Latest news with #LandOfEnchantment
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Critical Mystery Studies: When fact is scarier than fiction
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – On this episode of New Mexico Strange, News 13 Host and Anchor Chad Brummett sat down with the University of New Mexico's Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies' Matthew Goodwin, Ph.D., and Ashley Martinez, Ph.D. student, to talk about the connections between New Mexico's cultural roots and fantastical mysteries. The two scholars explained how New Mexico's folktales and mysteries, like La Llorona and the Roswell UFO crash, are based on realistic fears and often come about as community members try to make sense of the things around them. Many of the state's stories are even thought to have spawned from the early days of colonization, when different societies came into contact for the first time and every side experienced surprising and, often, scary novelties. Goodwin detailed how New Mexico got its nickname, the Land of Enchantment, when settlers and tourists used the word 'encanto' to describe the desert landscape. However, newcomers disregarding the depth of New Mexico's culture and, instead, perceiving it as exotic created an underlying negative connotation and a complicated relationship with that nickname. On this episode of New Mexico Strange, Goodwin, Martinez, and Brummett discuss the idea of the desert as a space of spirituality, the connection between conspiracy theories and xenophobia, and how people of various cultures resonate with the stories or use them to pull further away from their fears. To find out more about the work being done with UNM's Critical Mystery Studies, click here. New Mexico is perceived worldwide as a mecca for the extraordinary. Whether it's the healing soil of Chimayo, the haunted trails of the Old West, or visitors from the final frontier, our state is home to countless myths and mysteries. New Mexico Strange is KRQE News 13's online exclusive web series, celebrating our unique history and shedding light on the shadows of the unexplained, unexplored, and unknown. Hosted by Chad Brummett, New Mexico Strange takes viewers through some of the Land of Enchantment's most mysterious folklore and conspiracies. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Politicians sink $13M in closed New Mexico tourist attraction
BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – 'Build it and they will come.' It's not just a memorable line from a movie. Consider a weed-choked vacant lot on Albuquerque's West Mesa. Beginning in 2021, construction crews transformed barren acreage into a multi-million-dollar, two-story architectural masterpiece. And then, a year later, a parade of community leaders and politicians celebrated with a marathon ribbon cutting ceremony complete with music, food, specially designed t-shirts, and a host of political and community leaders. Among the 36 guest speakers, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. 'This is a celebration bigger than the West Side, bigger than Albuquerque. This is about the Land of Enchantment and about the story of America,' Mayor Keller proclaimed. And, State Senator Michael Padilla. 'You're going to be able to tell your children, your babies, your grandbabies, your great grandbabies, 'I was there the day that they opened the Route 66 Visitor Center'. I'm so excited,' Senator Padilla said. Welcome to Albuquerque's newest government attraction, the Route 66 Visitor Center. But don't be deceived by the enthusiastic ribbon-cutting crowd. Once the hoopla died down and the politicians headed home, reality set in. It has been three years since that ribbon-cutting celebration. However, as a tourist destination, the project has been a bust. Today, the parking lot is empty, the gates are locked, and the building is closed. Over the last decade, city, county, and state politicians have poured more than $13,000,000 into a facility plagued by mismanagement, financial improprieties, and procurement violations. In fact, from the very beginning, the Route 66 Visitor Center had all the tell-tale signs of a pricey government venture gone wrong. 'This was probably not the best use of public funds, but officials pushed forward with it anyway,' said Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas. The concept was for a revenue-generating complex that included a lowrider museum, amphitheater, banquet hall, commercial kitchen, tap room, and gift shop. But the Visitor Center is not your typical public works project. In this case, millions of public dollars were allocated to a venture that had no master plan, no budget, and no oversight. It was only after funding the visitor center that county officials got around to a feasibility study. And then they ignored glaring red flags and went ahead with the project anyway. 'No one [read] that report. That's really the crux of the problem here. We didn't listen to the facts and ultimately went forward with something without fully understanding the repercussions,' Commissioner Olivas said. Eric Olivas was elected to the Bernalillo County Commission after the Visitor Center had already been constructed. 'We had a series of failures,' Commissioner Olivas said. Once construction was complete, Albuquerque's City Council spearheaded the purchase of equipment and furnishings. Armed with a generous Capital Outlay checkbook courtesy of the State Legislature, the City Council embarked on a grandiose shopping spree at taxpayer expense. But behind the scenes, something was amiss. According to the City Council's new Budget Director, Mark Motsko, the Council's equipment expenditures were not by the book. 'The state has a process with Capital Outlay dollars that requires us as a municipality to ask permission before we actually spend the money. In this case, that permission was never asked. They just did it. That is not by the book,' Motsko said. He added, none of the Route 66 purchases were questioned or justified. For example: $151,000 for an old Route 66 motel sign. The sign was donated to the visitor center, but it cost taxpayers $151,000 to have it moved, transported, refurbished, and installed at the new building. $58,000 for audio visual equipment including microphones, speakers, clamps, lights, mixers, and cables. The electronic gear has been sitting in storage, unused for three years. $5595 for a large-format color printer that's never been plugged in. Today, no one at the Council recalls a justification for the purchase of a commercial printer. $5263 for fixtures from a defunct East Central honky-tonk, the Caravan East. Council staffers purchased at auction dozens of saloon relics, including signs, chandeliers, a shoe shine bench, a gumball machine, and even a $200 claw-foot cast iron bath tub. The material has been stored at the visitor center for nearly a decade. Except for the bathtub tub which has disappeared. $8612 for specially designed visitor center t-shirts given away at the ribbon-cutting. $15,712 for iPads, thermal printers, cash drawers, installation, set-up, and staff training. The equipment was never delivered, and the firm has since gone out of business. The list goes on and on. Add it all up and, since 2022, Albuquerque's City Council has shelled out more than $320,000 to furnish the newly constructed building. 'There was no oversight of these (expenditures). I have not seen any records justifying the purchases.' City Council Budget Director Mark Motsko said. The Council's former Budget Director was responsible for ensuring purchases were compliant with the law. According to Motsko, he screwed up 'big time.' 'Those purchases have been discovered, reversed, and now we're making sure this doesn't happen again,' Motsko said. Albuquerque City Councilor Klarissa Peña supervised the acquisition of the building furnishings, although she said she does not know who authorized the expenditures. Councilor Peña also said she did not know at the time that the equipment purchases failed to comply with state law. 'Unbeknownst to me, I didn't know that that was occurring. It's concerning. I think that there was probably a level of errors throughout all our procurement within City Council,' Councilor Peña said. Bernalillo County Commissioners hired the non-profit West Central Community Development Group to manage the facility. The first visitor center appropriation came in 2015. $13,000,000 later, the building opened for business. That was in 2023. Fully equipped and furnished, the visitor center had everything it needed to be a successful tourist destination, everything except tourists, employees, revenue, a brew pub, banquets, weddings, catering, concerts, or a gift shop. Rather than generating self-supporting income and boosting the local economy, the visitor center has turned into a significant drain on taxpayer dollars. What went wrong? For starters, Bernalillo County's lack of planning is a factor. And then there's the location. The county built the visitor center a good half mile from the nearest interstate exit, well off the beaten path. And then last year, the county terminated its contract with the West Central Community Development Group, citing mismanagement and financial improprieties. The building was closed shortly after it opened. Last year, Bernalillo County walked away from the project and donated the entire Route 66 Visitor Center building to the City of Albuquerque. 'Today, the benefit (of the Route 66 Visitor Center) to the taxpayer right now is nothing,' said State Senator Pete Campos. Senator Campos has long been an advocate for reform of the Legislative Capital Outlay process. He said, 'very clearly it's not responsible at all' to fund a project that doesn't have an operational budget, feasibility study, or master plan. 'The failures were a lack of planning. As legislators, it's up to us to ensure that that particular project be best utilized for the people of that region, for the people of New Mexico,' Senator Campos said. 'If you build something without a plan, it's almost impossible to make that thing functional and having it succeed,' Legislative Finance Committee Chair Senator George Muñoz said. 'It's the cart before the horse. How do you know you're going to really need something before you have a study or a plan? It's like building a house with no plan,' Senator Muñoz said. He said, in his opinion, legislators who appropriated Capital Outlay money towards the Route 66 Visitor Center 'did not do their homework.' 'Having something in this realm is a luxury. (State Legislators) had better do their homework and make sure that they want their name on the Capital Outlay sheet when it fails,' LFC Chair Senator Muñoz said. The City of Albuquerque has appointed a Route 66 Visitor Center Commission to determine how the center can best serve the community. While the Commission contemplates a future usage of the building, city work crews have spent some $600,000 performing repairs and upgrades to the three-year-old structure. Albuquerque officials hope to reopen the building later this year. Until then, the Route 66 Visitor Center remains closed to the public. 'As policymakers, it's not our money, it's public money. We have an obligation to make sure that we review all the facts and all the information that we can possibly get our hands on, and then make an informed decision,' Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas said. 'This is a big deal. It's (your) tax dollars. You need to know that your dollars are spent on things that you need: water, infrastructure, roads, streets, parks, things that add quality of life,' State Senator George Muñoz said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
New Mexico appeals court rejects lawsuit against oil and gas regulators
A New Mexico appeals court rejected a lawsuit alleging that the nation's No. 2 oil-producing state failed to meet constitutional provisions for protecting against oil and gas industry pollution, in an opinion Tuesday. Environmental advocates vowed to appeal the matter to the state's top court. A panel of three judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals found that it was beyond the judiciary's authority to weigh whether the pollution controls are adequate, writing that they'll defer to the Legislature to balance the benefits of environmental regulation with natural resources development. The 2023 lawsuit from a coalition of environmental groups was the first to invoke the constitution's pollution-control clause, a 1971 amendment requiring that New Mexico prevent the contamination of air, water and other natural resources. 'While plaintiffs correctly observe that, as the 'Land of Enchantment,' the state's beauty is central to our identity, we cannot ignore the long history of permitting oil and gas extraction within our borders," the panel wrote, invoking the state motto. 'If anything, the law, history, and tradition of our state demonstrates that resource extraction must be considered alongside, and must coexist with, pollution control legislation.' Gail Evans, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead counsel on the case, said Tuesday's opinion would dismiss the case entirely if unchallenged and 'displays a fundamental misunderstanding of our constitution and constitutional rights.' She said plaintiffs intent to appeal to the state Supreme Court. 'Fifty years ago, New Mexico voted to amend the constitution and to provide protections from industry pollution and the court has found today that the amendment — the pollution control clause — is essentially meaningless, and that has to be wrong,' Evans said. The court challenge comes as New Mexico's state government rides a wave of record income from development in the Permian Basin, one of the world's most productive, oil-producing regions. Oil-related revenue collections underwrite a considerable amount of the state's budget, including public education. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration is policing the industry with regulations that target methane and other emissions. But the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups say these efforts are not enough and that the state is failing to enforce existing pollution-control measures. Attorneys for the Democratic-led Legislature and environmental regulators said the lawsuit threatened their constitutional authority. Appeals Judge Katherine Wray issued an additional concurring opinion, expressing further limitations of the pollution control clause.
Associated Press
03-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
New Mexico appeals court rejects lawsuit against oil and gas regulators
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico appeals court rejected a lawsuit alleging that the nation's No. 2 oil-producing state failed to meet constitutional provisions for protecting against oil and gas industry pollution, in an opinion Tuesday. Environmental advocates vowed to appeal the matter to the state's top court. A panel of three judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals found that it was beyond the judiciary's authority to weigh whether the pollution controls are adequate, writing that they'll defer to the Legislature to balance the benefits of environmental regulation with natural resources development. The 2023 lawsuit from a coalition of environmental groups was the first to invoke the constitution's pollution-control clause, a 1971 amendment requiring that New Mexico prevent the contamination of air, water and other natural resources. 'While plaintiffs correctly observe that, as the 'Land of Enchantment,' the state's beauty is central to our identity, we cannot ignore the long history of permitting oil and gas extraction within our borders,' the panel wrote, invoking the state motto. 'If anything, the law, history, and tradition of our state demonstrates that resource extraction must be considered alongside, and must coexist with, pollution control legislation.' Gail Evans, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead counsel on the case, said Tuesday's opinion would dismiss the case entirely if unchallenged and 'displays a fundamental misunderstanding of our constitution and constitutional rights.' She said plaintiffs intent to appeal to the state Supreme Court. 'Fifty years ago, New Mexico voted to amend the constitution and to provide protections from industry pollution and the court has found today that the amendment — the pollution control clause — is essentially meaningless, and that has to be wrong,' Evans said. The court challenge comes as New Mexico's state government rides a wave of record income from development in the Permian Basin, one of the world's most productive, oil-producing regions. Oil-related revenue collections underwrite a considerable amount of the state's budget, including public education. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration is policing the industry with regulations that target methane and other emissions. But the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups say these efforts are not enough and that the state is failing to enforce existing pollution-control measures. Attorneys for the Democratic-led Legislature and environmental regulators said the lawsuit threatened their constitutional authority. Appeals Judge Katherine Wray issued an additional concurring opinion, expressing further limitations of the pollution control clause.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Poll: What is the strangest thing about New Mexico?
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico is a unique place, and there are many things that make it stand out from the rest of the United States. KRQE asked viewers via social media what they thought was the strangest thing they've noticed about the Land of Enchantment. News 13 viewers say the strangest thing about New Mexico is the weather. New Mexico experiences a wide variety of weather phenomena, from haboobs to heavy snow. One of the most common weather patterns in the state is 'all the darn wind.' New Mexico often experiences powerful winds that fuel dust storms, wildfires, and blizzards, all due to changes in air pressure. The weather around New Mexico can also change on a whim, sometimes feeling like 'four seasons in a single day.' One viewer notes, 'You can ski at Ski Apache and sunbathe at White Sands on the same day.' Haboob blows over Deming on March 3, 2025 The Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire burns south of Las Vegas, N.M., Saturday, May 7, 2022 Las Vegas snow | Courtesy of Mark Montoya November 7, 2024 POLL: What are New Mexicans planting in their gardens this year? Another aspect of New Mexico that viewers consider strange is its wildlife. The state bird, the roadrunner, is fairly easy to spot, as their population has nearly doubled in the last 60 years. These 'cute but strange little creatures' typically run at 15 miles per hour, can consume venomous prey, and can only fly for short distances. Another common sight is the coyote. New Mexico is home to 16 subspecies, and they're more likely to be seen in winter. Porcupines have been known to roam the Bosque. While it has been incredibly rare to see one in New Mexico, Mexican wolves are beginning to return to their original habitat. 'Vinagaroons, weirdly wonderful little creatures,' also known as whip scorpions, are native to the area. Even a pelican has been spotted in Santa Fe. State bird: Chaparral, commonly called the 'roadrunner' | Photo Courtesy: NM Sec. of State Mexican Wolf | Courtesy: ABQ BioPark Coyote in New Mexico | Courtesy New Mexico Department of Game and Fish One strange phenomenon is synonymous with New Mexico: aliens. Roswell, in particular, has long been associated with 'many UFO crashes.' Many viewers describe their own supernatural encounters and unexplainable sights, typically seeing strange lights in the sky. The Very Large Array, an astronomy observatory in Socorro County, has been used multiple times as a filming location depicting extraterrestrial contact. A viewer calls it the 'quietest, most disconcerting thing I have ever seen. Love the science, but it's freaky.' The Very Large Array FILE – A sign directs travelers to the start of the '1947 UFO Crash Site Tours' in Roswell, N.M., June 10, 1997. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, File) From White Sands to Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico boasts a 'great variety of geography.' One viewer says, 'The strangest thing I've seen is the trees growing over by the Fire and Ice caves. So twisted and wildly beautiful. Another viewer mentioned the Four Corners Monument, the point where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. White Sands | Adobe Stock Hundreds of cave formations are shown decorating the Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Dec. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File) Shiprock rock formation in the Four Corners region of the New Mexico desert. (Adobe Spark) Poll: Where is the best place to go hiking in New Mexico? Another unique feature: New Mexico is the only U.S. state (besides Georgia) to share a name with another country. Naturally, this leads to some confusion for Americans living outside the state. One viewer finds it 'strange that NM is the only state that requires the license plates to have USA on [them] because the rest of the country has no clue we are one of the 50 states.' KRQE New Mexico license plate | KRQE media file KRQE New Mexico license plate | KRQE media file KRQE New Mexico license plate | KRQE media file One thing that many viewers notice as strange about the Land of Enchantment is chile in or on top of most foods. The state question—'Red or green?'—is something every New Mexican has heard asked before. One viewer 'had to learn to order cheese pizza without green chili.' Another viewer mentions 'the apple pie. If you go to Pie Town, yes, an actual town, the pie has apple, green chile, and pine nuts. It's not bad, but green chile goes in everything there.' The chile industry has had an important impact on the economy of the state, as New Mexico is the nation's largest chile pepper grower. New Mexico is also the only state to have a state aroma, 'Green Chile Roasting in the Fall.' Another notable staple of New Mexican cuisine is the breakfast burrito. The breakfast burrito originated at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in the 1970s and can now be found almost anywhere in the state. One viewer wonders, 'Why is everyone obsessed with breakfast burritos?' Bosque Chile Fest Breakfast Burrito | Adobe Stock Poll: Who has the best burrito at the Balloon Fiesta? Every part of the U.S. has a distinct accent or dialect, and New Mexico is no different. One of the most commonly answered local lingo is adding the word 'all' before adjectives, like 'all crazy,' 'all funny,' 'all perfect,' etc. A viewer notices locals tend to say 'get down' from the car instead of 'get out.' ''Saven' is seven, 'elaven' is eleven, 'A la!' means 'Holy cow!' and every soda is a Coke,' says one viewer. Who can forget the tumbleweed snowman? Lack of snowfall leads to some creative solutions. This Albuquerque staple comes back every winter, and the tradition is starting to expand to other areas of the state, with a new addition in Socorro. The Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority put up its Tumbleweed Snowman on Nov. 28, 2023. (KRQE) Socorro tumbleweed snowman created by Jerry Gutierrez. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
