Virginia Cunningham/News-Sun LOVINGTON — Hillcrest Christian Academy broke ground on a new school on Thursday. Tony Mabe, owner and contractor with Artisans Guild Construction said the building will cost approximately $7 million dollars, and will be located on the corner of Avenue I and 2nd Street in Lovington. “I’ve been saying from the start, ‘If God ordains it, nothing’s going …

HPD reports increase in crime for 2022 Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun The City of Hobbs has seen an exponential increase in shootings from 2021, Hobbs Police Chief August Fons said during Monday night’s city commission meeting. Fons provided commissioners with the annual fiscal year 2022-2023 report for HPD containing annual crime statistics from 2021 and 2022. According to Fons, statistically in 2022, …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun On Monday, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed a motion with the N.M. Supreme Court asking recent ordinances passed in Southeast New Mexico be nullified by the court. The ordinances Torrez named in the Writ of Mandamus request, were passed by Hobbs, Clovis, Lea and Roosevelt Counties — and, though not named in the suit, on Monday …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun Investigators with the Hobbs Fire Marshal office are still investigating two suspicious Hobbs residential structure fires that happened on Jan. 6 and Jan. 9. Hobbs Fire Department Chief Barry Young said both fires are being investigating “under a suspicious nature.”  Firefighters responded to the two vacant residences fully involved in flames — one around 10:52 a.m., Jan. 6 …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun As a Marine, Richard Duran traveled the world to places many may never have the chance to visit, but his service didn’t end there. Duran has continued to serve other veterans and his country by volunteering to raise and lower the U.S. flag at the Veterans Affairs Clinic, located at 1301 N. Turner Street since its opening. The …

Andy BrosigNews-Sun Dee Ann Kimbro, who owns two downtown Lovington businesses, has a simple plea for state Democratic lawmakers who want to link the New Mexico minimum wage to inflation to provide potentially automatic increases: “Don’t do that,” she said Thursday. “Please.” Draft bills from state Reps. Miguel Garcia, D–Albuquerque, and Christine Chandler, D–Los Alamos, were published Wednesday that would …

CURTIS C. WYNNE/NEWS-SUN EUNICE — Serving alcohol at the golf course, discouraging abortion clinics in town and ensuring safety at the city’s gun range topped new ordinance discussions at the Eunice City Council meeting Monday. Finalizing the “Eunice Golf Course Alcohol Ordinance,” councilors prohibited golfers from supplying their own coolers or alcohol and established consequences for violators. Eunice City Attorney …

CURTIS C. WYNNE/NEWS-SUN Keeping the No. 1 spot among the nation’s counties, Lea County hit the record books again, logging almost 32 million barrels of crude oil in October.  That’s a little more than a million barrels a day. With a lion’s share of county revenue coming from the oil and gas industry, County Finance Director Chip Low tracks the …

The following are the Top Ten local news stories for 2022 selected by the News-Sun staff: 1) Baby  in dumpster Around 2 p.m. on Jan. 7 a woman pulled up to a dumpster behind a Hobbs retail store and threw her unwanted newborn in a dumpster. According to Hobbs Police Chief August Fons, the newborn was found by three “dumpster …

Andy Brosig/News-Sun Shawn Williams says the time he spends officiating basketball uses some of the same skills he employs in his day job as fire investigator and Hobbs Fire Marshal. Ty Friend, who teaches at the Alternative High School in Hobbs, told the News-Sun much the same between games Wednesday, opening day of the annual Hobbs Holiday Tournament. Officiating “makes …