The Reporter's Notebook from The Las Cruces Sun-News

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Sun-News sports reporter Stephen Wagner.

We’re talking about, well, a lot of things. Stephen was recently selected as a voter in the Associated Press Media Poll for college football. The Aggie basketball team just had their first Crimson/White scrimmage, giving us an early look at the team. I want to know what Stephen is thinking of both of these teams as the seasons progress — or, in the case of basketball, as the season approaches.

We’ll also share the latest episode of The Aggie Wagon podcast, to take you a little deeper into the story. It includes some WAC predictions, some off-season recaps and more.

This week, we’re honored to be joined by Stephen, who will talk about his reporting and how he has covered the sports beat as a reporter.

This week, we’re talking to Sun-News reporter Leah Romero, who covers trending news.

We’re talking about Barbara Hubbard, who turned 95 on July 12 and was celebrated last Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the Pan American Center at NMSU — a facility she once spent a lot of time in during her tenure as the university’s special events director.

Barbara Ann Johnston was born in Arkansas in 1927. After graduating from Henderson State she went to Tennessee to pursue a career as a doctor. In 1954 her career ambitions changed to become a teacher. She began teaching at Las Cruces High School as a Biology teacher in 1954.

On a blind date, in the early 60's she met her future husband, Peirce Hubbard.

At last Wednesday’s event, Barbara — or “Mother Hubbard” as she is affectionately called — shared stories about her 60 years in the entertainment industry.

A longtime resident of the Mesilla Valley, Barbara has been bringing big acts to perform in Las Cruces since the 1960s. As a nonagenarian, those efforts continue, and so does her passion for getting college students into the entertainment business. She is a force of nature, and hard to keep up with.

Over the years, Hubbard has built up quite a reputation in the industry.

This week, we’re honored to be joined by Leah, who will talk about her reporting and how she has covered it as a reporter.

This week, we’re talking to former Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Bethany Raja — who was Bethany Freudenthal when she worked as a public safety reporter at the Sun-News. She now works as a city hall reporter for @WYPR in Baltimore.

We’re talking about Adnan Syed, whose case first rose to prominence because of the first season of the Serial podcast. First, a little history.

Eight years after the shaky case against Adnan Syed became the center of the hit podcast "Serial," prosecutors said Tuesday that DNA evidence suggests Syed is innocent and murder charges against him have been dropped.

Syed was previously convicted in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee and served about two decades in jail before the state's attorney's office in Baltimore asked a judge to vacate the conviction in September. At the time, the office said Syed could still be retried for Lee's death.

But the state has now dropped its case against Syed entirely.

"Today, justice is done," Marilyn Mosby, the state's attorney for the city of Baltimore, said at a Tuesday news conference.

This week, we’re honored to be joined by Bethany, who will talk about her reporting, why this case matters to her personally, and how she has covered it as a reporter.

In this week’s episode, however, we’re doing something a little different. We’re talking poetry. Specifically, we’re talking about the role of New Mexico’s Poet Laureate. First, a little history.

In 2014, companion memorials in the New Mexico House and Senate requested that the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs develop a "New Mexico Poet Laureate position and program to foster a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry and to highlight the importance of poetry in the everyday life of ordinary and extraordinary people to the creation of the New Mexico Poet Laureate position." 

Lack of funding, however, prevented the recommendation from being implemented.

Ultimately, SB 536 of the 2019 Regular Session of the New Mexico Legislature — signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 5, 2019 — allocated $107,000 to the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for the creation of a state poet laureate program. On January 30, 2020, Albuquerque poet Levi Romero was appointed New Mexico's inaugural Poet Laureate. 

This made New Mexico the 46th state to offer an official state poet or state writer position.

Romero served as New Mexico Poet Laureate until Sept. 1 of this year, when Lauren Camp was named as the state’s second poet laureate.

This week, we’re honored to be joined by both Levi and Lauren, who will talk about the role, the importance of poetry in everyday life, and the reward that comes from promoting literacy in the state.

SHOW NOTES:

• A Poetry of Remembrance: Read New Mexico's inaugural Poet Laureate Levi Romero's poem
• Lauren Camp's website
• New Mexico Arts

This week, we’re speaking to Algernon D’Ammassa. Algernon is an investigative and enterprise reporter for the Sun-News. We’re talking about the recent Yacone family tragedy — in which local restaurateur Bob Yacone is accused of killing his wife, Kimberly, before engaging deputies from the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office in a shootout that left him injured.

As is often the case in situations like this, official information trickled out at a relatively slow pace. Meanwhile, in the newsroom, we were beginning to put the pieces together much more quickly.

Apart from the tragedy itself, the situation raised a number of ethical questions and prompted many conversations in our newsroom. It was important that our reporting be thoughtful, and that decisions be deliberate. This week, we’ll talk to Algernon about how he approached his coverage of this story — and his coverage of Bob Yacone through the years.

READ MORE:  Forghedaboudit chef Bob Yacone's bizarre behavior documented before wife's homicide

In this week’s episode, we’re speaking to Michael McDevitt, who has covered city and county government for the Sun-News for the past three years, since 2019. Michael will be moving on to a new opportunity in Chicago, where he attended college.

During his three years covering Las Cruces and Doña Ana County, Mike has seen a lot — and has shared his reporting with our community. There was the search for a new city manager, municipal elections, a historic city council election, the city’s first instance of ranked-choice voting, multiple initiatives, a few scandals and so much more.

Michael has been a relentless watchdog reporter and a true asset to the Sun-News newsroom. We’ll miss his keen reporting and attention to detail when writing stories for Doña Ana County readers.

In this week’s episode, we’re speaking to Justin Garcia, who covers public safety for the Sun-News. We’re returning to a familiar topic — talking about the number of police shootings in Doña Ana County this year.

We’ll speak in depth about the most recent shooting. It happened on the afternoon of Aug. 2, after Las Cruces police responded to a shoplifting call at a gas station. Over the next hour, the situation escalated and ended abruptly with 36-year-old Presley Eze killed by a police officer.

It was at least the fifth police shooting within Doña Ana County this year. Does this point to a trend? And, if so, what does it mean?

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Algernon D’Ammassa, who generally covers statewide issues for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He recently spoke with Darcy Morrison, an inmate at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants. It’s a life she describes as “a quiet one.”

For much of the day, she works in the prison’s library, where she tutors other inmates. She told Algernon she completed her bachelor’s degree last year, and that she finds joy in teaching other inmates. After the daily 4 p.m. head count, she typically reads or watches “Jeopardy!” In her unit, inmates room together in pods of four. She said her companions are quiet and all get along well.

The New Mexico Corrections Department still lists her under her former married name, Darcy Smith. As a teenager, she was briefly wedded to Eric Smith, whom she described as violent and controlling in a relationship marked by substance abuse as well as physical and psychological violence. What led to Morrison’s arrest — and ultimately being sentenced to life in prison — dates back to a night in November 1992. It’s complicated, and at the end of the night, 17-year-old Adam Price was dead.

 This week, we’re talking to Darcy, who was kind enough to join us to discuss her ongoing fight to have her sentence reconsidered. We’re also joined by attorneys Denali Wilson and Lalita Moskowitz from the American Civil Liberties Union — the ACLU — who are representing Darcy going forward. 

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Stephen Wagner, who is a sports reporter for the Sun-News. We’re talking about Abe Romero, a middle-linebacker for Organ Mountain High School who was tragically injured after sustaining a hit Friday, Aug. 26, during his football team's 28-7 victory over Deming.

Romero sustained a hit in the second quarter that appeared minor; he got up and played a couple more downs before collapsing on the field. He was immediately taken by ambulance to Mimbres Memorial Hospital in Deming, where a medevac helicopter transferred him to a trauma center in El Paso.

The entire team took a knee on the field as the helicopter passed over the field. Since then, it’s been touch-and-go for Romero. He’s undergone multiple surgeries, and as of Friday, Sept. 2, he was still in the ICU. His prognosis remains unclear.

Stephen was kind enough to join us this week to discuss his coverage of Abe’s story — and how the Las Cruces football community has come together to support Abe’s family. 

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Leah Romero, who covers trending stories for the Las Cruces Sun-News — and NOTHING is more “trending” this time of year than Hatch Green Chile. We’re also joined by Adrian Hedden of the Carlsbad Current-Argus, who recently wrote about the chile crop — and the commencement of roasting — around the state.

This year, the annual Hatch Chile Festival celebrates its 50th anniversary. Leah has been working to track down residents who were there for the iconic festival’s beginnings. Adrian has been covering the upspring of chile roasters around Southeast New Mexico. Sometimes, the chile being roasted is from Hatch; other times, it’s from the Pecos Valley — which also grows some respectable green chile.

Leah and Adrian were kind enough to join us this week to discuss their coverage of these events.