Non-Local News Releases
This category will feature news releases from out-of-area government agencies and representatives, as well as events that are not taking place in the four-county area of Grant, Catron, Hidalgo or Luna. For local events please visit Local News Releases.
Registration open for free New Mexico Agritourism Symposium
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 14 July 2023 14 July 2023
New Mexico Department of Agriculture to host event Aug. 14 in Las Cruces
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LAS CRUCES, N.M. – If you're in the New Mexico agritourism industry, or if you're wanting to get into the business, you don't want to miss this opportunity. The New Mexico Department of Agriculture is hosting the first-ever, free New Mexico Agritourism Symposium from 12 to 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 14 at the Mesilla Valley Maze in Las Cruces.
The symposium will include roundtable discussions, networking opportunities, dinner and a presentation on the free NEW MEXICO–Taste the Tradition and NEW MEXICO–Grown with Tradition Logo Program, which aims to promote New Mexico products and identify them as grown or made in the state.
Traffic Report for week of July 16 to 23, 2023.
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 14 July 2023 14 July 2023
In all construction zones, motorists are asked to reduce speed, obey posted signs, and use extreme caution, as well as continue to be cautious of heavy equipment and construction personnel in the area. PLEASE NOTE: Conditions are subject to change without notice. Double fines for speeding in work zones may be in effect.
White Sands Missile Range Notification
For information regarding closures, you may call WSMR at 678-1178 or 678-2222 for updates.
Interstates:
Date St. Business Loop Roundabout Project, T or C CN1101231/32
La Calerita Construction LLC. (Contractor) construction, Phase 3 is expected to last about 4 (four) months, through September 2023, the following traffic impacts will be in place:
Traffic on North Date Street will be reduced to one lane in each direction (northbound and southbound) and will be shifted to the east (Northbound) lanes from north of New School Road to Ash Street. Motorists are encouraged to use extra caution in the construction zone, obey lower posted speed limits and allow extra time to reach their destinations. Regular work hours will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday although the contractor may work longer hours or on weekends as needed.
I-25 Bridge Replacement Project, Williamsburg CN1100990
El Terrero Construction, LLC. (Contractor) will be continuing construction to replace the bridge at I-25 milepost 75, Broadway Street and NM 187 in Williamsburg. All traffic has been shifted into the southbound lanes; northbound lanes are closed throughout the project limits. The I-25 northbound on-ramp and the southbound I-25 off/on-ramp at Exit 75 is closed, traffic should utilize NM 187 to Las Palomas Exit or the T or C North exit. Currently crews are working on installation of bridge piers and drainage structures. Regular work hours will be 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday although the contractor may work longer hours or on weekends as needed. Access will be maintained to all businesses and residences during construction.
State covering bill for first responder radio service
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 14 July 2023 14 July 2023
SANTA FE — At the direction of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the state will pay monthly subscriber fees for radio service for federal, local, and tribal first responders. The decision comes following the failure of a bill in the last legislative session that would have reimbursed public safety agencies for the cost of the subscription. The statewide system is managed and operated by the state Department of Information Technology.
Senate Bill 409, sponsored by Sens. William Burt and Brenda McKenna and Rep. Joshua Hernandez, would have reimbursed first responders from municipal, county, or tribal public safety agencies the subscriber fees for interoperability. The governor asked DoIT to cover the subscriber fee to honor her commitment to public safety.
“Gov. Lujan Grisham and her administration understand the critical importance of keeping first responders safe and making sure they are able to best serve the people of New Mexico,” said Acting Cabinet Secretary Raja Sambandam. “This funding will make sure that first responders have more resources on other public safety priorities in their communities.”
The state encourages more public safety agencies to utilize the system, which provides the ability for first responders from different agencies to communicate with each other in an emergency event on a unified platform.
NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Clovis to host field day Aug. 1
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 14 July 2023 14 July 2023
New Mexico producers and researchers from New Mexico State University will have an opportunity to learn from each other at this year’s field day at the NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Clovis.
The field day will begin with registration and refreshments at 7:30 a.m. Aug. 1 at the science center, located at 2346 NM-288, about 13 miles north of Clovis, New Mexico. Abdel Mesbah, the center’s superintendent, will provide a welcome and introduction.
“The purpose of this free event is to bring producers and researchers together to visit and interact with each other and share ideas and opinions about different cultural practices,” Mesbah said. “This is the perfect opportunity for producers to ask questions and get answers in a one-on-one setting.”
New Mexico Tourism Department more than doubles investment in tourism
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 13 July 2023 13 July 2023
New Mexico Tourism Department more than doubles investment in tourism events program for Year 2
SANTA FE – The New Mexico Tourism Department (NMTD) is boosting its investment in New Mexico's fairs, festivals and events in fiscal year 2024 after a successful inaugural year of the Tourism Event Growth and Sustainability Program.
NMTD awarded a total of $460,692 in grant funding for 35 tourism-related events scheduled over the next 12 months across New Mexico. In total, NMTD will be supporting 17 New Mexico communities through the program, including two tribal communities. In the program's inaugural year in FY23, NMTD awarded $177,000 in grant funding to 16 tourism-related events.
NMTD first implemented the program in FY23 to provide more specialized support for tourism-related events. The program provides support in the form of sponsorship, cooperative advertising, and an event accelerator.
For FY24, NMTD is supporting 14 events through sponsorship, nine events through cooperative marketing support and 11 events through the event accelerator. NMTD supported six events through sponsorship, five events through cooperative marketing support and five events through the event accelerator in FY23.
Nuclear legacies: NMSU Art Museum hosts panel discussion with authors, artists
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 13 July 2023 13 July 2023
In a region deeply impacted by the history of the atomic bomb, artists and authors are coming to New Mexico State University to share their research and everyday stories, all to bring awareness to the issue.
The University Art Museum at New Mexico State University will host a panel discussion of these perspectives from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 19 at the UAM in the bleachers area near the entrance of Devasthali Hall. The UAM is located inside Devasthali Hall at 1308 E. University Ave.
The panel is connected to the UAM's latest exhibition, "Cara Despain: Specter," which runs through Sept. 16 and is free and open to the public. Despain, who is from Utah, analyzes questions surrounding the history of testing nuclear bombs and the devastation it has inflicted on people in states such as New Mexico.
NMSU students among few awarded Television Academy fellowships
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 13 July 2023 13 July 2023
Virtual fencing for cattle, alternate crops and conserving soil carbon are among the topics to be discussed at this year's field day at New Mexico State University's Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center in Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The evening event will begin with registration at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at the science center, located three miles northeast of Tucumcari on Highway 54. The event is free and open to the public. The keynote presentation and dinner, catered by a Quay County 4-H club as a fundraiser sponsored by local businesses, will follow registration.
Supreme Court resolves dispute over road across private land for access to solar energy farm
- Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
- Published: 13 July 2023 13 July 2023
SANTA FE – The state Supreme Court today ruled the public may cross a rancher's private property on a road in Quay County under a "prescriptive easement" established by decades of uninterrupted travel on the roadway.
The Court's unanimous opinion resolved a dispute over the right to use a 6-mile-long road – known as Quay Road AI – to access land owned by the state and several other ranchers, including property leased for a solar energy farm near Tucumcari.
The dispute arose after McFarland Land & Cattle Company sought to stop a solar energy developer, Caprock Solar 1, LLC, from using a "low water crossing" over an arroyo on its property to reach land the company leased from a neighboring rancher to build and operate a solar array.
The road was rerouted to the low water crossing after a flood in 1954 washed out a nearby bridge. The arroyo crossing must be used to travel on the southern three miles of the road to access the state land and portions of other ranches, including the location of the solar array and an electrical substation. McFarland filed a lawsuit in 2016 after the energy company declined to pay for the right to use the crossing.
In today's opinion, the state's highest court clarified what is required to prove a claim for a "public prescriptive easement" allowing people to cross a portion of private property without obtaining the landowner's permission.
"The law of public prescriptive easements in New Mexico does not require a showing of a minimum amount of use or number of users, as it is the public character of the road that guides a fact finder's determination of a public prescriptive easement," the Court wrote in an opinion by Justice David K. Thomson.
In 2018, a district court determined that Quay County, Caprock Solar and a construction company it hired to build the solar energy farm had proven their claim of a "public prescriptive easement" by showing that the road and the low water crossing had been used without interruption for more than a decade. The bottom of the low water crossing was lined with concrete by a utility company nearly two decades ago to accommodate heavy construction vehicles when an electrical substation was built on neighboring property.
The state Court of Appeals reversed the district court, finding that there was not enough evidence of general public use of the road and that travel by neighboring ranchers and those granted permission to cross the land did not constitute use by the general public.
The Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeals decision and affirmed the district court's original judgment in the case.
The justices concluded that the "Court of Appeals erred in requiring the County and Defendants to prove a minimum amount of use by the public in establishing their public prescriptive easement claim and erred in holding that evidence of neighbor or invitee use can never be considered to prove public use."
The Court determined there was sufficient evidence to support the district court's finding of a prescriptive easement for public use of the roadway. The evidence, the justices explained, established that the road had a "public character," including that the road appeared on Quay County road maps since 1956, the county performed maintenance on it and the arroyo crossing, and a local title company identified it as a public road.
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To read the decision in McFarland Land & Cattle Inc. v. Caprock Solar, No. S-1-SC-38934, please visit the New Mexico Compilation Commission's website using the following link: https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsc/en/item/521909/index.do