Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: an update on the Texas-New Mexico legal dispute over Rio Grande water sharing and a first-person account of Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin's August bench trail in Santa Fe that could end his career as a public official.
Once Truth or Consequences deputy chief of police and even acting-chief, Erica Baker's 15-year law-enforcement career, 10 years with the city, looked bright. She had just been accepted into the prestigious FBI Academy. Then City Manager Bruce Swingle fired her, ruining her reputation.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: an assessment of how centuries of land-use decisions combined with climate change have precipitated New Mexico's wildfire crisis.
Must-read reporting and commentary from across the state and the country. Today's intelligence: where does New Mexico stand in making voting easier and more secure—part of a USA Today Network report on how voting laws are changing across America.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: update on New Mexico's land conservation planning and criticism of recent federal and state responses to the Southwest's dire water shortages.
Going against U.S. tradition, the Truth or Consequences City Commission passed a local law that limits property rights that will be enforced retroactively. Since the ordinance doesn't state the law is retroactive, this begs the question whether other city land-use laws or ordinances may be enforced retroactively by city staff.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: steps taken yesterday by the federal government to save the Colorado River (on which New Mexico depends for water) and a legal analysis of whether Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, convicted of misdemeanor trespassing at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, can be prohibited from holding public office.
The measure on the November ballot is a test of citizen oversight. Vote "no" in the absence of government accountability for how the city will address the infrastructure crisis and how it will spend $3 million in general obligation bonds.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: dissecting the meaning of yesterday's reproductive freedom vote in Kansas.
The city commission's "public" representatives on a committee that will weigh whether to dissolve the court are the city manager and an ex-city commissioner.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: the influence of high oil and gas prices and the industry's political contributions in New Mexico's 2022 election.
The biggest budget the city has ever passed, a final budget massively different from the draft budget, and yet no questions and no discussion from city commissioners.