News

ARTESIA -- ConocoPhillips announced Tuesday that it has donated $100,000 to the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico (CFSNM) to support wildfire disaster relief efforts in Lincoln and Otero counties.

RUIDOSO -- Southwest Area Incident Management Team No. 5 reported Wednesday afternoon that the South Fork Fire is now at 64% containment and the Salt Fire at 55% as residents of the Ruidoso area continue to return to their communities.

RUIDOSO -- Residents of Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs learned Saturday that they will be allowed to return to the communities beginning Monday. Local, full-time residents only will be allowed to begin entering Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs at 8 a.m.

ROSWELL -- A Roswell man was arrested on charges of murder Friday following a shooting at an apartment complex in the southwest part of the city. Paul Ybarra-Romero, 40, stands charged with first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault upon a household member, and three counts of child abuse in connection with the shooting death of 26-year-old Christopher Bargas. Roswell Police Department (RPD) officers were dispatched around 11:30 p.m. Friday to the Valle Encantada Apartments in the 2000 block of South Sunset Avenue in response to the shooting. There, they found Bargas unresponsive inside an apartment with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was transported by EMS to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries a short time later.

SANTA FE – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) New Mexico State Office recently held a competitive oil and gas lease sale, offering 19 parcels covering 3,128 acres in New Mexico and Kansas. In total, 451 bids were received, with 14 parcels covering 2,768 acres leased, roughly 88.5% of the total acreage available.