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Mountain America exiting New Mexico with branch deal

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Mountain America exiting New Mexico with branch deal


Mountain America Credit Union, one of the nation’s largest, plans to exit New Mexico with a branch deal expected to close early in 2025.

Paul Brady/pabrady63 – stock.adobe.com

A New Mexico-based credit union is bulking up in its home town, acquiring two branches from the $20.3 billion-asset Mountain America Credit Union in Sandy, Utah. 

Members of Mountain America’s two branches in Albuquerque, New Mexico, approved the transaction earlier this month, paving the way for their acquisition by Sunward Credit Union. Expected to close early next year, the deal will result in Mountain America’s exit from New Mexico. No terms were disclosed. 

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Mountain West said in a press release it entered into the agreement with Sunward to focus on other geographies. Mountain West operates more than 100 branches in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Idaho. A spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment at deadline. 

For the $4.2 billion-asset Sunward, founded in 1948 by employees of Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque is a core market. Sunward’s presence includes its headquarters and six other branches. “This addition will strengthen our position and ability to deliver on our goal of making banking better in the Southwest, and in New Mexico specifically,” Sunward CEO Steph Sherrodd said in a press release. 

Albuquerque credit unions have been active acquirers in 2024. The most prominent deals, however, involved banks. In March, the $4.9 billion-asset Nusenda Credit Union completed a deal to acquire the $327 million-asset Western Heritage Bank in Las Cruces. In August, the $1.5 billion-asset U.S. Eagle Credit Union said it planned to acquire the $475 million-asset, Albuquerque-based Southwest Capital Bank. No terms were announced in either instance. 

Branch sales between credit unions are relatively infrequent events, with about five taking place in any given year, Michael Bell, a partner with the Honigman law firm who specializes in credit union deals, said Tuesday in an interview. Like Mountain America’s agreement with Sunward, most involve one institution seeking to “right-size its footprint,” Bell said. 

Michael Bell, an attorney for Royal Credit Union.

Michael Bell

While credit union branch deals typically involve cash consideration for property, as well as a deposit premium, “I do believe there is an altruistic motive as well,” with sellers often concluding the buyers can better serve their members, Bell said. 

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Bell expects branch sales to occur more frequently, with credit unions that have shifted from  employment-based fields of membership to ones that are geographically-oriented moving to exit markets that made sense once but are now distant from the core service area. 

“Many credit unions do have odd footprints based on their historical genesis,” Bell said.

Sunward underwent a name change, from Sandia Laboratories Federal Credit Union, earlier this month. 

 



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New Mexico

Grants cancels Christmas parade due to shootings

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Grants cancels Christmas parade due to shootings


GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants is canceling this year’s annual Christmas light parade, citing the safety of the public and their own officers.

Dozens of floats were supposed to roll down Santa Fe Avenue on Saturday night, but Grants police are holding off until next year after three incidents where someone shot at law enforcement officers.

“It was definitely a difficult decision, but due to the incident that took place on December 8, where law enforcement was shot at in the area of Santa Fe Avenue, we made that decision to protect the citizens of Grants,” says Grants Police Chief Maxine Monte.

She says a New Mexico State Police officer was shot at while making a traffic stop. The officer walked away uninjured, but this was too much for the chief.

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“We’ve had three different incidents where law enforcement was shot at. One was May of 2025, the other one was August of 2025, and then the recent event of December 8 of 2025,” says Monte.

It’s not a risk the chief wants to take, and points out people would be standing exactly where the last shooting happened.

“We have a lot of citizens that attend our parade, and our main concern was that they were out in the open in the middle of the night, and in the same area that our latest shooting took place.”

Grant residents will be able to see the floats during the day on Saturday. But even some daylight isn’t convincing some residents.

“I’ll be staying home,” said Amy Brigdon. “There’s too many people in the world that want to see bad things happen to other people. I’m not one of them.”

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Police still don’t have a suspect for this week’s attempted shooting. Anyone with information is asked to get in touch with the Grants Police Department.



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New Mexico

Colorado wolf rereleased in Grand County after crossing into New Mexico

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Colorado wolf rereleased in Grand County after crossing into New Mexico


Colorado Parks and Wildlife rereleased a wolf into Grand County this week after it had traveled into New Mexico, according to a news release.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish captured gray wolf 2403 and returned the animal to Colorado.

Colorado wildlife officials decided to release the wolf in Grand County yesterday because of the proximity to “an unpaired female gray wolf,” nearby prey populations and distance from livestock, according to the release.

“Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts,” said acting director of CPW Laura Clellan, according to the release.

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The wolf was once a member of the Copper Creek pack but departed from it this fall.

A memorandum of understanding between Colorado and Arizona, New Mexico and Utah requires that any gray wolves that leave Colorado and enter those states be returned. That was created in part to maintain the integrity of a Mexican wolf recovery program.



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New Mexico

New Mexico man sentenced to nearly 20 years for distributing meth

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New Mexico man sentenced to nearly 20 years for distributing meth


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A judge sentenced a New Mexico man to nearly 20 years in prison for distributing meth and having guns in his possession to use while doing so.

Court records indicate 43-year-old David Amaya sold meth from a trailer on his parents’ property in Anthony throughout July and August 2024. Agents executed a search warrant Aug. 22 and found 1.18 kilograms of meth, two firearms and ammunition in the trailer and a makeshift bathroom.

Amaya pleaded guilty to possession of meth with intent to distribute it. A judge sentenced him to 235 months in prison.

Once he is out, Amaya will face five years of supervised release.

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The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office and the Las Cruces Metro Narcotics Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted it.



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