Front Page News

As part of its ongoing commitment to serving New Mexico's aging adults statewide, the Non-Metro Area Agency on Aging will hold community listening sessions in Grant and Hidalgo counties July 15-16, 2025.

Resulting from the transition of Hidalgo Medical Services (HMS) senior services to new providers, North Central New Mexico Economic Development District Executive Director Monica Abeita, Non-Metro Area Agency on Aging Director Neil Segotta, and Non-Metro Area Agency on Aging Regional Manager John Prejean will travel to five senior centers in Grant and Hidalgo counties to hear directly from seniors and to provide details on the transition and the continuation of services.

Gila Las Cruces

Type 3 Incident Management Teamm MARCUS CORNWELL – INCIDENT COMMANDER

Notification for Public Health and Safety

Press Release – Monday, June 30, 2025

Gila Las Cruces Type 3 Incident Management Team assumes command of the Trout Fire

Acres: 47,294                Start Date: Thursday, June 12, 2025               Location: 12 miles north of Silver City, NM

Personnel: 411                        Containment: 83%                        Cause: Lightning

Summary: The Trout Fire is now 83% contained at 47,294 acres. The slight increase in reported acreage is the result of more accurate mapping.

BAER team completes Soil Burn Severity map for Trout Fire

 Silver City, NM, June 30, 2025 – Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) specialists recently completed their field data evaluation to produce the Soil Burn Severity (SBS) map for the Trout Fire, which field verifies unburned/very low, low, moderate, and high SBS categories from satellite imagery. The SBS map estimates approximately 9,996 acres (20%) of the fire is unburned/very low, approximately 28,860 acres (58%) have low soil burn severity, approximately 8,647 acres (17%) sustained a moderate SBS, and approximately 2,069 acres (4%) sustained a high SBS.  The SBS map product is an estimate of fire effects to soils, not fire effects to vegetation. SBS characterizes fire effects to the soil surface and below ground. Fire effects to vegetation would include an estimate of vegetation mortality and does not always correlate with degree of soil burn severity.

Article by Mary Alice Murphy

Photos by Mary Alice Murphy and Starr Farrell (each identified)

On Friday, June 27, 2025, this author got to visit a small portion of where the Trout Fire had burned beside NM 15 beyond Signal Peak. She went with Trout Fire public information officer Starr Farrell, Paul Meznerich, who drove, and the Trout Fire BAER (burned area emergency response) public information officer Dick Fleishman.

Required attire included the yellow shirts that everyone wore, including one provided for this author, and yellow hard hats.

Protocol required checking in and checking out of the area the group entered, which was on the blocked off portion of NM 15 from the Ben Lilly outlook to the intersection with NM 35.

By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a special meeting on June 9, 2025. Board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, Emmarie Heredia and Angelina Hardin. Interim superintendent Randall Piper also attended. David Terrazas and did not attend.

The board approved the agenda with some changes in the order of the agenda items.

Board members reports

Begay had moved this item in the agenda to introduce the new interim superintendent. "We're glad to have you on board." He had come out of retirement to fill this position. He had done six years with the Lordsburg municipal schools and two years at Truth or Consequences schools. He also did many years with Regional Education Cooperative (REC). The rest of the board in attendance welcomed Piper.

Southwest Area Complex Incident Management Team TEAM 4 – Andrew Mandell – Incident Commander

Southwest Area Incident Management Team 4 prepares for transfer of command for Trout Fire

Fire Information Phone: 575-323-8964 (8 am – 8 pm)

Daily Update for June 29, 2025

Acres: 47,294                  Start Date: June 12, 2025         Location: 12 miles north of Silver City, NM                

Cause: Lightning       Personnel: 553         Fuels: Grass, brush, and timber       Containment: 83%

Highlights: Management of the Trout Fire will transition to the Gila Las Cruces Type 3 Incident Management Team at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, Monday, June 30, 2025. Team efforts will continue to focus on suppression repair and supporting local partners, communities, and the Gila National Forest. As a reminder, ongoing minimal fire activity can still produce visible smoke and ash in the air; however, it does not threaten containment lines.

The outgoing team extends its sincere gratitude to the residents, local communities, emergency management, and land management agencies for their cooperation, collaboration, and support throughout this incident. These partnerships have been instrumental in helping protect lives, property, and valued natural and cultural resources.

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a special meeting May 27, 2025. Members in attendance included Ashley Montenegro, Michelle Diaz, Mike McMillan and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended. Patrick Cohn didn't attend.

Michelle McCain, finance director, had a budget adjustment request. She had a request to increase the transportation budget $68,380. This will be for transportation fees for pupils. The funding had been granted by the state, and it needed to be added into the budget. The board approved the budget adjustment.

By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held special meetings on June 6 and 7, 2025. Board members in attendance included Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, David Terrazas, Emmarie Heredia and Angelina Hardin. Superintendent Michael Koury also attended online.

Before the executive session on the first day Guadiana had a point of discussion. "I acknowledged that the Open Meetings Act allows the board to interview applicants for the superintendent position in closed session. However, doing so is discretionary. I believe the board would better serve the district by conducting the interviews in open session. The leadership places little or no value in transparency or community involvement."