GABRIELLE ARSIAGA /NEWS-SUN Gretchen Koether, Becky Kesner, and Blanca Perez have empowered, advocated for, and been a shield for hundreds of women in Lea County who have been victims of abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking. The trio’s organization, Phoenix House, has become an integral part of the Lea County court system by being a sexual assault and domestic violence …

Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun According to NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg, a 13-year-old boy was behind the wheel of the 2007 Dodge 2500 pickup when it crashed head-on into the 2017 Ford Transit van, towing a 2019 Salvation 8-foot box trailer, being driven by University of the Southwest Mustang golf team coach, Tyler James. Noting that if the driver of the pickup …

ANDY BROSIG/NEWS-SUN Children on the city’s south side have a new option for play. The City of Hobbs Parks Department recently completed installation of new playground equipment at the Washington Heights Park on East Marland Street near Booker T. Washington School at a cost of about $55,000. The new equipment represents the start of an ongoing project to upgrade playgrounds …

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — Nine people have died in a fiery, head-on collision in West Texas, including six students and a coach from a New Mexico university who were returning home from a golf tournament, authorities said. Those killed in the Tuesday evening crash included University of the Southwest students from Portugal and Mexico. Two Canadian students were hospitalized in …

Six students and one coach from the University of the Southwest died in a bus accident also involving a pickup truck near Andrews, Texas, on Tuesday evening. Texas Department of Public Safety reports the driver of the pickup truck and a passenger were also killed. Two additional passengers in the USW van were taken by helicopter to a Lubbock hospital …

CURTIS C. WYNNE/NEWS-SUN LOVINGTON — Lea County Commissioners agreed on Thursday to join an ongoing bipartisan lawsuit over the New Mexico Legislature-approved mapping of U.S. Congressional districts. Encouraging public input while acknowledging the likelihood of no improvement being made, Commission Chairman Dean Jackson brought the question before the commission. “I feel we are being overlooked down here. If we take …

Dorothy Fowler/News-Sun What’s 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and packed with plenty of ripe, climbing, red tomatoes, blooming geraniums, budding lantana and a variety of other growing things — all of which were propagated from existing plants? It’s the greenhouse on the campus of Lovington High School, where teacher Montana Hagler and 133 students, plus Lovington schools’ director of …

Andy Brosig/News-Sun Gordon Ponsford has had his hands on history. From the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to the personal Bible of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King used by President Barack Obama when he took the oath of office for his first term in 2009, Ponsford and his team of conservators have restored …

DOROTHY N. FOWLER/NEWS-SUN Dennis Sladkovskyi breathed a sigh of relief when he found out a column of Russian soldiers that was marching toward Bobrynekis, Ukraine suddenly turned another direction, leaving the city intact — at least for a while. Sladkovskyi, who came to Hobbs five years ago on an athletic scholarship at New Mexico Junior College, calls the town — …

This month during Black History Month we are honoring Black Americans who paved a path forward for the community. The City of Hobbs has a long history of Blacks who paved a path forward for the community. We honor the trailblazers who stand on the shoulders of giants and continue to inspire us today. One of those trailblazers is Ralph …