Christopher Rojas, age 17, of Hobbs is currently being held at the Lea County Detention Center after an “officer-involved shooting”. The incident occurred on Saturday, near the intersection of East Alameda Street and North Marland Boulevard in Hobbs, and involved several people. According to a New Mexico Department of Public Safety (NMDPS) press release, the…

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is driving another wedge in Holtec International’s hope to build a nuclear waste facility in a remote area of Lea County, close to Eddy County. Referred to as the Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) and supported by Lea County Commissioners and the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA), as well as…

Communities and counties in southeastern New Mexico, like Hobbs and Lea County, that have adopted ordinances limiting access to reproductive healthcare are learning that the restrictions they have placed on providing such services are null and void. On Thursday, March 16, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law HB7 – the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health…

Alexis Avila, the teenage mother accused of throwing her alive newborn in a trash bin in Hobbs on January 7, 2022, will be tried in Lea County on the criminal charge of “Child Abuse Causing Great Bodily Harm” – a first degree felony. On Monday, March 13, judge William G. W. Shoobridge, of the Fifth…

The plan to store radioactive nuclear waste in an uninhabited area of Lea County has been on the drawing board since 2018. In August of that year, Lea County Commissioners passed a resolution (PDF) supporting Holtec International’s efforts to build its Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) in a remote region of the county. Then again…

This Letter to the Editor was submitted by Natalie Smith of Hobbs, Member of the Lea County Progressive Club. Now that The Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare Freedom Act  is closer to being signed into law by our governor, people seeking reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare services will enjoy more protections. Specifically, these bills, known as HB…

And Its Significance Just last week I read the story of J. O. Langford, a Mississippi cotton farmer who moved to the Big Bend Country of West Texas a century ago, in 1909, and homesteaded along the Rio Grande east of the Chisos Mountains. Langford’s story is told by a Texas writer of considerable talents,…

The Federal Government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is expected to auction for oil and gas lease a total of 12 parcels of land – approximately 916 acres – in southeastern New Mexico and Oklahoma by the end of this year. Two of the parcels – comprising slightly over 124 acres – are located in…

The story of Hobbs teenager Alexia Avila allegedly throwing her alive newborn into a trash bin located behind Rig Outfitters and Home Store in Hobbs on January 7 of last year was covered by news outlets all across New Mexico, the entire nation and even overseas. Now that her trial, scheduled to take place in…

Earlier this month, Hobbs Police Chief August Fons presented a summary of his 2022–2023 Hobbs Police Department (HPD) Annual Report to commissioners and the public at the February regular meeting of the Hobbs City Commission. Chief Fons reported that since 2021 statistically crime has risen in Hobbs (population 42,425) 9%. Chief Fons also remarked that…