By Julia Goldberg | Editor-in-Chief
Good morning, folks. Happy Monday. More hot weather awaits today, according to the National Weather Service, bringing heat and fire danger. The Santa Fe National Forest reported several wildfire starts over the weekend as a result of thunderstorms in the state. We will be keeping an eye on those, along with a slew of other news as the week begins. Keep up with us below and online at sourcenm.com.
Pollution at a Hilcorp well site in New Mexico in May 2021 (Image courtesy of Earthworks)
Trump plans to protect methane-leaking stripper wells. This billionaire donor will benefit
A ProPublica investigation delves into a little-known oil billionaire’s dealings with the Trump administration. Jeffery Hildebrand is the founder and owner of Hilcorp, a privately held company known for buying up the type of oil and gas wells that produce very little energy but release vast amounts of methane. Thousands operate in New Mexico.
A team with the New Mexico Reforestation Center monitors seedlings in Mora County. (Photo courtesy of Pouli Sikelianos/New Mexico Highlands University)
A ‘reforestation pipeline’ in New Mexico trains seedlings to survive in burn scars
Inside Climate News explores the work researchers from a consortium of New Mexico universities have undertaken to create a “reforestation pipeline” to create more successful and climate-resilient seedlings. The work is part of efforts to reforest land scorched by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire.
A new documentary called “burn, scar” chronicles the aftermath of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire. (Still photo courtesy Hillary Bachelder)
Also on the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire topic, Source reporter Patrick Lohmann interviews Taos-based film director Hillary Bachelder about her new documentary “burn, scar.” The film chronicles the humans at the center of the state’s largest-ever wildfire — from the acequia parciantes seeking federal help to the federal Forest Service officials defending the use of prescribed burns in the face of sharp community backlash.
The U.S. Department of Justice said cash and drugs, pictured here, were seized in Santa Fe and Albuquerque in the country’s largest ever fentanyl bust in April, 2025. (Courtesy U.S. District Attorney’s Office, District of New Mexico)
NM spent nearly $844M on behavioral health, but ‘investment is not yet matching the outcome’
Source senior reporter Joshua Bowling unpacks a new report that shows while New Mexico has spent $843.5 million since 2022 to rebuild the state’s behavioral health system, some residents still face issues scheduling behavioral health appointments and New Mexico was one of just seven states to see an increase in overdose deaths last year.
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