New Mexico
NM Senate Majority Leader expresses optimism about session • Source New Mexico
The opening gavel strike for the 2025 session is mere hours away and so begins the flurry of activity of a nearly $11 billion dollar budget and lawmaking.
Sen. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), the Senate Majority Leader, sat down with Source New Mexico to talk about priorities in the 60-day session. He celebrated the closeness of the governor’s proposed budget, and the one proposed by lawmakers, saying there’s a lot of consensus even before the negotiations start.
“It’s a really good thing for us during the session, but also for New Mexicans, because we need to continue to put forward responsible budgets,” Wirth said.
The relationship between the fourth floor and the rest of the Roundhouse has thawed, but only recently.
In July, lawmakers adjourned a special session last year after five hours. The two houses passed emergency funds for disaster victims, but declined to take up any of the governor’s proposals for determining when someone can stand trial, harsher prison sentences and other crime legislation.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called July’s special session “one of the most disappointing days of my career,” and excoriated Democratic leadership in the days before and after for not sponsoring her proposed bills.
Wirth personally will be bringing bills addressing campaign finance reform, a plan to give the state more authority on protecting intermittent rivers from federal regulations gaps and raising caps for the state’s insurance program, a last resort for homeowners, among others.
But the first 30 days, lawmakers expect to focus on two legislative packages addressing public safety and behavioral health.
Source: What’s your assessment of how the Legislature will work with the governor’s public safety agenda?
Wirth: There have been a number of conversations between myself and the governor about the public safety process, and what we’ve done with the 30-day expedited plan.
The public safety package will be an omnibus bill centered around criminal competency and on the behavioral health side, there will be a new behavioral health trust fund, taking one-time, non-recurring money and putting it into a trust fund. It’ll spin off a 5% return. We’re hoping to get that up to $1 billion – may not happen this year, right up front. Then there’s going to be a second appropriation, probably $150 to $200 million for behavioral health infrastructure.
We are continuing to deal with the decimation of the whole behavioral health system that happened 10 years ago and critical to public safety proposals involving those suffering from mental illness and are unhoused is that there’s a place for them to get treatment.
I think the two parts of this overall package that we’ll do in the first 30 days are something certainly that the governor wants: It fits into her agenda. Obviously, there will be discussions about what is in the public safety agenda package – her priorities and our priorities – but I’m feeling more optimistic about a process that’s good to get us where we need to go.
There were hard words in the aftermath of last year’s special session from the governor, chastising lawmakers for not addressing public safety then; has the relation been better in recent months?
There’s no question that it was strained after the special session, but the governor reached out first, she and I have had a number of one-on-one meetings, and again, I think there’s an understanding that we need to move forward.
I’m really confident that the process we’ve set up here gives us the chance to thoroughly vet these bills, which are complicated. And the special session: it just wasn’t ready, there was no behavioral health piece. The frustrating thing is it wasn’t ready to go, it was forced and you can’t do a special session when everything’s not preplanned.
I also want to stress we’ve had six incredible years of productive work during Gov. Lujan Grisham’s term. I’ve been here long enough to know that’s certainly not always the case. Under the prior administration, from a Democratic perspective, we spent eight years fighting for the status quo.
Governor, Legislature feud over crime with special session just days away
There’s been this concern that the focus on crime would suck attention from other issues coming forward in the session, any response on that?
Absolutely. I had the same concern, but I think it’s really important by having this emphasis on the first 30 days. It allows us to really put forward a package, send it to the governor and then shift gears, and make sure we get all the other key issues through the process and to the table.
What you don’t want to have is 100 different crime bills floating around and us trying to round all that up right at the end of the session. I think that would have the potential to have the whole thing crater.
We’ll have a focused package up front and I want to be clear, it doesn’t mean additional crime bills won’t be heard on an individual basis. I think putting the emphasis up front addresses that concern and will allow us to obviously send it up to the governor. She gets her input on it, and adds things and figures out what needs to be on the table as we move forward.
Putting the emphasis on the midway point, I think helps address exactly those concerns.
El Paso police seek suspect in East Side robbery, burglary
An unidentified man is suspected in an East Side robbery and a restaurant burglary on Oct. 20, 2025, in Crime Stoppers of El Paso’s Crime of the Week.
Provided by Crime Stoppers of El Paso
An Anthony, New Mexico man was sentenced to nearly two decades in federal prison for selling methamphetamine from a trailer on his parents’ property, authorities said.
A federal judge sentenced David Amaya, 43, to 19 years and seven months in prison on one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, New Mexico federal court records show. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after he serves his prison term.
U.S. District Judge Margaret I. Strickland handed down the sentence on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the federal courthouse in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted the case.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison and FBI Albuquerque Field Office Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris announced Amaya’s sentencing in a joint news release.
Amaya pleaded guilty to the charge in September as part of a plea agreement that dismissed one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, court records show.
Anthony, New Mexico man sells meth on parents’ property
FBI agents began investigating Amaya after he sold methamphetamine to a “controlled buyer” in July and August 2024, the news release states. Controlled buys are when law enforcement uses an undercover agent or a witness to purchase drugs from a suspected drug dealer.
The agents obtained a search warrant on Aug. 22, 2024, for a “specific tow-behind type trailer that Amaya was known to be living in and conducting narcotics transfers out of,” a federal complaint affidavit states. The trailer was located on property owned by Amaya’s parents in Anthony, New Mexico, the news release states.
The trailer did not have a restroom, but agents found a small makeshift bathroom structure with a porta-potty inside next to the trailer. The agents then obtained a warrant to also search the small bathroom structure.
The agents found “a large quantity of white crystalline substance suspected to be methamphetamine” throughout the trailer and bathroom structure, the affidavit states. In the bathroom, agents found a clothing hamper with “a gallon zip lock bag full of suspected methamphetamine” hidden inside.
Agents found a black Ruger .357 caliber handgun containing five rounds of .357 caliber ammunition and a black Mossberg 500 E410 gauge shotgun on the bed inside the trailer, the affidavit states. The news release states agents found “hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”
They also found about 4.42 grams of methamphetamine on the bed and another 26 grams under the bed, the affidavit states. Agents found eight more grams of methamphetamine on a nightstand.
Amaya told agents during an interview that the methamphetamine was his, he had acquired it over a period of time, and did not realize how much it was, the affidavit states. He added he “needed the guns for protection, so people would know he has them, making him safer,” the affidavit states.
In total, the agents found 1,183 grams of methamphetamine.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
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.
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.
Multiple people shot near Brown University, police say
Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows
Pritzker signs bill to further shield illegal immigrants in Illinois from deportations
MIKE DAVIS: Driving a stake through 2020 election lawfare
Murdaugh retrial hopes dim as ex-AG says Becky Hill’s guilty plea won’t sway high court
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Multiple people shot near Brown University, police say
Inside Minnesota’s $1B fraud: fake offices, phony firms and a scandal hiding in plain sight
Residents emerge in DR Congo’s tense Uvira after M23 rebel takeover
What to know about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release from immigration custody
Republican House leader signals plan to begin contempt proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton
-
Alaska1 week agoHowling Mat-Su winds leave thousands without power
-
Texas1 week agoTexas Tech football vs BYU live updates, start time, TV channel for Big 12 title
-
Ohio1 week agoWho do the Ohio State Buckeyes hire as the next offensive coordinator?
-
Washington4 days agoLIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
-
Iowa6 days agoMatt Campbell reportedly bringing longtime Iowa State staffer to Penn State as 1st hire
-
Miami, FL7 days agoUrban Meyer, Brady Quinn get in heated exchange during Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami CFP discussion
-
Cleveland, OH6 days agoMan shot, killed at downtown Cleveland nightclub: EMS
-
World6 days ago
Chiefs’ offensive line woes deepen as Wanya Morris exits with knee injury against Texans
