SANTA FE – Eleven law students are participating in a program that provides pathways to the judiciary and possible clerkships for those traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession.

The Judicial Clerkship Program, now in its second year, provides students training, mentoring and a 10-week summer externship. The New Mexico Supreme Court, the State Bar of New Mexico Committee on Diversity in the Legal Profession and the Young Lawyers Division, jointly manage the program.

“I’m excited about the program because it is a practical and concrete solution to the lack of diversity in clerkships and in the Judiciary,” Supreme Court Justice David K. Thomson, who brought the...

Lawsuit concerns illegal actions to disenfranchise 2022 primary election voters and harm primary candidates

SANTA FE – Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver filed a writ of mandamus with the New Mexico Supreme Court on June 14 seeking to compel the Otero County Commission to certify the 2022 Primary Election results after the commission illegally refused to certify the results, potentially disenfranchising every Otero County voter who legally and securely cast a ballot and harming candidates seeking to have their names on the General Election ballot.

“New Mexico’s 2022 Primary Election was conducted with the highest standards of election administration by dedicated county...

Late withdrawal creates chaos around District 1 Commission seat

Most of McKinley County’s June 7 elections have clear outcomes, but the District 1 County Commission seat is still undecided – at least temporarily – and two candidates are still standing in the Sheriff’s race.

The District 1 confusion arose because the winner, Ernest C. “Charles” Becenti III, withdrew from the race after the deadline for the county to submit ballot information to Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office.

That meant his name was still on the primary ballot, and he won with 44%  of the vote (1,266). Young J. Tom trailed with 30% of the vote (877) and Vincent Muskett got...

Local Realtor Jason Valentine built his career on selling homes in Gallup. And over the years, he’s noticed that the demand for homes has skyrocketed, but the inventory hasn’t grown with that demand.

It was a problem he couldn’t just walk past, so he launched the Gallup Housing Summit in March 2019. Yet, despite some deep conversations about what to do, housing problems remain the same.

And for this year’s summit he wanted to hear from a wider group of community leaders — both in politics and business.

Mayor Louis Bonaguidi, Councilor Fran Palochak, Dist. 4, and Brett Newberry of the accounting firm Newberry and Associates, and many more, joined in to discuss Gallup’s...