The City of Alamogordo announced services for fallen Alamogordo Police Officer Anthony Ferguson, who was fatally shot Saturday by a suspect who had previously brandished a gun at law enforcement.
On Wednesday, the community will gather for a candlelight vigil at 6:30 at Alamogordo High School’s gym, known as the Tiger Pit.
Then, on Thursday at 2:00 p.m., funeral services for Officer Ferguson will be held at the Tays Events Center at New Mexico State University-Alamogoro, located at 2400 N Scenic Drive.
“Please be advised that there will be limited parking available at the Tays Special Events Center parking lot for the tribute service for Officer Ferguson. Overflow parking can be used at the NMSU-A campus across from the Tays Special Events Center,” wrote the City.
Officer Ferguson via the Alamogordo Police Department.
“For those unable to attend the service in person, the funeral will be live streamed by the KRQE news station. This will allow you to participate and join us in honoring Officer Ferguson remotely. We are grateful for the support and unity of our community, near and far.”
Condolences flooded in from across the state, with local leaders, pastors, lawmakers, and others showing unity with Alamogordo as it mourns the tragic killing of Officer Ferguson.
On Tuesday, the Legislative Courts, Corrections, and Justice Committee, chaired by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), will preview anti-gun bills that will be reintroduced in the 2024 Legislative Session, along with new proposals that could be brought forth.
Starting at 8:35 a.m., the committee, which is meeting in Mescalero at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, will have a two-hour discussion on the 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen U.S. Supreme Court case, which struck down anti-gun laws in the Empire State.
Then, the Committee will discuss proposed anti-gun laws, including banning what they deem “assault weapons,” mandating new higher age restrictions for firearm purchases, imposing waiting periods, increasing background check requirements, attacking gun manufacturers for gun-related incidents, and more.
Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grsham’s staff will attend to discuss her gun-grabbing bills plans.
The meeting will not include a slot for public comment, and the Committee’s chairman explicitly noted that he did not invite pro-gun advocates, such as the National Rife Association or Gun Owners of America. However, the anti-gun group, the Giffords Law Center, will be prominently featured.
Pro-gun legislators, including Reps. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park) and John Block (R-Alamogordo) will be in attendance, as well as other pro-gun committee members.
To access the Committee’s agenda, click here. To join the webcast, click here.
According to Martin Heinrich’s report submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) from April 1 through June 30, he raised $1,492,673.01 while spending $579,141.56.
Large contributions include $6,600 from San-Francisco-based Meritage Group LP, $5,000 from Facebook Inc. PAC, $6,000 from Google’s PAC, $3,300 from marijuana company PurLife’s CEO Darren White, $4,000 from retired U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s campaign committee, among tens of thousands from the eco-left energy sector such as The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and Environment America Inc. Voter Action.
His largest expenditures for the fundraising period went to the fundraising firm “Authentic Campaigns,” which received at least $119,500. Other large recipients include the fundraising firm Fulkerson, Kennedy, and Company ($144,461.29) and FDM Connects LLC fundraising consulting company ($57,924.3).
Heinrich also hired Adam Schiff aide Brad Elkins, paying the far-left staffer who previously worked for the abortion up-to-birth group EMILY’s List $28,517. He paid far-left Democrat Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez’s fundraiser Kyra Ellis-Moore $19,528.88.
An interesting tidbit from Heinrich’s previous report is that he spent $13,804.25 on “security upgrades at the residence” through “Jillian Homes Realty” on January 13, 2023, and spent $7,374.15 at the Arizona-based Safe Haven Defense LLC for the same purpose on January 30, 2023.
During the fundraising period ending in June, Heinrich spent $17,305.29 on mileage, meals, and travel, spending big at places such as the Albuquerque Hilton Garden Inn, San Francisco Grand Hyatt, Chicago AC Marriott, Bellevue, and Washington’s Hyatt Regency, among other expenditures.
He spent $4,652.78 during the period on legal fees, $7,000 on polling from Public Policy Polling, and $13,413.63 on videography and photography.
According to a Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing, the main character from AMX/FX’s hit show Breaking Bad, filmed and set in New Mexico, is running for Congress as a Republican in the state’s Second Congressional District.
A June 16, 2023 filing shows “Walter Hartwell White/ Jesse Bruce Pinkman” had registered a committee for the former to run for the Second District. White’s character, an Albuquerque-based former chemistry teacher from the show, became a meth cook who sold the drug to the cartel to pay for his cancer treatment and ended up becoming a legend in his own right known as “Heisenberg.” Pinkman was White’s partner in crime who worked as his drug dealer in the show.
The filing listed “3828 Piermont Dr” in Albuquerque as the candidate’s address — the filming location of White’s fictitious house on “308 Negro Arroyo Lane” from the television show. The address is not within the Second District, although candidates need not live in the district to run, unlike state legislative candidates who must live in the district they aim to represent.
The committee name, “Gus Associates,” pays homage to the show’s cartel boss Gustavo “Gus” Fring, listing the committee’s filing address as that of the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park in Las Cruces.
Following the fake campaign filing, the FEC wrote in a June 25, 2023 letter to the entity, “It has come to the attention of the Federal Election Commission that you may have failed to include the true, correct, or candidate information under 52 U.S.C. § 30102(e) when you filed FEC Form 2.”
It added, “Furthermore, the Commission requires the filing to be true, correct, and complete. When you filed FEC Form 2, you made the following certification: ‘I certify that I have examined this Statement and to the best of my knowledge and belief it is true, correct and complete.’ The Commission also informed you on that form that: ‘Submission of false, erroneous, or incomplete information may subject the person signing this Statement to the penalties of 52 U.S.C. § 30109.’”
“It is not known who filed the FEC candidate paperwork for the fictional characters. The FEC said it would crack down on fake candidate filings in 2016 after several fake presidential candidates were listed for the vacant office,” wrote KOAT 7.
Former Congresswoman Yvette Herrell is the sole legitimate Republican candidate in the Second District, while Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez is attempting to run for another term after narrowly beating Herrell in 2022.
Summer is hot. That’s just a fact, especially in the desert of New Mexico.
However, far-left Democrats in the U.S. Congress are claiming triple-digit July temperatures are the result of “climate change,” some even going so far as to blame it on Republicans for not passing eco-left laws.
Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Maryland resident, claimed on Twitter, “We are all paying the price of Republican inaction on climate change,” sharing an article from the Washington Post talking about the “extreme heat.”
We are all paying the price of Republican inaction on climate change.https://t.co/iYCX7wYLd2
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-CD-01) wrote, “This summer is a scorcher! Friendly reminder that climate change is real and we are feeling the effects of global warming in REAL TIME. When [Tina Snow] mentioned ‘hot girl summer,’ I don’t think this is what she meant.”
This summer is a scorcher! Friendly reminder that climate change is real and we are feeling the effects of global warming in REAL TIME. When @theestallion mentioned "hot girl summer," I don't think this is what she meant. 🥵
— Rep. Melanie Stansbury (@Rep_Stansbury) July 12, 2023
New Mexicans didn’t buy what Heinrich and Stansbury are selling.
“This summer is no hotter than many summers past. Educate yourself,” one person wrote to Stansbury. Well-documented scientific figures attest to this argument disproving the Democrat.
One person wrote to Heinrich, “And the mega drought that drove out the cliff dwellers was also caused by the Republicans?” The account added, “It’s all cycles upon cycles. Some last a few years, some last centuries or millennia.”
“You have been in elected office for 15 years. For 6 of those years you were a member of the party that controlled both houses of congress. Quit pretending that one party is responsible for anything as complex as the earth’s climate. Have your intern step away from the [T]witter,” another chimed in.
Heinrich and Stansbury fervently back far-left Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocazio-Cortez’s (D-NY) “Green New Deal,” as well as far-left Democrat New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s version, the “Energy Transition Act.”
Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office announced that she had fled New Mexico for various travels, rounding her trip out by visiting Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, she traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, for Joe Biden’s Council of Governors, a role Biden nominated her for.
She then will go to Michigan for a meeting of female Democrat governors. The executive’s office did not note the specific event, but it likely is an excursion planned by the abortion up-to-birth group EMILY’s List, which has bankrolled Democrat women running for office, including Lujan Grisham.
“On Sunday, the governor will travel to Washington, D.C., where she will meet with federal officials at the White House. On Wednesday morning, she will deliver a keynote address during a White House event on early childhood education and child care,” the governor’s press release continued.
It noted, “She is expected to return on Wednesday, July 19.” The events that will take place from Sunday to Wednesday were not disclosed.
The governor is well-known for her out-of-state and out-of-country excursions. In May 2022, while wildfires plagued New Mexico, she fled to Washington, D.C., to get married, with Kamala Harris officiating her nuptials.
She has repeatedly traveled to Washington to attend events and functions put on by Joe Biden’s regime and far-left organizations’ events.
Other notable trips from the governor include a 2019 excursion to a Spanish island, which was not disclosed to the public until open records requests revealed she had fled the state without notice to the citizenry.
In 2021, she flew to Scotland for a “climate change” excursion while also stopping in Washington to meet with Joe Biden officials and held an anti-coal event with Washington State’s Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee.
She has also made multiple trips to Washington, D.C., to get tests and surgery on her knee, to the ire of New Mexicans, many of whom cannot afford to take trips out-of-state for medical care, much less trips paid for by taxpayers.
For her current trip, as with others before, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales will assume the role of governor in Lujan Grisham’s absence.
A new Axios report compared each state’s gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, showing where they stand from 2012 to 2022.
The report revealed that the “Northeast and Midwest regions saw widespread decreases in their states’ shares of national GDP while Southeastern and Western states saw marked increases.”
According to Bloomberg, “Some 2.2 million people moved to the Southeast in just over two years. That’s roughly the population of Houston.”
The Rio Grande Foundationwrote of the study, “It is hardly a surprise that GDP is moving south and west because PEOPLE are moving south and west.”
“North Dakota’s tremendous growth in its oil and gas sector over the last decade drove dramatic population growth, but that doesn’t seem to be happening in New Mexico (at least so far) with our shrinking share of the national economic pie.”
New Mexico’s GDP decreased approximately ten percent while all of its neighboring states, excluding Oklahoma, increased — Texas increasing around ten percent.
On Monday, the New Mexico House of Representatives Republicans announced at a press conference featuring Rep. Luis Terrazas (R-Bayard) that they are offering parents in the state a parental/guardian consent form that attorneys have extensively reviewed to allow the option to forego the woke agenda being pushed in schools due to recent legislation, including H.B. 7 and S.B. 397.
The House Republicans wrote, “The following form is designed to help parents/guardians explicitly exercise their right to be fully informed prior to their child accessing medical and behavioral health services, or some instructional materials.”
“Parents/guardians are responsible for making educational and health care decisions for their children until they reach the age of majority. A minor child cannot consent to his/her own educational decisions or medical treatment. It is important for parents/guardians to remain engaged and informed with school district staff to ensure their children are receiving the appropriate education and health care. Parent/guardian engagement ensures the highest standard of care.”
The form gives multiple fields for notification, including “any health care services, referral for services, class, lesson, instruction, curriculum, assembly, guest speaker, activity, assignment, library material, online material, club, group, or association concerning transgender ideology, gender affirming care or gender identity,” “abortion,” “contraception and other family planning,” “primary health care,” and “mental or psychiatric care.”
The form concludes, “If I am not given prior notification and the ability to make an informed decision concerning the wellbeing of my child, I withhold consent for the items checked above.”
In an op-ed by New Mexico House Republican Leader Greg Nibert wrote, “Parents have put up with a lot over the last few years, but take away their right to protect the health and safety of their kids, and it is clear that New Mexicans of all ethnic, social and political persuasions have had enough. The nonstop and aggressive march of progressive social policies in New Mexico has finally struck a nerve.”
“I and other Republicans are moving forward with an effort to advise parents on how to inform schools officials of their demands when it comes to their children’s welfare. Republicans are advocating that every parent of a minor child in New Mexico’s public schools sign and send a letter to their school’s administration requiring that they be notified before any gender ideology information, gender altering services, hormone blockers, psycho-tropic medications or abortion services are provided to their child. The recommended form letter has already been reviewed by lawyers who are ready and willing to engage on this important issue.”
The parental notification form to send to their school administrator can be found by following this link. Instructions on using the form are also available on the website (NMHRCC.org/parentpower).
A recent ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court has received praise from Roswell Mayor Timothy Jennings, who believes the decision to allow a challenge to the state’s congressional maps to proceed in a lower court was the right one. In an interview with the Roswell Daily Record, Jennings expressed his approval of the court’s ruling, stating, “They made the right decision.” The litigation, which was initially filed in the Fifth Judicial District Court, was supported by Jennings, a Democrat and former New Mexico Senate Pro Tempore, as well as other petitioners, including the Republican Party of New Mexico.
The court’s ruling was unanimous, with all five justices, comprised of all Democrats, agreeing that the lawsuit should move forward in the lower court. The defendants in the case, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, New Mexico Senate Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, and former New Mexico Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, argued that the state’s Constitution does not permit courts to intervene in claims of political gerrymandering or establish clear standards for doing so. However, the justices determined that the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution does grant courts a role in resolving such disputes.
In their order, the justices instructed the District Court to take all necessary steps to ensure a resolution in the case by October 1, 2023. The order also provides standards for the district court judge to use in assessing whether the reconfigured districts violate the state’s Constitution.
Jennings expressed his lack of surprise at the court’s decision, noting that many people believed that the Democratic justices would rule against the petitioners. He stated, “They all thought that the Supreme Court would automatically go the other way against this group, and they didn’t.”
The lawsuit was initially filed after the Democratic-led Legislature approved a redistricting plan in 2021, which Gov. Lujan Grisham subsequently approved. Critics, including Jennings, argued that the redistricting plan unfairly favored Democrats by cracking conservative communities of interest and preventing them from having a fair chance at electing a Republican. Specifically, they pointed to the 2nd Congressional District, which had traditionally leaned heavily toward Republicans but shifted to a Democratic advantage, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight.
Jennings also expressed concerns about the impact of the new districts on the oil industry, which has a significant presence in southeast New Mexico. He believes the districts were designed to weaken the industry’s political influence. Regarding the division of Chaves County among the three districts, Jennings said, “When they put us in three districts in Chaves County, that was crazy.”
Jennings’ comments praising the high court’s move comes after multiple groups comprising Fair Districts New Mexico also supported the New Mexico Supreme Court’s order. The groups included the left-wing League of Women Voters.
The New Mexico Supreme Court’s order followed a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Moore vs. Harper, where a suit claiming that state legislatures have extensive authority over state elections, including redistricting, was rejected. Quinn Yeargin, an assistant professor of law, stated that the outcome of the New Mexico case demonstrates that state court challenges related to political maps will continue after the Moore v. Harper decision. He also noted that while it is difficult to determine the justices’ stance on the constitutionality of the maps, their ruling establishes standards for assessing their constitutionality.
Yeargin anticipates that the Republican challengers will have an opportunity to present their case during the trial, and the challenge will likely return to the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Two years after the indictment of disgraced former New Mexico House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D-Albuquerque), a trial date was finally set for the 28 federal counts against the former top Democrat.
According to the Associated Press, the court date for the former high-ranking official is January 2, 2024, on charges of racketeering, money laundering, fraud, bribery, and tax evasion, among other allegations.
Stapleton’s house was raided in July 2021 after it was revealed she had been allegedly embezzling around $1 million from New Mexico’s taxpayers — specifically New Mexico’s Children through the Albuquerque Public Schools, where she used to work. She was fired from the cushy $ 79,000-per-year gig.
She later resigned from the New Mexico House of Representatives in disgrace.
The Piñon Post’s exclusive report uncovering her ties to other high-profile New Mexico Democrats has revealed Stapleton’s alleged graft has been going on for around 30 years, in tandem with Joseph Johnson, a shady former New Mexico secretary of health who also has previously been hit with bribery and fraud charges.
In 2011, Larry Barker of KRQE 13 Newsfound that Stapleton “pocketed more than $100,000 — money she didn’t earn — from APS over the years while serving in the legislature. But instead of being punished or forced to pay it back, Superintendent Winston Brooks changed the rules for Stapleton.” Brooks dismissed Stapleton’s $167,000 worth of unauthorized leave from APS, saying, “What I did was I changed the employee handbook so that anyone can be a legislator in Santa Fe and be paid for it.”
In 2018, former Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission executive director Kimberly Greene and former employees Cheryl Yazzie and Charles Countee pleaded guilty to fraud and embezzlement charges by creating phony state vouchers to heist over $67,700 from the Commission. According to Greene, she claims she “was coerced by [then]-House Minority Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, to enter into a no-bid contract with eRead, an outside contractor for ACT/SAT program,” according to the New Mexico Political Report. However, Stapleton claimed, “I was never involved, never spoke to anybody about a no-bid contract.”
In November 2022, it was reported that Stapleton was not in custody as her corruption trial looms.
