ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The holiday shopping season is underway, with thousands of New Mexicans visiting local businesses Saturday.

Last night, Winrock hosted a tree lighting ceremony, transforming their shopping center. Today, shoppers enjoyed treats from food vendors and photos with Santa.

Unlike major retailers, small businesses rely on a few peak weekends with high foot traffic. Organizers say the Artisan Market, happening this weekend, attracts thousands each year.

“Our artists work all year for this,” said Raquel Chambers, New Mexico Artisan Market Executive Director. “This is the biggest weekend of the year for them.”

The New Mexican Artisan Market is at Hotel Albuquerque and open for the rest of the weekend from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Next week, Old Town will celebrate the Christmas season with a tree lighting and holiday stroll on Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.

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Lobos most likely to join the Aztecs in MW Championship.

The voters picked Boise State over Utah State by the slimmest of margins… and that’s exactly what happened in the game on Friday, with the Broncos securing a one-point victory over the Aggies. With the win, they keep their conference championship hopes alive.

Utah State going bowling?

Fans went 2 for 2 this week predicting games. They picked New Mexico to beat San Diego State at home and that’s exactly what happened. Will it be enough for the Lobos to find a place in the MW Championship?

• A private plane that was last known to be near the Alamogordo White Sands Regional Airport, roughly 60 miles northeast of Las Cruces, crashed sometime after takeoff around 11:30 a.m. Nov. 26.
• The plane was found burned with two bodies inside near Cloudcroft, New Mexico, on Nov. 27.
• The crash follows high-profile aviation incidents around the country in 2025, including a commercial plane crash that killed 67 in January and a UPS cargo plane crash that killed 14 in November.

Two people were killed in a private plane crash in southern New Mexico ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

The plane took off around 11:30 a.m. Nov. 26 and was scheduled to return to its “airport of origin” an hour later, according to New Mexico State Police. 

Officials didn’t specify what airport that was, though they said the plane was last known to be near the Alamogordo White Sands Regional Airport, around 60 miles northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

A family member of one of the passengers reported the plane missing after the person didn’t return from the flight, according to KOAT-TV in Albuquerque. 

Search and rescue personnel found the plane on the morning of Nov. 27 near Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a small community within the Lincoln National Forest that’s just over a dozen miles away from the Alamogordo White Sands Regional Airport. 

New Mexico State Police, the Alamogordo police and fire departments and New Mexico Search and Rescue were among the agencies involved in the effort.  

The plane was found burned with two bodies inside. The names of the deceased were not immediately made public. 

The incident was listed as an accidental crash on the National Transportation Safety Board’s incident database as of Nov. 28. An investigation is ongoing. 

Incident follows other plane crashes in 2025

The New Mexico crash comes toward the end of a tumultuous year for aviation. 

A mid-air collision between a commercial passenger jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killed 67 people in January. It marked the first high-profile commercial aviation crash since 2009, when a commercial plane crashed near Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people. 

Two more people were killed several weeks after the Potomac River crash when two fixed-wing, single-engine planes crashed mid-air near Marana, Arizona. 

Earlier in November, a UPS cargo plane burst into flames and crashed shortly after takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky, killing 14 people.  

Amid flight and airport chaos stemming from the historic government shutdown, President Donald Trump pledged on Nov. 10 that the United States would soon be “getting the finest air traffic control system anywhere in the world.”  

Trump did not provide many details but said companies including IBM and Raytheon were bidding to build the new national infrastructure. 

“…We’re going to pick the best one, and it’ll get built relatively quickly, and we’re going to have the greatest air traffic control system anywhere in the world,” he said.