New Mexico
New Mexico Olympian sets sights on becoming a doctor
Andrea Howard has been called an Olympian and a Lobo but she is hoping she can add “doctor” to that very soon.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Olympic softball player Andrea Howard calls New Mexico home and she fell in love with the sport at a young age.
“My love for softball comes from when I was little. My brother plays baseball and I always wanted to beat him at something and softball comes naturally as a sport that I can beat him at that I can play,” she said.
Eventually, Howard played at La Cueva High School and then at UNM, playing five seasons in the cherry and silver.
When she wasn’t hitting home runs for UNM, she was spending her summers in Italy, playing for their national team.
“I’m a dual citizen, so I was able to play on that Italian team and during my college career I went every summer to Italy and I was able to play with them,” she said.
Howard took to the field with Team Italy in 2021 when they played in the Tokyo Olympics.
“We were either in the Olympic Village or the field, but we couldn’t be anywhere in between. I think that made it even more fun because we were able to kind of bond as a team a little bit more in the village,” she said.
While Howard’s team didn’t make it very far in the Games, she walked away with an unforgettable experience.
“I think it [the most memorable moment] was playing center field and being able stand in the rings. That was super cool,” she said.
After being a Bear, a Lobo and an Olympian, Howard hopes to become a doctor.
“I’ve always been interested in medicine and I knew I wanted to be a doctor one day. And that’s why I chose UNM for softball in college, because I knew they had a great medical school. So now I get to live out my second dream,” she said.
Living out her dream and inspiring other softball players to follow in her footsteps.
“I think if you have that big dream, you can absolutely do it. You just need to put the work in and you will flourish,” Howard said.
New Mexico
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.
“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.”
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.
New Mexico
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.
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.
“We recognized during the planning process that we would need to have consideration and plans to protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf recovery program, while also establishing a gray wolf population in Colorado,” said CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell, according to the release.
New Mexico
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.
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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