New Mexico

New Mexico at Auburn by the numbers: Homecoming date good to Tigers

Published

1 year ago

September 14, 2024

Press Room

New Mexico at Auburn by the numbers: Homecoming date good to Tigers

New Mexico (0-2) at Auburn (1-1)

6:30 p.m. CDT Saturday (ESPN2)

Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn

0 Previous games between Auburn and New Mexico.

0 Victories in two games this season for New Mexico. The Lobos opened 2024 with a 35-31 home loss to Montana State on Aug. 24 and fell to Arizona 61-39 on the road on Aug. 31. New Mexico did not play last week.

2 Sacks on back-to-back snaps for Auburn DE Keldric Faulk in last week’s game against California. Faulk became the first Auburn player to record sacks on consecutive snaps since 2003, when Reggie Torbor did it against Ole Miss. Faulk has three of the Tigers’ five sacks this season.

4 Victories without a loss for Auburn in games against Mountain West Conference opponents. The Tigers defeated Wyoming in 2000 and San Jose State in 2014, 2015 and 2022. All the games have been played at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

4 Consecutive seasons with a game against an SEC opponent for New Mexico. The Lobos lost to Texas A&M in 2021 and 2023 and LSU in 2022 to drop their mark against the SEC to 0-8. All the games have been on the road.

7 Victories without a loss for Auburn on Sept. 14. The Tigers have played as many as eight times on only one date without suffering a loss – Sept. 10, when Auburn is 8-0. On Sept. 14, the Tigers have defeated Southern Miss, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Kent State at home, Louisville in Birmingham and Ole Miss in Oxford. New Mexico has a 4-5 record on Sept. 14, including an 0-4 mark on the road.

7 TDs have been scored by the New Mexico offense this season – three TD runs and four TD passes by QB Devon Dampier.

9 Teams in the nation do not have a takeaway this season. Of those nine teams, only one – Temple with nine – has lost more turnovers than Auburn, which has had four of its passes intercepted and three of its fumbles recovered by the opposition.

9 Rushing yards are needed by Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter to become the 15th Auburn player with 2,300.

19 Years since the previous game in which a New Mexico player had at least 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, which QB Devon Dampier accomplished in the Lobos’ previous contest. In New Mexico’s 61-39 loss to Arizona on Aug. 31, Dampier completed 24-of-42 passes for 260 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. It was the first 200/100 game for the Lobos since QB Kole McKamey accomplished the feat in a 27-24 loss to BYU on Oct. 8, 2005.

19.25 Yards per completion have been averaged by Auburn this season, which ranks second in the nation behind Washington’s 20.31. The Tigers’ 58.2 percent completion percentage ranks 13th in the SEC.

23 Consecutive games with at least one reception for Auburn WR Robert Lewis. All but the most recent two of those games came with Lewis playing for Georgia State. He had 70 receptions for 877 yards and seven touchdowns for the Panthers in 2023.

32 Consecutive homecoming games have been won by Auburn. The Tigers haven’t lost on homecoming since 1991, when Mississippi State spoiled the festivities by taking a 24-17 victory. Auburn has an 85-8-4 record in the homecoming game.

144 Games have been played by Auburn since it was most recently shut out, the second-longest streak in school history. Auburn’s most recent shutout loss came 49-0 to Alabama on Nov. 17, 2012. Auburn’s record scoring streak lasted 149 games, starting with a 55-16 victory over Richmond on Oct. 4, 1980, and ending with a 17-0 loss to Alabama on Nov. 26, 1992. Auburn’s current scoring streak is the 10th-longest in SEC history, and its record streak is the ninth-longest.

193 Games have been played by Auburn since the Tigers most recently had a punt blocked, the longest active streak in the nation. Mississippi State was the most recent opponent to block an Auburn punt in the Tigers’ 49-24 victory on Sept. 12, 2009. New Mexico most recently blocked an opponent’s punt in a 23-20 loss to San Diego State on Oct. 31, 2009. The Lobos have played 172 games since they most recently blocked a punt, the longest active streak in the nation.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE SEC, GO TO OUR SEC PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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New Mexico

What bills have been filed for New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session?

Published

8 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

What bills have been filed for New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session?

The governor sets the agenda for the session, including for the budget, so here is what they are looking at so far.

SANTA FE, N.M. — As the regular session of the New Mexico Legislature is set to begin Jan. 20, lawmakers have already filed dozens of bills.

Bills include prohibiting book bans at public libraries and protections against AI, specifically the distribution of sensitive and “Deepfake” images

Juvenile justice reform is, again, a hot topic. House Bill 25 would allow access to someone’s juvenile records during a background check if they’re trying to buy a gun.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sets the agenda and puts forth the proposed budget lawmakers will address during the session. The governor is calling for lawmakers to take up an $11.3 billion budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which is up 4.6% from current spending levels.

Where would that money go? More than $600 million would go to universal free child care. Meanwhile, more than $200 million would go to health care and to protect against federal funding cuts.

There is also $65 million for statewide affordable housing initiatives and $19 million for public safety.

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New Mexico

Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Published

20 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation
| Las Cruces Sun-News

After years of failure to land a “big fish” business for New Mexico’s economy (or effectively use the oil and gas revenues to grow the economy) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with the help of her Economic Development Secretary Rob Black have lured no fewer than three large data centers to New Mexico. These data centers are being built to serve the booming world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and they will have profound impacts on New Mexico.

It is our view that having these data centers locate in New Mexico is better than having them locate elsewhere. While we have many differences of opinion with this governor, we are pleased to see her get serious about growing and diversifying New Mexico’s oil-dependent economy albeit quite late in her second term.

Sadly, the governor and legislature have chosen not to use broad based economic reforms like deregulation or tax cuts to improve New Mexico’s competitiveness. But, with the failure of her “preferred” economic development “wins” like Maxeon and Ebon solar both of which the governor announced a few years ago, but haven’t panned out, the focus on a more realistic strategy is welcome and long overdue.

Currently, three new data centers are slated to be built in New Mexico:

Oracle’s Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa with an investment of $165 billion.
Project Zenith slated to be built in Roswell amounts to a $11.7 billion investment.
New Era Energy & Digital, Inc. While the overall investment is unclear, the energy requirement is the largest of the three at 7 gigawatts (that’s seven times the power used by the City of San Francisco).

What is a data center? Basically, they are the real-world computing infrastructure that makes up the Internet. The rise of AI requires vast new computing power. It is critical that these facilities have uninterrupted electricity.

That electricity is going to be largely generated by traditional sources like natural gas and possibly nuclear. That contravenes New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act of 2019 which was adopted by this Gov. and many of the legislators still in office. Under the Act electrical power emissions are supposed to be eliminated in a few years.

With the amount of money being invested in these facilities and the simple fact that wind and solar and other “renewable” energy sources aren’t going to get the job done. In 2025 the Legislature passed and MLG signed HB 93 which allows for the creation of “microgrids” that won’t tax the grid and make our electricity more expensive, but the ETA will have to be amended or ignored to provide enough electricity for these data centers. There’s no other option.

New Mexicans have every right to wonder why powerful friends of the governor can set up their own natural gas microgrids while the rest of us face rising costs and decreased reliability from so-called “renewables.” Don’t get me wrong, having these data centers come to New Mexico is an economic boon.

But it comes tempered with massive subsidies including a 30-year property tax exemption and up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds. New Mexico is ideally suited as a destination for these data centers with its favorable climate and lack of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. We shouldn’t be giving away such massive subsidies.

Welcoming the data center boom to New Mexico better than rejecting them and pushing them to locate in other states. There is no way to avoid CO2 emissions whether they happen here or somewhere else. But, there are questions about both the electricity demand and subsidies that must be addressed as New Mexico’s data center boom begins.

What will the Legislature, radical environmental groups, and future governors of our state do to hinder (or help) bring these data centers to our State? That is an open question that depends heavily on upcoming statewide elections. It is important that New Mexicans understand and appreciate these complicated issues.

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility

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New Mexico

New Mexico maintains full childhood vaccine recommendations despite HHS rollback

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico maintains full childhood vaccine recommendations despite HHS rollback

SANTA FE, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) – The New Mexico Department of Health says it will continue to recommend the full schedule of childhood vaccines.

State officials announced the move Tuesday, directly defying a new federal policy that scaled back routine immunization guidance.

The announcement comes after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reduced the number of vaccines it recommends for all children.

The New Mexico Department of Health stated the federal changes were “not based on new scientific evidence or safety data.”

“New Mexico will not follow the federal government in walking away from decades of proven public health practice,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. “Our recommendations remain unchanged.”

State health officials sought to reassure parents, emphasizing that vaccines remain widely available and covered by insurance.

“We know this is confusing for parents, but the science is clear: vaccines are safe, effective, and save children’s lives,” said Dr. Miranda Durham, chief medical officer for NMDOH.

All childhood vaccinations will continue to be covered under programs like Medicaid and the federal Vaccines for Children Program.

The state encourages parents to consult their healthcare providers using the American Academy of Pediatrics’ immunization schedule.

RECOMMENDED: CDC cuts childhood vaccine list, sparking healthcare professionals’ concerns

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