in the news

The curtains will rise at UNM Popejoy Hall once again. The venue announced on July 21 that it was awarded nearly $3.4 million from the Small Business Administration's Shuttered Venue Operators Grant. “This grant will ensure the safe reopening of Popejoy Hall. We are forever grateful to our extraordinary donors who also stepped up to support...

New Mexico Democrat U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich sought to strengthen federal actions to protect endangered species in a bill introduced alongside a Republican from Missouri. On Wednesday, Heinrich and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA), aiming to invest federal funds in wildlife conservation...

Calling it the single biggest investment into wildlife and habitat restoration in more than half a century, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., announced this week the Senate introduction of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which if enacted would funnel more than $1 billion to conservation efforts each year. Heinrich, along with Sen. Roy...

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., during a multi-day tour through the state, paid a visit Wednesday to New Mexico State University's Agricultural Science Center just outside of Clovis. Heinrich spoke with The News following the tour. Q: What are your immediate takeaways from the center tour? A: That we are just now starting to use agriculture...

When U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich first visited the Sabinoso Wilderness Area — a rugged landscape of steep canyons, lush riparian areas and sandstone cliffs near Las Vegas, N.M. — he was struck by how dramatically different it was from the rest of the state. “Its geography felt more like some of the areas I used to guide in...

Senator Martin Heinrich was in attendance on Thursday to announce NewSpace New Mexico’s launch of its Unite and Ignite Space. The space will serve as a co-innovation hub that will aim to bring together resources to support the space industry in New Mexico.  “We have an incredible opportunity to establish New Mexico as the best...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — NewSpace New Mexico announced the launch Thursday of a new innovation hub in Albuquerque to help grow the state’s space industry. The hub, called the “Unite and Ignite Space,” is housed in an 8,700-square-foot facility near the Albuquerque International Sunport. It will provide co-working areas, access to...

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico public lands could get $49 million in federal funding for projects. The money would be coming from the Interior Department’s Great American Outdoors Act 2022 budget. If the budget is approved by Congress, Carlsbad Caverns National Park could get $375,000, Bandelier National Monument could get roughly...

New Mexico’s two Democrat U.S. Senators introduced legislation last week aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy development and shifting the nation to lower carbon forms of power with their state at the helm. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) announced on July 23 the Clean Hydrogen Future Act, which would establish a program to...

New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich sees a clean energy future. He introduced legislation on Wednesday to support that vision.   The legislation — dubbed the Advancing the Clean Hydrogen Future Act of 2021 — would create an authorization of $200 million annually over a five-year span focused on the research, development,...

Two of U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s conservation bills — one to ban new hard-rock mining in the Pecos watershed and the other to create a wilderness area near Taos — are gaining momentum. The New Mexico Democrat presented the bills this week to a Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee in Washington, D.C., arguing both...

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) hopes that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) sees the "opportunity" to build a more "prosperous West Virginia" by supporting an infrastructure bill that would only require 51 votes for passage, Heinrich told Axios at a virtual event on Wednesday. Why it matters: Manchin, a moderate, is opposed to passing an...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new federal intelligence report warns that adherents of QAnon, the conspiracy theory embraced by some in the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement’s false prophecies increasingly fail to come true. Many QAnon...

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich is urging the New Mexico State Game Commission to reject five landowners’ requests to certify waterways crossing their properties as nonnavigable and closed to the public, arguing it would be unlawful. The commission should reject the applications when they review them at a June 18 hearing, Heinrich wrote in a...

Hikers, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts will have a larger playground near Jemez Springs when the U.S. Forest Service buys a historic, 2,000-acre ranch. The federal government is purchasing the Valley of the Spirit Ranch, two sprawling parcels that surround the village of Jemez Springs in Santa Fe National Forest. About $2.2 million has...

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich toured Chispas Farm on Friday afternoon as part of an effort to empower farmers to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. Chispas Farms is a shining example of the successful use of regenerative farming practices in soil rehabilitation and creating a symbiotic relationship with the local environment. Heinrich was joined by...

There’s always something growing at Chispas Farm in the South Valley. Farm manager Casey Holland rotates crops to build healthy soil, uses flowers as pest management and makes fertilizer with chicken manure. “We’re continually trying to improve the land,” Holland said. Federal programs should scale up local solutions to help...

Ralph Vigil's farm in Pecos, New Mexico depends on the Pecos River as it has for 13 years, the same river that runs across almost the entire eastern side of the state, crossing its southern border with Texas in the southeast corner.  What happens in the headwaters of the Pecos where Vigil grows vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes has a direct...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The check won’t arrive until mid-July, but Katrina Peters already knows what she’ll do with her federal child tax credit payments come. The 20-year-old mother of three has applied to work as a driver with a food delivery app, and she has earmarked the extra cash for repairing, registering and insuring...

New Mexico’s economic foundations are rumbling with change as the state and nation embark on an accelerated path to a non-carbon economy, inspiring local leaders to seize the moment in collaborative efforts to embrace the forthcoming transformation. Dan Arvizu, New Mexico State University chancellor and former director of the U.S. Department...