Steve Pearce
This undated photo provided by Melanie for New Mexico shows Melanie Stansbury. Stansbury's campaign points out that she co-sponsored a 2020 bill to roll back state taxes on Social Security benefits. The bill was sidelined without a House or Senate floor vote in the Democrat-led Legislature. (Melanie for New Mexico via AP)
Energy, voting rights loom in congressional special election

By Morgan Lee Apr. 13, 2021 08:00 PM EDT

FILE - In this June 11, 2019, file photo, store manager Ruby Amsden, left, attends to medical marijuana customer and retired nurse Jan Stewart, who uses cannabis to relieve pain associated with her recovery from bone cancer and help with sleeping, at the Minerva medical cannabis dispensary in Santa Fe, N.M. Legislation to legalize cannabis in New Mexico advanced Thursday, March 18, 2021, toward a decisive Senate floor vote under a framework that emphasizes government oversight of pricing and supplies and social services for communities where the criminalization of pot led to aggressive policing. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)
Democrats rally behind recreational pot bill in New Mexico

By Morgan Lee Mar. 19, 2021 03:30 PM EDT

In this photo provided by the New Mexico Office of the Governor, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signs a $330 million economic relief package aimed at helping small businesses and out-of-work New Mexicans while at the State Capitol, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020 in Santa Fe, N.M. (New Mexico Office of the Governor via AP)
New Mexico governor touts progress on virus, draws criticism

By Susan Montoya Bryan Mar. 02, 2021 12:32 PM EST

FILE - In this June 11, 2019, file photo, store manager Ruby Amsden, left, attends to medical marijuana customer and retired nurse Jan Stewart, who uses cannabis to relieve pain associated with her recovery from bone cancer and help with sleeping, at the Minerva medical cannabis dispensary in Santa Fe, N.M. An advisory board is recommending that New Mexico clear the way for licensed medical marijuana producers to grow more plants. The board during a meeting Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, voted in favor of a petition that sought to significantly increase the current plant count limit. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)
Amid pandemic, New Mexico forges path to legal cannabis

By Morgan Lee Feb. 16, 2021 05:42 PM EST

FILE - In this April 24, 2015, file photo, pumpjacks work in a field near Lovington, N.M. Oil and gas development infused $2.8 billion into New Mexico coffers during the 2020 fiscal year and marked its second-highest total revenue ever reported despite a global price war and plummeting demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
Biden's pause on oil cause for big concern in New Mexico

By Susan Montoya Bryan Jan. 22, 2021 05:27 PM EST

The sculpture "Tug 'O War" sculpture by artist Glenna Goodacre sits at the entrance to the New Mexico State capitol building on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The sculpture now sits inside a fences erected following the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C., after safety concerns for the upcoming legislative session. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
New Mexico legislative priorities start with virus, economy

By Cedar Attanasio Jan. 14, 2021 07:21 PM EST

FILE - In this April 24, 2015, file photo, pumpjacks work in a field near Lovington, N.M. Oil and gas development infused $2.8 billion into New Mexico coffers during the 2020 fiscal year and marked its second-highest total revenue ever reported despite a global price war and plummeting demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
Oil and gas deliver revenues to New Mexico despite pandemic

By Susan Montoya Bryan Dec. 21, 2020 03:31 PM EST

A man, foreground, films five self-proclaimed GOP electors who held an unofficial ceremony to endorse the reelection of President Donald Trump, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in the lobby of the Capitol building in Santa Fe, N.M. The meeting took place as the official electors cast the state's five electoral votes for Joe Biden in a closed meeting upstairs. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
New Mexico electors support Biden, as GOP sues to invalidate

By Morgan Lee Dec. 14, 2020 03:43 PM EST

New Mexico Army National Guard soldiers check appointment information for people waiting for a COVID-19 test at the Public Health Department testing site in Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
New Mexico governor hopes 'pause' will blunt virus surge

By Susan Montoya Bryan And Cedar Attanasio Nov. 12, 2020 11:11 PM EST

Sandy Martinez begins filling in the first in-person ballot of the day at an early voting center on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Santa Fe, N.M. Early voting centers opened Saturday across the state. In-person early voting extends for two weeks through Oct. 31. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
New Mexico high court rejects GOP suit on absentee ballots

By Morgan Lee Oct. 27, 2020 07:48 PM EDT

FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2016, file photo, voters cast ballots at a polling station in Albuquerque, N.M. New Mexico's Supreme Court is considering competing proposals to increase reliance on absentee balloting by mail in efforts to safeguarding public health and voting rights in the state's June 2 primary. Oral arguments and a possible ruling were scheduled Tuesday, April 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Labreche, File)
New Mexico taps federal funds to install ballot drop boxes

By Morgan Lee Sep. 14, 2020 11:34 PM EDT

Republican state House candidate Glenda Vargas of Albuquerque holds a doll representing a fetus to highlight her support for a ban on abortion procedures at a political rally in support of President Donald Trump and allied local candidates in Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. Republican candidates and party officials are touring the state by bus to court female voters and highlight Trump's efforts to bolster law enforcement, ban abortion procedures, improve internet access and reopen the economy. Democratic Party Chairwoman Marg Elliston said the rallies are risking lives as large groups gather largely without masks in defiance of state public health orders that requires masks in public and limits gatherings to 10 people. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)
Republicans, Democrats deeply divided over pandemic response

By Morgan Lee Sep. 10, 2020 01:18 AM EDT

A maintenance worker power-washes the state seal at an entrance of the capitol building on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The building has been closed to the public since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Legislative meetings and gubernatorial addresses are broadcast online. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
GOP delegates must self-quarantine in New Mexico, state says

By Morgan Lee Aug. 28, 2020 03:47 PM EDT

Governor hopes for K-5 return to classrooms after Labor Day

Aug. 19, 2020 06:47 PM EDT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed hope Wednesday that most elementary school students will be able to return to classrooms after...

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham gives her weekly update on COVID-19 and the state's effort to contain it during a virtual news conference from the state Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday, July 23, 2020. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
New Mexico moves to restart visits at long-term care sites

By Morgan Lee Aug. 06, 2020 08:32 PM EDT

Graffiti urging people to stay home amid the coronavirus outbreak in the region is shown on a wall in Gallup, N.M., Thursday, May 7, 2020. The original lockdown came as a suprise to many Navajo Nation residents who depend on Gallup for supplies they can't access. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham renewed the lockdown order amid concerns about the rapid transmission of COVID-19 in the area. Gallup and surrounding McKinley County are one of the worst rural hot spots for coronavirus infections in the U.S. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)
Court upholds health order fines for New Mexico businesses

By Morgan Lee Aug. 04, 2020 02:38 PM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2020, file photo, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham gives her State of the State address during the opening of the New Mexico legislative session in the House chambers at the state Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M. Michelle Lujan Grisham has not received the attention of many higher profile candidates under consideration to be Joe Biden's running mate. But she has a resume that few of them can match. (AP Photo/Craig Fritz, File)
Lujan Grisham builds profile as Biden looks to make VP pick

By Morgan Lee Jul. 30, 2020 05:24 AM EDT

In this photo provided by the Billy The Kid Museum, Lula Sweet, 86, and Don Sweet, 87, pose for a photo behind Plexiglas at the cash register at the Billy The Kid Museum gift shop in Fort Sumner, N.M., in De Baca county, Thursday, July 9, 2020. De Baca is one of two counties in the state where no coronavirus cases have been confirmed. “Most everybody tries to respect each other’s space,” says the Sweets' son, Tim, who runs the museum. (Tim Sweet/Billy The Kid Museum via AP)
No COVID-19 around these parts, for 1 New Mexico county

By Cedar Attanasio Jul. 10, 2020 03:02 PM EDT

FILE - In this April 15, 2020 file photo New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham gives an update on the COVID-19 outbreak in the state Capitol during a news conference in Santa Fe, N.M. The leader of one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S. called Wednesday, June 23, 2020, on Lujan Grisham to end efforts to fight a court ruling that orders improvements in education for members of his tribe and other vulnerable groups. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool,File)
New Mexico halts school sports, indoor dining, filmaking

By Morgan Lee Jul. 09, 2020 05:39 PM EDT

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham removes her face mask at the start of an update on the COVID-19 outbreak in New Mexico and the State's effort to limit the impact of the disease on residents, during a news conference at the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., Wednesday May 27, 2020. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
New Mexico marks 2nd highest daily new COVID-19 case count

By Susan Montoya Bryan Jul. 08, 2020 02:39 PM EDT