James Quevedo is a family man. A husband, father of six and one of 10 siblings – he understands the value of family. And it is that family that might be able to save his life. Quevedo has faced struggles with diabetes and high blood pressure for years, but now he has an even bigger fight – kidney disease. “I …

JAL — The southern Lea County community of Jal budgeted wisely when oil prices crashed and the novel coronavirus pandemic began last spring. If the Jal City Council had used data from previous years to plan its budget for fiscal 2021, which began July 1, 2020, things would have been much different today. “In fiscal year 2020, GRT monthly average …

Barbed wire changed the face of the west. And it absolutely fascinates Hobbs collector Bobby Cox, so much so his friends call him “Barbed Wire Bobby.” Cox’s interest in the spiky fencing material started when he bought his property on West Bender Boulevard in February 1973, he said. There, he found a stretch of wire fencing bordering the land he’d …

AMARILLO, Texas (Feb. 17, 2021) – Slight improvements in natural gas fuel deliveries to power plants and conservation by customers of Xcel Energy and other utilities helped prevent controlled outages on Wednesday across the Panhandle and South Plains regions of Texas and eastern and southeastern New Mexico. Even so, electricity supply remains extremely tight through at least Thursday. Xcel Energy, …

Explosions rocked a north Hobbs neighborhood in the early-morning hours Saturday on the 2600 block of North Breckon Drive. No injuries were reported.

Amid funding woes Lovington’s City Commission discussed a possible cost increase to customers for wastewater and solid waste rates during Monday’s commission meeting. Finance Director Gary Chapman told the commission wastewater has a loss of more than $345,000 during the past six months. “These are just operational costs,” Chapman said. “During that first six months, we had almost a $347,000 …

Lea County added three reported deaths on Wednesday due to COVID-19, according to the N.M. Department of Health, and 12 new cases. The department reports the deaths were: A male in his 50s from Lea County. The individual was hospitalized. A female in her 60s from Lea County. The individual was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. A male in his 60s …

It was the perfect way to send off one of Lea County’s top ranchers. One of Lea’s best people. Bill Lee, who passed away Jan. 26, had his casket branded with his ranch’s Lazy J brand, during his graveside service Tuesday at Lovington Cemetery. Bill may have been known as an honorable man. He may have been called “Sen. Bill …

SANTA FE (AP) — A Republican lawmaker in New Mexico who voted in favor of a Democratic-backed abortion bill has left the GOP, officials said. House Minority Leader Jim Townsend said on Friday that state Rep. Phelps Anderson of Roswell changed his voter registration to “declined to state” after voting to repeal a 1969 abortion law that bans and criminalizes …

In New Mexico and the United States as a whole, recent months have seen unprecedented attacks on the traditional energy sector from policymakers in Santa Fe and Washington. The potential harm of President Biden’s ban on oil and gas production on federal lands has been well-documented. Our State, New Mexico, will be disproportionately impacted by such a ban, particularly if …