By Jesse Jones, The Paper. & New Mexico Political Report — A Gallup native is in line to become one of the country’s top health officials after President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Overton has deep academic and civic ties to

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. & New Mexico Political Report— Republican gubernatorial candidate Gregg Hull says comments he made at an Aug. 11 Hobbs meet-and-greet about working with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on abortion are being taken “out of context,” though in a phone call with The Paper. he confirmed

With more than $70 billion available to invest for the benefit of New Mexico, why doesn’t the State Investment Council just buy PNM instead of letting them sell to Blackstone, a private equity company? This story was originally published at New Mexico Political Report, a nonprofit news service covering politics

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper.Democrat Elise Falanga Taylor is ending her campaign for New Mexico House District 23, saying she won’t let what she calls “vile tactics” from Republicans overshadow the issues at stake. Incumbent Rep. Alan Martinez, the House Minority Whip, denies he or his campaign had anything to

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico, told hospital administrators at Presbyterian Rust Medical Center that Republican-backed federal Medicaid cuts won’t just hurt New Mexicans enrolled in the program — they’ll raise care and insurance costs for everyone else, too. Presbyterian Delivery System President Chad Aduddell told

New Mexico Democrats are swapping candidates in a key State House race in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights where they have their target set on unseating one of the few Republicans representing a House or Senate district in Albuquerque. This story was originally published at New Mexico Political Report, a nonprofit news

By Kevin Hendricks and Julian Paras, The Paper. — U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat from New Mexico, toured Roadrunner Food Bank on Aug. 10, warning that federal cuts have stripped food assistance from more than 21,000 New Mexicans, about half of them children, since October. Stansbury said the drop

Guest commentary by Paul Gessing — Recently, Stephanie Schardin Clarke, New Mexico Secretary of Taxation and Revenue, wrote an article slamming Republican efforts to eliminate New Mexico’s personal income tax. She makes numerous points, but they boil down to two: 1) We simply should not cut taxes, especially for the

Corner to Corner by Columnist Diane D. Denish — Recently, I listened to the historical fiction novel The Frozen River, based on the life of Martha Ballard. Her life is chronicled in The Midwife’s Diary, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991. From 1785 to 1812, Ballard recorded the weather

By a one vote margin, 50-49, the United States Senate voted early Saturday morning to approve President Donald Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney and acting attorney general, to be the permanent Attorney General of the United States. Todd’s nomination was opposed by every Democrat and two

New Mexicans in Albuquerque’s Westside and most of southern New Mexico are getting an early taste this week of the political ads set to take over the airwaves and digital devices through November. The national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said this week they are launching a new ad campaign

By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — New Mexico’s congressional delegation, led by Sen. Martin Heinrich, demands answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after military GPS jamming allegedly caused a medical plane crash, killing four crew members and igniting a 32,000-acre wildfire that cost taxpayers $37.7 million. Just before midnight May

Commentary by Stephanie Shardin Clarke — Recently, some New Mexico lawmakers urged Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to call a special session and eliminate New Mexico’s personal income tax outright. On its face, it sounds fair — especially to New Mexico’s working families. Don’t be fooled: it’s the lowest-earning New Mexicans

By Kevin Hendicks and Jesse Jones, The Paper. — The Survivors’ Truth Commission — formally the House Special Investigatory Committee — presented its interim report Wednesday at the State Capitol, outlining its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch near Stanley and hearing survivor testimony. The report details how Epstein operated

By Kevin Hendricks New Mexico’s top prosecutor is taking the U.S. Department of Justice to federal court, accusing the agency of blocking access to unredacted Epstein investigative files the state says it needs to finish a criminal probe of Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the complaint

By Kevin Hendricks The Survivors’ Truth Commission — formally the House Special Investigatory Committee — meets Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 1 p.m. in State Capitol Room 307 to present an interim report and walk through its mission investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch near Stanley. The revised Aug. 3 agenda calls

By Kevin Hendricks New Mexico’s attorney general says he’ll take the U.S. Department of Justice to federal court if it doesn’t hand over records tied to his fentanyl investigation by Aug. 17 — records DOJ says his office never had a legal right to request in the first place. The

Commentary by Robert Lujan, Albuquerque — As a decade long Local 214 executive board member, I worked to elect Democrats alongside the larger brotherhood I proudly support as they push for permitting reform. My brothers in the trades need common sense leadership at the federal and local levels… now. Commentary

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. & New Mexico Political Report — State Senate Republicans want New Mexico’s Epstein Truth Commission to put two of the state’s most prominent Democrats under oath — gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland and U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury — and they’re warning the commission’s credibility is on

Pat Davis, The Paper. & New Mexico Political Report— A Sandia Pueblo plan to claim control over about 10,000 acres of national forest, wilderness and public recreation areas on the western slope of the Sandia Mountains – known as the T’uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area – will not be

The weeks-long inter party fight to choose a lieutenant governor nominee ended just where the state Democrat Party’s gubernatorial nominee wanted it. With 477 votes cast from the party’s 500 State Central Committee members, outgoing Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard bested State Senator Harold Pope 53%-46%. The Haaland-Garcia Richard ticket

The New Mexico Court of Appeals denied an appeal by former New Mexico Republican Party treasurer and perennial candidate Kimberly Skaggs to be released from jail pending trial following her arrest for th the fatal hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in Doña Ana County. A district court judge had ordered

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) faces a lawsuit following the July incident of a 15-year-old U.S. citizen traveling alone toward the Mexican border. The state agency maintains that its decision to pursue reunification with the youth’s mother took legal precedence, while

The Trump administration told a federal judge earlier this month that the Trump administration had deliberately canceled grants in “Blue States” who had awarded their electoral votes to Kamala Harris and/or “has two Democratic-caucusing Senators.” A number of grants to New Mexico energy projects were included, the government now admits.

By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. New Mexico could leapfrog nearly every other state in choosing the next Democratic presidential nominee. The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted Friday to recommend New Mexico as the fourth state to vote in the 2028 primary calendar, putting Hispanic, Native American and border-state voters