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algernonwrites.bsky.social
Journalist in southern New Mexico, writer, citizen. ABQJournal.com DesertSageNM.substack.com Signal: Algernon.26
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On a lighter note, I was happy to write some praise for this Silver City restaurant.

Booker: "We have a president who did nothing as people stormed our Capitol, & then when those people who viciously beat police & led to some of their deaths - therefore cop killers - were convicted, he pardoned them. So for him to be talking about responsive law enforcement is hypocritical at best"

Concern for monuments have been heightened since reports emerged in April that the U.S. Department of the Interior was considering reducing the area and protected status of six national monuments — including the OMDP, which comprises nearly 500,000 acres.

1/2 Something my job reminds me of frequently, since I talk to so many people, on and off record, is that a person‘s profession alone is really not a sure indicator of how they vote.

A dairy farmer says his livelihood was upended Tuesday when federal agents raided his operation in Lovington and arrested nearly a dozen workers. Out of town hall in Hobbs, Sheriff Helton and @govmlg.bsky.social responded to community fears.

She was asked about the Lovington raid, in fact, and she talked about that as well as a raid in Rio Rancho that happened yesterday. @govmlg.bsky.social said she would be happy to work with federal law-enforcement on operations targeting “bad actors” but said she was concerned about… 1/2

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham traveled to the southeast corner of the state Thursday for a town hall in Lea County. I made the trip to Hobbs to watch her interact with local residents and leadership.

Oh, so it was possible to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. all along. It was possible to ask El Salvador to produce him, and for El Salvador to do so. We were told these things couldn’t happen, but not even a federal judge could extract a reason why. Because there wasn’t one.

The city’s parks and recreation director told councilors he was "ecstatic" at the prospect of a new bike park that he said would be the first of its kind in the region.

Here's a novel idea: pay human beings to work with nonprofessional writers who want to write op-eds. We could call them "editors."

BREAKING: Chief Judge James Boasberg finds that those people sent to CECOT under the Alien Enemies Act on March 15-16 had their due process rights violates and certifies them as a class. He orders that the government "facilitate" the ability for them to seek habeas relief.

At the U.S.-Mexico crossing in Santa Teresa, the pens supporting the nation’s largest livestock entry point sat empty and eerily quiet Friday, with workers performing maintenance projects and catching up on paperwork at facilities normally bustling with thousands of cattle passing through daily.

"Our position as a union is that no AI tool or technology should – or can – take the place of human beings." The Business Insider union responded to a memo announcing major layoffs www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/busi...

Exploding population of immigrants at the Torrance County prison causing plumbing problems and a water shortage in Estancia. Estimates are that the number of immigrant held in the private prison run by CoreCivic have increased by 500 since January Reports @thenewmexican.bsky.social

I met Loretta Swit in Las Cruces in 2016. She gave an entertaining lecture at NMSU. At 79, she looked ready to go dancing. She pressed on my chest and said, "Algernon....Algernon... don't ever let anyone call you anything for short. It must always be Algernon."

From Colleen Heild: An Uzbekistan national is at the center of an expanding legal battle over whether migrants illegally entering from Mexico can also be convicted of trespassing on New Mexico’s new military border zone.

From my colleague, Dan Boyd: The State Ethics Commission has entered into a settlement agreement with a northern New Mexico mayor accused of benefitting from a directive that required village-owned vehicles to be refueled at a gas station he owns.

Two months after the New Mexico Supreme Court threw out her murder conviction, Cristal Cardenas was ordered by the trial judge to remain in custody ahead of a hearing to determine whether her case will be dismissed or tried again.

The New Mexico Environment Department is asking a judge to place the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) into receivership in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Spaceport America welcomed a new tenant this week, announcing a two-year lease with a Japanese space startup aiming to achieve orbital flight.

The Journal has a daily news podcast. For today’s episode, I talk about yesterday’s event with Ken Miyagishima including a few bars from Ken’s country-western campaign theme song. And no, I don’t have a lisp. Something about the software or my phone is struggling with sibilant sounds…

Little girl with small bowel syndrome was *allowed* into the U.S. for life-saving medical care. Now they’re kicking her out, and without care she’ll die. A death sentence. Bookmark for those online discussions about us being a Christian nation.

The senator held a roundtable in Las Cruces to talk about the consequences of proposed federal cuts to safety net programs.

Mayor Ken launches his bid to become Governor Ken.

A belated dispatch from the dust on the birth of my child.

Actors who sold their likeness for “AI“ use are now seeing their faces and voices used to promote false medical cures and other disinformation.

A military spouse denied entry, held in prison overnight, and deported arbitrarily. She had tattoos and an agent felt she had packed too much clothing in her suitcase. No one is safe and this is still Act One.

It's important to remember, as the McKee administration fights efforts to strengthen RI's public records laws, that one of the biggest scandals during his tenure -- the Philadelphia Email -- was the result of a successful APRA request.

A Deming man who accepted a plea agreement, and was subsequently deported to Mexico, is seeking to withdraw his plea and have his sentence vacated.

Today, the county and Sunland Park began talks to dissolve their compact overseeing CRRUA. County officials held a conference to reassure residents and businesses affected by water service and safety issues.

For a while I have been reporting on the spaceport’s efforts to serve new clients and tenants, to tell stories of itself beyond Virgin Galactic’s fate. If this test is indeed a key step for a future with point-to-point hypersonic passenger flight, then this is one of those stories.

“We all have agency here … It doesn’t matter if you feel like you’re bad at math and computers. Your expertise is still relevant. You still have something to say. And you still have ground to stand on for your own refusal and your own decisions.”

Here's a picture that a @kuow.org photographer took in Seattle yesterday, showing the ICE officers masked up in the hallways as they waited to arrest people coming out of their hearings.