Trump administration launches investigation into APS, Santa Fe Public Schools over gender transition policies

Announcement comes after a federal lawsuit against APS over the same rules

BY NATALIE ROBBINS / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

November 10, 2026

The Trump administration announced Monday it had launched an investigation into Albuquerque and Santa Fe public schools over policies that allow students to keep their gender transitions from their parents.

The probe into the New Mexico districts is among at least 222 U.S. Department of Education investigations into similar policies nationwide as of late October, according to Education Week.

Both Albuquerque Public Schools and Santa Fe Public Schools have come under fire in recent months for rules permitting students to socially transition by using a different name and set of pronouns in class without notifying their parents or guardians. Advocates say the rules protect students who may have unsafe home environments.

The Department of Education said it would investigate whether the districts had violated two federal laws, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, or the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, or PPRA.

FERPA allows parents the right to review student records, and PPRA bars schools from compelling students to participate in surveys on sexual topics, mental health, religion or political affiliation without parental consent.

“APS policies and procedures adhere to FERPA guidelines. We have been notified of the investigation and will respond through the appropriate channels,” district spokesperson Martin Salazar said in a statement.

In September, a social worker at Atrisco Heritage Academy High School filed a federal lawsuit against APS over its social transition policy, alleging the rules were a violation of federal privacy laws. The social worker, Jeanette Martinez, is represented by the Center for American Liberty, a conservative nonprofit based in Alexandria, Virginia, that litigates for right-wing causes. An ED news release announcing the investigation contained a link to a Fox News article about the case.

In Santa Fe last month, about a dozen people spoke at an SFPS board meeting, expressing their disapproval over a series of policies concerning student gender and sexual education, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

SFPS spokesperson Tara Melton said in a statement the district had not been contacted by the ED about the investigation as of Monday afternoon, but said officials will “respond appropriately and cooperate with the process” should they receive an official inquiry.

“Santa Fe Public Schools remains committed to providing a safe, welcoming and respectful learning environment where every student feels valued and supported,” Melton said, noting that an official change to a student’s name or gender marker in the district’s database requires parental consent.

“We remain committed to following applicable state and federal laws while fostering strong partnerships between our schools and families. Our focus continues to be on what matters most: supporting our students, partnering with families and creating schools where every child can learn, grow and thrive,” Melton said.

Also named in the news release for their policies on gender are two Pennsylvania districts, Pennsbury and Pine-Richland. ED officials said the agency would partner with the U.S. Department of Justice to take “enforcement action” against Pine-Richland over its alleged FERPA and PPRA violations.

“The Trump Administration has made upholding parental rights and transparency in the classroom a key part of our education agenda – and we will continue to do so,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Policies designed to conceal or hide the most sensitive information about a child’s well-being not only violate federal law but also educators’ moral obligation to let parents be the first decision-makers in their child’s lives. We will vigorously investigate these allegations and hold districts accountable to bring parents out of the dark.”

Major player in DWI scheme makes appearance 18 months after guilty plea

Ricardo ‘Rick’ Mendez worked with attorneys to bribe law enforcement to let cases get dismissed

BY COLLEEN HEILD AND MATTHEW REISEN / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS

November 10, 2026

Whether intentional or not, it was an imposing display.

A phalanx of men — dressed in all-black suits with face masks and sunglasses exited a van and walked into the federal courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque on Monday morning. Leading the group was Ricardo “Rick” Mendez, the organizer of a decades-long racketeering scheme involving multiple law enforcement officers taking bribes to let DWI suspects off the hook.

It was one of the 55-year-old’s first public appearances in U.S. District Court since pleading guilty in one of the state’s largest public corruption cases, ensnaring prominent attorneys and dozens of law enforcement personnel.

Mendez, who worked for years in the office of Albuquerque attorney Thomas Clear III, was a friend to many officers with the Albuquerque Police Department and New Mexico State Police, as well as Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies, before he pleaded guilty to a slate of federal charges in early 2025.

With his long salt-and-pepper hair tied in a bun, Mendez stayed mum as he exited the brief hearing where a federal judge set a May sentencing date for him. Having sent one of his entourage ahead to pull the van to the curb, Mendez and his masked companions looked straight ahead as reporters asked them numerous questions outside the courthouse. His attorney Wayne Baker initially declined to comment but eventually told reporters his client “has remorse, obviously.” Baker said Mendez was also “anxious” about the possibility of facing prison time, having past experience in the justice system. During the hearing, U.S. District Judge David Urias expressed his frustration at the pace of the prosecution, which was triggered by complaints to the FBI in 2023 from DWI suspects who said they were propositioned or extorted by Mendez, and sometimes by the police officers who arrested them. Mendez promised he would make their cases “go away,” and usually did just that if they paid up, court records show.

To enable the scheme, DWI officers failed to appear for hearings or file the proper paperwork, providing Clear with the legal grounds to seek a dismissal of the charges. Sometimes charges weren’t filed at all.

“We do need to move this case forward,” Urias told Mendez’s attorney, Baker, and two federal prosecutors who have overseen the three years of investigation into the covert scheme that enriched police officers, deputies, Mendez, Clear and others while DWI suspects went free — for a price. Some officers received gifts or free legal services.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana B. Long told the judge the process of turning over discovery gleaned through the FBI investigation has been time-consuming and unusual, adding, “We’re trying to expedite this.”

She said that some specific discovery has been provided to individual defendants as it pertained to them. But in Mendez’s cases, “almost all discovery was applicable,” she said, “We investigated hundreds of cases.”

Earlier on Monday, a key defendant, former Albuquerque officer Honorio Alba Jr., learned he will be sentenced in April 2027. Alba had been previously honored as “Officer of the Year,” by Mothers Against Drunk Drivering.

Alba’s attorney, Nicole Moss, told the judge, “This is probably the most voluminous discovery I’ve had to date in my career. There are millions of pages.” She said a statement of facts in Alba’s case, prepared by the government, was “40 pages long.”

Both Mendez and Alba were originally set to be sentenced in the spring of 2025 but that never happened.

Since early 2025, according to the court’s online website, the two lead criminal assistant U.S. attorneys handling the case have been assigned to also defend civil habeas corpus petitions filed by noncitizen detainees swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The prosecutors, Long and Katherine Lewis, declined to comment Monday.

In late August, the prosecutors turned over applicable discovery for all 13 individuals awaiting sentencing, including nine former Albuquerque police officers.

It wasn’t clear on Monday whether the FBI investigation is continuing, but a former BCSO deputy was charged just last week with participating in the scheme from 2018 to 2024.

Several questions remained unanswered as of Monday, such as how much money flowed into the enterprise in total; what senior, often high-ranking officers or others were also involved and remain uncharged; and what phase the prosecution is entering.

Mendez was among the first defendants charged, in January 2025, and pleaded guilty the same day in U.S. Magistrate Court in Albuquerque with no prior publicized online announcement of a plea hearing.

According to his plea agreement, Mendez relied on more senior APD officers to help recruit the next generation of officers, and that allowed the recruits to feel more comfortable participating. He would call officers to discuss whether a potential DWI client had the money to pay, and would coordinate scheduling of the hearings related to an offender’s possible driver’s license revocation.

He said his participation in what prosecutors call the DWI Enterprise began in 2008, in which he engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity that included multiple acts of bribery and interference with commerce by extortion.

The purpose was to generate and protect profits for enterprise members, and help develop a system to increase referrals to Clear’s law firm, which allowed the enterprise to grow in size.

Because of his “recognition and affirmative acceptance of personal responsibility,” prosecutors are recommending Mendez get a reduced sentence, but no sentencing range was given Monday.

Meanwhile, former Albuquerque police Sgt. Lucas Perez, who pleaded guilty in May 2025 to participating in the scheme, failed to appear for his status conference hearing before Urias on Monday. His attorneys also did not appear.

Town of Bernalillo victim of cyberattack

No data has been compromised ‘to this point;’ government services remain operational, acting town spokesperson says

By Gregory R.C. Hasman for the Albuquerque Journal

October 15, 2026

A cyberattack hit the town of Bernalillo last week, making most of its online services inaccessible and forcing the motor vehicle division to close.

Acting town spokesperson Augusta Meyers also said people who normally pay their bills online will have to do so in person or on the phone.

Meyers added, however, that “no data has been compromised to this point.”

The town reported the incident about 5:15 a.m. Oct. 9, Meyers said.

“When our town IT director first discovered there was a problem, we thought it was a straight internet outage,” Mayor Jack Torres said in a statement. “Upon closer inspection, we realized it was a full-blown cyberattack and that we had to take quick action to curtail and disable any further damage.”

The town has reached out to law enforcement, including the FBI, but Meyers said the FBI has not yet responded.

Bernalillo officials are working with the New Mexico Office of Cybersecurity and third-party cybersecurity experts and have implemented “a full-blown incident response plan to assist with restoring services and data as quickly and safely as possible,” Torres said.

While online services remain down, residents can go to the town’s administrative offices at 829 Camino del Pueblo between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or call 505-771-7120 or 505-771-7122 to pay their bills, according to the town.

“Late payment fees will be waived and no services will be disconnected during the recovery,” Meyers said.

Eldora Chocolate: New owner, same delicious business goals

Shop set to expand its offerings originating from Hawaii

BY KYLIE GARCIA / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

November 8, 2026

Daeus Bencomo, a New Mexico native now living in Hawaii, was devastated when his chocolate production and storage facility in Hilo caught fire in May.

“We had about almost 13,000 pounds’ worth of (cacao) beans that burned up … and then a 1,600-squarefoot production space similar to this one,” Bencomo said, sitting outside Eldora Chocolate, a small shop in Albuquerque, on Wednesday. “We lost everything.”

A few months later, Bencomo was scrolling Instagram when he came across an early September post from Eldora Chocolate announcing the business would close in October. Steve Prickett, the shop’s founder, said he wanted to retire after eight years of making and selling fine chocolate using cacao beans from across the world.

Bencomo said his “heart dropped” when he saw the post. Bencomo is a partner in a Hawaii business called Lavaloha Chocolate, which has its own cacao tree farm and has collaborated with Eldora for at least five years.

The partnership included Lavaloha supplying beans to Eldora, making chocolate for each other and testing each other’s recipes, Bencomo said.

Eldora has also been a must-see pit stop for Bencomo and his wife and daughter when they visit family in New Mexico.

All of this got Bencomo thinking. By September, he had been saving to rebuild his Hawaii production facility. But why not put that money toward an existing operation instead? He called Prickett, made an offer, and by November, Bencomo and his Lavaloha partners owned Eldora.

“The magic of Eldora is amazing,” Bencomo said. “Every time I come here, I bring the family here. So it’s held a pretty special place in my heart for the past few years, and I’m really happy to be a part of it.”

Prickett shared Bencomo’s excitement.

“Having Daeus come in — this has been a dream come true,” Prickett said. “He’s the perfect owner to take the Eldora name … and take it to the next level.”

Prickett launched Eldora with his wife, Andrea, in 2018, after a lengthy career with Merrill Lynch. He’d been a dark chocolate fan all his life, but a trip to Hawaii sparked the idea to run a chocolate business. The pair took a chocolate-making tour, inspiring Prickett to purchase equipment and learn the process from home.

The Pricketts purchased a lot at 8114 Edith NE and built the chocolate shop from scratch. It is now one of only two chocolate shops in the state that turns beans into chocolate on site. The shop is also known for using only fine ingredients and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

“Our goal was to make the very best chocolate and also to put New Mexico on the map in terms of fine chocolate,” Prickett said.

Prickett considers the mission accomplished, as Eldora has built a loyal customer base across the world. The shop has also earned several accolades, including a gold medal from the International Chocolate Awards.

Now, after a couple of years of appeals from his wife, Prickett is ready to hang up his apron in exchange for more time traveling. Prickett began searching for potential buyers for Eldora last year but didn’t connect with anyone he felt comfortable passing the business to.

“Some ownership changes can be really bad because maybe the other person has a different direction or they want to cut costs,” Prickett said. “But I just don’t have any of that feeling at all with Daeus. He has a good heart.”

Prickett has spent the last few weeks transitioning the business and showing Bencomo the ropes. The team that worked under Prickett will stay in place, and Bencomo said he’s hired two people and anticipates hiring at least a couple more in the coming months.

Maintaining Eldora’s core identity, values and name is a priority for Bencomo, but some new additions are in the works.

In the coming weeks, the business will start to showcase more Hawaii-based products, made not just from Lavaloha’s beans but from cacao beans across Hawaii. Prickett noted the shop will continue to offer several different origins. With Lavaloha’s farm, Eldora can now upgrade its title as a bean-to-bar shop to a tree-tobar shop, Prickett said.

The shop will continue to offer educational tours, which people pay for, but Bencomo is brainstorming how to implement free educational programming to local schools. He is also pondering outdoor site improvements, such as a pond, a grass area, a gazebo and upgraded seating.

The transition has gone smoothly, Prickett and Bencomo said. But the new owner said he’s asking the Albuquerque community to give the Eldora team grace during the busy holiday season, during which Bencomo will return to Hawaii in December.

Bencomo plans to travel back and forth between Hawaii and New Mexico throughout the year. But he said purchasing property and establishing deeper roots in the Land of Enchantment is not entirely out of the question.

Bencomo was born and raised in Valencia County. He left the state at 17 to join the military, a pursuit that eventually led him to Hawaii, where he met his wife and welcomed their daughter, now 4 years old.

Reconnecting with the place where he grew up was part of the draw of Eldora, Bencomo said, adding it’s been neat to come back and be a part of a venture he’s passionate about.

“I want Eldora to be a community- facing brand,” he said. “I want people to feel safe and happy coming here. That’s the goal.”

Immigrant rights groups accuse NM law enforcement of assisting ICE

Groups said informal collaboration was ongoing despite state laws seeking to limit it

BY MATTHEW REISEN / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

November 8, 2026

Immigration attorneys and advocacy groups raised the alarm in a legislative hearing Friday that local law enforcement agencies are assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite state laws intended to limit such cooperation.

Since 2005, the state Legislature has passed laws to restrict formal agreements and law enforcement cooperation with immigration enforcement agents.

But during Friday’s meeting of the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, several examples were given of law enforcement personnel routing detainees to ICE agents after traffic stops and routine encounters.

Those examples included a Sandoval County deputy meeting ICE agents in a store parking lot to hand over a man the deputy had just pulled over, and another man released after a DWI charge who found ICE agents waiting for him. Teague González, executive director of the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, told lawmakers the agents “just happened to know the moment that he was walking out of the courthouse,” suggesting they had help from local law enforcement.

Advocates shared emails obtained through public records requests that appeared to show county officials — including the Eddy County warden — notifying federal agents when suspected noncitizens were booked and when they would be released.

“What do these all have in common?” González asked. “This, in each case, was a choice that someone made county by county, and there is no written policy prohibiting it.”

She said the groups presenting to the committee were grateful for the Immigrant Safety Act (House Bill 9) — particularly that it barred formal agreements allowing ICE to deputize local law enforcement. But it didn’t go far enough to bar “informal” cooperation, she said.

“It does not bar local city or county police in any city or county in New Mexico from informally calling ICE,” González said. “And I think that while HB 9 closed the paperwork pathway, not one of these handoffs that we described to you today needed paperwork.”

She said there needs to be one statewide rule that encompasses every jurisdiction, adding, “One county walks a man to a parking lot and hands him over. The next county doesn’t. A patchwork cannot be reconciled county by county.”

Billy Massingill, Eddy County Detention Center warden, told the Journal he has been notifying the Department of Homeland Security of suspected noncitizens booked into the jail since he came on board in 2012 — regardless of who is president.

He said the “only law” against collaboration is the one restricting counties from going into a 287(g) contract with immigration enforcement. Massingill added, “But nothing that I know of says that you can’t converse.”

Since President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, Massingill began tracking the number and said at least 202 people have been handed over to immigration authorities from Eddy County since February 2025.

“We would let them know, ‘Hey, this guy’s getting out. … And if you want this individual, you got to be at the facility when they’re released,’” Massingill said. He emphasized that they do not house immigration detainees and, if the agents don’t show up when the person is released, they will not hold them.

Massingill said there have also been hundreds of instances in which they notified DHS of a suspected noncitizen but were mistaken — “either they were U.S. citizens or they had green cards or work visas or whatever.” He added that Eddy County has no plans to change the practice.

“I just think that our county is willing to work with the government the best we can. Obviously, within reason and our state laws,” Massingill said.

Collaboration

González said that of the more than 500 detainees attorneys have spoken with, at least 232 reported entering ICE custody “through transfer from local law enforcement” in arrests made since January 2025.

“Almost everyone that we meet inside the detention centers has lived here for years. They have jobs, families, children, often U.S. citizen children. They are people who own homes, have built businesses, and pay taxes here,” she said. Many have applied for citizenship status and “have done everything right,” she added.

The tactics are not the only thing that has changed, the groups said. Since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began, both the number of people detained and the speed of deportations have surged.

Gabriela Ibañez Guzmán, staff attorney with Somos un Pueblo Unido, testified that immigration arrests increased from 20 in July 2024 to 700 in July this year across New Mexico. She added that despite laws and policies limiting cooperation, “our state still has one of the highest arrest rates in the country.”

The Journal found that, even in jurisdictions with strengthened policies, like Albuquerque, ICE agents are scouring public jail rosters to find noncitizens. In those cases, the noncitizens had been booked on both low-level and serious offenses, from concealing their identity and DWI to drug trafficking and child abuse.

The groups said that on any given day, 1,500 people are being held on immigration cases in New Mexico. Some are transferred here from out of state due to the number of empty beds in facilities in Cibola, Otero and Torrance counties. Now, many are being transferred to Camp East Montana in El Paso, they said.

González described conditions inside the detention centers as “abhorrent,” with a “huge spike” in detainees needing emergency care, including a man with an untreated abscess in his mouth, a person with facial paralysis after a stroke and another with vision loss due to an untreated eye condition.

She said attorneys are often unable to see their clients or the visits are cut short, while removals to third countries — where detainees are not originally from — “follow no discernible process.”

González said the current environment has them on the defensive, launching a program to teach families how to navigate the system, and advising parents to have a plan for their child’s care should they be detained.

Guzmán said to drill down on cooperation with immigration agents, both formal and informal, they have requested records of communications from counties statewide. While dozens of jurisdictions have not responded or provided records, at least 10 “showed some level of communication or collaboration” with immigration enforcement.

The records showed “nearly daily communications” between ICE officials and employees of Lea and Eddy counties in southeastern New Mexico, she said.

For example, in November 2024, Lea County sent ICE a daily list “of foreign- born individuals who are brought to the Lea County Detention Center, regardless of reason for their arrest.” In Eddy County, detention center staff spoke with ICE almost daily to notify them of booked noncitizens, including at least one for an unpaid traffic ticket.

In multiple attached emails sent in September 2025, Massingill, the Eddy County warden, notified immigration enforcement when jail staff told him suspected noncitizens were booked, saying they only spoke Spanish or were born in Mexico. In one such email chain, an agent responded to Massingill, saying, “Someone will be en route shortly Sir. Thanks for the heads up.”

Guzmán said “a clear statewide policy” was needed to lay out rules for working with immigration officials and to ensure local law enforcement collaborating in federal immigration enforcement “could face liability under both the U.S. Constitution, New Mexico’s Constitution, and a number of our state laws.”

Legislation

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said “it’s really shocking and upsetting” when legislation that was passed is not followed, particularly by law enforcement. She said it was important to seal the “gap” allowing county employees to volunteer information on bookings to ICE, calling the practice “despicable.”

“Reading these emails, it’s so upsetting to see this inhumane practice against our own people. I’m just very, very disappointed to see this,” Sedillo Lopez said.

Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, said she was concerned it would be hard to target informal assistance through phone calls or in-person meetings but hoped a renewed call for oversight, amid Democrats’ success in the midterms, could help address the issue.

“The fact that you have to prepare for your disappearance for any family member is just unheard of,” Romero said.

Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, asked if there was a draft of proposed legislation and questioned if it would prevent someone charged with a serious crime from being turned over to ICE.

He said he was thankful the Otero facility was open, calling HB 9 “the most ineffective piece of legislation ever passed in the history of time. … Thank you to the incompetence of this Legislature. I appreciate it.” Block said the facility was extremely clean, with a barber’s shop, kitchens serving halal and kosher food and “beautiful” murals of the Maldives.

“They literally have a phone line that has different phone numbers for the people being detained for them to access legal services, including from your organizations,” he said to the groups.

Block closed by saying, “Hopefully we can continue to deport criminal illegal aliens who are in this country. … I will continue to be a big supporter of that because our country needs to be safe.”

After Block’s statements, Rep. Marianna Anaya, D-Albuquerque, felt the need to address the advocacy groups and the families and children seated in the chambers.

“I’m really glad you’re here, first of all, and I also just want to apologize for my other colleague’s words earlier. … Because one, you or anybody else or your families, are not illegal. Nobody’s illegal. You should know that. Also, I don’t think you guys are aliens, right?” she said.

Applause broke out, and there was a call for order to return to the chamber.

Anaya, referring to the outcome of the election, added, “The majority of this country believes in compassion and justice, and absolutely stands with you. And I hope that you saw that on that map across the United States.”

Famous New Mexico rock formation destroyed after torrential El Niño rains

Officials expected to investigate whether super El Niño storms in US south-west damaged the Alien Throne spires

Alien Throne at blue hour. Photograph: Kialo Winters / Navajo Tours USA.

By Lois Beckett for The Guardian

November 6, 2026

Undulating, gravity-defying rock spires are one of the most magical parts of the landscape of the US south-west.

But after torrential rainstorms linked to the super El Niño season, at least one famous rock formation in north-west New Mexico has been found in pieces.

And as local communities in the Four Corners region struggle with the aftermath of flooding, washed-out roads and damaged homes, more damage to the region’s natural wonders may still be discovered.

Kialo Winters was leading a tour of the Valley of Dreams trail in New Mexico, near the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness, on 30 October when he discovered that one of the area’s most famous spires, or “hoodoos”, had been destroyed.

“We turned the corner, and my heart just dropped,” he said. “The highlight feature that everyone wants to see is the Alien Throne.”

The majestic formation, which is featured prominently on a local tourism website, had broken into pieces. Winters said he immediately assumed that the heavy rains and the super El Niño season were to blame.

A week before, rainstorms and flooding had hit north-west New Mexico hard, forcing evacuations and hundreds of water rescues of stranded residents. In Farmington, the nearest town to the Valley of Dreams area, some families spent the night on rooftops watching the river flood their homes before they were rescued, officials said.

Winters has been guiding visitors to the region for 13 years as part of Navajo Tours USA, a company he founded. The rock spires, which are on Navajo Nation land, are beloved by visitors and photographers, but they also have a deeper significance to the region’s Indigenous residents, he said.

“They are traditional waypoints in our Indigenous history that have guided our people across the land for many generations,” Winters said.

And it was not just the Alien Throne that had tumbled down, Winters said. Another nearby formation, the King of Wings, what Winters called “the unicorn of hoodoos”, has also been damaged in recent weeks. Multiple user posts on AllTrails, a hiking website, suggested the formation had broken sometime before 9 October, before intense rains hit the region.

“Those are heavy losses for us,” Winters said. But, he added: “The land is alive, and we understand it changes. The same erosion that made them also brings them down, that is what our elders tell us.”

Winters called for visitors to the damaged spires to “let that site rest,” and not to climb what’s left of the formations, or take stones home for relics. “It’s illegal to do that,” he said, adding: “It’s disrespectful to the community as a whole.”

While his assumption is that the Alien Throne broke because of “natural causes”, Winters said, the Navajo Nation and the Bureau of Land Management are expected to examine the site and confirm the cause.

It’s not yet clear how much damage may have been done to other rock spires across the Four Corners region of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico during the past weeks of heavy rain and flooding. Park rangers at the Chiricahua, Goblin Valley, Gold Butte and Cathedral Gorge state and national parks with extensive “hoodoo” formations, told SFGate that they had not yet documented any damage.

In a super El Niño year of ongoing intense storms in the Pacific, famous rock formations across time zones are showing damage. Earlier in October, Hawaii’s centuries-old Hōlei sea arch collapsed into the Pacific.

“We’ll keep honoring those sentinels and waypoints through story and photographs and art installations,” Winters said of the lost formations on Navajo Nation land. “Their legacies live on.”

Project Jupiter air permit faces new delay

Citing volume of evidence, developer and state request more time before hearing

BY ALGERNON D’AMMASSA / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

November 7, 2026

A crucial air quality permit for Project Jupiter faces a new delay as the New Mexico Environment Department and the developer behind the data center’s microgrid both asked the hearing officer to postpone a public hearing originally scheduled for Dec. 7.

Unanswered, for now, is when a public hearing will take place and by what deadline the state will make its decision. The state and the developer waived the previous deadline of Nov. 23 for a decision on the permit application.

Yucca Growth Infrastructure (YGI) is the entity behind the on-site power generation facility for the large-scale data center under construction in Santa Teresa for Oracle Corp. and OpenAI. The campus will, once completed, feature four data center structures supporting computer capacity for training AI software. The microgrid is designed to power the data center through natural gas-powered fuel cell technology.

On Tuesday, the Environment Department and YGI filed a joint motion asking permit hearing officer James Browning to vacate the Dec. 7 public hearing because, they said, more time was needed to complete a technical review of revisions to the project proposal submitted in October and to publish required public notices of a hearing.

At a Thursday hearing, Browning agreed to vacate the opening of the hearing but did not set a new date, instead ordering regular scheduling conferences. In an order issued Friday, Browning said the hearing would be rescheduled after the department’s Air Quality Bureau makes a recommendation.

At issue is the Environment Department’s previous position that the law permits it to extend the deadline for a decision only once, leaving the legality of another extension in question. Browning said in the hearing that it wasn’t a matter for him to decide.

The request by YGI and the Environment Department prompted New Energy Economy, the clean energy advocacy organization that has repeatedly argued the application is not ready for a fair hearing, to renew its request for the application to be dismissed in its present form.

The organization has argued that revisions to Project Jupiter’s power plan, including how to pipe natural gas to the location and changing details about the fuel cell array’s engineering and emissions, were not ready for a proper hearing. On Thursday, an attorney for New Energy Economy argued that the developers’ request for postponement was an acknowledgment that the application was not ready.

Browning again declined to dismiss the application, saying he did not have the technical evidence or authority for such an order. He also denied a motion from the Environment Department seeking disclosure requirements for expert witnesses. On Thursday, Browning expressed doubts that such an order was necessary.

“(The Environment Department) needs time to see if they can wade through Project Jupiter’s mountain of uncertainty,” Mariel Nanasi, New Energy Economy’s executive director, said in a comment for the Journal. Nanasi said the fuel cell array envisioned for the project, produced by Bloom Energy, “has no associated engineering studies, air modeling or other technical basis that professionals can rely on.”

Yucca Growth Infrastructure’s attorneys did not respond to a query from the Journal.

A spokesperson for Oracle said, “We look forward to moving efficiently toward a hearing date and schedule and fully expect NMED to treat our application with the same fairness it has afforded countless other applications approved with similar or higher emissions levels over the past months and years.”

Construction continues with thousands of workers reporting in shifts to the project site in Santa Teresa, where work began in September 2025.

Judge rules Yazzie-Martinez education reform plan insufficient

PED must submit a supplement by end of March 2027

BY NATALIE ROBBINS / ALBUQUERQUE OURNAL STAFF WRITER

November 7, 2026

A Santa Fe judge has ruled that the New Mexico Public Education Department’s plan to provide better schooling for underserved students is not sufficient, the latest development in an ongoing court case known as Yazzie-Martinez.

Judge Matthew Wilson issued an order Monday determining that the plan was not fully comprehensive because it failed to completely address all previous judicial orders in the case and did not include specific targeted services like summer school and reduced class sizes.

Though the court rejected the plaintiffs’ requests to completely rewrite the document or to dictate specific policies, the order requires that the PED submit a supplement by March 26. The supplement must explicitly connect the PED’s corrective actions to prior decisions and provide clear methods for measuring compliance in the future. The PED must also create a high-level overview to summarize how the state will fulfill its constitutional duty to provide an adequate education to underserved groups.

The 2018 Yazzie-Martinez court decision ruled that the state of New Mexico has a constitutional obligation to provide every student with an equal opportunity and a sufficient education,

especially Native American students, English-language learners, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students — all of whom make up around 70% of New Mexico’s student population, according to the Public Education Department.

The case began in 2014 when Wilhelmina Yazzie, the parent of a student at Gallup-McKinley County Schools, and Louise Martinez, the parent of an Albuquerque Public Schools student, joined other parents to file a lawsuit against the state.

In April 2025, Wilson ruled the PED had not done enough to improve since the landmark 2018 ruling and ordered a remedial plan. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued in 1st Judicial District Court in September that the plan lacked clear timelines, measurable benchmarks and cost estimates, and that it did not contain sufficient input from tribal communities.

In a statement Friday, PED spokesperson Janelle Taylor García said the agency “welcomes” the court order, “which upholds the department’s action plan and confirms that the state is on the right path to meet its obligations to New Mexico’s students.”

“The court rejected plaintiffs’ arguments that the plan was fundamentally flawed because it lacked specific elements required by the court. The court also found that the state met its obligation to meaningfully consult with plaintiffs and stakeholders in developing the plan,” she said. “The court made clear that the plan’s content stands and does not need to be discarded.”

The court-ordered supplement to the plan is a “valuable roadmap,” she said.

“PED remains fully committed to delivering an excellent education for every New Mexico student, especially those the original case was brought to serve. This ruling allows us to keep moving that work forward.”

Melissa Candelaria, an attorney for the New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement that plaintiffs appreciated the court’s ruling, but were disappointed that the order did not require PED to solicit input from experts, families, school districts, tribes and “the communities most affected by the state’s education system.” “Their perspectives and expertise are essential to understanding what students need and what it will take to fulfill the state’s constitutional obligations,” Candelaria said.

“We are hopeful that the incoming administration and new PED leadership will approach this as an opportunity for meaningful change, with a plan that addresses the full scope of the State’s constitutional obligations and provides students with the resources, culturally and linguistically relevant instruction, programs, and support they need.”

Candelaria said plaintiffs were ready to work with Gov.-elect Deb Haaland’s administration to resolve the case and repair New Mexico’s public education system.

In an interview with the Journal before the election, Haaland said that a resolution to the Yazzie-Martinez case “has been a long time coming.”

“We need to have a plan that will benefit these students and make New Mexico a leader in public education,” she said.

New Mexico poverty falls, but challenges remain

New Census figures show gains, especially for children, while state leaders debate how to build lasting financial independence

By James Bennett, managing editor of the Albuquerque Journal.

November 7, 2026

New Mexico has long struggled with one of America’s highest poverty rates.

It will be one of the top issues that Gov.-elect Deb Haaland will face as she moves into her new digs in Santa Fe.

But new Census Bureau figures reveal something encouraging: The state is making progress, particularly in helping children escape poverty.

The Times-Picayune in New Orleans recently reported that Louisiana topped the nation in poverty, raising an important question about how New Mexico compares.

According to Census figures covering 2023 through 2025, Louisiana’s official poverty rate was 19.6%, compared with 16% in New Mexico and 10.7% nationally.

That’s still roughly 1 in 6 New Mexicans living in poverty.

But those numbers don’t tell the whole story.

A remarkable improvement

New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke highlighted the state’s progress in an opinion column last week.

She wrote that New Mexico has “reduced poverty at triple the national rate” despite inflation and other economic pressures.

The state’s official poverty rate declined 1.2 percentage points, compared with a national improvement of 0.4 points.

The Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which accounts for taxes, government assistance and living expenses, offers an even more encouraging picture.

Under that measure, New Mexico’s poverty rate falls to 13.2%, almost identical to the national average of 13%.

Louisiana’s supplemental rate remains at 19%.

The difference is especially dramatic for children.

New Mexico’s official child poverty rate is 20.9%. Under the supplemental measure, it drops to 10.9%, below the national rate of 13.5%.

Schardin Clarke points to New Mexico’s Child Tax Credit, which provided $138 million in relief to 255,000 families this year.

Those are encouraging numbers. But what do they really tell us about families’ long-term economic prospects?

“While we should all celebrate such a meaningful reduction in child poverty, this is no time to let off the gas,” Schardin Clarke wrote.

“New Mexico must keep investing in tax policy and programs that help those who need it most while creating durable jobs that grow our economy. That’s how we can achieve the goal of lifting every New Mexican out of poverty once and for all.”

Double-edged sword

Charles Sallee, director of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, weighed in from a financial point of view.

“The supplemental poverty measure is a two-edge sword,” Sallee told the Journal.

It demonstrates that government assistance is reducing poverty, he said, but also that many families lack sufficient earned income to escape poverty without that assistance.

The ultimate goal, Sallee argues, should be helping families become financially independent.

He points to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and New Mexico’s Working Families Tax Credit as examples of policies that reward employment.

Both provide additional financial support as eligible parents increase their earnings, with benefits gradually declining as incomes rise.

That creates what Sallee describes as a “softer landing,” avoiding the abrupt loss of benefits that can discourage families from earning more.

“Directionally they encourage eventual independence,” he said.

Sallee also questions how effectively some other programs reach the families most in need.

The Child Tax Credit, he said, primarily helps families near the poverty threshold cross that line under the supplemental measure.

“While the cash transfer helps, it doesn’t move the needle for families in deep poverty.”

Are we targeting assistance effectively?

Universal childcare could make it easier for parents to work and increase their earnings. But Sallee questions whether the growing investment will significantly reduce measured poverty.

He estimates that in 2019, roughly half of children receiving assistance were from families at or below the poverty level. He believes that share has fallen below 23%, although he cautioned that those figures need confirmation.

The program now extends to families regardless of income.

That raises a legitimate question about whether the state is directing enough resources toward families facing the greatest financial hardship.

Universal programs may provide broader benefits, including greater workforce participation. But those benefits should be measured alongside their cost and their effectiveness in reducing poverty.

The ultimate measure of success

New Mexico’s long-term challenge is creating enough good-paying jobs to help families become financially secure.

Our national laboratories, universities, energy industries and emerging quantum technology sector provide extraordinary opportunities.

But those investments must reach communities where poverty has persisted for generations.

That requires stronger schools, workforce training, affordable housing and policies that encourage businesses to create jobs.

The Journal’s Data Scoreboard is designed to measure whether New Mexico is making meaningful progress.

The latest poverty figures provide reasons for encouragement. Government assistance is helping families, especially children.

But we should measure success not only by how many families government programs lift above the poverty line, but also by how many can eventually remain there through their own earnings.

The ultimate measure of New Mexico’s prosperity isn’t how much assistance we provide. It’s how many families gain the opportunity to no longer need it.

Guarded Optimism, and Some Jokes, in Ukraine Over Trump’s Midterm Wipeout

Victory for Democrats could alter the course of peace negotiations and a war nearing its fifth year.

By Paul SonneAndrew E. Kramer and Marc Santora for The New York Times

November 6, 2026

As President Trump has moved the United States into greater alignment with Moscow, he has lashed out at the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. “It’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Mr. Trump declared last month.

But after Democrats swept Tuesday’s midterm elections in an unequivocal repudiation of Mr. Trump, a joke circulated online in Ukraine: It seemed that it was the American people who wanted to get a new president.

This touch of humor underscored how wild American political swings have jarred Ukrainians. The United States was once Ukraine’s most important ally in the war. Then Mr. Trump returned to office, blowing hot and at times very cold on Kyiv.

“The general level of optimism in Kyiv and in Ukraine has risen as a result of these elections,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Ukrainian Parliament. “We believe that Congress will be a deterrent against attempts by Trump to make deals with Putin.”

But Mr. Merezhko cautioned that Ukrainians, looking for any good news against the bleak backdrop of Mr. Trump’s openly siding with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, shouldn’t be carried away with euphoria. “For us right now, it’s important not to forget about Republicans, not to hurt their feelings and to retain good relations with both parties,” he said.

The reality for Ukraine is that Mr. Trump has two years left in his term, and the country’s survival remains intertwined with the shifting political currents in Washington. With depleted air defenses and military ranks, Ukraine is expected to face its worst winter of the war in the coming months, as Russia takes aim at its civilian energy infrastructure. How exactly the midterms will affect the war and peace negotiations will depend in large part on the course Mr. Trump takes during his remaining time in office.

Mr. Trump said he met Thursday with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Washington after a ceremony at the White House, attended by both Russian and Ukrainian officials, that honored the first lady, Melania Trump, for brokering a cease-fire and humanitarian mission in the Russian-controlled city of Oleshky in recent days. After meeting Mr. Dmitriev, Mr. Trump predicted a deal to end the war in Ukraine soon.

“It’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine,” Mr. Trump said. “I could even say it might involve all of Europe. It’s going to be a big, beautiful agreement, and everyone’s going to be thrilled.”

Officially, Moscow has largely put on a neutral face over the election results ahead of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that Mr. Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to convene in Abu Dhabi next week.

“President Trump will continue to exercise his presidential powers,” the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters on Thursday. “President Trump will continue to pursue his foreign policy. Everything else, in our view, is an internal affair of the United States.”

Dmitri A. Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the Russian security council, said on social media that Moscow must focus on smashing Ukraine on the battlefield until total victory was achieved.

“Donald Trump has suffered a crushing defeat in the battle for Congress,” Mr. Medvedev said. “How will this affect our interests? In the grand scheme of things, probably not at all — at least for now.”

Some Russian analysts expressed hope that the election result could represent a window of opportunity for a peace deal. Mr. Trump and his envoys, they argued, will have extra incentive to broker an agreement in the next two months, before a Democratic-controlled Congress takes over and stands in the way of a deal favorable to Russia.

It is possible that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin will meet twice over that period — first this month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, and then again next month at the Group of 20 summit in Miami.

But others in Russia see any hopes pinned to the next few months as wishful thinking. They lamented a political change that they said would inevitably reduce Mr. Trump’s power in his dealings with Moscow and his ability to deliver on what the Kremlin wanted in Ukraine.

“Now anything Donald Trump might propose will face roadblocks in America, and because of that, everything is going to be complicated for Trump in Ukraine,” Vladimir Solovyov, a top pro-Kremlin state news commentator, said on Wednesday.

In a video posted online, Mr. Solovyov called the midterm results a “triumph” for Mr. Zelensky.

“He avenged the humiliation in the Oval Office,” Mr. Solovyov said, referring to the Ukrainian president’s televised clash with Mr. Trump early last year. “He feels like a winner.”

Mr. Zelensky struck a balance in commenting on the election. Speaking to the German public broadcaster ZDF in his first comments after the vote, he expressed gratitude to the Republicans who had stood by Ukraine, but acknowledged the clear shift.

“The Democrats speak very clearly about supporting Ukraine and providing assistance to Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said. “They speak about renewing the connection between the United States and Europe.”

Mr. Zelensky expressed hope “that a balance of power will emerge and that we will receive more support.”

Open embrace of Democrats in Congress would be a misstep, said Volodymyr Ariev, a Ukrainian politician from the opposition European Solidarity party, as Mr. Trump still has broad leeway in foreign policy.

“We should not welcome a Democrat victory but welcome democracy in the United States,” said Mr. Ariev, a longtime backer of a strategy of bipartisan engagement in Washington.

“We should not be part of American elections,” he said. “Among Republicans there are a lot of Ukraine supporters.”

Ukrainians hope that congressional oversight will make the sweeping business deals with Russia at the heart of the Trump-led negotiations far less likely.

At a minimum, officials in Kyiv hope that a Democratic-led Congress will impose oversight on Mr. Trump’s push for a negotiated settlement, which many in Ukraine fear treats the war as an opening for commercial concessions to Moscow.

Lawmakers in Kyiv also anticipate congressional scrutiny into figures like the billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk over the throttling of Starshield satellite connectivity during Ukrainian military operations last month.

Already, American lawmakers in both parties have shown how they can use their power in Congress and at the state level to stymie Mr. Trump’s concessions to Moscow.

After the Starlink episode, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, led a charge to hold SpaceX and the Defense Department accountable. He vowed to make sure that any U.S. officials involved would be punished and that federal funding would be withheld for any agency taking such an action.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill, Democrat of New Jersey, warned ports in the state that accepting Russian diesel fuel as a result of a deal between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin would amount to a violation of the law. Ms. Sherrill pointed out that Mr. Trump did not have an unlimited ability to waive sanctions against Russia passed by Congress. According to a tracker launched by the environmental group Greenpeace, several tankers carrying Russian diesel have diverted, and no confirmed deliveries have taken place in the United States. Despite the guarded optimism in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said the huge turnover in Congress reinforced the need to preserve the broad bipartisan support they had long cultivated.

The midterms brought notable losses to the pro-Ukraine coalition, including key allies like Mr. Fitzpatrick. Other important figures are also departing Congress, such as the veteran Republican senators Mitch McConnell and Thom Tillis, while many incoming members have yet to clearly articulate their positions on aid to Ukraine.

Ukrainians worry that Russia could assess the Trump administration, weakened after the midterms, as too ineffectual to lead peace talks. Ukraine has no alternative for now: Kyiv has encouraged European engagement in talks, but Russia has made clear that the United States is in the driver’s seat.

“There’s nothing to celebrate,” Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament with the opposition European Solidarity, wrote on social media. “The issue of peace will take a back seat” to infighting between Mr. Trump and the Democrats, he wrote. “Russia may abandon negotiations altogether.”