Albuquerque Journal

UNDERESTIMATED PERIL

The Energy Department has underestimated the potential deadly consequences should plutonium escape Los Alamos National Laboratory, which produces bomb cores for America’s nuclear weapons, a study published by independent scientists found. The chances...

NM childcare providers push back on proposed childcare wage mandate

SANTA FE — The state of New Mexico is seeking to include wage and reporting requirements with its universal childcare program, though some providers are at odds with the proposed rules. The potential changes could require childcare providers who opt...

Ex-Laker joins Navajo pro to empower Native youth

Shiprock native Analyss Benally has traveled the world and taken roles in movies thanks to basketball. Maybe that round ball can have the same effect on today’s youth living on the Navajo Nation. That’s part of the message Benally, a professional...

Albuquerque senior centers raise breakfast meal prices

The city of Albuquerque raised breakfast prices at senior centers this week, drawing criticism from elders. Menus officially changed Monday, with prices for some items jumping from $1.50 to a high of $5. While the change may seem negligible to...

Haaland holds big cash advantage over Hull

SANTA FE — Deb Haaland is entering the final four months before November’s general election with a significant cash edge in New Mexico’s open race for governor. The Democratic nominee reported last week having raised roughly $1.1 million during a...

Road to a smoother ride

On a late June morning, William Rose stood on a pile of dirt near Interstate 25 looking at where the old Montgomery Boulevard bridge used to be. “You get a little bit of ‘shock and awe’ when you take a step back and see what’s changing,” said Rose, a...

Faces of the Mother Road

In the stretch between Clines Corners and west Albuquerque, Route 66 is something of a shapeshifter — straddling the rural and urban, traversing mountain and desert. It starts as Interstate 40 crossing scrubby landscapes dotted with crumbling buildings...

New Mexicans reflect on what it means to be an American ‘History is not a single story’

Two hundred fifty years since the country’s founding and nearly 114 years since joining the union, New Mexicans are still wrestling with the question of what it means to be American. On July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress approved the...

NM regulators order Blackstone and TXNM to unwind $400M stock sale

New Mexico regulators on Thursday moved to unravel a $400 million stock sale that gave Blackstone Inc. a foothold in the state’s largest electric utility, ruling that the transaction should have gone through a review process it never received. The...

North Valley mosque advances after officials deny appeal

The Bernalillo County Planning Commission on Wednesday cleared the way for a mosque to be built in the North Valley, denying an appeal that would have prevented the place of worship from breaking ground. The Albuquerque Islamic Center said the...

Fentanyl fuels spike in New Mexico overdose deaths

Then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in May 2025 announced what she described as the largest fentanyl bust in U.S. history, including 2.7 million opioid pills seized in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Despite this and other large drug seizures, New Mexico...

Gov. demands restitution as outrage builds over DEA tactics

Top state and local officials said they plan to push the federal government to reimburse New Mexico for the damage caused by a controversial tactic that allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to flood the state. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham...

‘The Boroughs’ cancellation delivers major blow to state’s film industry

The magical orange elixir in Netflix’s “The Boroughs” promises eternal life — but the high-profile production couldn’t promise the same for New Mexico’s struggling film industry. The streaming company has canceled the supernatural mystery series,...

New Mexico is on the road again

NEWKIRK — A wise man once said: Life is a highway. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Route 66, photographer Jessica Baca and I traveled 100 miles of Route 66 throughout eastern New Mexico, from Newkirk to Clines Corners. Thank God gas is cheaper...

Wolf trapping on the rise

Their official name was the Middle Fork pack. But to some biologists, advocates and those paying close attention to wolf recovery efforts, the Mexican gray wolves had another name: the Tripod pack. The female alpha and male that ran the pack were...

‘Slap in the face’ to NM

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said Thursday that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration made an “immoral decision” by allowing tens of thousands of illicit fentanyl pills to enter a city and state already struggling with drug-related crime and...

Fires force evacuations, threaten structures

A wildfire near Jemez Springs forced evacuations and campground closures Wednesday morning as crews battled the blaze. The McCauley Springs Fire, just north of Jemez Springs, grew to 150 acres after being discovered early Wednesday, according to a...

Humans, wildlife feel the heat as water becomes scarce in NM’s backcountry

Before he sets out into the Gila Wilderness on the southwestern edge of New Mexico, Grant County Search and Rescue President Russ Imler always does his best to determine where the water is — and where it won’t be. It’s an essential calculation to make...

EL NIÑO RETURNS

For the last few years, New Mexicans have watched winter storms bypass the state and dump snow and rain elsewhere. This year, forecasters say the Southwest might finally get its turn. The reason is El Niño, a weather pattern that normally brings more...

Feds allow deadly drugs to ‘walk’ onto ABQ streets

Federal authorities have opted not to stop hundreds of thousands of illicit fentanyl pills from reaching New Mexico communities despite internal rules stressing that public safety was “paramount,” according to records and interviews reviewed by the...

‘Gateway to Route 66 in the Southwest’

TUCUMCARI — In early June, Tor Kraft decided to take his daughter Briar on a trip across the United States so they could spend time together before she graduates from high school next year. The Krafts’ original plan was to fly from Orlando, Florida,...

Beloved painting of Lordsburg’s first female mayor returns to City Hall

LORDSBURG — The first woman to serve as mayor of this city near New Mexico’s Bootheel gazes down over the public gallery in the council chambers through an oil portrait that commands the room. Betty Lazar is shown seated in a pink ball gown, hands...

DANCING FREE ON JUNETEENTH

Local musician Clarq. performs at the Albuquerque Museum on Thursday during its “Third Thursday” event kicking off Juneteenth weekend. The event featured live performances and a pop-up market featuring Black-owned businesses and artisans.

CHANGING ‘THE FUTURE OF AVIATION’

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited Albuquerque on Wednesday to highlight a pilot program for next-generation aircraft that will put pilots on the ground instead of in the cockpit — part of a broader push to modernize American...

NM Senate Democratic floor leader Wirth says he won’t seek reelection

SANTA FE — 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...

MONSOON, EL NIÑO KICK OFF

Bicyclists were seen pedaling through the parched Rio Grande on Monday — but meteorologists are predicting that two seasons now underway could provide relief to New Mexico during the second half of the year. Monday marked the official start to New...

She faced years on a transplant list — until her colleagues stepped up

Two days before Christmas last year, Kathleen Gallegos went to the hospital with what she thought was a kidney stone. After a round of tests, the doctors told her she was in full liver failure. “We were just baffled,” said Gallegos, who noted that...

NM cycling deaths on the rise

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...

They’re off and running

The cheers echoing across the Downs at Albuquerque this spring have carried more significance than a typical day at the races. After flooding left Ruidoso Downs unable to host its 2026 season, officials moved 49 days of racing — including some of...

BernCo approves $4.9 million for pet adoption and education center

Bernalillo County commissioners this week approved $4.9 million to renovate and operate a center in the Northeast Heights that would work paw-in-paw with the county’s main shelter to educate pet owners and find animals their forever homes. The Animal...

SOCORRO COUNTY APPROVES MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTER

SOCORRO — After more than two months of public opposition to the proposed Green Data Center project, the Socorro County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on data centers and related infrastructure. Green Data, a Canadian...

PRC examiners recommend reversing $400M TXNM stock sale to Blackstone

State Public Regulation Commission hearing examiners on Monday said commissioners should reverse a $400 million sale of TXNM Energy Inc. stock to Blackstone Inc., a move that could complicate the New York-based private equity firm’s $11.5 billion bid...

PUSH FOR THE PIT

Ryan Berryman wasn’t even born when a young Jim Valvano frantically sprinted around the court looking for someone, anyone, to hug on that April evening in 1983. But, like the 30-something former North Carolina State men’s basketball coach, the...

Prince Valiant

Embattled state GOP chairwoman loses party job, then bid for reelection

SANTA FE — Just days after a judge ordered her to step down as New Mexico Republican Party chairwoman, Amy Barela suffered a different kind of defeat. The incumbent was ousted this week from the Otero County Commission by primary election challenger...

Haaland, Hull quickly shift focus to November

A day after a dominating victory in her primary election race, Democrat Deb Haaland let her campaign staffers sleep in — at least for a few extra hours — as she began shifting her focus to November. For his part, Republican Gregg Hull said he only...

Epstein truth-finding panel hears testimony from victims

SANTA FE — A truth-finding commission probing sexual abuse allegations at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch issued 14 subpoenas Monday to a variety of institutions and heard testimony from victims and family members. Speakers on Monday included Rachel...

A ROUGH REMATCH FOR HOLM

Holly Holm was not happy. Neither were those in her corner. Not when the result of Saturday’s fight against Stephanie Han was announced in the boxing ring in El Paso, Texas. Not when Holm left for her post-fight press conference. It was Han, after...

US Supreme Court settles long-running dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court has approved a settlement package designed to rein in groundwater pumping along one of North America’s longest rivers and ensure enough water reliably makes it from New Mexico to Texas, ending a long-running dispute over...

Taos native leads Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute

SANTA FE — Growing up in Taos, Syri Mongiello learned the importance of providing central spaces for small communities to come together, a concept that’s at the heart of her new role as executive director of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market...

STARS, STRIPES AND STORIES

New Mexicans of all ages turned out Monday to pay respects to military members who died serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. A parade was held along Gibson Boulevard as participants made their way to the New Mexico Veterans Memorial, where a ceremony was...

Letters to Eva

Dec. 8, 1941: I stepped outside my quarter doors and looked to the north. They were pretty planes, flying high in the sky. One could tell at once they weren’t our pretty planes — two waves of them, 27 each, the second some distance from the first. The...

Judge calls on both sides to take ‘problem-solving approach’

SANTA FE — Though the case before him centered on the safety of young New Mexicans in the digital realm, Judge Bryan Biedscheid presided over the second phase of New Mexico’s landmark lawsuit against Meta this month from behind a wall of paperwork. A...

Cause of 3 deaths, exposures in Mountainair remain a mystery

MOUNTAINAIR — Federal authorities joined the investigation Thursday into what caused the deaths of three people and the hospitalization of more than a dozen first responders the day before. The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug...

City Council passes $1.47B budget

Is the glass half-full? Or half-empty? Mayor Tim Keller’s office says he and the City Council have a difference of perspective over how much money the city of Albuquerque should spend next year. Keller said his proposed budget followed the...

Albuquerque homeless residents describe violence and threats

Kodiak was biking down the streets of Southeast Albuquerque near the Ramada hotel when he noticed a truck shift lanes. At first, he thought nothing of the vehicle as it veered from the far right lane of the road. “The next thing I knew, the truck was...

‘I FEEL LIKE THIS IS MY SECOND LIFE’

Dion’s Pizza never tasted so good. At least that’s how Mark Fratrick felt after a week without food and just a sip of fluids inside University of New Mexico’s Critical Care unit, having just narrowly survived one of the world’s deadliest...

Medical plane crashes in Capitan Mountains, killing all four aboard

Four people died Thursday morning in a medical plane crash near Ruidoso, authorities said, and a wildfire that ignited shortly after had grown to 35 acres by the afternoon. Lincoln County officials said the aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air 90, was...

City details plan for safe outdoor space

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller on Wednesday announced a new initiative to address homelessness: providing a place to sleep outside the West Side shelter for those not ready to step inside. The proposed Gateway Safe Outdoor Space will provide showers,...

Missed opportunity?

Did the University of New Mexico let a golden opportunity fly by when choosing the five finalists who will compete to run the state’s flagship university? Albuquerque’s business community seems to think so. Some business leaders said they were...

UNM, OLEN INK NEW 5-YEAR CONTRACT

The University of New Mexico and men's basketball coach Eric Olen have agreed to a new contract, one that will pay him $7.25 million over the next five years and includes measures intended to entice the coach to stick around. Olen led the Lobos to a...

ROUND & ROUND with Mom

Mothers and their children made sweet memories together during Mother's Day celebrations around Albuquerque on Sunday. The Journal caught glimpses of mothers and children riding the carousel and enjoying snow cones at the Albuquerque BioPark Zoo....

A half-century of growth at Los Poblanos

When Penny Rembe and her husband set their sights on a 25-acre farm in the North Valley, they never envisioned what would stand on the property a half-century later. Rembe said, like the lavender bushes that buffer Los Poblanos or the varietal roses...

GOP gubernatorial candidates talk policy in Journal debate

The three gubernatorial candidates in the Republican primary race often parroted each other’s policy plans while touting their records in business and government during a debate Friday at the Albuquerque Journal. Gregg Hull, former Rio Rancho mayor,...

‘MY GROWING SEASON ... IS OVER’

CORRALES — Corrales farmers experiencing a dry start to the year now have less water to use for the foreseeable future. The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) has suspended irrigation deliveries to the village. The deliveries rely on...

‘EXTRAORDINARY LEGACY’

Storied media mogul and conservationist Ted Turner died at age 87 on Wednesday, leaving behind a legacy that spanned both airwaves and over 2 million acres across the U.S., more than half of which he purchased in New Mexico. Until recently, Turner was...

Ready. Set. Elect.

Election season got underway across New Mexico on Tuesday, the first day of early voting ahead of the June 2 primary election. Absentee ballots also started to be mailed out Tuesday. This will be the first election that independent voters — who make up...

LOW& SLOW

The Cinco de Mayo Lowrider Fiesta rolled into the Duke City on Saturday. The fiesta was held at the Albuquerque Rail Yards and aimed to celebrate Route 66's 100th anniversary, which is this year. Lowriders, classic cars and viclas were all displayed.

NAVAJO LAWMAKERS ADVANCE TALLGRASS GAS PIPELINE PLAN

A 234-mile pipeline that could carry natural gas or natural gas-hydrogen blends across the Navajo Nation is a step closer to reality. The Resources and Development Committee of the Navajo Nation Council voted at the end of March to conditionally allow...

A refuge for transgender care

As some conservative states restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender people, New Mexico is increasingly positioning itself as a safe haven. In the past six months, Planned Parenthood clinics in New Mexico have seen a 50% increase in...

Locals rally for better wages on International Workers’ Day

Hundreds of workers and labor union representatives gathered at Civic Plaza on Friday to call for better working conditions and higher wages on International Workers’ Day. Also known as May Day, the holiday is similar to Labor Day, when unions...

Mike Smith looks to set record at Kentucky Derby

Mike Smith talks about it in a way that invokes a sort of magical quality. A jockey and his horse. The New Mexico native can’t help it. It’s natural. It’s more than the excitement or the adrenaline of a race, or the calmness needed or the nerves that...

Annual Jane’s Walk highlights the heart of ABQ’s historic neighborhoods

In the Raynolds Addition neighborhood south of Downtown, you can see both tree-lined boulevards and towering urban high-rises. Meanwhile, people flock to the crowded farmers market at Robinson Park or take contemplative sips of black coffee at Java...

Audit faults Mora County over handling of wildfire funds

SANTA FE — A special audit into Mora County’s handling of more than $40 million in state wildfire response funds found county officials routinely skirted New Mexico’s procurement code, were late on payments for leased equipment and misused roughly $3...

Wall of historic Lindy's Diner collapses just days after closure

A wall that city officials warned was in danger of collapsing fell Monday at Lindy's Diner, sending part of the building onto a Downtown Albuquerque sidewalk and narrowly missing a passing vehicle. The incident happened days after the restaurant was...

Students read aloud. AI scores them

Lilly Garcia is learning to read. Her tutor is a robot. On a Friday morning in her combination second- and third-grade class at Matheson Park Elementary School, Garcia reads a story about a rabbit and a fox traveling to a tropical island. She's...

The last Gathering of Nations

The dancers streamed in from the southwest corner, filling Tingley Coliseum with beautiful, bright regalia and a deafening chorus of chants, drums and clanging bells. It marked the “Last Dance” of the Gathering of Nations Powwow, the largest powwow in...

BernCo officials spar, property owners decry short-term rental tax policy

This weekend, Albuquerque resident and property manager Shane Dolinski is renting out one of his short-term rental properties in the Foothills to a couple of families who came from across the country for the city’s last Gathering of Nations Pow...

CONNECTION TO THE NATURAL WORLD

More than a dozen Indigenous people and supporters gathered on the banks of the Rio Grande on Thursday afternoon for the ninth year, drawn together by the Two Spirit Water Ceremony led by Sharon M. Day. The ceremony celebrates the vital spirit of...

Gov. issues order creating state energy council to study cost, reliability issues

SANTA FE — With New Mexicans facing rising electricity rates and hotter weather, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday ordered the creation of a new energy affordability council to provide policy recommendations by later this year. The 13-member...