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

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Justin Garcia, who covers public safety for the Las Cruces Sun-News. Justin recently traveled to Albuquerque in the wake of the killings of several Muslim men — which set the entire community on edge. Muslims in Albuquerque were fearful of an Islamophobic serial killer after four people were murdered over the span of several months.

But the reality of what happened was much more complicated and much harder to comprehend. On Aug. 9, police arrested 51-year-old Muhammed Syed, a Muslim and known community member. Syed was charged in two of the killings, and authorities say they are continuing to gather evidence to charge him in the other two.

Theories abound about the alleged killer’s motivations; none have yet been confirmed. The married father of six has denied involvement in the killings.

Albuquerque police say "an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings" and said the suspect appeared to know several of the victims.  Authorities were examining whether he may have been motivated by religious zeal —  such as the political and religious divides between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that underlie modern conflict in the Middle East, but those in the community have rejected such divides and refuse to be defined by them. 

Now, the community is working to move forward, both with grieving over the deaths and processing how a member of their community could have done this. 

Justin was kind enough to join us this week to discuss what he learned during his time in Albuquerque.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Lauren Villagran, who generally covers border issues for the El Paso Times. But she recently crossed a different border — the U.S./Canadian border — to take on an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of El Pasoans and fronterizos. Lauren traveled to Portapique, Nova Scotia, where, one night in April 2020, “in the time it took for the Bay of Fundy’s high tide to drain into the Atlantic and swell back up again to the wooded coast,” as Lauren wrote, “a deranged man gunned down 22 people in their homes and on the street, in Portapique and the idyllic communities that line the west shore.”

As Lauren notes, there were echoes of El Paso's Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting tragedy nine months earlier: the same number of initial victims, a shooter with easy access in the U.S. to "assault-style" firearms, a hashtag ending in "strong." But Canada’s response was much different from those in Texas and across the United States.

Lauren was kind enough to join us this week to discuss her trip, and her reporting.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Cassie McClure, who has written the column “My So-Called Millennial Life” for the Las Cruces Sun-News for many years. Since then, it has been picked up and nationally syndicated by Creators — a media and syndication company that has represented more than 250 of the most talented writers and artists in the world. Its talent has won several Pulitzer Prizes, Reuben awards and Peabody awards.

In recent years, Cassie has also been a prolific freelance writer. She has worked for a number of publications around the city, and has also done freelance writing for some of the biggest employers in Doña Ana County. We wanted to talk to her about what is often called the “gig economy.” Cassie has also worked in a more “traditional” public relations job, so she has a unique perspective to share.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about alcohol — specifically, New Mexico’s crisis of alcohol-related deaths. In a massive eight-part series, New Mexico In Depth recently took a look at many of the reasons drinking kills New Mexicans at a far higher rate than anywhere else in the nation. And it’s getting worse, not better. In the thoroughly-reported series, reporter Ted Alcorn discovered a long history of failures by state leaders to address the escalating problem.

We’re joined by New Mexico In Depth Managing Editor Marjorie Childress and by Ted, who talks about his reporting on this series.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about Latinos in the outdoors. This series, written by Mónica Ortiz Uribe at the El Paso Times, profiles several champions of the cause — and also features some ways southern New Mexico and El Paso residents can get out and enjoy our public spaces.

We’ll talk about how this series of stories came about, and then dive deeper into the individual stories of those profiled — like Nicole Roque, Eddie Misquez, Jerome Ford and Gabe Vasquez.

We’ll also talk about easily-accessible places that you can explore — pretty much “on the cheap” — if you’re in El Paso or southern New Mexico.

We’re joined by Mónica Ortiz Uribe, who talks about her reporting on this series.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about the second-degree murder case against former Las Cruces Police Department officer Christopher Smelser. The case against Smelser, who stood accused of killing Antonio Valenzuela on Feb. 29, 2020, by placing him in what’s known as a vascular neck restraint, came to an abrupt end Thursday morning — the fourth day of the trial. That’s when 3rd Judicial District Judge Douglas Driggers granted the defense team’s motion for a “directed verdict,” essentially finding that the state had not met its burden of proof — and that a reasonable jury could not see it any other way.

The ruling came the morning after the state rested its case, having put 17 witnesses on the stand. And, with that, the charge was dismissed and Smelser walked out of the courthouse a free man.

The directed verdict is something defense attorneys ask for in nearly every jury trial; however, they’re almost never granted — at least in recent local memory.

We’ll talk to reporter Justin Garcia, who covers public safety, cops and courts for the Las Cruces Sun-News about the directed verdict heard around the state.

This week, we’re talking about nuclear waste. In recent weeks, there has been a lot of news on this front, most of which is coming out of southeast New Mexico. The region has a long history with nuclear waste — dating back to the mid-1970s, when the area was first selected to be the site of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. There were bumps in the road along the way — lots of them, in fact. And it wasn’t until 1999 that WIPP received its first actual shipment of nuclear waste.

Now, new talks are underway about a second storage facility in the area — the consolidated interim storage facility. The proposed storage facility in New Mexico would ultimately have a capacity to hold up to 100,000 metric tons of spent nuclear at the surface in southeast New Mexico. One New Jersey-based company intends to transport its waste about 1,400 miles to the facility.

Additionally, New Mexico State University recently received millions of dollars in federal Department of Energy grants to explore the possibility of recycling nuclear waste.

We talk to reporter Adrian Hedden, the energy reporter from the Carlsbad Current-Argus — who frequently writes about nuclear waste — about big changes afoot for southeast New Mexico, which appears poised to become the nuclear storage capital of the world.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about a new law impacting all New Mexico workers. As of July 1, private employers in New Mexico must allow their employees to earn paid sick leave if they don't already do so.

Workers covered by the Healthy Workplaces Act of 2021 may use the time off to recover from an illness or injury, assist an ailing family member or address covered legal or domestic situations. They will be able to accrue 64 hours annually in most cases — and will also be able to accumulate unused time year to year, although the employer does not have to allow them to take more than 64 hours off.

It’s a little complicated, but it’s also a game-changer for many New Mexico workers. We’ll dive into what it means, why it matters, and the difference it may make for people working around the state.

We’ll talk to Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Algernon D’Ammassa — who recently wrote about this for the newspaper — and to Stephanie Welch, the Workers' Rights Director for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. We’ll also be joined by Melissa Martinez from OLÉ — Organizers in the Land of Enchantment.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about an annual event that has returned to our area after a two-year, COVID-inspired hiatus. That’s the Spaceport America Cup — which was recently described by someone in our newsroom as March Madness for aspiring rocket scientists.

We talk to Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Algernon D’Ammassa — who regularly covers the Spaceport, its anchor tenant Virgin Galactic, and related topics — and to photojournalist Meg Potter, who is relatively new to New Mexico, about their experiences covering the first day of the event.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about Pride month — celebrated every June — the time of year when we recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals have had on history. Celebrated in various countries around the world, Pride celebrations take a variety of forms, from parades and parties to proms and protests. Since the beginning of the modern LGBTQ+ liberation movement in the 1970s, hundreds of independent Pride events have sprung up in cities worldwide, each distinctly local and generally tied in some way to the foundational Stonewall Riots in June.

After 50 years of Pride celebrations, these events have become so varied that you can usually find a way to celebrate that feels best to you, whether it’s the raucous jubilation of the NYC Pride parade,  or the massive crowds that attend World Pride — held in a different city every two years.

The Stonewall riots started with a police raid on a hot summer night in Greenwich Village. In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police stormed the Stonewall Inn, a well-known gay bar, arresting patrons and forcing them into waiting police vehicles. But a nearby crowd grew restless and angry, and eventually someone started spurring onlookers into fighting back. They pelted the police, forcing homophobic cops to retreat, and aggressive street confrontations continued over the next few nights.

The Stonewall riots are generally viewed as the beginning of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.

We’ll talk to Las Cruces residents Kat Sanchez, J.T. Perez, and Casey Combs about why — more than 50 years after Stonewall — it’s important to continue observing Pride month.