Personnel from the Hobbs Police Department and Hobbs Fire Department will be patrolling the streets this Independence Day as an ordinance passed earlier this year clarifying and updating the city’s fireworks ordinance gets its first test. Hobbs Police Chief John Ortolano has a simple message for residents who want to celebrate the holiday with fireworks: Do so safely and legally. …

The Hobbs City Commission on Tuesday moved one step forward in the process of adopting a proposed ordinance to update city fireworks code during a virtual meeting, moved from Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Originally discussed in November, Commissioners voted unanimously to send the rewritten proposal for publication, the next step in the process. According to New …