Lea County Correctional Facility/GEO Prison saw an increase of 192 COVID-19 cases on Friday. The New Mexico Department of Health news released  announced the LCCF has over 100 positive cases today, this bring the prison’s total positive cases to 673 since the pandemic began and more than half the amount of inmates the prison can hold. However, Eric Harrison, public …

Wells Fargo announced a second Lea County branch permanent closure in Lovington. On May 19, Wells Fargo will be closing its only Lovington branch. Forcing customers to travel 20 miles away to Hobbs for in-person services. The bank is conducting “site searches” to place an ATM location in Lovington, according to Franchesca Pancham, Wells Fargo communications advisor for New Mexico. …

More counties reach Yellow, Green Levels Only 4 counties at highest-risk Red Level, down from 14 two weeks past SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Health on Wednesday announced the updated statewide COVID-19 map for the two-week period beginning Feb. 24, with 19 New Mexico counties at the Yellow Level and six at the Green Level, at which …

Black History Month. A bittersweet 28 days of honoring, remembering, and celebrating the legacy of all African Americans. Exhale fear. Inhale courage. These two short sentences are measurable, impactful ways the Hobbs Branch NAACP is moving forward in initiating conversations throughout the community to address justice and equality. The org feels it cannot be fearful of the past in challenging …

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 …