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 …

It’s unthinkable. On April 23, 11-year-old Landon Fuller of Hobbs took his own life. His parents said he had written in his journal that his loneliness was driving him mad. He wrote in it that all he wanted was to go to school and play outside with his friends. The day after Landon’s death, his grieving parents notified the school …

People around the world believe in guardian angels. In Hobbs, Linda Bittle is definitely one who believes. She has a whole family of them, she said, living right next door. Linda was outside her home on West Berry Street on Nov. 21, cleaning up her yard. She was using a leaf blower and “I decided I was making a mess …

People around the world believe in guardian angels. In Hobbs, Linda Bittle is definitely one who believes. She has a whole family of them, she said, living right next door. Linda was outside her home on West Berry Street on Nov. 21, cleaning up her yard. She was using a leaf blower and “I decided I was making a mess …

The wide availability of the COVID-19 vaccination to any Lea County resident could be here in six months. “I think that because of supply of the vaccine and the number of people who need to be vaccinated, it’ll still be May before we reach a level where most people can be vaccinated,” Nor-Lea Hospital CEO David Shaw said on Tuesday. …

Providing more than a third of the state’s fiscal year 2020 budget, the oil and gas industry came under attack this week from both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department. A new analysis from the nonpartisan New Mexico Tax Research Institute reports state revenue from oil and natural gas production in New Mexico totaled $2.8 …

New Mexico schools have been ranked as last of all 50 states. With the closure of in-person learning the state is now worse. Public Education Department Secretary Ryan Stewart recently announced the state has no idea where 12,000 students who were enrolled in New Mexico schools just last year have gone. But while the state may not know, or doesn’t …

A man told police he fired several shots at a vehicle to “save” a kidnapped woman, according to a police report. Christopher Ray Webb, 42, of Hobbs, was arrested Sunday after allegedly shooting at a truck multiple times while it attempted to flee. According to a Hobbs Police Department criminal complaint, a driver and passenger were at a convenience store …

Some folks in the western part of the country hope certain campaign promises are let to slide. A ban on oil and natural gas development on public lands by President-elect Joe Biden would severely harm the economies of eight western states, especially New Mexico, according to a study released Monday. After discussing the report with the News-Sun, state Rep. Larry …

The Wells Fargo branch in Eunice will permanently close its doors in March of 2021. The Wells Fargo branch will close on March 10 at noon. Until then, the bank will operate normal business hours. The nearest Wells Fargo location will be 20 miles away in Hobbs or in Jal. Wells Fargo’s New Mexico Communications Advisor Franchesca Pancham explained the …