Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
achedden@currentargus.com

New Mexico’s measles outbreak is over, said state health officials after more than a month without a reported case.

The last reported cases – three infections among adults in Santa Fe County – were reported Aug. 14 and brought the state’s total to 100.

Public health officials said Tuesday, Sept. 26, that the state had crossed the 42-day threshold without an infection, which according to state policy means the end of the outbreak. The time frame represents the maximum incubation period of the measles virus, read a news release from the New Mexico Department of Health.

This year’s outbreak, the first since 1996, began in Lea County on Feb. 14 after a larger outbreak in West Texas spilled over the state line.

State Epidemiologist Chad Smelser, with the New Mexico health department, credited the end of the outbreak in New Mexico to expanded use of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Throughout the six-month outbreak, the state opened several vaccination sites and made vaccines available at health offices around the state.

Two doses of the vaccine is considered 97% effective in preventing infection.

“We are thankful to the thousands of New Mexicans who received their measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,” Smelser said. “Fully vaccinated people and those who got caught up with their vaccines during this outbreak prevented it from spreading further.”

The New Mexico announcement followed a declaration of the outbreak’s end in Texas on Aug. 18, after that state also went 42 days without an infection.

In Texas, the outbreak led to 762 measles infections since January, with 99 people hospitalized and two children reported dead.

Texas Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Shuford said the end of the outbreak was attributed to the use of vaccines, monitoring and public outreach.

“We arrived at this point through a comprehensive outbreak response that included testing, vaccination, disease monitoring and educating the public about measles through awareness campaigns,” Shuford said.

The outbreak began when infections were reported in late January in Gaines County, Texas, along the southeast New Mexico border. The disease first appeared in New Mexico Feb. 14 when two adults were reported infected in Lea County.

In March, an unvaccinated adult infected with measles died in Lea County – the second fatality of the interstate outbreak.

The outbreak spread west into Eddy County March 11 with the first case reported there, followed by two more in the months since for a total of three in the county during the outbreak.

Lea County ended with 67 total cases – the highest in the state – followed by 14 in Luna County, six in Sandoval County, 5 in Santa Fe and one each in Dona Ana, Chaves, San Juan and Curry counties.

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Staff Reports

U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), who represents New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, launched his 2026 reelection campaign last week, making stops with supporters in Albuquerque’s West Side, Los Lunas, Truth or Consequences and Mesilla. Vasquez will be running against former radio talk show host and 2021 Albuquerque mayoral candidate Republican Eddy Aragon.

“From Silver City to Mesilla, Southern New Mexico is my home and the place I deeply care about,” Vasquez said in a statement. “Following in the footsteps of powerful women in my family and honoring our immigrant history, I’ve been able to represent my community in Congress with determination and authenticity. Constituents from across the district trust me to uphold our values, be objective and get things done when others can’t.”

His top priorities include lowering the cost of living, protecting access to affordable health care, border security and immigration reform, keeping communities safe and safeguarding New Mexico’s public lands, according to a press release.

“Their priorities are my priorities,” Vasquez said. “From protecting public lands, funding critical infrastructure projects, funding local police departments and fighting to lower health care costs, I’m proud of the wins I’ve delivered, and I’m just getting started.”

Aragon, who announced his candidacy in May said in a statement that he views immigration, crime, the economy and health care as the top issues of his campaign.

He supported the hard-line immigration stance of President Donald Trump, leading to increased deportations of migrants and stricter requirements for immigration into the U.S.

Aragon also supported the President’s push to reduce government spending on education.

“We need more privatization of education,” he said. “I think the approach that’s being taken at the national level is important. We don’t want to do without the money, but we definitely want to do without the bureaucracy.”

Aragon also ran for Congressional District 1 in 2021, against current U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM).

He shifted to the Second District after New Mexico’s congressional district lines were redrawn following the 2020 U.S. Census, a process largely controlled by the state’s leadership in the Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the Legislature.

Vasquez narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Yvette Herrell in the 2022 by just more than 1,000 votes and again in 2024.

The redistricting added more votes to the district around New Mexico’s northern urban areas, including Albuquerque’s south valley, while removing votes from conservative-leaning Lea County.

Aragon said the shift could work in his favor, as he said he has ties to Albuquerque and nearby Valencia County, portions of which are also now included in the Second District.

“You are going to need somebody from up here, because this is where a majority of the population, the voting population, is going to be in Valencia County, where my family is from and the South Valley and West side, where I had grown up,” Aragon said in a campaign statement.

Patrick Lohmann

Source New Mexico

New Mexico’s National Guard Adjutant General announced Monday that guardsmen will soon be deployed to Española, a town of roughly 10,000 people in Northern New Mexico whose leaders recently asked for state help dealing with a crime, drug and housing crisis.

Española will be the second New Mexico city to receive National Guard troops. Albuquerque, the state’s biggest city, has seen a monthslong troop deployment in support of the Albuquerque Police Department.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized the deployments to both cities in emergency orders that cite rising crime and short-staffed law enforcement agencies. The governor’s Aug. 13 emergency order for the Española area authorized National Guard deployments, along with funding for emergency housing or healthcare help. Her office stressed at the time that there were no imminent plans to deploy National Guard troops to Española.

According to the executive order, police calls in the Española area have doubled in the last two years, and police dispatches to businesses have quadrupled in that same period. She also cited Rio Arriba County’s high overdose death rate, “with residents struggling with addiction to fentanyl and other illicit substances.” Lujan Grisham’s order also authorized $750,000 in emergency spending. Last week, the state health department reported Rio Arriba County is one of three in Northern New Mexico with surging overdose deaths and overdose emergency room visits.

While the decision has now been made to send them, the number of troops, as well as their assignment, is still being determined, Miguel Aguilar told Source New Mexico on Monday after presenting in Albuquerque to the interim Courts, Corrections and Criminal Justice committee of the Legislature.

“We don’t even know what the number is going to be,” Aguilar told Source. “It’s just a matter of what the scope is.”

Aguilar and Española Police Chief Mizel Garcia presented to the committee to answer questions about the role the guard could play in Española and elsewhere, and to address swirling controversy about President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in American cities, including Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.

Aguilar said his troops’ presence in Albuquerque since April has freed up Albuquerque police to make more arrests. The National Guard has taken some administrative tasks off police officers’ hands, including compiling case files for prosecutors, directing traffic and monitoring surveillance cameras.

Garcia said the guard will be useful in his town, assisting an under-staffed police department in some form. But he acknowledged that their deployment could face public opposition.

“My biggest concern right now is fear,” he said. “Because of the cultural background that we have in Espanola, there’s always been a fear of the National Guard coming in.”

He said he and his staff had multiple community meetings in recent weeks, in which they sought to reassure the community that police and the guard are working together “as a team.”

Garcia said the troops’ arrival could occur as soon as early October.

Several lawmakers said they were concerned about the prospect of an expanded military presence in New Mexico communities, especially given Trump’s use of the guard.

Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) said defining a mission for the guard’s deployment in Española is vital, as is more clarity about who is in charge and who is accountable.

“I’m currently not understanding the strategy, even looking to Albuquerque as a way in which I can try to understand what’s going to happen in Española,” she said.

The committee invited Naureen Shah, an expert and attorney for the national American Civil Liberties Union, to lay out her concerns about civil rights for civilians who are increasingly interacting with domestic military forces.

She said that, while she does not pretend to understand all the local forces that might be used to justify the guard’s presence in New Mexico, deploying the guard here gives Trump cover.

“This administration wants to be able to deploy the military at the president’s whim as a tool against his political opponents,” she said. “And the more that happens at a state level, the more it normalizes it for the Trump administration.”

Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press

Eddy County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to proceed with a $5.7 million plan for exterior renovation of the county courthouse.

The county will now seek a general contractor for the estimated year-long project through a competitive bidding process expected to take about five weeks. The work will include renovation of exterior windows and doors and repairs to cracked stucco on exterior walls.

Built in the 1890s, the four-story, 46,000-square-foot Eddy County Courthouse at 102 N. Canal St. in downtown Carlsbad houses the county’s branch of New Mexico’s Fifth Judicial District, which also includes Lea and Chaves counties.

Ahead of the vote, representatives of Albuquerque-based Studio Southwest Architects gave a presentation outlining the project, which officials said would ensure the building will retain its historical look and feel while repairing weather damage and improving its structural integrity for the future.

Studio Southwest designed the renovation plan in consultation with county officials.

“What we’ve been working on is to develop the design documentation, said Theodore Edaakie, architect and project manager at Studio Southwest. “We’ve completed the drawings and the project manual. We’re not going to remove certain aspects of the building that make it historical.”

He said the project will restore 103 windows, replace 63 windows and repair about 41,400 square feet of stucco using a synthetic stucco product instead of the traditional, concrete-based material.

“That will allow the whole system to breathe and prevent issues down the road,” he said. “We’re looking forward to going out and finding qualified contractors.”

District 1 Commissioner Ernie Carlson asked if the synthetic stucco the firm planned to use in the project would be “rigid” and if that could lead to cracking.

“With any stucco finish there is going to be cracking,” Edaakie said. “What you want to avoid is the structural cracking when cracks are significantly wide.”

The exterior project is part of a broader effort to renovate the courthouse – inside and outside – which the county estimated in November 2024 would cost about $15 million. That was when commissioners voted to renovate the 85-year-old structure rather than build a new courthouse, following months of public meetings and discussion.

The county also planned a $4.8 million rebuild of the Eddy County Courthouse’s air conditioning system, which was the first priority outlined in the Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan approved by commissioners in May.

Carlson, who grew up in Carlsbad in the 1950s said the courthouse was a cornerstone of the city’s history, and it should be maintained as a local landmark.

“How do you know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been? That is part of our heritage in Eddy County, specifically Carlsbad,” he said. “We have to maintain it and keep it in good order. We want something we are proud of and that visitors to Carlsbad are proud to see.”

Other business

County Finance Director Roberta Gonzales reported about $6.7 million in tax revenue was received from the oil and gas industry in July, the most recent month tracked by the Finance Department, and $6.4 million in gross receipts tax.

As of July, Gonzales reported, the county had collected about $74.9 million of the $236.4 million in revenue budgeted for Fiscal Year 2026, which runs from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. About $62 million was expended of the $444.3 in budgeted expenses for FY 2026.

Commissioners also approved a permanent easement for a natural gas pipeline in the county, allowing Energy Transfer to run the line through property owned by Sendero Midstream. The land was subject to an industrial revenue bond issued by the county, meaning any easements must be approved by the Eddy County Commission.