Free Republic

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Water will soon return to the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, but it will only be a temporary fix for the river’s dry and cracked bed. The Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Authority, in partnership with a number of other agencies and organizations, has released more than 650 million gallons from Abiquiu Reservoir for a temporary re-wetting of the Rio Grande’s Albuquerque stretch. The water is expected to reach town by Thursday.

Democrats on Saturday adopted a 2028 presidential primary schedule that moves states with sought-after diverse populations to the front of a calendar that will shape their party’s fight to win the White House. Democratic National Committee members gave final approval to six early voting states, with South Carolina, which has a substantial Black population, continuing to kick off the party’s nominating contests on January 22, 2028. Nevada, a western presidential battleground, will follow on February 1. The four other early voting states are New Hampshire on February 8, New Mexico on February 15, Michigan on February 22 and Virginia on...

New Mexico is still advising that children receive the normal vaccine schedule after the Trump administration’s Monday executive order, which called for paring down the number of recommended vaccines and spacing out existing shots. “Here in New Mexico, nothing has changed,” said Dr. Miranda Durham, chief medical officer for the New Mexico Department of Health. Durham said NMDOH follows the American Academy of Pediatrics childhood vaccine schedule, which makes all vaccines available to parents if they choose. Insurance coverage for vaccines will not change either — New Mexico Medicaid plans and private insurance will continue to cover childhood vaccines regardless...

A US military GPS-jamming exercise has been linked to a medevac plane crash that killed four people in the mountains of New Mexico. The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air was flying from Roswell to Ruidoso in early May to collect a patient when its pilots suddenly lost access to their modern navigation systems. It was a clear, nearly moonless night, leaving the crew with few visual references as they flew over the dark and sparsely populated landscape. But about 100 miles away, military personnel were testing technology designed to disrupt GPS signals during an electronic warfare event at White Sands Missile...

Former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima, who ran for governor as a Democrat and then as an independent, is endorsing Republican Gregg Hull. Miyagishima ended his bid for New Mexico governor after weighing a Supreme Court appeal to stay on the ballot. Miyagishima said on Friday he decided not to pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court over his ballot status. “I have known Mayor Hull for almost 12 years. He is intelligent, hardworking, and a man of integrity. His record reflects his dedication to the people of both Rio Rancho and New Mexico,” Miyagishima said. “My goal is to...

More than $107 million in opioid settlement money sent to local governments from 2023 to 2025 went unspent. New Mexico State Auditor Joseph Maestas said his office’s report shows counties and cities had not used most of the money from lawsuits against drug companies, distributors and pharmacies over their alleged role in the opioid epidemic. The report analyzed spending from Fiscal Year 2023 through 2025. Fiscal year 2026 is currently underway. “This is New Mexico’s opportunity to begin addressing it (opioid crisis) across the entire state and at this point we’re not doing the best job and we need to...

Local moratoriums spring up after state inaction, while New Mexico and Utah fight “hyperscale” data polluters .... Local governments in Colorado are moving quickly to slap moratoriums on new data center development in reaction to a public backlash against rising electricity prices, heavy pollution and lucrative tax breaks. Denver, Jefferson County and Longmont have all moved in recent weeks to limit data centers, which house servers for mass computation that demand enormous amounts of electricity and cooling water. Cities and counties are moving in part because the state legislature failed to act in 2026, eventually letting two competing bills die...

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...

“The New Mexico Survivor’s Truth Commission,” led by a bipartisan group of four lawmakers from New Mexico’s House of Representatives, said it will begin collecting evidence from a range of federal and local agencies including the US Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Epstein’s estate, several major banks, the state’s Department of Justice and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department. “Our aim is to repair the body politic that was violated in New Mexico, in this country, and around the world by one man’s predation, and by the silence and complicity and failures of many individuals and institutions by 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”...

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...

The Trump administration has moved to seize more than 14 acres of land owned by the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces to expand border‑wall infrastructure near Mount Cristo Rey in southern New Mexico, according to court documents reported by KVIA. The effort puts federal border‑security construction on a collision course with religious‑freedom protections tied to one of the region’s most significant Catholic pilgrimage sites. If approved by a judge, the action could disrupt annual pilgrimages and set a legal test for using eminent domain against religious institutions along the U.S.-Mexico border. The civil case was filed at the request of...

Social media giant Meta is threatening to shut down access to Facebook, Instagram, and even WhatsApp in New Mexico if a judge orders the company to implement sweeping child-safety mandates sought by Attorney General Raúl Torrez. The warning comes ahead of a bench trial beginning Monday in Santa Fe, where the New Mexico Department of Justice will seek court-ordered reforms to Meta’s platforms after previously securing a $375 million jury verdict against the company for violating the state’s consumer protection laws. According to newly unsealed court filings first reported by Source New Mexico and expanded upon by The Verge, Meta...

A panel of judges handed a setback this month to New Mexico auto dealers attempting to derail mandates requiring manufacturers to deliver more electric vehicles to the state. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the New Mexico Court of Appeals means that the state remains on track to steadily increase the share of zero- and low-emission vehicles in new car showrooms between now and 2032. For vehicle year 2027, which starts this year, the state mandate requires that electric vehicles comprise 43% of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks delivered to New Mexico. That requirement is set to increase...

Albuquerque police said they arrested one of the city’s top auto theft suspects this week. APD officers arrested Gilbert Serrano after air support tracked him to El Modelo restaurant. After Serrano picked up his food, officers pulled him over and put him in handcuffs. Police named Serrano as one of the top 25 auto theft offenders on their list for April.

A proposal out of Texas to study whether some New Mexico counties could potentially join the state of Texas has triggered a surprisingly emotional response from New Mexico’s top Democratic leaders — and exposed a political nerve that Santa Fe clearly did not want touched. Earlier this week, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows directed a Texas legislative committee to study the possibility of adding “one or more contiguous counties of New Mexico” to the state of Texas. The committee has been instructed to study the constitutional, legal, fiscal, and economic feasibility of such a move and outline what steps would...

“The public is vastly unaware that our highways are completely over run right now with truck drivers operating on Foreign Commercial Drivers Licenses and what are now called Non-Domicile CDL’s."

Allegations that civil rights icon Cesar Chavez raped and sexually abused underage girls landed like a bombshell Wednesday in New Mexico, where he has enjoyed reverential status for decades. Adding to the heartbreak was a statement released Wednesday by New Mexico native Dolores Huerta revealing that she too experienced coerced and forced sexual encounters with Chavez that resulted in pregnancies in the 1960s. Huerta, 95, who was born in Colfax County and went on to co-found the National Farm Workers Association with Chavez, revealed that her two children with Chavez were "raised by other families that could give them stable...

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) — A shooting at a U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico on Tuesday left one person dead and another wounded, according to military officials. The Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, in southern New Mexico, was put on lockdown at about 5:30 p.m. because of reports of an active shooter near the base convenience store, according to a statement released by the 49th Wing. The person wounded has been taken for medical treatment, according to the statement. Security officials confirmed the base is safe and the lockdown was lifted. “Emergency personnel are responding to the situation...

Nearly two weeks after retired Air Force Gen. William McCasland disappeared from his home in the Albuquerque foothills, investigators have released a new photo they believe shows what he may have been wearing the day he vanished. Authorities say the 68-year-old was last seen on Feb. 27. The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office believes McCasland left his house on the morning of Feb. 27. A repairman interacted with him around 10 a.m., and his wife left for a medical appointment at about 11:10 a.m. When she returned just after noon, he was gone. Items unaccounted for from his home include hiking...