Front Page News

By Frost McGahey, Investigative Reporter

NM AG Raul Torrez and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

Despite all the headlines and press releases, Attorney General Raul Torrez’s efforts against Dr. Shepard and the Board of Regents appear to be sputtering. Also, Governor Grisham’s email to the Board of Regents demanding that they resign seems to have backfired.

First, the Attorney General on January 6 sought to block the severance payment to Dr. Shepard by asking the court to issue a restraining order. The court declined  because the claims in the attorney general’s lawsuit did not implicate Shepard in any wrongdoing.

[Editor's Note: This is part 4 of a multi-part series of articles on almost six hours of Grant County Commission meetings on Feb. 11 and 13, 2025.)

By Mary Alice Murphy

This article on the Grant County Commission Feb, 11, 2025 work session continues the county department head reports.

Grant County Detention Center Administrator Joseph Andazola began by saying: "We currently have four officer openings at the detention center. We have one officer in training, but we are going through background checks on four applicants for the detention center, so that would make us fully staffed."

By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a special meeting February 19, 2025. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Pro Tem Eloy Medina and  Councilors Frances Gonzales, Eloy Gonzales and Gilbert Ortiz. Martha Salas, city clerk, also attended.

The council approved the consent agenda. It included meeting minutes from January 15, 2025, and February 6, 2025, reports for accounts payable, police department, maintenance department, wastewater department, fire department and library. It also included several out-of-town training events.

Ojinaga wanted to go over the training and provide more information. The public works department would be sending three employees to the New Mexico Rural Water Association conference in Albuquerque. This will provide them with necessary training needed for certification. The city clerk and deputy clerk would be attending a workshop in Taos for training needed. The NM Municipal Judge conference in Albuquerque will be paid for out of the judge's fund and will be a mandatory training.

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session and regular meeting February 17, 2025. Members in attendance Ashley Montenegro, Michelle Diaz (came later in meeting), Patrick Cohn, Mike McMillan and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended.

Work session

Hawkins had an update on the district and bonds. The district had just received approval to start the process, so he didn't have a lot to report. Instead, he talked about the process and what they had learned. He said the public school capital outlay council has been a hurry up and wait. He asked the board to keep in mind they would be contributing 37 percent of the projects but said Cliff Schools would be a higher percentage. He has been meeting weekly with their liaisons, Martin Vasquez with the public school capital outlay council (PSCOC).

Chase Dobrinski

SPARTA, Illinois—Chase Dobrinski of Silver City, NM, has been selected to the 2025 Sub-Junior (under the age of 15) All-American Trapshooting First Team, according to the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA), which determines the teams. More than 100 years old, trapshooting is a competitive sport of shooting at clay targets with a shotgun.

The ATA hosts both the Grand American (the 11-day world tournament which in August drew more than 4,000 contestants to the World Shooting & Recreational Complex, in Sparta, Ill.) and a series of "satellite" Grands (smaller, regional tournaments providing Grand American-style trophies and competition). The association also sponsors five zone shoots.

Photos by Mary Alice Murphy

Stephen Lindsey, co-founder of the Future Forge Makerspace, along with co-founder Mary Stone, planned and produced a dinner, with an awards ceremony. They room filled with members of Future Forge and community members that support the effort.

The mission of the program is: 

[Editor's Note: This is part 3 of a multi- part series of articles on almost six hours of Grant County Commission meetings on Feb. 11 and 13, 2025.)
By Mary Alice Murphy

This article on the Grant County Commission Feb, 11, 2025 work session begins the county department head reports.

Grant County Fire Chief Roger Groves spoke first.

"Currently I've been working on a project for assisting our state fire marshal with financial work," he said. "That's taken a considerable amount of time. We're coming to the end of that pretty quickly on a meeting with our support service representative."

[Editor's Note: This is part 2 of a multi- part series of articles on almost six hours of Grant County Commission meetings on Feb. 11 and 13, 2025)

By Mary Alice Murphy

This article about the Grant County Commission work session on Feb. 11, 2025 continues with presentations.

Joseph Hill, director of prevention and community collaborations at the Center for Health Innovation-Public Health Institute (CHI-PHI), presented the Grant County Community Health Council quarterly report. He began with the council's mission statement, which is to bring together to assess, plan, prioritize and coordinate local efforts to empower the community. He said: "Our vision is to form a diverse and passionate group of individuals that unite to strengthen local resources and build new opportunities in Grant County. And so I just want to show you some highlights of how we've been doing that over the past six months."