Michael Smith

In the arid heart of Southeastern New Mexico, something remarkable is happening. Eddy and Lea counties—once quiet corners of the American Southwest—are now producing over a million barrels of oil per day, outpacing entire nations like Venezuela and Oman. But this boom comes with a byproduct that’s stirring both controversy and innovation: produced water.

Music, food, beer and vendors are part of the three-day festival.

Staff ReportsWednesday’s opening day of the first ever National Championship Air Races in Roswell was marked with a ribbon cutting and five classes of...

It is also a long (five-hour), bus ride to Deming, meaning the ‘Dogs need to remain focus during that long stretch of road to the southwest corner of New Mexico.

Three days of live music, food, craft vendors and homemade beer await partygoers from southeast New Mexico during the Red Dirt Black Gold Festival in downtown Artesia.

Tic-tac-toe is simple enough for anyone old enough to understand the rules. The field of play is nine squares and there are three different choices for the player making the first move: the center, the middle of a side, or a corner. No matter what move is made, the maximum number of choices peaks at seven on the third move and quickly dwindles.

Here is a look at community activities.

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York provides educational resources for everyone, attempts to foster a deeper understanding of the most intense terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history, and actively engages with family members, survivors, and first responders as the healing process continues.

New Mexico will offer free universal child care to all residents starting Nov. 1, becoming the first state in the nation to do so. This will remove any past income eligibility requirements for no-cost childcare.Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the news during a press conference Monday.

According to the Census Bureau, 20% of New Mexicans are on welfare, the highest percentage of any state in the nation. This is measured by families on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), General Assistance or SNAP and does not include Medicaid, Medicare, housing vouchers, school lunch programs, unemployment insurance or tax credits. According to the state Medicaid website, 702,063 New Mexicans were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP assistance as of May 2025. That’s 33% of our population.

A complete guide to Red Dirt Black Gold can be found on this website and in Thursday's newspaper.

Do you identify with the Pharisees, the ones who rightly saw the dangers of too close an association with the “wrong crowd.”