For the News-Sun ALBUQUERQUE – The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government has chosen five New Mexicans, including one from Hobbs, as the recipients of its 2022 William S. Dixon First Amendment Freedom Awards. The awards are annually presented to those New Mexicans who believe in government transparency at the state or local level – and who have made significant …

For the News-Sun The JF Maddox Foundation has announced TJ Parks, former superintendent of the Hobbs Municipal Schools, will become the foundation’s interim CEO. The foundation’s current CEO, Ray Caraway, announced his retirement in July. Parks will begin his new role on Sept.1, 2022, prior to the departure of Caraway later in the month. TJ s exemplary career in public …

Gabrielle Arsiage/News-Sun LOVINGTON — On Monday Bishop Henderson III was found not guilty in the triple murder trial that began 19 days ago. In 2019, Henderson was arrested and charged in the shooting deaths Kalil Carter, 18, of Hobbs, Kristal Avena, 24, of Hobbs, and Lamar Lee-Kane Jr., 22, of Washington, D.C., and the injuring of four others at a …

Keith Manes/Lea County Clerk I have more than 20 years experience conducting elections, and I believe New Mexico has always been a model for other states in the conduct of elections. The New Mexico Clerks’ Affiliate, made up of all 33 county clerks in New Mexico, with a combined experience of many years, actively promotes the enactment of laws that …

Andy Brosig/News-Sun Student numbers in the Hobbs Municipal Schools are headed in a positive direction with day-one enrollment topping 10,000 students for the first time in three years, administrators said. Gene Strickland, HMS superintendent, told the Board of Education that enrollment is indicating a potential return to pre-pandemic numbers during its regular meeting on Tuesday. HMS, for example, started the …

Virginia Cunningham/News-Sun Late Sunday night a Carlsbad man allegedly stole a pickup truck, crashed that truck through the security gates at Lea County Regional Airport and tried to steal an airplane — but only managed to break into a hanger and take off on a baggage tractor. On Sunday, Hobbs police and Lea County Sheriff deputies were led on a …

  The video below from a neighbor’s camera on Bond Street captures some of the outside scene of people fleeing the night in 2019 when three people were killed at a house party. At approximately two minutes into the video, the party attendees begin to flee.  The video was admitted into evidence in the trial in Lovington on Tuesday, Aug. …

  The video below from a neighbor’s camera on Bond Street captures some of the outside scene of people fleeing the night in 2019 when three people were killed at a house party. At approximately two minutes into the video, the party attendees begin to flee.  The video was admitted into evidence in the trial in Lovington on Tuesday, Aug. …

Curtis Wynne/News-Sun From a “wake up call” two years ago to a grueling six-week externship in Colorado this spring, Donna Ryan became the newest diplomaed pastry chef in Hobbs. Ryan and her husband Tim Ryan have owned and operated the Hobbs Orthopedic & Sports Therapy (HOST) on North Grimes Street for 33 years, but she still had an unfulfilled wish. …

Andy Brosig/News-Sun The Hobbs Public Library has proven to be a valuable resource for Carley Pettigrew and her homeschooled brood — Henry, 10, Porter, 6, and Clare, 4. And it offered a welcome respite to the family when they moved to Hobbs in 2020 so dad, Kyle, could take an engineering job at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant west of …