Sofia Lopez wants to give back and she’s using her birthday to do so. This year, instead of birthday gifts, Sofia has asked family and friends to donate to Isaiah’s Kitchen, a food outreach charity in Hobbs, and hopefully, by her eighth birthday on Jan. 16, the charity will benefit. It all started a few weeks ago. Sofia and her …

Sofia Lopez wants to give back and she’s using her birthday to do so. This year, instead of birthday gifts, Sofia has asked family and friends to donate to Isaiah’s Kitchen, a food outreach charity in Hobbs, and hopefully, by her eighth birthday on Jan. 16, the charity will benefit. It all started a few weeks ago. Sofia and her …

Sara Lack vividly remembers her childhood growing up in Hobbs and living in poverty. “It was a single-mother household,” Lack remembered. “There were a lot of times when we didn’t know where we would get our next meal or have a roof over our heads. My mother worked extremely hard to provide what she could and instill the values of …

Oh what a difference a few months can make. In April 2020, West Texas Intermediate oil fell to an unheard of price of -$37.63. On Tuesday and Wednesday, WTI reached $50 per barrel. As of close on Wednesday, WTI crude on oilprice.com was $50.46. Buoyed by the announcement by Saudi Arabia it was cutting production by 1 million barrels per …

Lea County had three new reported deaths on Friday due to COVID-19, according to the N.M. Department of Health, and 55 new cases. The department reports the two deaths were: A male in his 60s from Lea County. The individual was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. A male in his 70s from Lea County. The individual had underlying conditions. A female …

The embattled Hobbs Apartment complex on East Clinton Street saw a flurry of activity Thursday as code and safety inspectors from several different city departments made their way around the complex looking for violations. Even before the inspectors arrived, the complex was abuzz with workers, fixing windows, working on plumbing and blowing leaves and generally sprucing up the complex. There …

Even as revelers were welcoming in the new year in the wee hours of Friday morning, a quiet yet important change was taking place. Starting more than a year ago with the announcement by Covenant Health of plans to build a new hospital in Hobbs, plans finally came to fruition as Lea Regional Medical Center officially changed owners to the …

When he arrived on New Year’s Day, Sergio Armani Fierro III became both the first baby born at Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital, and the first baby born at the newly renamed facility. Young Sergio was born at 4:39 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 1. He weighed 7-pounds, 15.3-ounces and measured 20.75-inches at birth. Sergio is the son of Christy Rodriguez and …

Manola Gunn, the long-time mom-and-pop gun shop owner, will be retiring after 23 years in the business on Saturday. She came into the gun shop business kicking and screaming, but no one would know that now decades later. The “family gun shop” has been a Hobbs staple for years, and Gunn hopes that will continue. Gunn is retiring from the …

Lea County had a two new reported deaths on New Year’s Eve due to COVID-19, according to the N.M. Department of Health, and 118 new cases. The department reports the two deaths were: • A female in her 80s from Lea County. The individual was a resident of the Lovington Healthcare facility in Lovington. • A male in his 50s from Lea …