Mother confronts son's killer, Albuquerque budget, Clearer weather, PNM parent company potential sale, Pueblo pottery and lowriders
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[1] Teen murderer faces victim's mother in Albuquerque courtroom – Jacob Lovato was 16-years-old when he was in an apartment on Carlisle Blvd., buying a gun from Gabriel Gurule, then threatened to take it without paying. When Gurule resisted, Lovato sprayed the room with bullets from an automatic handgun, killing Gurule. Monday, Gurule's mother, Jennifer Lucero, shared with the court everything she misses about her son. Lucero also had words for Lovato and his defense attorney. Lovato pled guilty to first-degree murder. He is facing up to 25 years in prison.
[2] Albuquerque city councilors approve record-breaking $1.5 billion budget – Albuquerque city councilors have approved next year's $1.5 billion operation budget. Councilors debated several items, including how much of a pay increase they should give city workers. Councilors turned down an amendment that would have given a 1% increase to workers, saying they needed to prioritize other areas like dealing with fire prevention. Councilors did approve the fiscal year 2026 budget, which will go into effect July 1.
[3] Clearer and colder start with warmer weather ahead – A late season freeze is likely for locations in western and northern New Mexico Tuesday morning. Freeze Warnings are in effect for these areas. High temperatures will be warmer, but still near to below average Tuesday afternoon. The wind will also be much lighter. Temperatures will continue to warm through the rest of this week. By Friday afternoon, we'll see some of the warmest weather so far this year.
[4] PNM parent company announces potential sale to Blackstone Infrastructure – TXNM Energy, the parent company New Mexico's largest electricity provider, PNM, announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement which will allow Blackstone Infrastructure to purchase the company for $11.5 billion. The acquisition is subject to review and approval by the NMPRC along with regulators in Texas and at the federal level.
[5] 'Rolling piece of pottery': Car designed by Albuquerque-based artist turns heads – A unique piece of 'rolling pottery' is blending Native American and lowrider culture. Artist Jesse Littlebird says the design of his 1973 Dodge Dart brings his Native American culture together with the lowrider culture he grew up with in Albuquerque. Littlebird, with the help of Max Baptiste, worked to transform the 1973 custom Dodge Dart into a drivable art car. 'Petrolglyph' officially debuted in 2024, and since then, it's been featured in multiple publications and has been on display at different events around the state. You can check out the car at the Kukani Gallery on Sunday's.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Shootings are down 20% this year compared with 2024, the city said in a news release, a figure that tracks with data provided to CNN by the governor's office. Grisham, a Democrat, criticized President Donald Trump's deployment of 800 troops in Washington, DC, as 'executive overreach' and said the contrast 'couldn't be clearer' between her state's usage of the National Guard and that of Trump's. The DC National Guard reports only to the president, while a governor acts as the 'commander in chief' of their state's troops and police agencies. Trump has suggested he could do the same in other major Democratic-led cities despite their leaders not asking for help. Meanwhile on the West Coast, questions are still lingering in a court case over the president's deployment of troops to Los Angeles in June as dramatic protests unfolded over immigration enforcement in parts of the city. 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It is not clear what specifically Trump wants to do in other cities. New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have all seen a sustained decline in crime so far this year, according to a mid-year report from the independent nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice. It's a 'dangerous precedent' for the federal government to start deploying troops to deal with local and state policing matters, as they are historically used for crowd control, protecting federal property and federal workers, or responding to a natural disaster, according to Jeffrey Swartz, a former National Guard member and professor emeritus at Cooley Law School. The courts in California have yet to address a claim at the center of the case brought by Newsom to block Trump's deployment of troops in the city: whether the troops violated the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th century law prohibiting the use of the US military for domestic law enforcement. The three-day trial concluded last week, but the judge did not say when he will rule. 'When the president nationalizes a unit or a state National Guard, they now fall under the Posse Comitatus Act saying they are not allowed to be used for civil policing,' said Swartz. 'He cannot authorize federal troops to make arrests. That is solely within the power of the governor.' The National Guard can, however, take someone into custody under circumstances where there's a danger to federal property or federal officers, he added. The act reserves law enforcement functions to the states, but its language is short, which 'lends itself to vagueness and argumentation,' said David Shapiro, lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Swartz said National Guardsmen 'don't like the idea of being on the streets and being put in a position where they might have to use force against fellow citizens.' 'These people are citizen soldiers, not full-time. They have jobs. They have families,' he said. 'They signed up to protect the country against external threats, not internal ones.'
