the state’s now more than $11 billion Early Childhood Education and Care Fund over the coming five fiscal years.
Rodriguez’s lawsuit asks a judge to stop the state from enforcing rules directly related to expansion of eligibility to all New Mexico families, a section establishing families’ presumptive eligibility, language currently waiving copayments and other requirements.
The complaint argues the state moved forward with the new rules without legislative approval — specifically, funding for the initiative.
The lawsuit is the second challenge Rodriguez has filed against Lujan Grisham and her administration. The first, filed late last year, sought to invalidate the governor’s line-item vetoes on a spending bill passed during a special session in the fall. The New Mexico Supreme Court tossed that lawsuit.
Leah March, another spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, wrote in an email to The New Mexican earlier this month Rodriguez’s lawsuit related to the childcare expansion “demonstrates that Mr. Rodriguez misunderstands how state government works.”
Rodriguez shot back Tuesday, saying he does understand the process. He argued the way Lujan Grisham’s administration rolled out the childcare program demonstrates not that New Mexico is a poor state, but a “poorly managed state.”
“I filed this suit because New Mexicans deserve more from their government,” Rodriguez wrote. “With the court’s order in hand, the Governor can now do the right thing and start over, or she can continue to create chaos for families.”
Writ of MandamusDownload
This article first appeared on Searchlight New Mexico.
Future of Lindy’s Diner remains in limbo - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
The fate of the historic Bliss Building and anchor tenant Lindy’s Diner remained uncertain Tuesday after a portion of the building collapsed the day before.
The northeast exterior wall of Lindy’s Diner in Downtown Albuquerque fell Monday afternoon — days after the restaurant was ordered to close because of structural safety hazards — sending a flood of bricks and debris down with it.
Diner and building owner Steve Vatoseow said Tuesday that when he saw the diner’s walls collapse, it was like “watching a horror movie,” adding that his ultimate goal is to save the building.
“It was terrible, seeing your life collapse in front of you. We put our whole lives into that place, and we’re still in shock, to be honest,” Vatoseow said. “It’s a piece of Albuquerque history and it would be devastating to turn it into a parking lot or something.”
Vatoseow previously told the Journal that he knew the building would need work at some point. He estimated it would take a minimum of $100,000 to resolve the immediate issues that caused the city to deem the two-story building hazardous.
The city gave Vatoseow until May 4 to take corrective action, though by Monday it was already too late. It is up to city officials and structural engineers to assess the damage and determine the future of the property.
“The City of Albuquerque is reviewing reports from the Planning Department and will provide an update on the future of the site tomorrow morning,” said Mikayla Ortega, a spokesperson for the city.
Ortega urged the public to stay away from the area due to concerns about the building’s instability.
The building and bordering streets were lined with yellow caution tape Tuesday afternoon, and winds swept the remaining dust and debris into the air.
But the aftermath of the city’s determination won’t solely affect Lindy’s Diner.
Flamenco Works — a local nonprofit flamenco school that shares a wall with Lindy’s Diner — was closed Tuesday afternoon.
Directors Jesús and Amalyah Muñoz said they were out of town at a Utah dance competition when the collapse happened. They learned of the news from social media videos and were devastated when they came back to Albuquerque and saw the rubble near their building.
“Our kids rely on our classes, so we’re trying to find another place,” Amalyah Muñoz said. “We can’t afford to shut down and the kids depend on us.”
The two said they were hoping to find another location to temporarily house their classes — which run through May — along with a June summer camp that is expected to have at least 30 children in attendance.
505 Central Food Hall owner Mark Baker said his business faces economic uncertainty after some roads were closed for debris. Fifth Street between Gold and Copper was closed to traffic Tuesday.
“It’s made it more difficult for people to find their way to 505 Central Food Hall, so hopefully the reconstruction or demolition happens quickly and decisively and we don’t end up in this economic limbo for much longer,” Baker said.
Baker said he’s worried that indecisiveness from the city could prolong the situation, even as local curiosity-seekers visited the food hall to see the Lindy’s Diner scene at 500 Central SW.
Though Vatoseow was disheartened to see the building fall into shambles, he said the amount of love Lindy’s Diner has received from the public was heartwarming.
“That’s been the one bright spot,” he said. “Just to see what that place meant to a lot of people is really heartwarming, and it means a lot to us. It’s everyday people that came in and supported us, and those are the ones we’re going to miss the most if we can’t do something to bring it back.”
As passersby took photos and videos of the building Tuesday afternoon, a lone brick plummeted to the street, adding to the growing pile of wreckage that was contained by fencing placed by city officials.
NM audit finds ‘widespread’ mismanagement of Mora County’s wildfire recovery funds - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A new audit released Monday by the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor found that Mora County officials mishandled millions of dollars in state disaster loans and also repeatedly skirted competitive bidding requirements to award contracts in a community where, as one county employee described it to auditors, residents are “all pretty much related in one way or another.”
State Auditor Joseph Maestas told Source NM on Tuesday that the audit’s 21 findings represent the most “widespread” public trust abuses he’s seen in three and a half years in the office.
“There’s every type of violation under the procurement code here,” he said, “which is really troubling.”
The 100-page special audit’s central finding involves $3 million that the county earned in interest from $41.1 million the county received from Senate Bill 6, a 2023 bill intended to quickly award disaster funds through zero-interest loans to public entities struggling to recover after wildfires and floods in 2022.
Despite the Legislature’s aim to allocate funds quickly, Mora County has yet to spend any of the funds and county officials believed the $3 million in interest constituted “unrestricted” funds. As such, auditors couldn’t determine where the money had been spent and noted that the interest payments were commingled in the county’s general fund and often used for unspecified “operational expenses.”
The auditors concluded that the mismanagement of the $3 million in interest payments may make the state ineligible to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement for those funds.
Mora County Commission Chair George Trujillo told Source NM on Tuesday that he believed “most” of the $3 million went to disaster-related expenses, like clearing debris-clogged culverts or road repairs. He could not immediately recall Tuesday where any additional funding might have gone.
He also stressed that the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, one of several state agencies helping local governments with the loans, had told county officials that the county could use the interest payments for whatever it deemed fit.
“All I have to say is there’s no money missing, and we had permission to spend that [$3 million] that they’re crying about,” he said.
DHSEM officials did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment.
Potential conflicts in contracts
In addition to the interest payments, the auditor specified several instances of potential conflicts of interest or procurement code violations related to the county’s post-disaster spending.
County Sheriff Americk Padilla’s snow removal company received nearly $6,000 in an emergency contract in December 2023, for example. He did not properly file a required conflict-of-interest form with the county, and the contract violated state procurement requirements, according to the audit. Padilla did not immediately return Source NM’s request for comment Tuesday.
Commission Vice-Chair Johnny Trujillo, who worked for a gravel company that received county contracts specified in the audit, defended the potential conflicts in his statement to auditors. Mora, he said, “is a small town. Everyone is related in this town. And no one is giving any business based on relationships. Just recommendations.”
In one instance, Tina Cruz served as county attorney during a bidding process for the county’s hiring of outside counsel to represent it as it sought FEMA funding. Cruz also had a subcontract with firm Singleton Schreiber, the law firm that ultimately received the contract.
According to the audit, Cruz told commissioners that she did not have a conflict of interest as long as she did not bill the county for her work with Singleton Schreiber on behalf of the county’s FEMA claim. However, she did bill the county for 17 separate instances of work in September 2024 related to the wildfire, according to the audit.
Auditors could not determine how much Cruz received in “overbilling,” and they did not interview her as part of their audit.
Cruz, in a statement Tuesday to Source NM, denied that she ever “double billed” the county. She said she ultimately opted out of becoming a Singleton Schreiber subcontractor because of the “logistics” of working for both the firm and the county. As a result, she said she never received payment from Singleton Schreiber and billed the county only “nominally” for her work on its behalf.
Her statement did not specify how much money she asked for from the county for her work.
“All other work, which was a significant investment of time and effort on my part, went unbilled,” she said. “I opted to provide the support to the County pro bono to better assist Singleton Schreiber with the aim of helping my client recover from the devastating wildfire.”
In another contract auditors criticized, Cordova Contracting and Development LLC, an Albuquerque-based general contractor, received an “emergency” county contract in April 2024 for clearing plugged culverts.
Because the base contract was for only $60,000, county officials were not required to issue a request for multiple competitive bids. The contract Cordova received did not specify the contract duration or how county officials arrived at the $60,000 figure, according to the audit.
The company ultimately received more than $100,000 in compensation from the county, nearly twice as much as the contract specified, even though auditors could find no supporting documentation showing which culverts Cordova cleared over an 11-day period.
Company founder Mark Cordova told Source NM on Tuesday that he had not seen the audit, but he said the company cleared “quite a bit of” culverts under the contract. He referred additional comment to his wife and fellow owner Shari, who did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment.
FEMA reimbursements jeopardized
The audit outlined other instances in which the Mora County Commission used “emergency” contracts inappropriately and noted the county will likely not receive FEMA reimbursement as a result.
The state procurement code has specific requirements for emergency contracts, including that they can only be issued in instances where an imminent threat exists to “public health, welfare or safety” due to floods, fires, riots, acts of terrorism or other disasters. And public entities are required to solicit competitive bids if possible even during those periods.
Trujillo told Source NM that the county was dealing with “emergency after emergency,” including repeated rounds of flooding each year since the 2022 wildfire, and that the three-member county commission did its best in trying to respond.
“To me, it’s a learning lesson,” he said of the audit’s findings. “We got to do things right in the procurement thing. But, you know, we’ve been under an emergency since 2022.”
Maestas told Source NM on Tuesday that the auditor’s office is continuing to monitor Mora County and that it has made referrals to other state agencies for additional investigations based on the findings. He also said the New Mexico Department of Justice may be interested.
“We found no potential criminal behavior, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist,” he said.
He also said the audit underscores the need for additional oversight of small local governments, especially those that receive windfalls of state funds.
“The state really needs to think about any entity that they want to appropriate money to, that they’re capable of effectively managing it,” he said. “I think troubled governments really, really require adequate oversight. … And a statewide inspector general could possibly provide that kind of oversight.”
Two inmates die at MDC in 48-hour span - Nakayla McClelland & Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
Two men died behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in separate incidents over a two-day span.
Candace Hopkins, an MDC spokesperson, said a man in his 30s died Tuesday but gave no other details.
“More information will be released as soon as it is available, and the next of kin notification has been completed,” she said.
On Monday, an 18-year-old died at the facility, one month after he was booked.
A corrections officer found Derrick Benavidez around 4:49 a.m. in “medical distress,” Daniel Trujillo, another MDC spokesperson, said in a Tuesday news release.
MDC staff and the University of New Mexico Hospital medical team arrived and administered life-saving measures.
“Despite these efforts, Mr. Benavidez was pronounced deceased at 5:34 a.m. by UNM Hospital staff,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo said the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator will determine the cause of death. No additional details were given.
Benavidez and the man in his 30s were the sixth and seventh MDC inmates to die in 2026. The fifth was Andrew Witt, 45, who died inside a halfway house in early April “while serving his sentence on the Community Custody Program (CCP),” Trujillo said.
Benavidez was booked into MDC on March 15 after being charged with breaking and entering, possession of drug paraphernalia and concealing his identity.
He was on probation at the time and — although he was released on his own recognizance on the new charges — Benavidez was ordered on April 8 to serve “at least” 45 days in jail for violating probation, according to court records.
Legislative report finds 32,000 young New Mexicans not working, attending school - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
About 32,000 New Mexicans between the ages of 16 and 24 don’t work or go to school, according to a new Legislative Finance Committee report, which found these young people are more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system, make less money in their careers and experience worse health outcomes than their peers.
The report released Monday, “Reconnecting Disconnected Youth,” found that young people who don’t work or go to school cost New Mexico taxpayers approximately $623 million annually, primarily through lost tax revenue. By the time they reach their 30s, adults who didn’t go to school or work in their teens and early 20s typically earn $38,4000 less per year, are 45% less likely to own a house and are 42% less likely to be employed, the report found.
More than half of these “disconnected youth” reside in Bernalillo, Doña Ana, San Juan and McKinley counties, according to the report. Surveyed youth listed housing instability, a lack of skills or training, health conditions and disabilities, low wages and obligations to care for family members as the top five reasons why they were not actively seeking employment.
Connecting just 10% of these young people to an education or a job would bring New Mexico in line with the national average, LFC program evaluator Josh Chaffin told lawmakers at a Monday presentation.
“These 32,000 young people represent a meaningful share of the state’s workforce gap,” he said.
The report gave lawmakers recommendations to reach a goal of connecting 10% of these affected young people over the course of three years. It recommended that lawmakers require the state Public Education Department to create a program to refer students who drop out to support programs; have the state Workforce Solutions Department create target goals for enrolling out-of-school youth in programs; and track employment, education and earnings outcomes among young people in support programs.
The report also recommended that the governor’s office create a cross-agency body tasked with tracking outcomes for disconnected youth who go through these programs.
Some lawmakers said the report could be “overcomplicating” the issue of keeping kids in school.
“Give the kid a reason to come to school,” state Rep. Brian Baca (R-Los Lunas) said at the hearing. “Many kids are disconnected because they have not had a win in school for years…if you’re an artist, let’s fund these arts programs.”
Yazzie/Martinez plaintiffs ask to rewrite New Mexico education reform plan themselves - By Bella Davis, New Mexico In Depth
Fed up with the state's repeated failures to fix an education system that a court found in 2018 was failing most of New Mexico's students, plaintiffs in the landmark Yazzie/Martinez case are asking a judge to allow them to rewrite the Public Education Department's reform plan.
In a joint motion last week, plaintiffs outlined their vision for a potentially eight-month process for the revision.
The request comes after they and several tribes earlier this year asked the court to reject PED's plan, itself court-ordered.
"As it stands, we do not have an actual plan to transform education in New Mexico," Alisa Diehl, an attorney who is part of the Yazzie legal team, said in an interview. "This is really what we believe would be the most robust process to end up with a plan that has the level of detail that it really must have in order to make a difference."
It's been over a decade since parents and school districts sued New Mexico for failing to provide a sufficient education — a right guaranteed by the state constitution — to Native American students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and English language learners. A state judge agreed in 2018, but PED never finalized a plan to respond to the ruling.
Plaintiffs went back to court in 2024, arguing PED was continuing to violate students' rights. Last spring, First Judicial District Court Judge Matthew Wilson ruled the agency had failed to comply with previous rulings and ordered it to develop a "comprehensive remedial action plan."
After a series of public meetings and a statewide survey, PED delivered a 190-page plan in November.
Plaintiffs say the document "provides no credible basis to conclude" New Mexico "will ever remedy the constitutional violations or extensive deficiencies" identified eight years ago. It doesn't adequately tailor programs to each of the four student groups identified in the case as at risk, they argue, and doesn't provide cost estimates for actions it does propose.
Defending its plan last month, PED argued the court didn't direct it to include every detail of every program, which would make the plan "unworkably lengthy." The department will evaluate programs as they're introduced, it argued, and it needs to be able to make adjustments.
Plaintiffs maintain the plan "relies on generalities, postpones critical decisions, and omits enforceable commitments."
They want to rewrite it in collaboration with experts, with PED providing up to $200,000 to pay those experts for their work. Plaintiffs also want the court to require PED to estimate what it would cost to carry out the revised plan and share the analysis with them for their comment before being submitted to the court. Diehl said cost estimates, which the state's plan doesn't include, are crucial for ensuring the plan can be implemented.
A PED spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from New Mexico In Depth.
The rewritten plan would include "specific actions required to remedy each constitutional violation"; identification of which entities, like school districts and the Legislature, are responsible for each action; a five-to-seven-year implementation timeline; and evaluation metrics.
Plaintiffs would rely in part on feedback PED gathered from communities around the state last year. It's possible more public meetings would be held while they were revising the plan, according to Diehl.
Within four months, the plan would be shared with tribes, the Legislative Education Study Committee, and others for feedback. Plaintiffs would incorporate that input within two months and submit the plan to PED for review. Within another two months, plaintiffs and the department would meet to make changes and present any disputed items to the court.
Plaintiffs anticipate they'll have a chance to go before Wilson and argue for that process likely in the next two to three months, Diehl said.
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This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.