Category Archives: New Mexico

New Mexico officials call for governor’s impeachment after firearms restriction

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Democratic governor’s emergency order restricts carrying firearms for at least 30 days amid spate of gun violence

New Mexico state representatives Stefani Lord and John Block are calling for the impeachment of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham after Grisham issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public in and around Albuquerque, the state’s largest city.

The governor on Friday issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public across Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days amid a spate of gun violence.

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Santa Fe monument to controversial frontiersman Kit Carson vandalized

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Mayor denounces ‘cowardly act’ targeting US soldier involved in death of hundreds of Native Americans in 19th century

Police in New Mexico’s capital city are investigating the partial destruction of a public monument to a 19th-century frontiersman and US soldier who had a leading role in the death of hundreds of Native Americans during Anglo-American settlement of the American West.

The monument to Christopher “Kit” Carson has been encircled by a plywood barrier for its own protection since 2020, when Santa Fe was swept by the movement to remove depictions of historical figures who mistreated Native Americans amid a national reckoning over racial injustice.

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Virgin Galactic successfully flies tourists to space for first time

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Six individuals were aboard VSS Unity space plane, including first mother-daughter duo to venture to space together

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity, the reusable rocket-powered space plane carrying the company’s first crew of tourists to space, successfully launched and landed on Thursday.

The mission, known as Galactic 02, took off shortly after 11am ET from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

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Residents of US south-west swelter under record-breaking heatwave

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Relentless temperatures upwards of 100F leave millions under extreme heat warnings and outdoor events cancelled

Record-breaking heat is baking the US south-west this week, putting millions under extreme heat warnings as temperatures upwards of 100F (38C) hit Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and southern California for days on end.

Even desert residents accustomed to scorching summers are feeling the relentless grip of the heat. Phoenix, which hit a 12th consecutive day of 110F on Tuesday, could see its longest ever heatwave.

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Rust film set weapons supervisor was likely hungover, prosecutors say

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Prosecutors say Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, charged with involuntary manslaughter, has a history of reckless conduct at work

Prosecutors in a case arising from the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of the movie Rust claim that the weapons supervisor on the production was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during filming – and she was likely hungover when she loaded a live bullet into the revolver that actor Alec Baldwin used.

The accusation was made in a response to a request by attorneys for the gun handler Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to have involuntary manslaughter charges against her dismissed, as her defense condemned what they said were “character assassination” tactics in a mishandled case.

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Three people killed and five injured in shooting at New Mexico biker rally

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Mayor of Red River says the shooting was gang-related, and that the shooters have all been taken into custody

Three people were killed and five injured in a shooting at a biker rally in Red River, New Mexico, on Saturday.

Neither the victims nor the shooters were local residents and were among bikers who were visiting for the rally over the long weekend holiday leading into Memorial Day, Red River mayor Linda Calhoun told the Guardian on Sunday.

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Historic Colorado River deal not enough to stave off long-term crisis, experts say

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Agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut water consumption by 13% but experts warn river is still in serious peril

A hard-fought agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to slash the states’ use of the shrinking Colorado River is only a temporary salve to a long-term water crisis that continues to threaten the foundations of life in the American west, experts have warned.

The deal, announced on Monday, between the three states that make up the lower portion of the sprawling Colorado basin will pare back 13% of water consumption from the beleaguered river over the next three years if adopted, averting the prospect of more stringent cuts imposed by the federal government. Backed by $1.2bn in federal funds, the bulk of the reductions are structured to encourage voluntary cuts taken by rights holders, in exchange for grant money.

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Family of teen shooter who killed three says he struggled with mental illness

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New Mexico 18-year-old killed three women and injured six others in mass shooting on Monday in Farmington

The family of an 18-year-old high school student who took three of more than a dozen guns to which he had access and killed three elderly women without provocation in New Mexico on Monday has claimed he was struggling with his mental health before the attack.

The shooter, who was armed with at least three guns and wore body armor before police killed him, “was fighting a battle of mental illness that he lost”, his family asserted on Friday in a statement, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

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New Mexico shooting: at least three dead and multiple wounded

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Two police officers were among the wounded in the shooting in Farmington, in the north-west of the state

At least three people have been killed and multiple people injured after a shooting in Farmington, New Mexico, where the suspected gunman was killed, police said on Monday.

Farmington is in the north-west of the state, adjacent to the Navajo Nation. Federal agents were responding to the mass shooting, the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco (ATF) office in Phoenix, Arizona, said on Twitter, as were state and local police.

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New Mexico police kill homeowner after showing up at wrong address

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Farmington officers on paid administrative leave after shooting Robert Dotson while responding to call from across the street

Officers with the Farmington police department of north-western New Mexico shot and killed a homeowner when they showed up at the wrong address in response to a domestic violence call this week, according to state authorities.

The shooting happened about 11.30pm Wednesday. New Mexico state police released more details late on Thursday, and Farmington police confirmed on Friday that the three officers involved were on paid administrative leave pending a review of the case.

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US judge approves Rust assistant director’s plea deal over fatal shooting

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Dave Halls given six-month suspended sentence after pleading no contest to gun charge as part of agreement with prosecutors

A Santa Fe judge on Friday accepted a plea deal, bringing the first conviction for the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the western movie Rust in New Mexico.

Dave Halls, first assistant director on Rust, pleaded no contest as part of an agreement with prosecutors to the misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon for his role in Hutchins’ death.

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Rust shooting: Baldwin’s attorneys say prosecutors made ‘a basic legal error’

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Attorneys say in court filing that law used to seek five-year term for actor Alec Baldwin was not in force at time of incident

Attorneys defending the actor Alec Baldwin from an involuntary manslaughter charge in the film-set killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins are urging a judge to stop prosecutors from seeking a five-year prison sentence, saying the law authorizing that punishment did not exist when the shooting occurred.

In court documents filed on Friday, lawyers for Baldwin contended that allowing New Mexico state prosecutors to charge the actor under a gun enhancement law would violate a clause in the US constitution that prohibits retroactively changing the legal consequences of actions.

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New Mexico could be first state with official aroma

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The familiar smell of roasted chiles is ‘unique to our state’, says lawmaker pushing to codify fragrance

The sweet smell of green chile roasting on an open flame permeates New Mexico every fall, wafting from roadside stands and grocery store parking lots and inducing mouth-watering visions of culinary wonders.

Now one state lawmaker says it’s time for everyone to wake up and smell the chile.

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Police investigate shootings at New Mexico officials’ homes and offices

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Albuquerque police say houses and workplaces of state and county politicians have been hit by gunfire over the last month

New Mexico authorities are investigating at least five shootings apparently directed at the homes and offices of local elected officials, the Albuquerque police department said on Thursday.

The shootings occurred over approximately the past month and were directed at two county commissioners, two state senators and New Mexico’s new attorney general, according to KQRE News.

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The arrest that shocked the firefighting world – and threatens a vital practice

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A fire chief is under investigation for a prescribed burn gone wrong and stirred up long-simmering tensions over wildfire risk

Hours before Rick Snodgrass was cuffed and loaded into a squad car, he’d called the sheriff himself. The United States Forest Service burn boss had requested the help of local law enforcement in Grant county, Oregon, reporting his crew was being harassed while conducting a controlled burn within the Malheur national forest.

It was the second burn that crews had conducted in the area in two weeks, with flames intended to char around 300 acres. But that warm October afternoon, the treatment did not go according to plan.

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Mystery over US man who lost foot in hit-and-run police say never happened

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New Mexico police say bike-builder Dillen Maurer cut off his foot with a chainsaw and did not suffer amputation in ATV accident

A prominent figure in America’s outdoor and cycling scene has lost a foot in circumstances that remain mysterious, as local police say he cut his foot off with a chainsaw, while he and his spouse maintain the amputation happened during a hit-and-run accident.

The story was detailed in a GoFundMe post by Dillen Maurer’s wife, Jenn Maurer, who recounted how her husband – an established frame-maker at Baphomet Bicycles in New Mexico – lost his foot several inches above the ankle over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

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Torrential rains lash southern US as millions under flood warnings

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Meteorologists issue warnings for more than 13 million people in north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Arizona

Millions of Americans are under flood warnings after heavy rain this weekend in a large portion of the south and south-western US.

Government meteorologists issued flood warnings for more than 13 million people after torrent rainfall created life-threatening conditions in a region including north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico.

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New Mexico police detain primary suspect in killings of four Muslim men

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Albuquerque’s police chief says officers ‘tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved’ in slayings over last nine months

Albuquerque police have detained a man as the primary suspect in the killings of four Muslim men in New Mexico’s largest city.

The city’s police chief on Tuesday announced the update on Twitter. Chief Harold Medina said officers had found the vehicle that investigators believe was involved in the killings over the last nine months.

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Albuquerque Muslim community in fear after killings of three men in 10 days

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Police in New Mexico have warned that deaths of local Muslim men, including one last year, may be linked

Three Muslim men have been killed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a span of just 10 days, stoking fear in one of America’s smallest Muslim communities as police have warned the deaths may be linked.

The killings also followed the November 2021 killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, another Muslim man, which local advocates and law enforcement officials believe could also be linked to the more recent attacks.

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New Mexico: several arrested after SUV drives into Native American parade

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Vehicle drove against direction of parade in Gallup, to celebrate the town’s 100th annual inter-tribal ceremony

Police have arrested several people who were in a large SUV that drove through a Native American celebration in New Mexico, causing multiple injuries along a parade route crowded with families. Two local police officers were among those hurt.

The Navajo Nation president, Jonathan Nez, and his family were among those almost hit as a large car drove barreled through.

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