New Mexico
Union leaders upset after hospital staff bill went nowhere in Roundhouse
Hospital staffing has been a hot topic for a while, but it didn’t get much traction in this past legislative session. House Bill 138 would have established a staff to patient ratio but stalled in committee.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Hospital staffing has been a hot topic for a while, but it didn’t get much traction in this past legislative session. House Bill 138 would have established a staff to patient ratio but stalled in committee.
The New Mexico Patient Safety Act was one of several pieces of legislation that never made it past the finish line.
“The patients are the ones that are hurting, besides our nurses, because they don’t have enough nurses or any healthcare employees to run the facility,” said Yolanda Ulmer, the District 1199 New Mexico CEO.
The bill would limit the number of patients a nurse can care for on shift, forcing hospitals to create staffing limits. Local union leaders said the nursing shortage is causing burn out and this would help retention.
“You have patients waiting to get medicines, you have patients waiting to be discharged, you have patients waiting in the hall to be seen, you know nurses are spread so thin,” said Ulmer.
A spokesperson for UNM Health said they did not support HB 138 initially, and one “key initiative has been expanding the nurse residency program in response to the UNM College of Nursing increasing its class sizes.”
“Within two years, nurses are leaving the profession after getting their degree, and they are just not staying. Working conditions is the number one reason that they site,” said Adrienne Enghouse, RN who is also an organizer with United Health Professionals in New Mexico.
KOB 4 reached out to the New Mexico Hospital Association as well. Along with UNMH, they believe, “More efforts must be focused on training and recruiting additional healthcare workers to serve New Mexico.”
“The hospital association and the hospitals have brought forth solutions that have not sent us in the right direction. It is time for us to turn this ship around and head in the right direction. It is a multi-prong approach, absolutely, but they must start adding working conditions and how we perform our work as part of one of the things that needs fixed,” said Enghouse.
Full statement from UNM Health:
“As stated before, UNM Hospital does not support legislation mandating hospital staffing ratios, as such measures pose significant risks, including the potential closure of beds, reduced capacity to care for those in need, and limitations on accepting critical patients from across New Mexico. Staffing ratios fail to consider the varying levels of patient acuity—a critical factor in determining safe and appropriate care. A “one size fits all” model of care undermines the flexibility hospitals need to address the unique and dynamic needs of their patients. Maintaining adaptability in staffing is essential to continuing our mission of delivering exceptional care to our community.
Mandated staffing ratios will not fix health worker shortages or make health care more safe in New Mexico. For nearly five years, UNM Hospital has taken proactive steps to address higher patient volumes and work through the national health worker shortage. One key initiative has been expanding the nurse residency program in response to the UNM College of Nursing increasing its class sizes. This approach creates a sustainable nursing labor pipeline that strengthens our staffing capabilities. Additionally, we are collaborating with community partners to increase the availability of post-acute care discharge beds, which enhances hospital throughput. By improving the efficiency of care delivery, we are also reducing the length of hospital stays, enabling us to care for more patients.”
Full statement from the New Mexico Hospital Association:
“New Mexico continues to face a severe healthcare workforce shortage that threatens access to care when and where people need it, including a need for nearly 7,000 nurses. Without more healthcare providers readily available, had HB138 passed, hospitals across our state would have been forced to close beds in order to meet the staffing ratios proposed by the bill sponsors, resulting in fewer patients seen and longer waits for care. Community hospitals and healthcare providers across our state recognize and value the doctors, nurses and all healthcare workers who deliver the expert care we need and agree with frontline providers that the number of patients and the severity of their conditions are higher than prior to the pandemic. We do not believe that HB138 would have solved the problems it seeks to address. We need more nurses. We believe that more efforts must be focused on training and recruiting additional healthcare workers to serve New Mexico. HB138 would have caused more families to have to seek care outside of the state and far from their homes by reducing access to care within our state
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.
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