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Election Day voters in New Mexico narrowly edge out the 49% that voted early and absentee
Ballots cast in-person on Election Day were neck-and-neck with early and absentee ballots in New Mexico’s 2023 local elections. By the time polls closed Tuesday evening, 51% of New Mexicans came in person on Election Day to cast their ballots and another 49% did it during early voting or via absentee ballots. The New Mexico […]
Over a hundred thousand in New Mexico cast ballots before Election Day
More than 117,000 New Mexicans cast a ballot before polls even opened on Tuesday, Nov. 7 in the 2023 municipal elections statewide. As of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the New Mexico Secretary of State reported 103,242 people voted on Election Day, showing that the amount of early votes and absentee ballots compared to the number […]
Water projects in NM to receive $235M from Interior for tribal water fund settlements
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced last week the most recent batch of funding to help the federal government meet its requirement to pay tribal water rights settlements. Out of the $326.5 million announced for nearly a dozen settlements and projects, $235.1 million will go to two water supply projects in New Mexico. The […]
Amid vacancies, New Mexico IT department asks lawmakers to fund more positions
The New Mexico Department of Information Technology is missing nearly a quarter of its workforce. With increasingly complicated and prominent technology needs, the department’s acting secretary wants lawmakers to set aside more money to pay for additional positions at the agency. The agency is looking for more funds overall as the 2024 session nears, which […]
Questions in the air about potential education transitions at Santo Domingo and Cochiti Pueblos
As students, parents, teachers and other tribal members at Santo Domingo and Cochiti Pueblos question whether or not their children will have a school to go to at the Pueblos next year, a Bernalillo Public Schools board member said officials haven’t decided to change anything — yet. With a goal to improve education on tribal […]
The state walked back on funding awards for Native orgs, then left them in the dark
Earlier this month, the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department announced it would be rescinding funding awards previously announced for Native organizations trying to help northwestern New Mexico communities recover from a large coal plant shutdown. Despite agency cabinet secretary-designee James Mountain’s commitment to reach out personally to talk about it, original award recipients haven’t heard […]
U.S. Forest Service working on response to Rep. Leger Fernández’s push for wildfire precautions
A member of New Mexico’s federal delegation representing disaster victims in northern New Mexico is waiting for the U.S. Forest Service to respond to her request for additional safety measures to prevent wildfires. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández wrote a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore on Oct. 18, urging his agency to […]
State lacks money and workers to fully connect everyone to good internet
New Mexico needs billions of dollars more to connect everyone to fiber-optic internet, a state broadband official told lawmakers this week. Even with additional money, a manual workforce shortage could present challenges in getting things done. Drew Lovelace, acting director of the state’s Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, spoke to the legislative Land Grant […]
Lawmakers discuss how Native American Voting Rights Act is changing election processes
While New Mexicans around the state head to the polls to cast their ballots during early voting in the ongoing local election, lawmakers met in Santa Clara Pueblo last week to talk about how the election is different on tribal land this time around. The recently passed Native American Voting Rights Act lifted barriers, but […]
Process moves forward to determine proposed New Mexico Gas Company rate increase
As temperatures start dropping and New Mexicans start turning up their heat, they may have to think about more expensive gas prices at their homes and businesses in the coming years. New Mexico Gas Company wants to bump rates for gas prices by 11.2%, increasing the average residential bill by $6.71, according to the utility. […]
Boosted accessibility for voters in ongoing NM local election
Polls are open for New Mexican voters, and thousands of people have already voted, both in-person and by mail. And with additional accessibility measures enacted by the 2023 Voting Rights Act, people could find more ease voting in this election than in the past. As of Tuesday morning, voters had turned in 6,418 ballots, according […]
State to decide before 2024 where to send $6 million for northwestern NM economic development
Setting up solar. Making housing more accessible. Boosting local food production. Starting up hydrogen energy productions. Expanding educational opportunities at local colleges. These are all projects local, out-of-state and even international organizations are vying to set up in northwestern New Mexico to help communities recover from a massive coal plant shutdown that happened in 2022. […]