Politics

New Mexico Republicans Push For Ban On Using SNAP For Soda, Candy

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By Margaret O’Hara
The Santa Fe New Mexican

Republican state senators have introduced legislation that would restrict shoppers from spending federal food aid on sodas and candy. 

Senate Bill 186 takes a page out of the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again playbook, with both U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. encouraging states to remove sugary foods from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility. 

Some of New Mexico’s neighboring states — including states with Read More

House Passes Bill To Crack Down On Violent Armed Felons

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STATE News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to strengthen penalties for convicted violent felons who possess firearms illegally, sending House Bill 49 to the Senate in a bipartisan show of support for public safety. 

The legislation, approved on a 54-9 vote, increases the penalty for firearm possession by a serious violent felon from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony, punishable by up to nine years in prison — three years more than current law allows.  

“Raising the penalty for serious violent felons who flout the law by possessing Read More

Legislative Roundup: 10 Days Left In Session

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Marilyn Converse, a volunteer with the Santa Fe Animal Shelter, and Perla hang out in the grass on the east side of the Roundhouse Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, Animal Protection Lobby Day at the Legislature. Photo by Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican

The Santa Fe New Mexican

Nuclear bill bombs: A bipartisan proposal to add nuclear power facilities to the state’s definition of renewable energy resources was shot down Tuesday in the Senate Conservation Committee.

Democratic senators’ concerns expressed during the hearing on Senate Bill 78 centered largely on nuclear waste and where it Read More

Measure To Fully Fund Free Childcare In New Mexico Gains Momentum, Guardrails

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By Daniel J. Chacón
The Santa Fe New Mexican

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s much-hyped initiative to offer taxpayer-funded childcare to every family in New Mexico, regardless of income, is closer to becoming reality.

The chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, is championing a bill that would allow the Legislature to spend an additional $1 billion from the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund over the next five fiscal years to shore up the initiative — without requiring any copays.

“We’re investing in people in New Mexico, and we’re Read More

Robinson: It’s Been A Long Road To Involuntary Mental Health Treatment

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By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
©2025 New Mexico News Services

He was sprawled across the exit lane of a busy shopping center as I was trying to leave. I stopped my car and ran over to do something, but what? Two other good Samaritans joined me.

We dragged him out of traffic and called 911. He told me he was having a seizure, but it seemed more likely that he was wasting away from years of substance abuse. The fire department arrived in minutes, and the senior officer greeted the man by name.

“We see this guy ALL the time,” the firefighter said.

I knew the police have to contend repeatedly with the same folks Read More

New Mexico Public Safety Workers Call On Senate To Go With Governor’s Higher Pay Plan

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Bryanna Vargas, sergeant at the Springer Correctional Center, speaks in support of 6% raises for state public safety employees to be included in the state budget during a news conference in the rotunda of the state Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. Photo by Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican

By NATHAN BROWN
The Santa Fe New Mexican

Public safety workers are urging lawmakers to take up Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s proposal for bigger raises for corrections workers, police and firefighters, arguing the current pay rates put safety at risk by contributing to high vacancies.

“We show up every single Read More

Lawmaker: NM In Talks With Some Dozen Data Centers

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Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces

By LILY ALEXANDER
The Santa Fe New Mexican

A New Mexico lawmaker pitching a bill to regulate microgrids like one planned in Southern New Mexico to power a massive AI data center said he has learned the state is in talks with up to a dozen other data centers. 

Democratic Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces, the co-sponsor of Senate Bill 235, which is largely a response to Project Jupiter in Doña Ana County, said he learned of the scope of New Mexico’s data center recruitment plans during a recent conversation with the state’s economic development secretary. Read More

County Secures Lease For Piñon Pool

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COUNTY News:

Considering the impact on the swimming community during the Olympic Pool Re-plastering Project, Los Alamos County staff have been communicating with the local and regional pools to secure an alternative space during the closure of Olympic and Therapy Pools, Feb. 22, 2026, through October 2026.

The Los Alamos County Community Services Department is happy to announce that it has secured a lease for the Piñon Pool, located in White Rock.

The Piñon Pool Association previously ran Piñon Pool; however, they closed the facility in 2025 due to a lack of memberships. Los Alamos County Read More

Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard Calls On Law Enforcement To Investigate Allegation Involving Burials On Land Surrounding Epstein’s Zorro Ranch

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Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard

LAND OFFICE News:

SANTA FE — New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard sent a letter Tuesday calling on the U.S. Department of Justice and the New Mexico Department of Justice to ensure a thorough criminal investigation into allegations that two girls were buried in the hills surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County.

Epstein’s company, Cypress Inc., held two leases for state land in the vicinity of the ranch that were issued in 1993, but Commissioner Garcia Richard terminated them in Read More

Op-Ed: Protecting Northern New Mexico’s Land, Water, And Communities From Wildfire

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By Sen. Bobby Gonzales, D-Los Alamos
New Mexico District 6

In northern New Mexico, wildfire is not an abstract threat—it is something we have lived through, endured, and are still recovering from.

Communities across Taos, Mora, San Miguel, and Colfax counties know this all too well. The Hermits Peak–Calf Canyon Fire burned hundreds of thousands of acres, displaced families, damaged acequias, destroyed grazing lands, and forever altered watersheds that our villages and pueblos rely on. The scars remain visible today—not just on the land, but in the lives of the people who depend on it.

Our Read More