SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Health on Wednesday announced Lea County moved from the Yellow Level to Green Level. The health department announced the updated statewide COVID-19 map for the two-week period beginning March 10, with seven New Mexico counties at the Turquoise Level and seven at the Green Level, at which there are fewer restrictions on …

Lea County added 54 reported COVID-19 cases on Saturday after a week of single digit or even no new cases of COVID-19, according to the N.M. Department of Health. The COVID-19 positive cases for the week in Lea County are: • Friday: 7 cases • Thursday: 0 cases • Wednesday: 5 cases • Tuesday: 5 cases • Monday: 7 cases • …

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 …

Editor’s Note: The daily reports from Santa Fe of the number of positive COVID-19 cases and deaths can sometimes be overwhelming and seemingly have no connection to everyday life and what we are experiencing in southeastern New Mexico. So, we found five families who have all dealt with COVID-19 first hand and who would share their stories with our readers. …

The beginning of the end may be in sight. That’s the hope at local hospitals, anyway, as the first shipments of the vaccine created by Pfizer-BioN-Tech against the novel coronavirus – the virus that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19 – arrived Wednesday at Lea Regional Medical Center in Hobbs and Nor-Lea Hospital in Lovington, delivered by the New Mexico National …

New Mexico surpassed the 1,000th death related to COVID-19 Friday, which underscores the rise in recent weeks of the record number of positive cases across the nation and around the globe. A rise in the number of positive cases also brings with it a rise in the number of hospitalizations. While early in the pandemic, mask wearing orders and closures …

The landscape of not-for-profit groups in Lea County would be very different today without United Way. The Lea County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) wouldn’t be helping as many children. Light of Lea County couldn’t provide monetary assistance to cancer patients to get them to the treatments they need to stay alive. Not as many children would have the opportunity …

Not content with waiting for the Nov. 3 General Election Day, voters turned out in masses Saturday for the first day of early voting in Hobbs. Lines at the Lea County Event Center and the Lea County Annex Building stretched to more than 100 people for much of the day, causing wait times up to three hours for some to …

This year County Pink may look different because of COVID-19 but United Way CEO Becca Titus ensures the program Lea Regional Medical Center began 10 years ago will still happen Oct. 26. In October 2010, Lindsay Chism McCarter was the Director of Marketing at LRMC when Paint the County Pink, an event to show sup- port for breast cancer awareness, …

Lea County had its 27th death attributed to COVID-19, according to the N.M. Department of Health. The health department reported the death was a male in his 87’s from Lea County, who had been hospitalized with underlying conditions. Lea County also added 1 new positive test on Monday and 12 new positive tests on Sunday, bringing the total cumulative cases in Lea County …