A native New Yorker may seem like a unique and unusual choice to serve as the city manager of a small town in the Southwest, but David Miranda considers Lovington his adopted hometown. Miranda had been filling in as interim city manager since the previous Lovington city manager, Vidal Martinez, resigned back in May, and…

“A miracle happened in Hobbs today,” said Hobbs city manager Manny Gomez. Hobbs Fire Station 1 staff responded around noon on Saturday, September 23 to the station’s Safe Haven Baby Box alarm “to find a healthy newborn baby boy safe and sound within the incubator.”  About the incident, Hobbs Interim Fire Chief Mark Doporto told…

Eddy County’s Steven McCutcheon II, of Carlsbad, not state Rep. Larry Scott (R-62), of Hobbs, has been appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to fill the District 42 state Senate seat vacated by Gay Kernan on August 1. New Mexico’s District 42 spans portions of Chavez, Eddy and Lea counties. Rep. Scott is not surprised…

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday, September 15, narrowed her 30-day “emergency public health order” signed by New Mexico Health Secretary Patrick Allen that suspended both the open carry and “permitted concealed carry” of firearms in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. Now the order applies “…only to public parks and playgrounds where children and…

A deceased infant was found by hospital staff at Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital on Wednesday morning, September 13. According to a press release issued by the Hobbs Police Department (HPD), officers responded to 4900 North Lovington Highway (Covenant Health Hospital) “…in reference to a deceased baby.” “A 16-year-old juvenile, accompanied by her mother, was being…

A Thursday, September 7, power outage damaged the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems at several City of Hobbs facilities – the Public Library, City Hall, the Teen Center and the Municipal Court.  Damage to the public library’s HVAC system was extensive “…to the point that it no longer cools the facility,” states a…

Lea County officials conducted a drug bust on Tuesday, September 5, seizing almost $163,000 worth of drugs – fentanyl and methamphetamine. Authorities have not as of yet released additional information about the ongoing case. Lea County Drug Task Force (LCDTF) agents with the assistance of Lea County Sheriff’s deputies conducted “a vehicle stop for a…

Release provided by McDonald’s Media Relations Firm. Araceli Ornelas, Manager of the McDonald’s restaurant at 410 Main Street, has won a Ray Kroc Award, an accolade that recognizes the top performing McDonald’s Restaurant Managers globally. Named in honor of the McDonald’s Corporation founder Ray Kroc, the awards were established in 1999 to recognize hard-working restaurant…

Mary Johnson, of Hobbs, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the stabbing murder of her 11-year-old son Bruce Johnson, Jr. Originally charged with First Degree Murder by District Attorney Diana Luce and pleading “insanity and incapacity to form specific intent” to that charge, Johnson agreed to the lesser guilty charge of Second…

Almost 600 acres, comprising 12 parcels of federal public land in southeastern New Mexico and Oklahoma, may be leased by online auction to the oil and gas industry on November 30 by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Approximately 75% of the land to be leased is located in Lea and Eddy counties –…