Sunday, March 24, 2019 |

Ex-teacher in Ojo Caliente convicted of sexual contact of minor

Miguel G. Garcia is a former Mesa Vista High School teacher convicted of two counts of sexual contact of a minor and five counts of sexual penetration of a minor Thursday (March 21).

A Rio Arriba County jury convicted a former high school teacher of two counts of sexual contact of a minor and five counts of sexual penetration of a minor Thursday following a single-day trial …

Deadline to file Catholic sex abuse claims set for June 17

Archbishop of Santa Fe John C. Wester announced in November the archdiocese was filing for bankruptcy. The archdiocese has been at the center of sexual abuse lawsuits for the past three decades.

The last day to file a claim against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe related to sexual abuse by its clergy will be June 17. The announcment appeared in the Legal notices of The Taos News March …

Getting to the bottom of the Midway Well on U.S. 64

The Abeyta Settlement is a complex water-sharing agreement among the major water users in the Taos Valley, like the town of Taos, Taos Pueblo, acequias and El Prado Water and Santitation …

Taos water protectors protest new wells

Moises Trujillo, of Taos, boils water for dinner preparations Saturday (March 16) on the third night of a four-day protest of the Abeyta Settlement.

More than anything else, the action was meant to draw a collective focus to what they say are worrying aspects of the Abeyta Settlement -- the unknown impacts of drilling more than a dozen wells, potentially fueling growth in the valley that is unsustainable. Judging by the crowd the action drew and the response it has prompted from some officials involved in the settlement, it worked.

Taos County Commissioners repeal gun control resolution

Water well protester released from Taos County jail

When loose dogs on public trails become dangerous

Morgan Clifford Prindle

Watch out for rocks in the Río Grande Gorge

Local news

What is the Abeyta Settlement? Why should I care?

The settlement is essentially a water-sharing agreement for the Taos Valley. Here's some answers to common questions about the Abeyta Settlement.

The Taos County Commission dropped its protest of a a controversial water rights transfer this week (March 19). The Office of the State Engineer approved in 2017 a transfer of 1,752 acre-feet of water rights from Ute Mountain’s Top of the World Farm, to a domestic water authority 85 miles down the Rio Grande. The transfer was a key part in ensuring the viability of the Aamodt Settlement, a decades-long water rights dispute between four pueblos and non-Native water users in Santa Fe County.

Taos County drops protest to water-rights transfer for Aamodt Settlement

Don Quixote had a better chance of toppling a giant than Taos County did in winning a water fight with the state.The grim message came from the county attorney Randy Autio at the Tuesday (March 19) …

Acequias funnel waters from a variety of springs and run-off tributaries throughout the valley.

Arroyo Seco acequia ditches Taos valley association

The Acequia Madre del Rio Lucero y Arroyo Seco voted Saturday (March 16) not to pay its membership dues to the Taos Valley Acequia Association as a protest over what …

Taos Police blotter

The following is a condensed version of Taos Police reports from March 13-18. March 13 1:46 p.m. Parking violation, Taos County Chamber of Commerce – Two vehicles and a county truck were …

The five adults arrested at a makeshift compound in Northern Taos County in the summer of 2018 pleaded not guilty to new federal charges, including terrorism charges, at an arraignment Thursday (March 21) in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

New Mexico compound suspects plead not guilty to terror charges

The five adults arrested at a squalid compound where 11 children were rescued during a law enforcement raid in August 2018 pleaded not guilty to federal terrorism, firearms and kidnapping charges at …

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, the son of famed Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, was one of five adults arrested last year at a remote compound in Taos County who is now facing federal terrorism, firearms and kidnapping charges. "He was a regular child and grew up as a regular child," said Ali Abdul-Karim, who knew the young Wahhaj at the At-Taqwa Mosque in New York City.

Advisor to Brooklyn imam says evidence will reveal truth about Taos County compound suspects

If Siraj Wahhaj, the imam of the At-Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn, knew that his son, two daughters and two others who lived at the compound raided last summer in Taos County had been indicted on federal …

Lawmakers vote to expand N.M. medical cannabis program

More New Mexicans would qualify for medical marijuana, and the 70,000-plus patients already in the state's medical cannabis program would have to deal …

Photos by Jane Phillips/for The New MexicanFrom left, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham talk during a press conference at the Capitol on Saturday (March 16) shortly after the end of the 2019 legislative session.

2019 Legislative session ends with last-minute compromise on tax bill

The 60-day legislative session ended Saturday (March 16) with a down-to-the-wire agreement on a sweeping tax bill that will raise rates on e-cigarettes and new …

Cody Hooks/The Taos NewsThe R&#237;o San Antonio Wilderness northwest of Taos is one of several new wilderness areas protected under a bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 12.

New wilderness areas added to Rio Grande del Norte National Monument

The Cerro del Yuta Wilderness will comprise most of Ute Mountain, the volcanic dome lying west of State Road 522 near the New Mexico-Colorado border. Along with the Río San Antonio Wilderness, the two areas create about 21,500 acres of new wilderness within the quarter-million acre Río Grande del Norte National Monument.