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Climate justice protesters blockade New Mexico Legislature on session’s opening day • Source New Mexico

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Climate justice protesters blockade New Mexico Legislature on session’s opening day • Source New Mexico


On the New Mexico Legislature’s opening day Jan. 21, climate justice protesters blockaded the street in front of the Roundhouse, demanding state lawmakers take immediate climate action.

Demonstrators parked vehicles on Old Santa Fe Trail, while a crowd of young people painted a clock on the pavement to show the urgency of the climate crisis and demand protection for stolen, sacred lands and of their futures.

The group escalated to a blockade after disrupting the governor’s State of the State address in 2024, and staging a die-in inside the capitol rotunda in 2023.

Protesters included members of YUCCA, Pueblo Action Alliance, Southwest Organizing Project, the Santa Fe Ad Hoc Committee on Palestine and students from United World College in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

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YUCCA Policy Campaign Manager Ennedith López said since her organization was founded six years ago, lawmakers have largely ignored climate and environmental justice. Her group plans to support legislation focusing on human rights, housing, and specific proposals creating a one-mile buffer zone preventing oil and gas operations around schools, day cares, parks and playgrounds, and limiting ozone air pollution.

YUCCA plans to oppose Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s strategic water supply proposal, López said. That program would receive $75 million under a bill sponsored by Rep. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo) that would make the state government a middleman to solicit projects to develop treatments for salty water deep underground or oil and gas wastewater, and to create rules to regulate those projects.

“Knowing that there isn’t science to back safety for human consumption or even simply the Earth, it’s just too risky of an investment for our communities,” López said.

Today’s protest follows yesterday’s executive order from President Donald Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. Gov Lujan Grisham, co-chair of the United States Climate Alliance, yesterday released a letter with Co-Chair New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reiterating the Alliance’s commitment to its climate goals: “This is not the first time we’ve responded to this challenge in the U.S,” the letter noted. “Our coalition was launched after the President’s decision to withdraw our country from the Paris Agreement back in 2017. Since then, our reach, resolve, and impact have only grown.”

Climate change legislation during this year’s session includes The Clear Horizons Act, which would codify Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s 2019 executive order to reduce 2005 level emissions by at least 45% by 2030. The bill would set the goals of reducing emissions by 50% by 2040 and 100% by 2050, and charge the Environmental Improvement Board with inventorying progress towards the goals.

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Snow storm impacts New Mexico, Gun crimes, Tijeras bridge, Toxic algae blooms, Early voting turnout

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Snow storm impacts New Mexico, Gun crimes, Tijeras bridge, Toxic algae blooms, Early voting turnout


Thursday’s Top Stories

Thursday’s Five Facts

[1] Snow moves in with colder & breezier day around New Mexico – A winter storm continues moving through New Mexico. Snow will cause travel impacts in parts of the state Thursday morning before drier and colder weather moves in. Snow will wrap up by mid Wednesday morning, allowing for the snowy and icy roads to clear up by the late morning. While it will be drier Thursday, the storm will leave behind much cooler temperatures Thursday afternoon. Friday morning will feature some of the coldest temperatures we’ve felt so far this season. 

[2] Lawmakers suggest new rules after new data released by ATF on gun crime in NM – A new report reveals that 78% of all gun crimes in the state are committed with firearms that were legally purchased from licensed dealers. From there, most of these guns are sold to individuals who are prohibited from buying firearms legally. Two Democratic lawmakers have announced their plans to introduce a bill that would create stricter rules for gun sellers, including training on what to watch for when selling to repeat buyers. Another proposed bill for the upcoming session would limit the sale of military-grade weapons in the state.

[3] Emergency funds will rebuild washed-out Tijeras bridge – Bernalillo County officials approved roughly $3 million for the Tijeras Watershed Restoration Project. The project was almost done, but in July, a storm swept through the watershed and heavily damaged a pedestrian bridge and the arroyo around it. They hope restoring the watershed to a wider and flatter area will force stormwater to slow down, creating a floodplain that can support habitat and absorb water. The new pedestrian bridge could take longer because construction materials are in high demand.

[4] Toxic algae bloom advisories lifted for five New Mexico lakes –  The New Mexico Environment Department has lifted advisories for harmful algae blooms at five New Mexico lakes. Those advisories were issued earlier this fall for Eagle Nest, Maloya, Lower Charette, Snow, and Hopewell lakes. Toxic algae can cause health problems for both people and animals. 

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[5] Strong turnout reported for runoff early voting in Albuquerque – The Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office said it is seeing a strong turnout for the Albuquerque mayoral runoff. Since early voting began on Monday, the clerk said nearly 45,000 people have cast their ballots. That includes nearly 30,000 in person. Early voting runs through Saturday. Election day is Tuesday.



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Power restored in Edgewood and Moriarty after widespread outages during storm

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Power restored in Edgewood and Moriarty after widespread outages during storm


EDGEWOOD, N.M. – Hundreds of residents and businesses in Edgewood and Moriarty went without power for a while during the of Wednesday night’s winter storm.

An outage map from Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative showed large clusters of outages as of 7 p.m. on Wednesday. By 7:30 p.m. power was restored.

On a social media post, CNMEC said: “We have received word that our power supplier, Tri-State, has lost a transmission line. Power will be out for the entire area until they can make repairs. We will post updates as we receive them.”

The outages came as the first winter storm of the season arrived in the East Mountains.

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New Mexico United to host open tryouts

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New Mexico United to host open tryouts


Tryouts are Jan. 10 at Kraemer Fields.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you’ve ever wanted to see if you could play for the New Mexico United soccer club, your time is coming!

New Mexico United is hosting its next round of open tryouts Jan. 10, at Kraemer Fields in Albuquerque. This marks the club’s fifth open tryout since its inaugural 2019 season.

Since it started, United has signed identified key players and even signed some to their first-team squad, including Josh Goss and Phillip Beigl.

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Tryouts are open to male players who are 17 years and older. Additional details, including registration information, can be found here at this website.



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