New Mexico
Sandia Casino hosts fiery foods event
Hundreds of vendors from across the globe made their way to the annual National Fiery Foods and BBQ show in Albuquerque.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Hundreds of vendors from across the globe made their way to the annual National Fiery Foods and BBQ show in Albuquerque. But you don’t need to travel far for some good chile.
“We brought all New Mexican-grown products. We actually have two brands today, ‘Best in the West’ manufactures both of these brands. ‘Santa Fe Ole’ it’s more of a local brand here in Albuquerque, you can find us in Whole Foods, Sprouts, Albertson’s, Los Bros, you’ll be able to find us online,” said Sara Ramos, Best in the West quality assurance manager.
Ramos explained why she thinks their brand stands out from the rest.
“Something very interesting about our brand is that we don’t use frozen chile. We use fresh chile that goes directly into the jar, and that’s why we’re best in the West because the taste is so good,” said Ramos.
Vendors from all over, including from as far away as Australia, came to Sandia Resort & Casino for the 35th annual event. But so did a lot of New Mexican brands.
In addition to Best in the West, Zia Child Traders from Las Cruces came with their range of products.
“We have hot sauces, salsas, mustards, barbecues, and spices. So we kinda cover it all. Everything that we make is made with hatch chile in it,” said John “Cahohn” Hard, managing partner of Zia Trader LLC. “I think that the best chiles come from southern New Mexico. It’s kinda like Napa Valley with grapes, you know, where the hatch valley is the best for growing chile.”
Hard says Zia Chile Traders have been coming to the show for years.
“We’re the longest running exhibitor, we fell in love in ’97 with Albuquerque, we’re proud to be New Mexican,” said Hard.
The show also gave New Mexicans a chance to taste brands they’ve never met, like Sakari Farms from Oregon.
“We’re a traveling young farm. My wife is a newbie, she’s from Alaska. And so we just based our business practices off of growing Native foods, food sovernity, and just kind of rolled in to making hot sauce making more food products and stuff like that,” said Sam Schriner, co-owner of Sakari Farms.
Masker says this is the biggest show they’ve had so far.
“We have about 50% new exhibitors and this is like, some of them are like the next generation of hot sauce. So they’re really starting to elevate, and they come up with ideas of flavors that some of which you have seen before, others of which you haven’t like they’re blending fusions of cuisines,” said Maker.
Many of the vendors have won national and global awards. For more information about the show’s vendors, click here.
New Mexico
Los Alamos Public Schools Students Compete At 2026 New Mexico State Science & Engineering Fair
Students from Barranca Mesa Elementary, Mountain Elementary, Los Alamos Middle School, and Los Alamos High School at the 2026 New Mexico State Science & Engineering Fair at New Mexico Tech. Photo CourtesyLAPS

LAHS junior Tate Plohr and freshman Linus Plohr qualified to attend the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May in Phoenix, Ariz. Photo Courtesy LAPS

Los Alamos Middle School student Branden Keller was awarded the CO2 & Greenhouse Gas Scholarship in the amount of $2,000 at the 2026 New Mexico State Science & Engineering Fair. Photo Courtesy/LAPS
LAPS NEWS RELEASE
Twenty students from Barranca Mesa Elementary, Mountain Elementary, Los Alamos Middle School (LAMS) and Los Alamos High School (LAHS) competed, with several garnering awards at the 2026 New Mexico State Science and Engineering Fair held at New Mexico Tech in Socorro.
LAHS junior Tate Plohr qualified to attend the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) next month in Phoenix, Ariz. He was awarded the 3rd-place Grand Award. Freshman Linus Plohr qualified as an alternate and will also be attending the Regeneron ISEF.
Students who participated in the state competition include, from Barranca Mesa Elementary, Sydney Chen, Mary Beth Kelsey, Lily Neale, Aurora Roberts Voss and Henry Rodarte; and Glyn Lo and Ernest Maupin, Mountain Elementary.
Students from LAMS who competed include Evelyn Fobes, Mason Garcia, Andrew Gilbertson, James Junghans, Sequoya Ke, Brandon Keller, Nejan Liyanage and Daniel Yampolsky.
LAHS students Julia Neale, Linus Plohr, Tate Plohr, Lilia Veteva, Helena Welch and Kalliope Welch competed at the senior level.
2026 Award winners:
Category Awards – Junior Division
- Animal Science, Cellular & Molecular
- Biomedical & Health Science
- Honorable Mention: Sequoya Ke
- Embedded Systems, Math, Robotics, Software & Technology
- 2nd place: Nejan Liyanage
- Physics & Astronomy
- 1st place: Sydney Chen
- 2nd place: Mason Garcia
- Honorable Mention: Marybeth Kelsey
- Plant Science
Category Awards – Senior Division
- Behavioral & Social Science:
- Honorable Mention: Linus Plohr
- Earth & Environmental
- Honorable Mention: Lilia Viteva
- Embedded Systems, Math, Robotics, & System Software
- 3rd Place: Helena Welch and Kalliope Welch
- Physics & Astronomy
Grand Awards
- ISEF finalist 3rd place: Tate Plohr
- Brandon Keller received the CO2 & Greenhouse Gas Scholarship in the amount of $2,000. James Jungans and Marybeth Kelsey garnered Thermo Fisher Awards.
Other special award winners include:
- CO2 & Greenhouse Reduction Awards (Junior Division)
- Daniel Yampolsky, 2nd place, Earth & Environmental Sciences
- Sequoya Ke, 1st place, Biomedical & Health Science
- Brandon Keller, 1st place, Energy & Materials Science
- Andrew Gilbertson, 1st place, Physics & Astronomy
- CO2 & Greenhouse Gas Reduction Award (Senior Division)
- Lilia Viteva, 1st place, Earth & Environmental Sciences
- Office of Naval Research Award
- David Shortess Award
- New Mexico AVS Award
- Citadel Award
- Naval Research Award
- NM Network for Women in Science & Engineering Award
- Yale Science & Engineering Award
- Rose Baca Rivet Award
Related
New Mexico
ASU baseball to host New Mexico State, Baylor
Arizona State baseball will host a four-game homestand, beginning with New Mexico State on Wednesday, April 22.
The Sun Devils and Aggies faced each other in late March, with ASU winning 10-4. The two teams will meet for the final time at 6:35 p.m. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
ASU will then welcome Baylor on Friday, April 24, for a three-game series. The Sun Devils have yet to face the Bears this season, but ASU has been doing well so far and has been in the top 25 for four weeks.
Sophomore center fielder Landon Hairston earned Big 12 player of the week honors on April 13, after delivering five home runs in five games. His 10 runs in that stretch were tied for the second-most nationally and his 14 runs batted in were tied for third-most nationally. All nine of his hits went for extra bases, three more than any other player.
ASU’s series against Baylor will start at 6:35 p.m. for the first two games, followed by a 1:05 p.m. start on Sunday, April 26.
April 19
Softball at Houston, Cougar Softball Stadium, noon.
April 22
Baseball vs New Mexico State, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, 6:35 p.m.
April 23
Women’s golf at Big 12 Championship, Dallas Athletic Club, TBA.
Track and field at Penn Relays, Franklin Field, 1:22 p.m.
Beach volleyball at Big 12 Championship, Bear Down Beach, all day.
April 24
Baseball vs Baylor, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, 6:35 p.m.
Softball vs Texas Tech, Farrington Stadium, 7 p.m.
April 25
Lacrosse at Colorado, Prentup Field, 11 a.m.
Softball vs Texas Tech, Farrington Stadium, 3 p.m.
Baseball vs Baylor, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, 6:35 p.m.
Reach the reporter or send tips for stories at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com, as well as @jennarortiz on X.
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New Mexico
Calm and warmer conditions move into New Mexico
Josh’s Saturday Night Forecast
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Calmer weather has moved back into the state this afternoon. Temperatures are slightly warmer across northwestern New Mexico, while southeastern areas are cooler thanks to the backdoor cold fronts that moved in on Friday. Breezier winds will return Sunday and will help kick off a warming trend across the state, along with an elevated fire threat in eastern New Mexico.
Warmer weather will continue building in across the state throughout the upcoming week. A few isolated rain chances will return Monday in parts of New Mexico, but some of that rain may evaporate before reaching the ground.
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