Five University of New Mexico pre-med students came to Lea County this month as a focus of a program to get doctors into rural communities facing shortages. The Bachelor of Arts Medical Doctor (BAMD) program sends members of next fall’s junior class at UNM into communities around the state. This summer, for example, 28 students are spread in groups around …

Gabrielle Arsiage/News-Sun LOVINGTON — A day after one dog was found stabbed multiple times, two more were found in the same area with gunshot wounds to their paws and neck. The two dogs — named Maddox and Pax by Lovington Animal Control — were found by a county animal control officer on the 4600 block of East Dakota in Lovington …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun Two people from Eunice were arrested, and a warrant was issued for a Serafina woman after more than $140,000 worth of tools, equipment, and motor vehicles from various locations went missing and after investigations by the Eunice Police Department and the Lea County Sheriff’s Office. Michael Corbell, 31, of Eunice, was arrested on June 7 and charged with …

LOVINGTON — A dog was left for dead in the middle of the street in Lovington last week after being stabbed multiple times. Around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Lovington Animal Control and Lovington Police were called to Ave. H and 5th Street by a woman who found a dog bleeding. The woman and bystanders gave police different accounts of what transpired, …

Curtis Wynne/News-Sun The law of the land, starting July 1, will be an hour earned sick leave for 30 hours worked. For virtually all privately employed workers, full time, part time, temporary and seasonal. The Healthy Workplaces Act of 2021, requiring all private employers in New Mexico to allow employees to accrue and use a benefit called earned sick leave …

Gabrielle Arsiage/News-Sun Even though Hobbs dropped to No. 5 in cannabis sales during the month of May, it’s still one of the top selling cannabis cities in New Mexico, according to the Cannabis Control Division of New Mexico. Adult use cannabis sales began April 1, 2022, in New Mexico after the NM Legislature passed the Cannabis Regulation Act in 2021. …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun JAL —Jal High School’s 2022 valedictorian is Stanton Richard — but he didn’t even know he was in the running until last year. Even so, Richard — a life-long resident of Jal — has worked hard his whole high school career to get to where he’s at today. “I didn’t learn I was in the running for this …

Curtis Wynne/News-Sun LOVINGTON — Elusive high-speed internet access garnered the attention of Lea County Commission members at Thursday’s regular commission meeting. Medical communication, police body camera recordings and COVID-19-related school restrictions highlighted lack of broadband in rural areas throughout the nation, including in southern Lea County where Leaco Rural Telephone Cooperative Inc. and City of Jal officials propose a project …

Starla Jones/Hobbs Municipal Schools Life may have turned out differently for Juanita Castillo had she not gotten pregnant in ninth grade. But Juanita – who would marry at the age of 15 – never regretted devoting herself to her husband and a family that would eventually number seven children. Life – then and now – is good. Still, Juanita, a …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun A Hobbs couple was arrested Sunday after police said they found them in possession of more than 1,000 fentanyl pills. Miranda Milligan, 25, of Hobbs, was arrested on May 22 and charged with abuse of a child, a fourth-degree felony; and resisting evading or obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor. Benjamin Verret, 23, of Hobbs, was arrested on May …