By Julia Goldberg | Editor-in-Chief
Good morning, folks. It’s Wednesday already. Time flies when the news doesn’t stop. Over the weekend, we reported on the No Kings’ rallying cry for early voting. New Mexicans appear to have heeded the call. On Friday, prior to expanded voting locations, the Secretary of State’s Office reported just over 63,000 registered voters — about 4.3% of all registered voters across the state — had cast ballots. As of yesterday, that number had nearly doubled to more than 125,000.
We’ve got lots of non-election stories for you as well, with reports from interim legislative committee hearings; blowback to President Trump’s renewed call to rename our state; and an unfortunate uptick for New Mexico in alcohol-related deaths. You’ll find even more to read online at sourcenm.com, with more on the way. Thanks as always for being here.
New Mexico state Rep. Anita Gonzales (D-Las Vegas) questioned an insurance industry expert Tuesday about the uptick in homeowners’ insurance policy non-renewals. (Source NM file photo and Gonzales photo courtesy NM Legislature)
New Mexico lawmaker questions industry group leaders over homeowners’ insurance non-renewals
On Tuesday, Source’s Patrick Lohmann reports, state Rep. Anita Gonzales (D-Las Vegas), whose district continues reeling from the largest wildfire in state history, questioned industry leaders about the increasing rate at which insurers refuse to renew homeowners’ policies, particularly in fire-prone areas.
New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee Program Evaluator Guillermo Caraveo, left, and LFC Deputy Director Rachel Mercer Garcia, right, deliver a report to state lawmakers on Tuesday about New Mexico’s lack of clear standards for how state agencies should conduct internal audits. (Photo by Joshua Bowling/Source NM)
New Mexico lacks clear standards for how state agencies should conduct internal audits, report finds
New Mexico currently lacks uniform requirements for how state agencies should conduct internal audits, according to a new state analysis. Source senior reporter Joshua Bowling breaks down a Legislative Finance Committee report, presented to state lawmakers Tuesday morning.
President Donald Trump initially proposed renaming New Mexico in September, prompting immediate pushback from the state’s officials. He reiterated the message on Monday, prompting another round of rebukes. (Screenshot image)
Trump renews call for New Mexico name change
President Donald Trump’s Monday post on social media renewing his call to rename New Mexico “New America” prompted another round of derision from the state’s elected officials and political candidates, alike. “This tired ‘New America’ bit again?” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wrote on social media. “Let me repeat: New Mexico was New Mexico long before the United States existed and we’ll be New Mexico forevermore.” Trump first proposed name change in September.
The New Mexico Department of Health released data on Tuesday showing a 2.6% increase in alcohol-related deaths in the state between 2024 and 2025. (Source NM file photo)
Alcohol-related deaths in New Mexico on the rise, new state health data shows
New data released Tuesday by the state health department shows a 2.6% rise in alcohol-related deaths in New Mexico between 2024 and 2025 after a three-year decline. The recent uptick “is a reminder alcohol use remains a health concern,” Rebecca Neudecker, section manager for the NMDOH’s Office of Alcohol Misuse Prevention, said in a statement.
ICYMI
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We're reading (and gifting) a Bloomberg story about environmentalists’ fights against data centers (centered on New Mexico).
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