New Mexico

Recent violence involving teens leaves Rio Rancho on edge

Published

1 year ago

November 3, 2024

Recent violence involving teens leaves Rio Rancho on edge

After a shooting claimed the life of a 15-year-old boy in Rio Rancho, families are more concerned than ever for their safety.

The football game between Cleveland and Rio Rancho high schools on Friday night was already scheduled to have a greater police presence.

The stadium went on lockdown at the end of the game, as Rio Rancho Police confirmed it was because officers were looking into more possible threats. That was on the heels of two other big scares — and one tragic loss.

“I sort of, I blame it a lot on the parents,” said a Rio Rancho woman who asked not to be named.

This woman takes her grandkids to the park instead of letting them play in the front yard.
She said it doesn’t feel safe anymore.

After a string of threats and violence in Rio Rancho, she said change has to start at home.

“You know, the cops could (only) do so much,” she said. “You know, courts could do so much. But at the end of the day, it comes from the home within. What’s going on at home.”

Earlier this week, police found 15-year-old Adrian Maestas shot near the intersection of Inca and 2nd Street in southeast Rio Rancho.

His family said he was on life support but died days later.

“You know the family, you know that they have to go through this 15 year old’s (death),” she said. “God, he still had a life to live.”

Our KOB 4 cameras captured this SWAT situation at a house near that scene Friday, but police have not confirmed if it’s connected. Officers haven’t made arrests, keeping the community on edge.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Rio Rancho resident Wes Edlang. “I can’t really believe that’s even going on around here, and I haven’t heard about it, but until you just told me, it’s really shocking to hear.”

The shooting happened a week after a Rio Rancho house party was broken up by gunfire. Police are still looking for whoever fired the shots that night.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Raul Torrez announced a proposal for stiffer penalties for making school shooting threats.

“Unfortunately, in the state of New Mexico, we currently treat threats against our schools as misdemeanors, and I don’t think that is in alignment with where we are as a community,” he said.

He wants to make this crime a felony. And local leaders agreed.

“It causes chaos in the community,” said Rio Rancho Police Chief Stewart Steele. “It causes chaos within the schools, and, quite frankly, chaos for our educators.”

That type of chaos was on full display Friday night.

In a statement, a Rio Rancho school district spokesperson said a football player got Snapchat messages, including a picture of a gun and the Cleveland High School field. But there was no direct threat.

Police held players until the parking lot was clear and released athletes 10 at a time.

Just one more potential instance of violence that this community has to process. Police are still asking for any information on all three of these incidents. If you know anything call Rio Rancho Police.

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New Mexico

New Mexico deserves speedier game commission appointments

Published

2 hours ago

January 9, 2026

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New Mexico deserves speedier game commission appointments

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New Mexico

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

Published

14 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

1 day 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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