TUES: New Mexico Senate Democratic floor leader Peter Wirth says he won't seek reelection in 2028, + More
By KUNM News
June 16, 2026 at 8:41 AM MDT
New Mexico Senate Democratic floor leader Peter Wirth says he won't seek reelection in 2028
—Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico Senate Democratic floor leader Peter Wirth generated political shock waves Tuesday by announcing he will not seek reelection in 2028.
The Santa Fe Democrat, who has served in the Legislature since 2004, also said he would relinquish his leadership post before the start of next year’s 60-day legislative session but would still serve out the remainder of his term.
The decision means New Mexico will have a new governor and a new Senate Democratic floor leader come January — in addition to other possible leadership shakeups.
Wirth, whose home was the target of a bomb threat last year that prompted the closure of nearby roads, is currently tied as the Senate’s fourth-longest tenured member. He said his decision was prompted by a desire to allow for new leaders to step up.
“Part of being a leader is knowing when it’s time to pass the baton,” Wirth told the Journal.
A professional mediator known at the Roundhouse for his even-keeled demeanor, Wirth has served as Senate Democratic floor leader since November 2016. He succeeded former Sen. Michael Sanchez of Belen, who was defeated in that year’s general election.
As majority leader, Wirth played a key role in ensuring many of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s top-priority bills reached the Senate floor. He also took the lead in recent years on bills dealing with water rights and limiting data sharing from automatic license plate readers, among other topics.
“I’m super proud of what we were able to accomplish, especially in the last two years,” said Wirth, who also cited an overhaul of the state’s Public Regulation Commission as among his top accomplishments.
But Wirth and other Senate Democrats also broke ranks with the governor on occasion, including during a July 2024 special session that ended with lawmakers largely rejecting Lujan Grisham’s public safety-focused agenda.
Senate Minority Leader William Sharer, R-Farmington, lauded Wirth’s leadership after his Tuesday announcement, saying Wirth had treated minority Republicans with respect.
“What we demonstrated together is that you can fight hard for what you believe in, disagree openly and honestly, and still find a way to move the state forward,” Sharer said in a statement. “That is what the people of New Mexico sent us here to do, and I am proud of the way we did it.”
Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, who’s also leaving office at the end of this year, said in an interview Wirth sought to maintain a high level of decorum and civility in the Senate during his time as Democratic floor leader.
“He demonstrated exactly what public service should be about,” said Morales, who also praised Wirth’s calm presence and keen sense of strategy.
Democrats have held a majority in the New Mexico Senate since 1988, and currently outnumber Republicans in the chamber by a 26-16 margin.
However, the Senate Democratic caucus has undergone a facelift over the last several election cycles, as several moderate Democrats were ousted by more progressive challengers in the 2020 primary election.
Wirth avoided such political challenges since winning election to the Senate in 2008 — he previously served four-plus years in the House — as his Santa Fe-based district was the state’s most Democratic-leaning as of the last round of redistricting in 2021.
He also largely avoided controversy during his time in the Legislature, though Wirth faced political pressure last year for resisting a push to include the passage of interstate medical compacts on the agenda of an October 2025 special session.
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, prepares to present a bill on behavioral health on the Senate floor in this February 2025 file photo. Wirth announced Tuesday he plans to relinquish his leadership post at the end of this year and will not run for reelection in 2026.
Eddie Moore/Journal
Lawmakers ultimately approved compacts for physicians and social workers during this year’s 30-day session, but proposals for other medical professions stalled in the Senate.
Senate Democrats are expected to vote on a new leadership team for the next two years during a closed-door caucus meeting later this year.
Wirth said he plans to provide assistance to whoever is selected as his successor, but also said he plans to get to work on bills dealing with energy and environmental issues over the next two-plus years.
“I don’t plan on sitting in the back row and doing nothing,” said Wirth.
City Council votes down gross receipts tax increase (again)
—Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
For the second time in four months, a proposal to raise gross receipts taxes failed to advance at the Albuquerque City Council.
The proposed 0.4875% increase, dubbed the Community Enhancement and Local Investment Tax, would have generated about $113 million annually. The revenue would have been split between community projects — divided equally among council districts — and city operations, including cost-of-living increases.
Councilors voted down the proposal 5-4, preventing it from going before voters in November.
Councilors Dan Champine, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Renée Grout, Dan Lewis and Stephanie Telles voted against the measure. Councilors Brook Bassan, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers and Joaquín Baca voted in favor.
Sponsored by Bassan and Peña, the ordinance would have raised Albuquerque’s gross receipts tax rate from 7.625% to 8.1%. A similar proposal failed in March. That measure was sponsored by Baca and Bassan, who ultimately voted against it.
Gross receipts taxes are paid by businesses and passed on to consumers. The tax makes up a significant share of the city’s operating budget and general fund. In 2025, 40% of the city’s revenue came from gross receipts taxes.
Among New Mexico’s five most populous cities and towns, Albuquerque has the second-lowest gross receipts tax rate at 7.625%. Neighboring Rio Rancho’s rate is 0.1875 percentage points lower. New Mexico is one of a minority of states that levy a gross receipts tax.
Under the proposal, half of the new revenue would have gone toward general municipal operations, maintenance and cost-of-living increases. The remaining 50% would have funded community enhancement projects, with the money divided among the city’s nine council districts and the Mayor’s Office.
Most public commenters during Monday’s meeting opposed the proposal, citing concerns that higher taxes would increase costs for consumers already struggling with inflation, particularly low-income residents and those on fixed incomes.
“It’s already been defeated once, we don’t want it on the ballot,” resident Dennis Curtis said. He added that the city should “budget responsibly and lower taxes so we can make Albuquerque more prosperous.”
Several opponents pointed to the North Domingo Baca Park Aquatics Center as an example of a project that would benefit from the tax increase despite its costs rising substantially since it was approved.
Bassan, who championed the project, pushed back on that criticism.
“The proposal splits 50% of the revenues from the GRT increase 10 ways,” she said, “not just for one district or one project.”
Bassan also said the aquatics center was not “a mismanaged project” and argued that much of the increase in costs resulted from inflation between the project’s approval and construction.
Lewis said he would vote against the tax increase because of the views of his constituents.
“I have constituents that have elected me four times and they know how strongly I feel,” he said. “They feel strongly about decisions like this and I feel like I owe it to them … the people in this city who want to see the cost of living in the city go down.”
Grout said she was conflicted about the proposal and questioned whether there were other ways to increase city revenue. She said the current budget “should be enough to run the city.”
“We need to live within our means … with the budget we are given. I have to do that at home,” Grout said.
She also cited rising costs for residents, including property taxes, solid waste fees and vehicle registration costs.
“It’s not fair to continually ask people for more and more,” she said. “I don’t think this is the right time.”
Peña called it “courageous” for Bassan to bring the proposal back and said it had “nothing to do with the pool.” She questioned why residents should not invest more in city services and employees.
“The citizens are the employers of our employees and I think it’s time we help our own employees have a better quality of life themselves,” Peña said.
She added that the proposal could fund significant projects in District 3, which she said has received less attention and economic opportunity than other parts of the city.
“As a city we are struggling. I think we need to grow and if we do nothing, we have the same thing,” she said. “If we try to do something different, and build 10, 15 amazing projects in each of our districts, I think that really changes the trajectory for our city.”
New Mexico’s Epstein ‘truth commission’ publishes subpoenas, with more on the way
—Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico commission investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s time in the state made its first batch of subpoenas public late last week, and is scheduled to hold a public meeting at noon on Thursday at which commissioners are expected to announce more subpoenas.
An update on the subpoenas — all of which list a June 30 deadline for compliance — and survivor testimony are on the meeting’s tentative agenda. A news release Tuesday said new subpoenas would be announced as well.
The House investigatory subcommittee commonly known as the Epstein “truth commission” at a meeting earlier this month announced it was issuing 14 subpoenas, mostly to state and federal government agencies, seeking information and documentation about Epstein’s connections. On Friday, the commission posted the first six subpoenas on its website, NMTruthCommission.com.
In those six subpoenas — which were sent to the New Mexico Department of Justice, State Land Office, Department of Public Safety, the Office of the Governor, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Fe Institute — the commission seeks financial documents, real estate records and correspondence to help paint a fuller picture of the late sex offender’s activities in New Mexico.
The commission posts the full subpoenas online here as they’re issued.
New Mexico Department of JusticeThe commission’s subpoena to the New Mexico Department of Justice seeks investigation files, such as notes and witness interviews related to Epstein; personnel records for NMDOJ employees involved in Epstein investigations; files sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; internal memoranda relating to Epstein investigations and more.
In a statement, NMDOJ Chief of Staff Lauren Rodriguez said the department received the subpoena and is reviewing it.
“We intend to comply with all lawful requests and are assessing the subpoena’s provisions to determine how we can best support the truth commission’s important mission,” she wrote.
New Mexico State Land OfficeThe subpoena to the State Land Office seeks real estate records related to Epstein and Zorro Ranch; records of inspections, audits and site visits; financial transactions between Epstein-related entities and the State Land Office and more.
A spokesperson for the State Land Office in an email to Source NM said the office has received the subpoena and intends to “fully comply.”
New Mexico Department of Public SafetyThe subpoena to the state’s public safety department seeks documents related to former Gov. Bill Richardson and Epstein from 2003 to 2011, including records that contain details about Richardson’s travels to properties owned by Epstein.
John Heil, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Safety, in an email to Source said the department has “not yet been served the subpoena. We would comply to the extent we can under the law.”
Governor’s officeThe subpoena to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office seeks much of the same documentation requested of the state Department of Public Safety.
Leah March, Lujan Grisham’s deputy communications director, told Source NM that the governor’s office did not have any responsive records as prior governors’ records are held in the New Mexico State Archives. March noted that Lujan Grisham “strongly” supports the commission and abuse survivors.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s OfficeThe Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office subpoena focuses largely on police reports and calls for service to Zorro Ranch, including statements from witnesses, victims and suspects. It also requests video footage from body-cameras and dashcams.
Shawna Graves, a county communications coordinator, in a statement said the county sheriff’s office received the subpoena and is working with county attorneys to gather the responsive records.
“The Board of County Commissioners has expressed its support for the work of the Truth Commission through Resolution No. 2026-063,” she wrote. “The resolution affirms the county’s commitment to cooperating fully with the Truth Commission, including providing timely responses to lawful requests for records, documents, reports, and other information within the county’s custody or control.”
Santa Fe InstituteThe subpoena to the Santa Fe Institute, so far the only non-governmental entity to be subpoenaed, seeks financial records such as donations and contributions that Epstein or any Epstein-affiliated entities made to the organization. It also requests documentation of how the Santa Fe Institute used those funds and correspondence between Santa Fe Institute officials and Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell.
David Krakauer, Santa Fe Institute president and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems, in an email to Source NM said the organization is complying with the subpoena.
3.9 earthquake jolts Valencia County
—Aubrie Moore, Albuquerque Journal
It wasn't your dog or your coffee shaking Sunday morning.
A series of light earthquakes rattled Valencia County, with the strongest reaching magnitude 3.9, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The cluster continues a long-observed pattern of seismic activity tied to the Socorro magma body about 1 hour south/southwest of Albuquerque.
The activity began with a magnitude 3.7 earthquake near Abeytas. Minutes later, a slightly stronger magnitude 3.9 quake near Las Nutrias had residents across the county checking their walls, pets and sanity around 11:45 a.m.
Two smaller quakes, measuring magnitudes 2.7 and 2.9, followed later in the afternoon west of the earlier epicenters.
Dr. Mairi Litherland of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology said the pattern is familiar for the region.
"This sort of cluster of earthquakes is pretty typical of what we see associated with the Socorro magma body," Litherland said.
About 12 miles beneath the surface, a slowly expanding magma body puts stress on the crust, triggering small earthquakes, she said.
"This whole area around Socorro is the most seismically active part of New Mexico," Litherland said. "This isn't something new. We've seen swarms like this going back decades."
While the swarm could taper off or continue, Litherland said nothing suggests an unusual or escalating threat.
"There's a possibility there could be larger events, but there's no reason to think anything outside the typical is likely."
Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp said no injuries or damage were reported, though many residents felt the shaking and took to the fire department's Facebook page to compare notes.
"I felt it here in Los Lunas! I was lying in bed watching TV and felt the bed and floor move. I thought it was all in my head!" Vanessa Gutierrez commented.
"It shook me here in Belen," added Wilma Ulibarri. "As I was walking, I felt my legs shake. It knocked my balance off, and it took me a few seconds to regain it."
Hayley Griggs wrote on the News-Bulletin's Facebook page that she was startled by the quake.
"I was in the bathroom, and I thought someone finally hit the side of my house in Veguita off N.M. 304. I was relieved it was an earthquake lol," she wrote.
One commenter, Jamie Hatchett, joked about oilfield activity, though Litherland clarified that, unlike in other parts of the state, Valencia County's earthquakes are natural and not tied to drilling.
Litherland noted that while oil- and gas-producing regions in New Mexico have experienced an increase in human-induced earthquakes, the Socorro area has a long, well-documented history of natural seismic activity.
"We do see faults slipping and earthquakes," Litherland said. "But the magma body is deep, so we haven't seen magma coming to the surface. Mostly, we just see it in these earthquakes."
Litherland encouraged residents to practice basic earthquake safety.
"If they feel an earthquake, they should drop, cover and hold on," she said. "They can report the earthquake they felt through the USGS 'Did You Feel It?' website."
Largest wind project in the US comes online in New Mexico
—Keelin Fisher, Albuquerque Journal
The largest wind project in the nation came online in New Mexico this month, doubling local wind-generating capacity and sending power to homes in western states.
The SunZia Wind Project is more than three times the size of the next two largest wind farms, Alta Wind Energy Center in California and Great Prairie Wind Farm in Texas, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Friday.
SunZia, developed by California-based Pattern Energy Group, features more than 900 turbines and generates 3,650 megawatts of power, which will supply about 1 million homes.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., praised the project’s completion on Monday, saying it has been a priority of his since entering office in 2013.
“Through a whole series of obstacles spanning over a decade and a half, we kept working to move it forward because we knew what it could mean for America’s energy future and New Mexico’s role in leading it,” Heinrich said in a statement to the Journal.
June marks the beginning of the project’s commercial operations after nearly two decades of permitting and planning. Pattern started constructing the $11 billion project in 2023, and some wind turbines were producing power around April 2026 during a testing phase.
In New Mexico, wind makes up 45% of the total power capacity mix with the addition of the project, according to the EIA. The remaining installed generating capacity is primarily split between solar at roughly 19% and natural gas, which also accounts for about 19%.
The power generated by the SunZia project spans three counties, including San Miguel County with nearly 250 turbines and Lincoln and Torrance counties with almost 700. The power generated by those turbines will reach central Arizona and Southern California through a 550-mile transmission line, about 350 miles of which crosses through central and western New Mexico.
Lynn Mostoller, executive director of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, a public body created by the state Legislature that worked with Pattern on the SunZia project, called the beginning of commercial operations a “tremendous milestone.”
“Our renewable wind resource is getting exported to the West and helping western states reach their renewable portfolio goals,” Mostoller said.
The SunZia project’s commercial launch also comes at a critical time for renewable energy developers, who have faced waning federal tax incentives and permitting delays. Last month, The Associated Press, citing the American Clean Power Association, reported that the Pentagon has stalled the development of more than 250 onshore wind farms on private lands because it failed to complete national security reviews.
But SunZia’s developer has pointed to the project’s economic benefits, including the creation of more than 2,000 jobs at peak construction and more than 100 long-term operational jobs. The company also said the project will have a $20 billion economic impact on New Mexico and Arizona, of which $1.3 billion will go toward direct payments to local schools, governments and private landowners.
Heinrich used the moment to call for permitting reform, noting that SunZia took 18 years from planning to operation.
“If we want more projects like SunZia that lower costs, strengthen our energy security and create good-paying jobs people can build their families around, we need a permitting system that gets to yes — or no — faster while maintaining strong environmental standards and meaningful community engagement,” he said.
New study finds New Mexico underestimates, fails to investigate federal food assistance fraud
—Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico legislative analysts tasked with assessing fraud among state recipients of federal food assistance reported Tuesday that the state’s low fraud rate may be misleading and stems from a failure to collect data and investigate fraud allegations.
The Legislative Finance Committee’s 78-page report, six months in the making, resulted from a $50,000 appropriation Republican state legislators secured in November. At the time, the Legislature had just agreed to allocate up to $162.5 million in state funding to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid a federal government shutdown.
New Mexico has the nation’s highest SNAP reliance rate — 21.5% — of any state in the country and typically oversees more than $90 million a month in federal SNAP benefits that go to more than 445,000 New Mexicans, or roughly one in five.
The Legislative Finance Committee’s report, which analysts presented to lawmakers on Tuesday during an interim Legislative Committee meeting in Ruidoso, found that New Mexico’s fraud rate was .04%, far less than the national average of between 1% and 2%.
But analysts stressed that figure underestimates the state’s actual fraud rates and buttressed their assertion by providing examples of “high-risk” SNAP transactions they said the New Mexico Health Care Authority, including its inspector general’s office, should have caught.
“The HCA Office of the Inspector General is under-investigating and under-identifying potential SNAP fraud,” LFC analyst Clayton Lobaugh told lawmakers.
The transactions the LFC flagged include an estimated $85 million annually that New Mexico SNAP recipients spend in other states. While recipients can spend SNAP dollars wherever they like, repeated out-of-state SNAP spending likely means recipients are violating the state’s requirements that recipients live in New Mexico.
The LFC review also found two smoke shops in the state that each collected more than $400,000 in SNAP payments in 2025 — suspiciously high amounts for businesses that don’t primarily sell food. The LFC did not name the smoke shops but included photos of them, including one with a large sign announcing that it accepted SNAP debit cards.
The federal USDA authorizes SNAP retailers, though analysts said the state could have flagged the smoke shops to the USDA.
In addition to those specific cases, the report also looked closely at how the HCA’s Office of the Inspector General handled fraud allegations it received through a state telephone and email tipline.
Between fiscal years 2018 and 2023, the office received 9,953 tips but completed only 312 investigations, according to the report, which amounts to roughly 3%.
The HCA also disqualifies the smallest percentage of SNAP recipients after findings of potential fraud than any other state in the country, according to the report.
For instance, in fiscal year 2023, only 18 SNAP recipients were disqualified, amounting to 0.004% of the state’s SNAP recipients.
That same year, the national average disqualification rate was 0.1% — a rate 250 times higher than New Mexico’s.
HCA Secretary Kari Armijo told lawmakers that she largely agreed with the LFC report’s findings, including that the inspector general’s lack of fraud investigations “is an area that the agency needs to do better on.”
But she said the inspector general’s office often doesn’t investigate cases that allege small amounts of fraud, based partially on local prosecutors’ unwillingness to bring criminal charges unless large amounts of money are stolen. And investigating fraud takes a long time, which also means the agency might be trying to only go after major cases.
“We have an investigation backlog right now,” she told lawmakers. “Investigations don’t get cleared quickly. They take a lot of time.”
Republicans in both chambers of the Legislature said the report shows New Mexico’s food system “is broken” and accused the HCA of willfully enabling fraud.
A system that rarely verifies, seldom audits, and barely investigates fraud is a system designed to fail,” House Republicans said in a statement Tuesday morning.
But LFC Chair Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces) noted during Tuesday’s hearing that the median income of SNAP households is roughly $30,000, less than half the $77,000 median salary statewide. SNAP fraud that comprises a fraction of overall spending should not be used as reason to restrict eligibility, he said.
“These are households — without this help — their ability to sort of go and make it through a day, much less a week, much less a month, much less a year, is very, very challenging,” he said, “particularly as we see elevated fuel costs, which are going to translate into elevated food costs, because of the war on Iran.”
Five candidates vying for New Mexico GOP leadership post — including former party chairwoman
—Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Republican Party wasn’t planning on having to pick a new leader less than five months out from this year’s general election.
But after a state judge ordered former GOP chairwoman Amy Barela to step down from her post last month, Republican Party insiders from around the state will gather in Las Cruces on Saturday to pick a replacement.
The meeting was called by the state party’s 1st Vice Chair Mike Nelson, following the state Supreme Court’s recent decision to deny an appeal of District Court Judge Cindy Mercer’s order. The lawsuit that prompted the judge’s ruling hinged on claims top state GOP officials violated party rules intended to ensure neutrality in contested primary races.
In a twist, Barela herself is among the five candidates running for the state GOP chairmanship, after losing her primary election for the Otero County Commission seat she was elected to in 2022.
The four other candidates running include Albuquerque attorney Robert Aragon, who filed a separate lawsuit seeking Barela’s ouster, and KKOB radio talk show host Brandon Vogt.
Vogt said he felt compelled to run for GOP chairman after Republicans initially failed to field a candidate this year to run against incumbent U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján. After the lone GOP candidate who filed to run for the seat was disqualified, Larry Marker of Roswell ran as a write-in candidate in this month’s primary election and received enough votes to secure his spot on the November ballot.
“This is an ineffective party at this point,” Vogt said in a Monday interview, while adding he would seek to unify the state Republican Party and support GOP candidates on the ballot this fall.
Meanwhile, the two other candidates vying to be the next GOP chair are Zac Anaya of Rio Rancho, who unsuccessfully challenged state Rep. Joshua Hernandez in this month’s primary election, and John Brenna, who is currently the GOP chairman in Valencia County.
Brenna, a former law enforcement officer, said he’s in talks with Aragon about a possible alliance so the two candidates don’t split votes from one another.
He also said he would push for party rule changes if elected, and would also seek to elevate the role of county parties.
“We have enough Republicans to win this election — we just have to get them off the couch,” Brenna told the Journal, referring to this fall’s election in which all statewide offices will be on the ballot.
As for Anaya, he said Monday he has decided to support either Aragon or Brenna’s candidacy — and withdraw his own candidacy — if the other two candidates can reach a deal.
Whoever wins this weekend’s race could have a short stint as party chair, since New Mexico Republicans will meet again in December — just after the general election — to vote on party leadership for the next two years.
New Mexico state aging department reports 18,000 elder abuse reports this year so far
—Source New Mexico staff
The New Mexico state Aging and Long-Term Services Department on June 16, 2026, reported that its Adult Protective Services division has received 18,000 reports of elder abuse so far this year. (Photo courtesy NM Aging Services)
The New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department on Tuesday reported that its Adult Protective Services division has received 18,000 reports of elder abuse so far this year.
“As New Mexico’s older population continues to grow, it is more important than ever that we look out for one another and recognize when someone may need help,” Aging Secretary Emily Kaltenbach said in a statement. “By learning the signs and speaking up when something feels wrong, we can help protect those who may be vulnerable.”
According to previous data shared by the agency, New Mexicans aged 65 and older are expected to have the largest growth of any age group, increasing by more than 80,000 between 2020 and 2040.
According to a news release from the agency, the National Council on Aging says approximately one in 10 Americans age 60 and older may have experienced some form of elder abuse, which can range from physical and emotional abuse to financial exploitation and scams.
June marks Elder Abuse Awareness Month, and Corey Roybal, director of ALTSD’s Adult Protective Services, said in a statement elder abuse prevention begins through “awareness and connection” such as checking in on a neighbor, “noticing unusual behavior, or asking questions when something doesn’t seem right can make a meaningful difference in someone’s well-being.”
Some signs of potential problems can include unexplained injuries, changes in behavior and lack of access to basic needs, such as medical care.
Firm behind New Mexico Medicaid campaign recruits influencers to promote Project Jupiter data center – Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The marketing agency behind New Mexico’s award-winning Medicaid re-enrollment social media campaign is recruiting influencers to promote Project Jupiter, the controversial artificial intelligence data center under construction in Doña Ana County.
New Mexico social media personalities posted over the weekend that they had received emails from a California-based firm called Xomad, which advertises “services that help brands, governments and media agency partners engineer virality.” In a recent email to New Mexico content creators, it offered a “PAID social media opportunity for creators in NM who want to see their community thrive.”
It said creators would promote a development that would create 4,000 construction jobs and “up to” 1,500 long-term jobs, in addition to $600 million in tax revenue and hundreds of millions of dollars to support water systems, infrastructure and schools.
While the email did not call out Project Jupiter by name, one creator who received the offer told Source NM she recognized those as the talking points from an anonymous mailer campaign that asked New Mexicans to support the data center’s air quality permit applications. The New Mexico State Ethics Commission later sued the group behind those mailers for allegedly violating the state Lobbyist Regulation Act.
“Because I’ve gotten those mailers, I recognized the talking points,” Adrian Martin, an Albuquerque resident who recently made a sarcastic Instagram post opposing the project, told Source NM. “I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I know who you are.’”
She is one of several influencers Source NM interviewed who turned down the gig.
Indeed, a Powerpoint presentation prepared for influencers reviewed by Source NM confirms the campaign is for Project Jupiter.
“When our communities grow, we all grow, and right now, New Mexico has the opportunity for a generation investment for all of us. Project Jupiter is committed to the community,” the presentation says. “It will bring thousands of local jobs and $360 million in investments for schools, infrastructure, and workforce development, all while protecting public resources like energy and water.”
The presentation directs creators to submit social media content for review as part of the paid partnership, which it says is scheduled to run from June 17 through the end of the month. The public comment on Project Jupiter’s pending air quality permit application was recently extended from July 1 to July 6.
The partnership has three goals, according to the slide deck: Discuss the “positive benefits of Project Jupiter,” “build trust” by saying the project’s fuel and water systems won’t impact the surrounding community and “help increase positive comments” on Project Jupiter’s website.
While AI “tech changes may cause concern for New Mexico residents, Project Jupiter is a generational investment in New Mexico, its economy, its infrastructure and local communities that we’re deeply proud of,” the slideshow says. “For this social media project, we are partnering with you and other local trusted messengers to share transparent and accurate information about the new data center in New Mexico called Project Jupiter.
Through your content, we want you to help us break down what is happening, and the positives surrounding it.”
The push for positive messaging about the project comes as a long-awaited town hall meeting on the development quietly transitioned from a county-run meeting to an “open house and career fair” sponsored by its developers and tenants, including OpenAI and Oracle.
Rebekah Apodaca, an Albuquerque resident who said she has mostly stopped doing social media influencing, said she was surprised to receive the pitch at all, but was initially inclined to hear out a paid opportunity.
“There’s always a form you fill out with your handle, your following. Everything seemed standard, until I got to one question where it mentioned a data center, and I’m like, ‘What in the world?’” she told Source NM. “I don’t like deception…they’re trying to sway public opinion by deceiving influencers into promoting jobs and economic growth.”
Neither Xomad nor any of the companies affiliated with Project Jupiter responded to Source NM’s requests for comment Monday. In an email, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Health Care Authority told Source NM that the agency hired Xomad during its “Renew NM” Medicaid campaign but had no knowledge of the company’s efforts regarding Project Jupiter.
Becky Wood, whose Instagram account ABQ Adventures has nearly 40,000 followers, posted over the weekend that she had turned down “a big chunk of $$$ to promote Project Jupiter, the giant AI data center being built down south that will skyrocket NM’s emissions and suck up precious groundwater from an already drought-stricken desert.”
“If you see your favorite NM create posting about Project Jupiter in the coming weeks, know they sold out,” she wrote. “I know it’s hard to turn down work in this economy — but we can’t drink data!”
In an interview Monday, Wood told Source NM that she’s opposed to large AI projects because she’s seen AI search results “cannibalize” the work she’s done on her travel blog without giving her any traffic or pay.
“I’m opposed to AI at scale in general. I think it’s being force-fed to us as something that most people aren’t asking for,” she said, adding that she also has major environmental concerns. “I look out my door and I see the Rio Grande completely dry in Albuquerque in June. It’s just going to get worse and worse and worse.”
Conservation groups sue feds over killing predators in wilderness areas—Algernon d’Amassa, Albuquerque Journal
On its website, the U.S. Forest Service says of wilderness areas, “These are special places where nature still calls the shots.”
But a new federal lawsuit alleges that when it comes to predators on protected public lands, the government is deferring more to ranchers than Mother Nature.
Conservation groups are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management over the killing of predator animals by federal employees in designated wilderness areas, arguing the practice violates a law preserving “untrammeled” natural places.
WildEarth Guardians joined the Western Watersheds Project and Wilderness Watch in filing the complaint last month in New Mexico’s U.S. District Court.
The organizations are asking a court to review “predator control” actions by Wildlife Services, a division of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, known as APHIS.
Among its activities, Wildlife Services kills predators as part of a strategy to manage wildlife and protect against livestock depredation, crop loss and property damage. A spokesperson for APHIS declined to comment on the litigation.
The plaintiffs argue that “federally subsidized wildlife killing” has been practiced “solely to promote the private economic interests of producers that are already afforded the heavily subsidized privilege to commercially graze livestock on federal public lands.”
The legal question is whether the 1964 Wilderness Act allows Wildlife Services to kill natural predators in 803 designated wilderness areas, covering 111.7 million acres of public land nationwide. While the law allows for grazing in areas where it has taken place since before the wilderness area designation by Congress, the lawsuit argues this does not authorize the government to kill carnivores that may hunt those animals.
Yet, according to the most recent data posted by APHIS, Wildlife Services killed 2,625 coyotes in New Mexico in 2024, trapped six Mexican gray wolves and relocated two mountain lions.
In an interview, WildEarth Guardians' senior staff attorney, Jennifer Schwartz, emphasized, “This isn’t a challenge to anyone’s privilege to graze in wilderness. … Congress specifically provided for livestock grazing, but it did not provide for killing native wildlife on behalf of commercial grazing operations. It didn't provide for taxpayer-funded predator control. That is very antithetical to the other core purposes of the statute, in terms of keeping wilderness untrammeled, where the forces of nature prevail.”
She said the agencies have reasoned that, since Congress did not forbid predator control practices in wilderness areas, they could interpret it as implicitly permitted.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Chevron U.S.A v. Natural Resources Defense Council, courts have given executive branch agencies discretion to interpret ambiguities in statutes. If the agency’s interpretation was reasonable, the courts deferred to them.
That deference, nicknamed the “Chevron doctrine,” fell in 2024 under a pair of decisions where the high court upheld a provision of the Administrative Procedure Act that says reviewing courts “shall decide all relevant questions of law.”
The fall of the Chevron doctrine opened the door to ask the court to enforce a plain reading of the statute, Schwartz said.
“This is our most strictly construed conservation law,” she said. “To perversely expand the narrow grazing exception to also include killing native wildlife, on behalf of private grazing operations, is a gross misreading of the statute.”
The lawsuit has been assigned preliminarily to federal Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar in Albuquerque. Further proceedings have not yet been scheduled.
As pedestrian deaths decline in New Mexico, cyclist deaths double to highest number in 20 years —John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
When he was a student at New Mexico State University, Matt Mason biked as many as 1,000 miles each semester — far enough in a school year to crisscross the width of the Land of Enchantment at least four times.
But while biking to campus along a familiar route on North Telshor Boulevard in 2012, Mason’s relationship to the sport changed when he was struck by a driver, who veered into his path while making a left-hand turn.
“I slammed on my brakes and sort of rolled across their hood,” Mason said. “I ended up landing on my feet right next to the driver on their side of the car. It was just kind of a miraculous thing — I was more or less unhurt, but the bike was bent in half and destroyed.”
It was the last road bike Mason ever owned.
This spring, for the first time in about a decade, New Mexico improved from the most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrian deaths to ninth in the Governors Highway Safety Association ratings.
Using crash data from the first half of 2025, the nonprofit projected that pedestrian fatalities in New Mexico fell to 1.27 deaths per 100,000 people last year, from a 2.49 death rate in 2024.
The projection appears on track with full-year data from the University of New Mexico, which notes pedestrian fatalities declined from 102 deaths in 2024 to 88 in 2025.
State officials this week celebrated the improved safety rating, attributing it to new initiatives aimed at keeping people safer on or near New Mexico roadways.
“New Mexico’s progress in pedestrian safety is the result of dedicated work happening across the state,” Shannon Glendenning, New Mexico Department of Transportation traffic safety division director, said in a statement.
But over the same year-to-year period, UNM recorded a separate yet related metric moving in the opposite direction and at a much higher rate.
From 2024 to 2025, deaths among pedal cyclists — bicyclists or any other vehicle propelled by human-powered pedals — doubled, rising from seven in 2024 to 14 in 2025.
That marks the most cyclist traffic deaths in a single year since 2006, when there were four, according to UNM.
That statistic didn’t get much airtime at a meeting of the Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee on Tuesday and appeared nowhere in a news release issued two days later announcing the decline in pedestrian fatalities.
Cyclist deaths on or near roadways in New Mexico and nationwide are vastly outnumbered by pedestrian deaths, accounting for just 3% of the 454 total traffic fatalities recorded in New Mexico last year.
But while pedestrian deaths are on the decline — with the Governors Highway Safety Association noting an 11% dip in such deaths nationwide — fatalities among cyclists are on the rise in many American cities.
According to the National Safety Council, the “number of preventable deaths from bicycle transportation incidents (in the U.S.) increased by 1% in 2024 and 37% in the last 10 years (from 1,015 in 2015 to 1,392 in 2024).”
The 14 deaths logged in 2025 in New Mexico are more than double the average of the roughly 6.5 cyclist deaths recorded in the state each year since 2006.
While cyclist deaths have fluctuated in that time, the average number of these fatalities rose to 7.7 deaths per year in the last 10 years versus 5.5 deaths in the previous decade.
Dan Majewski, who regularly bikes to work in Downtown Albuquerque, knows which roads to take and which to avoid, giving preference to streets with wider shoulders and designated bike lanes.
With more deaths among cyclists reported in the state every year, he understands why some people choose to ride outside New Mexico’s metro areas or don’t pick up the sport at all.
“I think there’s a big barrier to getting started riding,” he said. “You have to kind of learn through doing. There’s signage out there, and the city certainly tries. But you have to plan it out, you know?”
Several bicyclist traffic deaths have made headlines in New Mexico in recent years.
In May 2024, an 11-year-old boy was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly intentionally hitting and killing a physicist named Michael Habermehl, who was riding to work on an e-bike.
A year and a half later, Santa Fe resident Steven Ballinger was struck by a pickup truck driver and later died in a hospital.
In July 2025, 19-year-old Albuquerque cyclist Kayla VanLandingham was struck and killed at a bike crossing on Carlisle.
Just over a month ago, 47-year-old Robert Montoya was also hit and killed while riding to work on an e-bike just north of Interstate 40 in Northeast Albuquerque, which consistently logs about half of all cyclist deaths in the state.
Majewski previously sat on the board for BikeABQ, a safety advocate organization founded in 1999 to raise awareness of bicyclists on the state’s roadways, which officials have worked to make safer in recent years.
Legislators in 2023 passed House Memorial 85, titled “Target Zero,” which aims to achieve an annual traffic safety record of zero vehicle-related deaths or serious injuries by the end of the decade.
In March, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed new legislation requiring student drivers to take at least three hours of training on “vulnerable road users,” such as bicyclists, pedestrians and emergency service providers.
The 2023 resolution committed NMDOT to following a national model called Complete Streets, which recommends roadway projects consider multimodal forms of transportation and road “equity.”
Some cyclists say reinforcing legislation will be necessary to give it teeth.
Carl Colonius, a longtime cyclist, Taos resident and program manager for the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division, is one of them.
He illustrated the problem with a recent example south of Taos.
“You know the road that goes down through Llano Quemado by the water treatment plant toward the golf course?” he said. “That road was just repaved, beautifully done, but it doesn’t have a shoulder because that’s not a sensitivity a lot of public works directors in New Mexico have. Why would you waste 10% of your project building a shoulder? Biking and walking are not something they necessarily recognize.”
Recently, Colonius went on a ride with Graveleros, a spring and summertime biking meetup that Mason started in Las Cruces, one of several cities developing a municipal trail system to give cyclists safer routes to ride.
“There’s a wide age range, culture, gender, type of bike,” Colonius said of the experience. “So you’ve got hardcore road bikers who show up in their lycra with a matching kit, to the dude on a cruiser wearing cut-off overalls who has a basket for his cat.”
The group is a kind of microcosm for the wider New Mexico cycling community. Stories of close calls with drivers, collisions and chilling stories of final rides that ended fatally — with a white-painted bike marking the spot — remain a dark trope here and among other cycling enthusiasts throughout the state.
As of last month, UNM reported that five pedal cyclists have died so far in New Mexico in 2026.
“I don’t like to say it because I don’t want to discourage people from riding,” Mason said. “But in my mind, I sort of say that every car that passes me when I’m riding on the road could be the one that kills me. I try to keep that number as close to zero as possible while still getting where I want to go.”
—Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico Senate Democratic floor leader Peter Wirth generated political shock waves Tuesday by announcing he will not seek reelection in 2028.
The Santa Fe Democrat, who has served in the Legislature since 2004, also said he would relinquish his leadership post before the start of next year’s 60-day legislative session but would still serve out the remainder of his term.
The decision means New Mexico will have a new governor and a new Senate Democratic floor leader come January — in addition to other possible leadership shakeups.
Wirth, whose home was the target of a bomb threat last year that prompted the closure of nearby roads, is currently tied as the Senate’s fourth-longest tenured member. He said his decision was prompted by a desire to allow for new leaders to step up.
“Part of being a leader is knowing when it’s time to pass the baton,” Wirth told the Journal.
A professional mediator known at the Roundhouse for his even-keeled demeanor, Wirth has served as Senate Democratic floor leader since November 2016. He succeeded former Sen. Michael Sanchez of Belen, who was defeated in that year’s general election.
As majority leader, Wirth played a key role in ensuring many of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s top-priority bills reached the Senate floor. He also took the lead in recent years on bills dealing with water rights and limiting data sharing from automatic license plate readers, among other topics.
“I’m super proud of what we were able to accomplish, especially in the last two years,” said Wirth, who also cited an overhaul of the state’s Public Regulation Commission as among his top accomplishments.
But Wirth and other Senate Democrats also broke ranks with the governor on occasion, including during a July 2024 special session that ended with lawmakers largely rejecting Lujan Grisham’s public safety-focused agenda.
Senate Minority Leader William Sharer, R-Farmington, lauded Wirth’s leadership after his Tuesday announcement, saying Wirth had treated minority Republicans with respect.
“What we demonstrated together is that you can fight hard for what you believe in, disagree openly and honestly, and still find a way to move the state forward,” Sharer said in a statement. “That is what the people of New Mexico sent us here to do, and I am proud of the way we did it.”
Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, who’s also leaving office at the end of this year, said in an interview Wirth sought to maintain a high level of decorum and civility in the Senate during his time as Democratic floor leader.
“He demonstrated exactly what public service should be about,” said Morales, who also praised Wirth’s calm presence and keen sense of strategy.
Democrats have held a majority in the New Mexico Senate since 1988, and currently outnumber Republicans in the chamber by a 26-16 margin.
However, the Senate Democratic caucus has undergone a facelift over the last several election cycles, as several moderate Democrats were ousted by more progressive challengers in the 2020 primary election.
Wirth avoided such political challenges since winning election to the Senate in 2008 — he previously served four-plus years in the House — as his Santa Fe-based district was the state’s most Democratic-leaning as of the last round of redistricting in 2021.
He also largely avoided controversy during his time in the Legislature, though Wirth faced political pressure last year for resisting a push to include the passage of interstate medical compacts on the agenda of an October 2025 special session.
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, prepares to present a bill on behavioral health on the Senate floor in this February 2025 file photo. Wirth announced Tuesday he plans to relinquish his leadership post at the end of this year and will not run for reelection in 2026.
Eddie Moore/Journal
Lawmakers ultimately approved compacts for physicians and social workers during this year’s 30-day session, but proposals for other medical professions stalled in the Senate.
Senate Democrats are expected to vote on a new leadership team for the next two years during a closed-door caucus meeting later this year.
Wirth said he plans to provide assistance to whoever is selected as his successor, but also said he plans to get to work on bills dealing with energy and environmental issues over the next two-plus years.
“I don’t plan on sitting in the back row and doing nothing,” said Wirth.
City Council votes down gross receipts tax increase (again)
—Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
For the second time in four months, a proposal to raise gross receipts taxes failed to advance at the Albuquerque City Council.
The proposed 0.4875% increase, dubbed the Community Enhancement and Local Investment Tax, would have generated about $113 million annually. The revenue would have been split between community projects — divided equally among council districts — and city operations, including cost-of-living increases.
Councilors voted down the proposal 5-4, preventing it from going before voters in November.
Councilors Dan Champine, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Renée Grout, Dan Lewis and Stephanie Telles voted against the measure. Councilors Brook Bassan, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers and Joaquín Baca voted in favor.
Sponsored by Bassan and Peña, the ordinance would have raised Albuquerque’s gross receipts tax rate from 7.625% to 8.1%. A similar proposal failed in March. That measure was sponsored by Baca and Bassan, who ultimately voted against it.
Gross receipts taxes are paid by businesses and passed on to consumers. The tax makes up a significant share of the city’s operating budget and general fund. In 2025, 40% of the city’s revenue came from gross receipts taxes.
Among New Mexico’s five most populous cities and towns, Albuquerque has the second-lowest gross receipts tax rate at 7.625%. Neighboring Rio Rancho’s rate is 0.1875 percentage points lower. New Mexico is one of a minority of states that levy a gross receipts tax.
Under the proposal, half of the new revenue would have gone toward general municipal operations, maintenance and cost-of-living increases. The remaining 50% would have funded community enhancement projects, with the money divided among the city’s nine council districts and the Mayor’s Office.
Most public commenters during Monday’s meeting opposed the proposal, citing concerns that higher taxes would increase costs for consumers already struggling with inflation, particularly low-income residents and those on fixed incomes.
“It’s already been defeated once, we don’t want it on the ballot,” resident Dennis Curtis said. He added that the city should “budget responsibly and lower taxes so we can make Albuquerque more prosperous.”
Several opponents pointed to the North Domingo Baca Park Aquatics Center as an example of a project that would benefit from the tax increase despite its costs rising substantially since it was approved.
Bassan, who championed the project, pushed back on that criticism.
“The proposal splits 50% of the revenues from the GRT increase 10 ways,” she said, “not just for one district or one project.”
Bassan also said the aquatics center was not “a mismanaged project” and argued that much of the increase in costs resulted from inflation between the project’s approval and construction.
Lewis said he would vote against the tax increase because of the views of his constituents.
“I have constituents that have elected me four times and they know how strongly I feel,” he said. “They feel strongly about decisions like this and I feel like I owe it to them … the people in this city who want to see the cost of living in the city go down.”
Grout said she was conflicted about the proposal and questioned whether there were other ways to increase city revenue. She said the current budget “should be enough to run the city.”
“We need to live within our means … with the budget we are given. I have to do that at home,” Grout said.
She also cited rising costs for residents, including property taxes, solid waste fees and vehicle registration costs.
“It’s not fair to continually ask people for more and more,” she said. “I don’t think this is the right time.”
Peña called it “courageous” for Bassan to bring the proposal back and said it had “nothing to do with the pool.” She questioned why residents should not invest more in city services and employees.
“The citizens are the employers of our employees and I think it’s time we help our own employees have a better quality of life themselves,” Peña said.
She added that the proposal could fund significant projects in District 3, which she said has received less attention and economic opportunity than other parts of the city.
“As a city we are struggling. I think we need to grow and if we do nothing, we have the same thing,” she said. “If we try to do something different, and build 10, 15 amazing projects in each of our districts, I think that really changes the trajectory for our city.”
New Mexico’s Epstein ‘truth commission’ publishes subpoenas, with more on the way
—Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico commission investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s time in the state made its first batch of subpoenas public late last week, and is scheduled to hold a public meeting at noon on Thursday at which commissioners are expected to announce more subpoenas.
An update on the subpoenas — all of which list a June 30 deadline for compliance — and survivor testimony are on the meeting’s tentative agenda. A news release Tuesday said new subpoenas would be announced as well.
The House investigatory subcommittee commonly known as the Epstein “truth commission” at a meeting earlier this month announced it was issuing 14 subpoenas, mostly to state and federal government agencies, seeking information and documentation about Epstein’s connections. On Friday, the commission posted the first six subpoenas on its website, NMTruthCommission.com.
In those six subpoenas — which were sent to the New Mexico Department of Justice, State Land Office, Department of Public Safety, the Office of the Governor, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Fe Institute — the commission seeks financial documents, real estate records and correspondence to help paint a fuller picture of the late sex offender’s activities in New Mexico.
The commission posts the full subpoenas online here as they’re issued.
New Mexico Department of JusticeThe commission’s subpoena to the New Mexico Department of Justice seeks investigation files, such as notes and witness interviews related to Epstein; personnel records for NMDOJ employees involved in Epstein investigations; files sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; internal memoranda relating to Epstein investigations and more.
In a statement, NMDOJ Chief of Staff Lauren Rodriguez said the department received the subpoena and is reviewing it.
“We intend to comply with all lawful requests and are assessing the subpoena’s provisions to determine how we can best support the truth commission’s important mission,” she wrote.
New Mexico State Land OfficeThe subpoena to the State Land Office seeks real estate records related to Epstein and Zorro Ranch; records of inspections, audits and site visits; financial transactions between Epstein-related entities and the State Land Office and more.
A spokesperson for the State Land Office in an email to Source NM said the office has received the subpoena and intends to “fully comply.”
New Mexico Department of Public SafetyThe subpoena to the state’s public safety department seeks documents related to former Gov. Bill Richardson and Epstein from 2003 to 2011, including records that contain details about Richardson’s travels to properties owned by Epstein.
John Heil, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Safety, in an email to Source said the department has “not yet been served the subpoena. We would comply to the extent we can under the law.”
Governor’s officeThe subpoena to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office seeks much of the same documentation requested of the state Department of Public Safety.
Leah March, Lujan Grisham’s deputy communications director, told Source NM that the governor’s office did not have any responsive records as prior governors’ records are held in the New Mexico State Archives. March noted that Lujan Grisham “strongly” supports the commission and abuse survivors.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s OfficeThe Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office subpoena focuses largely on police reports and calls for service to Zorro Ranch, including statements from witnesses, victims and suspects. It also requests video footage from body-cameras and dashcams.
Shawna Graves, a county communications coordinator, in a statement said the county sheriff’s office received the subpoena and is working with county attorneys to gather the responsive records.
“The Board of County Commissioners has expressed its support for the work of the Truth Commission through Resolution No. 2026-063,” she wrote. “The resolution affirms the county’s commitment to cooperating fully with the Truth Commission, including providing timely responses to lawful requests for records, documents, reports, and other information within the county’s custody or control.”
Santa Fe InstituteThe subpoena to the Santa Fe Institute, so far the only non-governmental entity to be subpoenaed, seeks financial records such as donations and contributions that Epstein or any Epstein-affiliated entities made to the organization. It also requests documentation of how the Santa Fe Institute used those funds and correspondence between Santa Fe Institute officials and Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell.
David Krakauer, Santa Fe Institute president and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems, in an email to Source NM said the organization is complying with the subpoena.
3.9 earthquake jolts Valencia County
—Aubrie Moore, Albuquerque Journal
It wasn't your dog or your coffee shaking Sunday morning.
A series of light earthquakes rattled Valencia County, with the strongest reaching magnitude 3.9, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The cluster continues a long-observed pattern of seismic activity tied to the Socorro magma body about 1 hour south/southwest of Albuquerque.
The activity began with a magnitude 3.7 earthquake near Abeytas. Minutes later, a slightly stronger magnitude 3.9 quake near Las Nutrias had residents across the county checking their walls, pets and sanity around 11:45 a.m.
Two smaller quakes, measuring magnitudes 2.7 and 2.9, followed later in the afternoon west of the earlier epicenters.
Dr. Mairi Litherland of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology said the pattern is familiar for the region.
"This sort of cluster of earthquakes is pretty typical of what we see associated with the Socorro magma body," Litherland said.
About 12 miles beneath the surface, a slowly expanding magma body puts stress on the crust, triggering small earthquakes, she said.
"This whole area around Socorro is the most seismically active part of New Mexico," Litherland said. "This isn't something new. We've seen swarms like this going back decades."
While the swarm could taper off or continue, Litherland said nothing suggests an unusual or escalating threat.
"There's a possibility there could be larger events, but there's no reason to think anything outside the typical is likely."
Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp said no injuries or damage were reported, though many residents felt the shaking and took to the fire department's Facebook page to compare notes.
"I felt it here in Los Lunas! I was lying in bed watching TV and felt the bed and floor move. I thought it was all in my head!" Vanessa Gutierrez commented.
"It shook me here in Belen," added Wilma Ulibarri. "As I was walking, I felt my legs shake. It knocked my balance off, and it took me a few seconds to regain it."
Hayley Griggs wrote on the News-Bulletin's Facebook page that she was startled by the quake.
"I was in the bathroom, and I thought someone finally hit the side of my house in Veguita off N.M. 304. I was relieved it was an earthquake lol," she wrote.
One commenter, Jamie Hatchett, joked about oilfield activity, though Litherland clarified that, unlike in other parts of the state, Valencia County's earthquakes are natural and not tied to drilling.
Litherland noted that while oil- and gas-producing regions in New Mexico have experienced an increase in human-induced earthquakes, the Socorro area has a long, well-documented history of natural seismic activity.
"We do see faults slipping and earthquakes," Litherland said. "But the magma body is deep, so we haven't seen magma coming to the surface. Mostly, we just see it in these earthquakes."
Litherland encouraged residents to practice basic earthquake safety.
"If they feel an earthquake, they should drop, cover and hold on," she said. "They can report the earthquake they felt through the USGS 'Did You Feel It?' website."
Largest wind project in the US comes online in New Mexico
—Keelin Fisher, Albuquerque Journal
The largest wind project in the nation came online in New Mexico this month, doubling local wind-generating capacity and sending power to homes in western states.
The SunZia Wind Project is more than three times the size of the next two largest wind farms, Alta Wind Energy Center in California and Great Prairie Wind Farm in Texas, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Friday.
SunZia, developed by California-based Pattern Energy Group, features more than 900 turbines and generates 3,650 megawatts of power, which will supply about 1 million homes.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., praised the project’s completion on Monday, saying it has been a priority of his since entering office in 2013.
“Through a whole series of obstacles spanning over a decade and a half, we kept working to move it forward because we knew what it could mean for America’s energy future and New Mexico’s role in leading it,” Heinrich said in a statement to the Journal.
June marks the beginning of the project’s commercial operations after nearly two decades of permitting and planning. Pattern started constructing the $11 billion project in 2023, and some wind turbines were producing power around April 2026 during a testing phase.
In New Mexico, wind makes up 45% of the total power capacity mix with the addition of the project, according to the EIA. The remaining installed generating capacity is primarily split between solar at roughly 19% and natural gas, which also accounts for about 19%.
The power generated by the SunZia project spans three counties, including San Miguel County with nearly 250 turbines and Lincoln and Torrance counties with almost 700. The power generated by those turbines will reach central Arizona and Southern California through a 550-mile transmission line, about 350 miles of which crosses through central and western New Mexico.
Lynn Mostoller, executive director of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, a public body created by the state Legislature that worked with Pattern on the SunZia project, called the beginning of commercial operations a “tremendous milestone.”
“Our renewable wind resource is getting exported to the West and helping western states reach their renewable portfolio goals,” Mostoller said.
The SunZia project’s commercial launch also comes at a critical time for renewable energy developers, who have faced waning federal tax incentives and permitting delays. Last month, The Associated Press, citing the American Clean Power Association, reported that the Pentagon has stalled the development of more than 250 onshore wind farms on private lands because it failed to complete national security reviews.
But SunZia’s developer has pointed to the project’s economic benefits, including the creation of more than 2,000 jobs at peak construction and more than 100 long-term operational jobs. The company also said the project will have a $20 billion economic impact on New Mexico and Arizona, of which $1.3 billion will go toward direct payments to local schools, governments and private landowners.
Heinrich used the moment to call for permitting reform, noting that SunZia took 18 years from planning to operation.
“If we want more projects like SunZia that lower costs, strengthen our energy security and create good-paying jobs people can build their families around, we need a permitting system that gets to yes — or no — faster while maintaining strong environmental standards and meaningful community engagement,” he said.
New study finds New Mexico underestimates, fails to investigate federal food assistance fraud
—Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico legislative analysts tasked with assessing fraud among state recipients of federal food assistance reported Tuesday that the state’s low fraud rate may be misleading and stems from a failure to collect data and investigate fraud allegations.
The Legislative Finance Committee’s 78-page report, six months in the making, resulted from a $50,000 appropriation Republican state legislators secured in November. At the time, the Legislature had just agreed to allocate up to $162.5 million in state funding to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid a federal government shutdown.
New Mexico has the nation’s highest SNAP reliance rate — 21.5% — of any state in the country and typically oversees more than $90 million a month in federal SNAP benefits that go to more than 445,000 New Mexicans, or roughly one in five.
The Legislative Finance Committee’s report, which analysts presented to lawmakers on Tuesday during an interim Legislative Committee meeting in Ruidoso, found that New Mexico’s fraud rate was .04%, far less than the national average of between 1% and 2%.
But analysts stressed that figure underestimates the state’s actual fraud rates and buttressed their assertion by providing examples of “high-risk” SNAP transactions they said the New Mexico Health Care Authority, including its inspector general’s office, should have caught.
“The HCA Office of the Inspector General is under-investigating and under-identifying potential SNAP fraud,” LFC analyst Clayton Lobaugh told lawmakers.
The transactions the LFC flagged include an estimated $85 million annually that New Mexico SNAP recipients spend in other states. While recipients can spend SNAP dollars wherever they like, repeated out-of-state SNAP spending likely means recipients are violating the state’s requirements that recipients live in New Mexico.
The LFC review also found two smoke shops in the state that each collected more than $400,000 in SNAP payments in 2025 — suspiciously high amounts for businesses that don’t primarily sell food. The LFC did not name the smoke shops but included photos of them, including one with a large sign announcing that it accepted SNAP debit cards.
The federal USDA authorizes SNAP retailers, though analysts said the state could have flagged the smoke shops to the USDA.
In addition to those specific cases, the report also looked closely at how the HCA’s Office of the Inspector General handled fraud allegations it received through a state telephone and email tipline.
Between fiscal years 2018 and 2023, the office received 9,953 tips but completed only 312 investigations, according to the report, which amounts to roughly 3%.
The HCA also disqualifies the smallest percentage of SNAP recipients after findings of potential fraud than any other state in the country, according to the report.
For instance, in fiscal year 2023, only 18 SNAP recipients were disqualified, amounting to 0.004% of the state’s SNAP recipients.
That same year, the national average disqualification rate was 0.1% — a rate 250 times higher than New Mexico’s.
HCA Secretary Kari Armijo told lawmakers that she largely agreed with the LFC report’s findings, including that the inspector general’s lack of fraud investigations “is an area that the agency needs to do better on.”
But she said the inspector general’s office often doesn’t investigate cases that allege small amounts of fraud, based partially on local prosecutors’ unwillingness to bring criminal charges unless large amounts of money are stolen. And investigating fraud takes a long time, which also means the agency might be trying to only go after major cases.
“We have an investigation backlog right now,” she told lawmakers. “Investigations don’t get cleared quickly. They take a lot of time.”
Republicans in both chambers of the Legislature said the report shows New Mexico’s food system “is broken” and accused the HCA of willfully enabling fraud.
A system that rarely verifies, seldom audits, and barely investigates fraud is a system designed to fail,” House Republicans said in a statement Tuesday morning.
But LFC Chair Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces) noted during Tuesday’s hearing that the median income of SNAP households is roughly $30,000, less than half the $77,000 median salary statewide. SNAP fraud that comprises a fraction of overall spending should not be used as reason to restrict eligibility, he said.
“These are households — without this help — their ability to sort of go and make it through a day, much less a week, much less a month, much less a year, is very, very challenging,” he said, “particularly as we see elevated fuel costs, which are going to translate into elevated food costs, because of the war on Iran.”
Five candidates vying for New Mexico GOP leadership post — including former party chairwoman
—Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Republican Party wasn’t planning on having to pick a new leader less than five months out from this year’s general election.
But after a state judge ordered former GOP chairwoman Amy Barela to step down from her post last month, Republican Party insiders from around the state will gather in Las Cruces on Saturday to pick a replacement.
The meeting was called by the state party’s 1st Vice Chair Mike Nelson, following the state Supreme Court’s recent decision to deny an appeal of District Court Judge Cindy Mercer’s order. The lawsuit that prompted the judge’s ruling hinged on claims top state GOP officials violated party rules intended to ensure neutrality in contested primary races.
In a twist, Barela herself is among the five candidates running for the state GOP chairmanship, after losing her primary election for the Otero County Commission seat she was elected to in 2022.
The four other candidates running include Albuquerque attorney Robert Aragon, who filed a separate lawsuit seeking Barela’s ouster, and KKOB radio talk show host Brandon Vogt.
Vogt said he felt compelled to run for GOP chairman after Republicans initially failed to field a candidate this year to run against incumbent U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján. After the lone GOP candidate who filed to run for the seat was disqualified, Larry Marker of Roswell ran as a write-in candidate in this month’s primary election and received enough votes to secure his spot on the November ballot.
“This is an ineffective party at this point,” Vogt said in a Monday interview, while adding he would seek to unify the state Republican Party and support GOP candidates on the ballot this fall.
Meanwhile, the two other candidates vying to be the next GOP chair are Zac Anaya of Rio Rancho, who unsuccessfully challenged state Rep. Joshua Hernandez in this month’s primary election, and John Brenna, who is currently the GOP chairman in Valencia County.
Brenna, a former law enforcement officer, said he’s in talks with Aragon about a possible alliance so the two candidates don’t split votes from one another.
He also said he would push for party rule changes if elected, and would also seek to elevate the role of county parties.
“We have enough Republicans to win this election — we just have to get them off the couch,” Brenna told the Journal, referring to this fall’s election in which all statewide offices will be on the ballot.
As for Anaya, he said Monday he has decided to support either Aragon or Brenna’s candidacy — and withdraw his own candidacy — if the other two candidates can reach a deal.
Whoever wins this weekend’s race could have a short stint as party chair, since New Mexico Republicans will meet again in December — just after the general election — to vote on party leadership for the next two years.
New Mexico state aging department reports 18,000 elder abuse reports this year so far
—Source New Mexico staff
The New Mexico state Aging and Long-Term Services Department on June 16, 2026, reported that its Adult Protective Services division has received 18,000 reports of elder abuse so far this year. (Photo courtesy NM Aging Services)
The New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department on Tuesday reported that its Adult Protective Services division has received 18,000 reports of elder abuse so far this year.
“As New Mexico’s older population continues to grow, it is more important than ever that we look out for one another and recognize when someone may need help,” Aging Secretary Emily Kaltenbach said in a statement. “By learning the signs and speaking up when something feels wrong, we can help protect those who may be vulnerable.”
According to previous data shared by the agency, New Mexicans aged 65 and older are expected to have the largest growth of any age group, increasing by more than 80,000 between 2020 and 2040.
According to a news release from the agency, the National Council on Aging says approximately one in 10 Americans age 60 and older may have experienced some form of elder abuse, which can range from physical and emotional abuse to financial exploitation and scams.
June marks Elder Abuse Awareness Month, and Corey Roybal, director of ALTSD’s Adult Protective Services, said in a statement elder abuse prevention begins through “awareness and connection” such as checking in on a neighbor, “noticing unusual behavior, or asking questions when something doesn’t seem right can make a meaningful difference in someone’s well-being.”
Some signs of potential problems can include unexplained injuries, changes in behavior and lack of access to basic needs, such as medical care.
Firm behind New Mexico Medicaid campaign recruits influencers to promote Project Jupiter data center – Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The marketing agency behind New Mexico’s award-winning Medicaid re-enrollment social media campaign is recruiting influencers to promote Project Jupiter, the controversial artificial intelligence data center under construction in Doña Ana County.
New Mexico social media personalities posted over the weekend that they had received emails from a California-based firm called Xomad, which advertises “services that help brands, governments and media agency partners engineer virality.” In a recent email to New Mexico content creators, it offered a “PAID social media opportunity for creators in NM who want to see their community thrive.”
It said creators would promote a development that would create 4,000 construction jobs and “up to” 1,500 long-term jobs, in addition to $600 million in tax revenue and hundreds of millions of dollars to support water systems, infrastructure and schools.
While the email did not call out Project Jupiter by name, one creator who received the offer told Source NM she recognized those as the talking points from an anonymous mailer campaign that asked New Mexicans to support the data center’s air quality permit applications. The New Mexico State Ethics Commission later sued the group behind those mailers for allegedly violating the state Lobbyist Regulation Act.
“Because I’ve gotten those mailers, I recognized the talking points,” Adrian Martin, an Albuquerque resident who recently made a sarcastic Instagram post opposing the project, told Source NM. “I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I know who you are.’”
She is one of several influencers Source NM interviewed who turned down the gig.
Indeed, a Powerpoint presentation prepared for influencers reviewed by Source NM confirms the campaign is for Project Jupiter.
“When our communities grow, we all grow, and right now, New Mexico has the opportunity for a generation investment for all of us. Project Jupiter is committed to the community,” the presentation says. “It will bring thousands of local jobs and $360 million in investments for schools, infrastructure, and workforce development, all while protecting public resources like energy and water.”
The presentation directs creators to submit social media content for review as part of the paid partnership, which it says is scheduled to run from June 17 through the end of the month. The public comment on Project Jupiter’s pending air quality permit application was recently extended from July 1 to July 6.
The partnership has three goals, according to the slide deck: Discuss the “positive benefits of Project Jupiter,” “build trust” by saying the project’s fuel and water systems won’t impact the surrounding community and “help increase positive comments” on Project Jupiter’s website.
While AI “tech changes may cause concern for New Mexico residents, Project Jupiter is a generational investment in New Mexico, its economy, its infrastructure and local communities that we’re deeply proud of,” the slideshow says. “For this social media project, we are partnering with you and other local trusted messengers to share transparent and accurate information about the new data center in New Mexico called Project Jupiter.
Through your content, we want you to help us break down what is happening, and the positives surrounding it.”
The push for positive messaging about the project comes as a long-awaited town hall meeting on the development quietly transitioned from a county-run meeting to an “open house and career fair” sponsored by its developers and tenants, including OpenAI and Oracle.
Rebekah Apodaca, an Albuquerque resident who said she has mostly stopped doing social media influencing, said she was surprised to receive the pitch at all, but was initially inclined to hear out a paid opportunity.
“There’s always a form you fill out with your handle, your following. Everything seemed standard, until I got to one question where it mentioned a data center, and I’m like, ‘What in the world?’” she told Source NM. “I don’t like deception…they’re trying to sway public opinion by deceiving influencers into promoting jobs and economic growth.”
Neither Xomad nor any of the companies affiliated with Project Jupiter responded to Source NM’s requests for comment Monday. In an email, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Health Care Authority told Source NM that the agency hired Xomad during its “Renew NM” Medicaid campaign but had no knowledge of the company’s efforts regarding Project Jupiter.
Becky Wood, whose Instagram account ABQ Adventures has nearly 40,000 followers, posted over the weekend that she had turned down “a big chunk of $$$ to promote Project Jupiter, the giant AI data center being built down south that will skyrocket NM’s emissions and suck up precious groundwater from an already drought-stricken desert.”
“If you see your favorite NM create posting about Project Jupiter in the coming weeks, know they sold out,” she wrote. “I know it’s hard to turn down work in this economy — but we can’t drink data!”
In an interview Monday, Wood told Source NM that she’s opposed to large AI projects because she’s seen AI search results “cannibalize” the work she’s done on her travel blog without giving her any traffic or pay.
“I’m opposed to AI at scale in general. I think it’s being force-fed to us as something that most people aren’t asking for,” she said, adding that she also has major environmental concerns. “I look out my door and I see the Rio Grande completely dry in Albuquerque in June. It’s just going to get worse and worse and worse.”
Conservation groups sue feds over killing predators in wilderness areas—Algernon d’Amassa, Albuquerque Journal
On its website, the U.S. Forest Service says of wilderness areas, “These are special places where nature still calls the shots.”
But a new federal lawsuit alleges that when it comes to predators on protected public lands, the government is deferring more to ranchers than Mother Nature.
Conservation groups are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management over the killing of predator animals by federal employees in designated wilderness areas, arguing the practice violates a law preserving “untrammeled” natural places.
WildEarth Guardians joined the Western Watersheds Project and Wilderness Watch in filing the complaint last month in New Mexico’s U.S. District Court.
The organizations are asking a court to review “predator control” actions by Wildlife Services, a division of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, known as APHIS.
Among its activities, Wildlife Services kills predators as part of a strategy to manage wildlife and protect against livestock depredation, crop loss and property damage. A spokesperson for APHIS declined to comment on the litigation.
The plaintiffs argue that “federally subsidized wildlife killing” has been practiced “solely to promote the private economic interests of producers that are already afforded the heavily subsidized privilege to commercially graze livestock on federal public lands.”
The legal question is whether the 1964 Wilderness Act allows Wildlife Services to kill natural predators in 803 designated wilderness areas, covering 111.7 million acres of public land nationwide. While the law allows for grazing in areas where it has taken place since before the wilderness area designation by Congress, the lawsuit argues this does not authorize the government to kill carnivores that may hunt those animals.
Yet, according to the most recent data posted by APHIS, Wildlife Services killed 2,625 coyotes in New Mexico in 2024, trapped six Mexican gray wolves and relocated two mountain lions.
In an interview, WildEarth Guardians' senior staff attorney, Jennifer Schwartz, emphasized, “This isn’t a challenge to anyone’s privilege to graze in wilderness. … Congress specifically provided for livestock grazing, but it did not provide for killing native wildlife on behalf of commercial grazing operations. It didn't provide for taxpayer-funded predator control. That is very antithetical to the other core purposes of the statute, in terms of keeping wilderness untrammeled, where the forces of nature prevail.”
She said the agencies have reasoned that, since Congress did not forbid predator control practices in wilderness areas, they could interpret it as implicitly permitted.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Chevron U.S.A v. Natural Resources Defense Council, courts have given executive branch agencies discretion to interpret ambiguities in statutes. If the agency’s interpretation was reasonable, the courts deferred to them.
That deference, nicknamed the “Chevron doctrine,” fell in 2024 under a pair of decisions where the high court upheld a provision of the Administrative Procedure Act that says reviewing courts “shall decide all relevant questions of law.”
The fall of the Chevron doctrine opened the door to ask the court to enforce a plain reading of the statute, Schwartz said.
“This is our most strictly construed conservation law,” she said. “To perversely expand the narrow grazing exception to also include killing native wildlife, on behalf of private grazing operations, is a gross misreading of the statute.”
The lawsuit has been assigned preliminarily to federal Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar in Albuquerque. Further proceedings have not yet been scheduled.
As pedestrian deaths decline in New Mexico, cyclist deaths double to highest number in 20 years —John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
When he was a student at New Mexico State University, Matt Mason biked as many as 1,000 miles each semester — far enough in a school year to crisscross the width of the Land of Enchantment at least four times.
But while biking to campus along a familiar route on North Telshor Boulevard in 2012, Mason’s relationship to the sport changed when he was struck by a driver, who veered into his path while making a left-hand turn.
“I slammed on my brakes and sort of rolled across their hood,” Mason said. “I ended up landing on my feet right next to the driver on their side of the car. It was just kind of a miraculous thing — I was more or less unhurt, but the bike was bent in half and destroyed.”
It was the last road bike Mason ever owned.
This spring, for the first time in about a decade, New Mexico improved from the most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrian deaths to ninth in the Governors Highway Safety Association ratings.
Using crash data from the first half of 2025, the nonprofit projected that pedestrian fatalities in New Mexico fell to 1.27 deaths per 100,000 people last year, from a 2.49 death rate in 2024.
The projection appears on track with full-year data from the University of New Mexico, which notes pedestrian fatalities declined from 102 deaths in 2024 to 88 in 2025.
State officials this week celebrated the improved safety rating, attributing it to new initiatives aimed at keeping people safer on or near New Mexico roadways.
“New Mexico’s progress in pedestrian safety is the result of dedicated work happening across the state,” Shannon Glendenning, New Mexico Department of Transportation traffic safety division director, said in a statement.
But over the same year-to-year period, UNM recorded a separate yet related metric moving in the opposite direction and at a much higher rate.
From 2024 to 2025, deaths among pedal cyclists — bicyclists or any other vehicle propelled by human-powered pedals — doubled, rising from seven in 2024 to 14 in 2025.
That marks the most cyclist traffic deaths in a single year since 2006, when there were four, according to UNM.
That statistic didn’t get much airtime at a meeting of the Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee on Tuesday and appeared nowhere in a news release issued two days later announcing the decline in pedestrian fatalities.
Cyclist deaths on or near roadways in New Mexico and nationwide are vastly outnumbered by pedestrian deaths, accounting for just 3% of the 454 total traffic fatalities recorded in New Mexico last year.
But while pedestrian deaths are on the decline — with the Governors Highway Safety Association noting an 11% dip in such deaths nationwide — fatalities among cyclists are on the rise in many American cities.
According to the National Safety Council, the “number of preventable deaths from bicycle transportation incidents (in the U.S.) increased by 1% in 2024 and 37% in the last 10 years (from 1,015 in 2015 to 1,392 in 2024).”
The 14 deaths logged in 2025 in New Mexico are more than double the average of the roughly 6.5 cyclist deaths recorded in the state each year since 2006.
While cyclist deaths have fluctuated in that time, the average number of these fatalities rose to 7.7 deaths per year in the last 10 years versus 5.5 deaths in the previous decade.
Dan Majewski, who regularly bikes to work in Downtown Albuquerque, knows which roads to take and which to avoid, giving preference to streets with wider shoulders and designated bike lanes.
With more deaths among cyclists reported in the state every year, he understands why some people choose to ride outside New Mexico’s metro areas or don’t pick up the sport at all.
“I think there’s a big barrier to getting started riding,” he said. “You have to kind of learn through doing. There’s signage out there, and the city certainly tries. But you have to plan it out, you know?”
Several bicyclist traffic deaths have made headlines in New Mexico in recent years.
In May 2024, an 11-year-old boy was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly intentionally hitting and killing a physicist named Michael Habermehl, who was riding to work on an e-bike.
A year and a half later, Santa Fe resident Steven Ballinger was struck by a pickup truck driver and later died in a hospital.
In July 2025, 19-year-old Albuquerque cyclist Kayla VanLandingham was struck and killed at a bike crossing on Carlisle.
Just over a month ago, 47-year-old Robert Montoya was also hit and killed while riding to work on an e-bike just north of Interstate 40 in Northeast Albuquerque, which consistently logs about half of all cyclist deaths in the state.
Majewski previously sat on the board for BikeABQ, a safety advocate organization founded in 1999 to raise awareness of bicyclists on the state’s roadways, which officials have worked to make safer in recent years.
Legislators in 2023 passed House Memorial 85, titled “Target Zero,” which aims to achieve an annual traffic safety record of zero vehicle-related deaths or serious injuries by the end of the decade.
In March, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed new legislation requiring student drivers to take at least three hours of training on “vulnerable road users,” such as bicyclists, pedestrians and emergency service providers.
The 2023 resolution committed NMDOT to following a national model called Complete Streets, which recommends roadway projects consider multimodal forms of transportation and road “equity.”
Some cyclists say reinforcing legislation will be necessary to give it teeth.
Carl Colonius, a longtime cyclist, Taos resident and program manager for the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division, is one of them.
He illustrated the problem with a recent example south of Taos.
“You know the road that goes down through Llano Quemado by the water treatment plant toward the golf course?” he said. “That road was just repaved, beautifully done, but it doesn’t have a shoulder because that’s not a sensitivity a lot of public works directors in New Mexico have. Why would you waste 10% of your project building a shoulder? Biking and walking are not something they necessarily recognize.”
Recently, Colonius went on a ride with Graveleros, a spring and summertime biking meetup that Mason started in Las Cruces, one of several cities developing a municipal trail system to give cyclists safer routes to ride.
“There’s a wide age range, culture, gender, type of bike,” Colonius said of the experience. “So you’ve got hardcore road bikers who show up in their lycra with a matching kit, to the dude on a cruiser wearing cut-off overalls who has a basket for his cat.”
The group is a kind of microcosm for the wider New Mexico cycling community. Stories of close calls with drivers, collisions and chilling stories of final rides that ended fatally — with a white-painted bike marking the spot — remain a dark trope here and among other cycling enthusiasts throughout the state.
As of last month, UNM reported that five pedal cyclists have died so far in New Mexico in 2026.
“I don’t like to say it because I don’t want to discourage people from riding,” Mason said. “But in my mind, I sort of say that every car that passes me when I’m riding on the road could be the one that kills me. I try to keep that number as close to zero as possible while still getting where I want to go.”