Additional lawsuits eyed in priest sex abuse case Las Cruces attorney Connie Flores is planning additional lawsuits in the sex abuse case involving former St. Helena Catholic Church priest Ricardo Bauza on behalf of two ex-church employees. The lawsuits would involve issues like sexual harassment and retaliation. Earlier this month, two lawfirms — Flores, Tawney & Acosta P.C. of Las …

BLM backtracks on flaring rule The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Monday a proposal to revise the 2016 final Waste Prevention Rule, also known as the venting and flaring rule. The proposed reversal would eliminate duplicative regulatory requirements and re-establish long-standing requirements that the 2016 final rule sought to replace, according to a BLM press release. The oil and …

Jury deadlocked in murder trial of Puente LOVINGTON — Fifth Judicial District Judge Gary Clingman declared a mistrial Thursday afternoon in the murder trial of Hobbsan Joshua Puente regarding the April 2016 shooting of Hobbsan Darrell Griffin. The mistrial came after more than eight hours of deliberation that started Wednesday and ended Thursday after jurors couldn’t reach a verdict. Starting …

Pam Acevedo speaks to a crowd of nearly 60 people covering the topic of a request to remove the Ten Commandments from city owned property in Hobbs, N.M. Acevedo began a Facebook group called Freedom FOR Religion that has grown to more than 1,000 members in two days. The group peacefully marched around City Hall, stopping at all four corners …

LOVINGTON — Patsy Cunningham learned Thursday, while in Dallas, that she’d been named Lovington Chamber’s 2017 Citizen of the Year and the news left her surprised and “very honored.” A large crowd packed into the city’s youth center Thursday night for Lovington Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards banquet, where 2018 plans were discussed, dinner was served, board members named and …

Hobbs celebrates Ornelas opening insurance agency A couple dozen people welcomed the Armando Ornelas State Farm Agency to its new location in the Dal Paso Mall on Wednesday. Located at 2827 N. Dal Paso St. Suite 115, the agency celebrated an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony in the company of representatives of the Hobbs Chamber of Commerce, the Hobbs …

Foundation asks city, NMJC to take down, remove religious items NEWS-SUN STAFF REPORT Local members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation have requested religious items removed from local government buildings in Lea County and sent a complaint regarding the City of Hobbs’ involvement in a recent community event. A member of the group complained to New Mexico Junior College recently …

Foundation asks city, NMJC to take down, remove religious items NEWS-SUN STAFF REPORT Local members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation have requested religious items removed from local government buildings in Lea County and sent a complaint regarding the City of Hobbs’ involvement in a recent community event. A member of the group complained to New Mexico Junior College recently …

Annual dog show back in town this weekend Hobbs will be a little noisier than usual this weekend when approximately 507 pure bred dogs arrive here to compete in this year’s Hobbs Kennel Club dog show. The show, which is scheduled to begin Saturday at 9 a.m., will close at 5 p.m., but will reopen Sunday morning at 8 a.m. …

Using outside interests to move New Mexico ‘forward’ is not the answer As we begin a new year – an election year – already, some New Mexico politicians are distorting the facts and using misinformation against oil and gas producers to score political points. Rather than producing any real change, some of these political proposals look less like sound policy …