The Economic Development Department (EDD) Outdoor Recreation Division Director Karina Armijo announced last week the first round of Outdoor Recreation Trails+ Grant awardees for 2023. Awards total $2,360,289 for 20 projects by organizations bringing in an additional $1,953,453 in matching funding. The Outdoor Recreation Trails+ Grant invests in conservation-minded shovel-ready projects that are open to […]
New Mexico Statewide News
Community Briefs
PNM Gives Back to Your Wallet Time to bust out the bubbly and celebrate. Thanks to a decision by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Thursday, Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) customers will get a break on their bills by the utility company that has a near-stranglehold on the state’s energy market. […]
Rancher Unveils New Tech to Remotely Vaccinate Wild Horses
Unwittingly, Roch Hart says he found himself at the nexus of the controversy over how humans take on the problem of managing the roughly 150 free-roaming horses in open spaces near Placitas. Not only does he manage the 20,000-acre Diamond Tail Ranch north of Placitas where more than 100 other wild horses roam the rugged […]
Supreme Court Opinion Matters in Sandoval County Gerrymandering Case
Attorneys representing both sides of a lawsuit that accuses the Republican-majority Sandoval County Commission of gerrymandering commission districts are weighing how an opinion recently issued by the New Mexico Supreme Court in another gerrymandering case could have influence on their case. In December 2021, the Sandoval County Commission approved new district maps on a party-line […]
County Commission Votes to Be Able to Vote Against Legislative Bills They Dislike
The first half of the September 13 Sandoval County commission meeting included many presenters, and also many comments from various commission members. Commissioner Jay Block urged Sandoval County citizens to ignore Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham’s 30-day emergency ban on carrying guns in Bernalillo County; Commissioner Katherine A. Bruch celebrated the Valles Caldera; Mike Baker, Chief Public […]
Court Resolves Who Owns Bernalillo Acre
It’s only an acre on the Rio Grande, but it was considered no-man’s land, helping to stall an 11-acre residential development on Bernalillo’s west side. The court action—which includes multiple parties and is aimed at settling who owns the acre—just wrapped, clearing a path to prepare the land necessary for new single and multi-family homes […]
Railroad Safety Projects Quiet Bernalillo
Amtrak’s Southwest Chief flew through Bernalillo recently making less of a roar and more of a whoosh. Roller-bearing axles and welded track instead of bolted sections will do that as steel wheels polish steel rails. The old-timey clickity-clack of track noise vanished some years ago, but now another sound is missing: locomotive air horns. Gone […]
Avocado Quest Rescues Family Chile Roasters
With the season for chile roasting fast approaching, the Morales family knew their produce business had a problem: no home and no place to roast. Since opening Fresh for Less Produce in Bernalillo five years ago, they managed to survive the reconstruction of U.S. Highway 550 barely 10 feet from their front door. And as […]
Power Project Plans Path Through Sandoval County
By Bill Diven The heavy-duty pipe and power lines already lacing Placitas may gain a new neighbor as renewable energy seeks a transmission route across northern New Mexico. While Invenergy Transmission has published a map of the broad corridor it plans to study, there are limited options to bring its New Mexico North Path project […]