Bill calls for health care for oilfield workers For the News-Sun A bill aimed at compensating oilfield workers for uninsured medical costs related to oilfield work was introduced in Hobbs Wednesday by first-term U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez, D-NM, before a gathering of about 75 people at an event sponsored by Somos Un Pueblo Unido. Vasquez called out oil companies and …

Lea counts 39 seats on Local Election ballots Curtis C. Wynne/News-Sun LOVINGTON — Voters throughout Lea County will fill a total of 39 seats in the 2023 local elections, announced Carrie Sandoval, Bureau of Elections administrator. To get their names on the Nov. 7 ballots, individuals must file their candidacy in the County Clerk’s Office in the Lea County Courthouse …

Urenco USA taking on expansion project Michelle A. Fox/News-Sun For the first time in seven years, Urenco USA is taking on an expansion project. “This project marks the first expansion of the plant since 2016 and will allow us to increase our enriched uranium production by 15 percent,” said President and CEO of Urenco USA Karen Fill. Urenco USA is …

Pueblo on the Plains, Lea County site is rewriting accepted history Levi Hill/News-Sun Fifty years before Columbus, the last rays of a Zia sun hammered the stark, ruddy cliffs of a mesa in what will eventually become western Lea County. Robed in deerskins, their skin baked red in the furnace of the Llano Estacado, a string of women trudge laboriously …

HMS Board approves putting $50M bond issue on ballot Andy Brosig/News-Sun Voters in the Hobbs Municipal Schools district will be asked to approve a $50 million bond issue in November to address crowded conditions in the district’s three middle schools. Superintendent Gene Strickland presented a resolution to the Hobbs Municipal Schools Board of Education on Monday, calling for a new …

‘Sound of Freedom’ is hit despite numerous reported barriers at box offices  Movie expected to keep playing in Hobbs for a couple more weeks God’s children are not for sale! No, they are not. God’s children are not for sale! This is a powerful message being magnified at the movie theaters with the surprising summer box office smash, “The Sound …

Mewbourne Oil engineer invents device to increase underground pipeline safety Andy Brosig/News-Sun Erin McMath wasn’t satisfied with the way oil and gas companies were checking the safety of the miles of high-density polyethelene pipe they were burying in the ground of southeast New Mexico. McMath is a native New Mexican, born in Albuquerque and raised in Los Alamos. He has …

Summer Heat Stress & Drought: A killer combo for the landscape Drought conditions, extreme heat, and abnormally lack of water has become a very oppressing issue to those living in the inter-mountain regions of the southwest United States. This includes all of New Mexico and western Texas regions. The last two decades have been the worst in 1200 years according …

Virginia Cunningham/News-Sun LOVINGTON — People who live in Lovington may soon be paying a lot more for water. Lovington water bills may soon be higher due to a system billing error that has been going on for approximately two years, Lovington Interim City Manager David Miranda said. The error has to do with a decimal placement and an extra zero, …

Excessive spending only tip of the iceberg In a previous column, I discussed how New Mexico’s state government has been on an historic spending spree during the tenure of Gov. Lujan Grisham. Since taking office in January 2019, the governor and her progressive Democrat allies in the State Legislature have grown the state operating budget from $6.3 billion to more …