Free Republic

Red and green chile peppers are more than just ingredients in New Mexico; they’re a way of life. The question “Red or green?” is one you’ll hear at restaurants across the state. For the indecisive or adventurous, there’s always “Christmas,” a mix of both. Red chile comes from ripened New Mexican chile peppers that are left on the plant longer, allowing them to deepen in color and develop a rich, earthy flavor. As they mature, these peppers take on more natural sugars, which contribute to the velvety depth of red chile sauce. Green chile peppers are a cornerstone of New...

Deb Haaland is backing fellow far-leftist, Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, for lieutenant governor, ending days of jockeying among New Mexico Democrats after Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver abruptly suspended her campaign just weeks after winning the Democratic primary. The endorsement is a major boost for Garcia Richard, who had previously launched her own lieutenant governor campaign before withdrawing from the race earlier this year. Now, after Toulouse Oliver’s exit, Garcia Richard is back in the hunt — this time with Haaland’s blessing. In a statement dated June 26, Haaland told Democrat State Central Committee members that she had...

Federal immigration agents have nabbed more than 10,000 migrant gangbangers since the start of President Trump’s second term, the US Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday. The milestone, reached just a year and a half after Trump launched his sweeping mass deportations agenda, includes arrests tied to murder, assault with a deadly weapon, drug trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, robbery and extortion, according to DHS. “Many of these gang members were released into our country by Joe Biden,” said DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin. “These vicious criminals murdered, assaulted, robbed, and terrorized innocent Americans for sport.” “Thanks to the Secure America Act, ICE...

Eddy County Sheriff Matthew Hutchinson is blasting U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez after the Democrat congressman’s delayed response to National Police Week, accusing Vasquez of treating law enforcement like an afterthought while officers in southern New Mexico face the daily consequences of crime, fentanyl, and the border crisis. In a new opinion column titled “Our congressman won’t back the badge,” Hutchinson said Vasquez remained silent for the first two days of National Police Week, which ran May 10-16, before finally posting a message after being publicly called out by Republican congressional candidate Greg Cunningham. “For two full days, our congressman said...

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury is doubling down on her gerrymandering fundraising pitch, again accusing Republicans of trying to “deny representation” while ignoring the political reality right here in New Mexico: Democrats used total control of Santa Fe to redraw the state’s congressional map and help wipe out Republican representation in the U.S. House delegation. In a new campaign email with the subject line “A lack of representation,” Stansbury claimed, “Republican gerrymandering is an attempt to deny representation for Americans.” The email asked supporters to “rush $10 right now” to help Stansbury support Democratic women, saying her campaign needed to raise...

A new report from the nonpartisan State of the Nation Project lists New Mexico near the bottom of national rankings for education, shootings, youth depression and a number of other factors that impact life satisfaction. The organization produced the State of the States report, which gives in-depth scorecards to each of the 50 states and Washington D.C. ... A board of academics and advisers to the last five presidents created a list of 31 measures — ranging from youth depression, air quality and income inequality to social isolation, life expectancy and young adults employed or in school — and quantified...

Newly reported details are shedding light on the disappearance of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, whose case has drawn national attention because of his military background and alleged connection to classified government programs involving unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP. McCasland, 68, disappeared from his Albuquerque home on Feb. 27. His case quickly became the subject of online speculation because of his long military career, including work connected to highly sensitive defense programs. Some have suggested his disappearance could be linked to his knowledge of UAP-related information. But newly surfaced records reported by Los Angeles Magazine and highlighted...

A jury in Silver City awarded a $13 million verdict in a medical malpractice case to the family of Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood with her portrayal of Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series. Jurors deliberated about two hours before returning the verdict Thursday against a Grant County hospital where the 89-year-old actor sought treatment in the days before her death in 2022. Attorneys for the family alleged that employees at Gila Regional Medical Center failed to appropriately diagnose and treat Nichols for symptoms of acute heart failure. "Miss Nichols came to...

The battle for control of Congress is on. Republicans hope to maintain and expand their narrow majorities in the fall for the second half of President Donald Trump’s term, while Democrats will aim to win over voters frustrated with Trump on the economy and other issues. States results at link..................

If you live in these states, GO VOTE!

Melissa Casias was among those flagged by FBI and House Oversight investigations into nuclear-linked disappearances One of the bodies of the 11 mysteriously missing persons that had potential ties to U.S. nuclear secrets or rocket technology has been discovered by a hiker in a New Mexico national forest. Police have identified the remains of Melissa Casias, 54, a missing Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) worker. Her disappearance became part of a wider swirl of speculation over scientists and lab-linked employees who vanished or died under unclear circumstances that spurred President Donald Trump's attention and a House Oversight Committee investigation. The...

A top Democratic governor claimed at a meeting Wednesday that her party doesn’t “need any of the men” to win the 2028 presidential election. Democrat New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham made the boast while speaking at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Rules and Bylaws Committee Meeting in Washington, D.C., alongside other state leaders and convention chairs. The 7-hour-long meeting allowed state leaders to present their case to the committee regarding which states should be granted an “early window” status in the 2028 presidential nominating calendar. Although a staff member admitted that Democrats are “losing their share of the electorate”...

Police officers in New Mexico were recording as they spoke with a witness who allegedly had dinner with William Neil McCasland the night before he vanished without a trace on February 27. The bodycam footage, obtained by the Law&Crime Network, captured a phone call with an unidentified woman who said McCasland met with her and members of the US Space Force at a restaurant in Albuquerque around 6pm local time. 'I was shocked this morning when I saw the alert because what I noticed Thursday evening [February 26] is he wasn't his usual self. He was kind of spacey and...

Driving the highway between Loving and Carlsbad on May 19, Jackie Onsurez noticed something unusual rising above an oilfield site operated by NGL Energy Partners. As he got closer, he realized the 70-foot plume was not smoke but a geyser of toxic oil field wastewater — known as produced water — erupting from a pipe. Onsurez, an engineer and member of New Mexico’s State Emergency Response Commission, immediately began calling NGL, 911, the New Mexico Environment Department and local officials. A roughneck arrived moments later and tried unsuccessfully to stop the spray. “The only people with protective gear were the...

Three people have died and 19 others were rushed to hospital after coming into contact with an unknown substance. Authorities were called to a home in Mountainair, New Mexico, on Wednesday to a suspected overdose involving an unidentified substance. According to New Mexico State Police, they arrived to find four people unresponsive inside the home, with three of them having since died. Officials said that during their response 18 first responders were exposed to the substance and transported to hospital. A statement said they are 'currently being quarantined, evaluated, and monitored', with two of them listed as being in a...

A Catholic diocese in New Mexico is challenging an effort by the Trump administration to seize part of its southern border property through eminent domain for the construction of a border security wall. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces filed a complaint against the federal government over plans to acquire roughly 14 acres of diocesan land for border security purposes. Filed last week, the lawsuit argues that the proposed land seizure would interfere with access to Mount Cristo Rey, a popular pilgrimage site featuring a 29-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the border region. Located near the borders of...

The federal government last week revealed it intended to use eminent domain to wrest a 1.3-mile stretch of New Mexico borderland from the Catholic diocese for a border barrier, but church officials in federal court filings Friday argued that doing so would violate their religious freedom. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol first announced last summer that it intended to build a border wall along the southern skirt of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces owns. Officials told Source NM at the time that site “was a major human smuggling infiltration site...

The Rio Rancho Police Department announced that the driver of a tractor-trailer that struck and killed a sergeant with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office in February may face charges. In a Wednesday news release, RRPD said investigators have developed probable cause against Miguel Orlando Perez for charges of careless driving and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle after his semi crashed into 52-year-old Sgt. Michael Schlattman. Both charges are misdemeanors, and final charging decisions will be made by the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, according to a news release from Jayme Gonzales, spokesperson for BCSO. The DA’s Office received...

Ted Turner helps a biologist release a couple of wolves on his Ladder Ranch, New Mexico, property in 1998.Over the course of his long life, media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner bought vast stretches of land in Colorado, New Mexico, Montana and Nebraska and managed them for conservation. That work is expected to continue, even after Turner’s death on May 6 at age 87. One of the Turner family’s largest properties, the 363,000-acre Armendaris Ranch in south-central New Mexico, is shielded from development by the nation’s second-largest permanent conservation easement. According to a statement on Turner Enterprises’ website, the rest...

Whitmire says redistricting will be debated in Austin By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press Sept. 3, 2003, 3:12PM The first Democratic senator to break ranks with the boycotting legislators who fled to New Mexico said today that ultimately congressional redistricting will have to be debated on the Texas Senate floor. Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, said if Republican Gov. Rick Perry decides to continue calling special legislative sessions on the issue, the governor can outlast the 10 Senate Democrats who remain in Albuquerque, N.M. "We cannot remain in New Mexico indefinitely. At some point in time, unless you're prepared...