Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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This year’s legislative session in Santa Fe, which began Tuesday, has the potential of being a highly productive session, owed to a record-setting surplus of funds and a still-ambitious two-term governor whose time is running out. This will be the last 60-day session for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. It’s boom times for state coffers and she and the state’s lawmakers now get to divvy up nearly $892 million in “new money” while a spending bill that tops $10 billion is being advanced by the Legislative Finance Committee. The money is there, bu...
Here’s a crazy idea: Instead of following the federal government’s lead away from cleaner energy sources, New Mexico could lead the way toward a more sustainable energy future anyway. Last November, Travis Kellerman, a senior policy adviser for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, attended the United Nations’ latest conference on climate change, also known as COP29. When he returned, he recalled the “uncertainty in the air” as questions loom large about future U.S. involvement under our incoming president. “Yet amidst the unease,” Kellerman wro...
In 1977, when Jimmy Carter took the presidential oath of office, I was there. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a big deal, except to me. Back then, I was wandering from town to town and job to job, so much so that I didn’t even cast a ballot in the 1976 general election that elected Carter. It’s the only presidential election I ever missed, and I’ve always regretted it. A few weeks earlier, I had hastily left a job in West Virginia, leaving behind a few things that I couldn’t carry away with my thumb. I left my things at a “settleme...
The election, crime and the climate. I think those are the three biggest stories to come out of New Mexico in 2024. There weren’t any real surprises in the state’s own elections, with all incumbents winning at the federal level and Democrats easily hanging on to power in Santa Fe. But the impact Donald Trump’s election will have on New Mexico will be unmistakable for a border state such as ours. The president-elect’s promise of mass deportations and tighter border security will hit New Mexico families hard, since many have relations south o...
It was in the year 336 when Jesus’ birthday was declared to be Dec. 25. Roman Emperor Constantine had declared Christianity the empire’s official religion and the church in Rome turned the 25th into a celebration of Christ’s birth, and we’ve been celebrating the day ever since. But celebrating Christmas isn’t the only thing that’s happened on Dec. 25, and with help from The Associated Press and its “Today in History” feature along with the website onthisday.com, here are a few Christmas Day events that stand out: • On Dec. 25, 1776, Gen. Ge...
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I grew up on them. They were the first thing I learned to make in the kitchen. That and a glass of milk. Microwaves hadn’t been invented yet. Playing basketball on a dirt patch in our back yard. That’s where I learned to dribble and shoot with one hand. And football in our front yard. When no one else was around, I’d take the hike from an imaginary center, drop back and throw to the trees, believing that I was the star quarterback in a universe I could only imagine. Those were simpler times, when telev...
If you ask me, the election of 2026 is shaping up to look like 2010, at least at the top of New Mexico’s ticket. In 2010, then-Gov. Bill Richardson was being term limited out after two terms in office. His Democratic Party nominated his lieutenant governor, Diane Denish, who became saddled with Richardson’s growing unpopularity at the time. She lost the election to Republican Susana Martinez, who went on to defeat Denish in the general election with 53% of the vote. Look ahead to 2026 and a similar scenario may be shaping up. Gov. Michelle Luj...
Christmas brings out the best and worst of our way of life. Crass consumerism runs rampant this time of year, as if owning things equates to happiness. If that’s the case, why are there so many miserable rich people? Sure, it’s the season of giving, but it’s also a season for getting. People buy things for their loved ones, and then a little extra for that special something for themselves. You know you do. I do too. Christmas used to be a religious holiday, but if that’s still the case for you, it’s because you’re going out of your way to give...
Ah, Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday of them all. As its name implies, it’s a day to give thanks for our many blessings. And for me, it’s family time up in the mountains, in a lodge we rent out every year for a long holiday weekend reunion. This year, we’ll be grieving the loss of a loved one, celebrating the youngest among us, reconnecting as a family and going home exhausted from all the fun. And then there’s politics. I’ve already been warned not to be bringing it up, and I said I’ll try. I’m not a bit happy with Trump’s election and th...
When Amazon billionaire and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos decided not to allow his newspaper to endorse Kamala Harris for president, a quarter million readers canceled their subscriptions. Now this esteemed newspaper is suffering from a credibility crisis that may never recover under Bezos’ compromised ownership. Something similar happened to Fox News back in 2020, when the network essentially called the election for Joe Biden while their most loyal viewers were drinking in Donald Trump’s Kool-Aid and denying the reality of his loss. A sud...
This column is to the progressives out there who, once again, saw their hopes for a better world thwarted by the election of Donald Trump. All is not lost. Trump could still self-destruct, especially if he actually does what he promised to do. His affinity for tariffs is a good example. More than likely, they will raise prices and undercut American jobs, and that surely won’t sit well even with his MAGA base. And his mass deportation promises will undercut our economy by taking away workers doing jobs that “true” Americans don’t want. If you...
When I was young, I didn’t know how good I had it. My family wasn’t rich, but we had enough. My parents loved their children unconditionally, taught us the value of service and gave us all a foundation for lives well lived. Moreover, I grew up with a hero in the house — my father. He wasn’t a war hero, a great athlete or television star. Instead, he was a good and decent man who made sure our home was filled with love and laughter, and I never stopped looking up to him as an example of how someone should live their life. When I hit my young a...
Here we are, on the cusp of one of the most consequential elections in American history, with the choices for president as different as night and day. Three big questions remain: Who will win the presidency? Which political party will win control of the U.S. Senate and House? And what will the losers do after the winners emerge? Polls and pundits tell us it’s too close to call in the presidential election. I expect Kamala Harris to win the overall popular vote, just as the Democratic candidate has in every presidential election since 2004, b...
Heroes are easy to find but hard to keep. Especially when we’re young, we need our heroes, or positive role models if you prefer, as examples of what courage, sacrifice and success are all about. We typically start with our parents, superheroes in our young eyes, while our imaginations gravitate toward mythical beings like the Man of Steel, the Dark Knight or, yes, that proverbial cowboy riding through a time when right was right and wrong was wrong and what you did, not what you said, was who you are. Parents and action figures are just the be...
Set aside for a moment the devastation that has hit the Southeast after back-to-back hurricanes. Turn instead to what’s happening in our little corner of the planet. Studies suggest the human body can’t survive outdoors in sustained temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit or more. And yet, Phoenix, Ariz., just endured a summer that included 56 days of 110-degree temps. And here it is October and they’re still cooking under 100-degree days. Over here in New Mexico, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported August was the hotte...
Every now and then, someone comes along who makes a unique contribution to the world in which he live. Kris Kristofferson, who died recently at age 88, was that sort of man. Kristofferson hit Nashville and the country music scene in the 1970s, first as a broom-pushing songwriter on Music Row, then as a gravel-voiced singer/songwriter on the Nashville scene, and finally as a movie star in Hollywood. But before all that, he was a standout athlete in rugby, football and boxing, a Rhodes Scholar and an Army officer. He was even offered a teaching...
Other than the presidential election and a super-tight congressional race down south, it’s a fairly tame general election in New Mexico. It could have been a more consequential year, with a mid-term, term-limited governor struggling to keep her party in lockstep on issues like crime containment and school calendars — while every seat in both the state House and Senate are up for election. Currently the New Mexico Senate is run by the Democrats, who command a 27-15 supermajority. All 42 Senate seats are up for election this year, but only 14...
I heard a report the other day that the St. James Hotel in Cimarron is closing. Another Wild West landmark goes down. The St. James is where I got the best steak I’ve ever eaten, but that wasn’t so long ago, when its owners’ focus was more on fine dining than cowboy accommodations. Back in the day, it was a rough and rowdy place, to say the least. Lots of shoot-em-ups, dozens of killings — one estimate I read had the total at 26 dead. Traveling lawmen and notorious outlaws frequented the place, and stories have been passed down about visits...
Homelessness isn’t as far away from home anymore. January “point in time” counts show that New Mexico’s unhoused population has been growing in recent years, while nationally it’s at a 15-year high. Last year’s count found a 48% increase in New Mexico’s homeless population from a year earlier, and this year’s count showed a 62% increase. This is more than a perception; it’s a reality. It’s not just in the cities these days. Where I live, along Interstate 40 in Santa Rosa, we get our share of transients, sometimes hoofing or hitchhiking their wa...
Turns out, Democrats have a mind of their own. You can see it in the fallout from Joe Biden’s weak debate performance, when the president showed his age. And you could see it in last week’s special session of the New Mexico Legislature, when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham attempted to run roughshod over her party with poorly vetted legislation. It should have been a humbling experience from our second-term governor, who has been getting things done her way for nearly six years now. But instead of coming out, hat in hand, to apologize for her fai...
By now, most New Mexicans are aware of the case against the movie star Alec Baldwin. It was getting plenty of play both here at home and abroad until, poof, it went away. It shouldn’t disappear so easily. There are more than enough questions still left to answer. The case against Baldwin was dismissed Friday after it was discovered that ammunition from the set of “Rust” had been “misfiled” and was not disclosed to the defense. That was enough to compel Santa Fe’s First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer to grant a motion to dismiss the...
About 12 years ago, when I was at the Las Vegas Optic, we worked up a special section on the seven-county region of Northeast New Mexico. Not surprisingly, our lead story was about water. At the time, Las Vegas was facing some serious drought conditions that had slowed the Gallinas River to little more than a trickle, leaving the city — which gets nearly all its water from the Gallinas — with only a couple months of water in reserve. City officials at that time said the reservoirs were only 68% full and sinking. Also around that time, I got...
Set aside for a moment Joe Biden’s haunting performance at the debate last week, there was something even more troubling that just took place. It’s not getting as much attention because we’re used to it. The debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is an example of style versus substance. Trump won on style and Biden won, by default, on substance. Biden supporters blamed a head cold on their man’s hoarse voice and subdued manner, while Trump’s supporters declared Biden ready for the nursing home. Meanwhile, Trump used his arsenal of misinform...
Stifling heat, brutal winds and massive wildfires. Extreme storms, flooding and still a years-long drought. Welcome to New Mexico’s summer of 2024. Before the summer solstice even arrived, much of our state was experiencing 100-degree temperatures. Then “fire season” blew up with a pair of wildfires in the Ruidoso area, while the 2-year-old Hermit’s Peak burn scar led to flooding in Las Vegas as the Gallinas River overflowed its banks. No corner of the state is immune from what’s to come, which is probably going to be more extreme than in s...
Common sense is not as common as it once was. Used to be, good ol’ horse sense would tell you that if a jury found a businessman turned politician guilty of every damn charge brought against him, he must be guilty. But now, way too many people have suspended their reason to see the convicted felon as nothing more than a victim of some unimaginable conspiracy against him. It makes no kind of sense, but that’s the Republican Party these days. The fact is, Donald Trump paid a porn star to keep quiet about their sordid affair so he could get electe...