Republicans sign bogus electoral certificates, homicides of 2021 and LCPS battles COVID

I'm Damien Willis, a lead reporter and content coach for the Las Cruces Sun-News, and this is The Reporter's Notebook, a new newsletter highlighting some of the week's best stories.

We'll also talk to our reporters about how they reported the stories in an effort to bring some transparency to our reporting process. They say "Democracy dies in darkness," and we agree. This is a way to pull back the curtain and to take you inside the newsroom.— our conversations, our reporting process and the tips that occasionally lead to interesting and important stories.

NM GOP's 2020 bogus electoral certificate draws heightened scrutiny

Reporter Algernon D'Ammassa, who covers statewide issues for the Sun-News, recently reported a story about a slate of prominent Republicans who filed a bogus electoral certificate, which was sent to the National Archives in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. The document has gotten new scrutiny over the past week, as New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas — a Democrat — referred the New Mexico Republicans' certificate to U.S. Attorney Fred J. Federici for federal investigation.

The signers were businessmen Jewll Powdrell and Lupe Garcia; Deborah Maestas, a former state GOP chairperson; Rosie Tripp, a former GOP national committee member from Socorro who has held elected offices; and Anissa Ford-Tinnin, who signed as a substitute for oil businessman (and another former state party chairperson) Harvey Yates, D'Ammassa reports.

D'Ammassa said that when New Mexico electors met to formalize Joe Biden's win in the presidential election in 2020, the Republican Party sent its own electors.

"The GOP electors signed their own electoral certificate and filed it with the National Archives, in case the election result was somehow overturned," Algernon explained. "It was a peculiar act that disappeared in a maelstrom of fabricated claims of widespread election fraud and vote-rigging leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

"The certificate got renewed scrutiny after Attorneys General in states where Republican electors had filed their own certificates began to look at potential criminal violations. The New Mexico GOP ignored my questions. I tried reaching the electors themselves. To my surprise and gratitude, one of them — Jewll Powdrell, a prominent businessman in Rio Rancho — called me back and pulled no punches. He said he had "no regrets whatsoever" about signing that document. I believe this was the first public statement by any of the Republican electors on the matter."

Read Algernon's story HERE.

A look back at 2021's nine homicides in Las Cruces

Despite an onslaught of killings in the fall, Las Cruces fell short of reaching the record number of homicide deaths in 2021.

In 2021, Las Cruces saw nine homicide investigations, all of which resulted in arrests. According to statistics collected by the FBI, Las Cruces typically sees around five or six homicides per year.

Our reporter Justin Garcia, who covers crime, courts and public safety for the Sun-News, took a deep dive into where each of the cases currently stand.

All nine cases are in the middle of criminal proceedings but none have reached a resolution. Justin said that nearly all of the reporting was done months before he wrote the article, but the 1,400-word report still took five hours to write and edit.

"While I wish I could’ve published the article a few weeks earlier, I was glad to see that our readers found the story worthy of a glance," he said. "I hope people learned a little about the nine victims. I hope that readers recognized the pattern of alleged killings over petty squabbles and came away with a little more info about the individual court cases.

"Writing about murder and death is one of the somber realities of being a public safety reporter. But it’s also one of the responsibilities I hold most dear. It’s a newspaper’s job to hold the powerful to account, but it’s just as important for a newspaper give space for people to share their experiences. I hope to do more of both in the new year.

"Next time, I hope to do things a little different. Instead of writing one big story at the end of 2022, I’ll be adding to and updating a single story that can be republished with each death. This master story will serve as a link between in-depth articles and provide readers with developing trends. Ideally, this will serve as reference source for the whole community to learn about the victims of homicide and how police investigate and attorneys prosecute.

Read Justin's story HERE.

Las Cruces school board split over COVID-19 protocols

Las Cruces Public Schools is assessing how to handle a rising number of positive COVID-19 cases among students while implementing new protocols suggested by the state that call for decreasing times in quarantine.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, LCPS Deputy Superintendent of Operations and Leadership Gabe Jacquez advised the board that the district would be implementing the latest guidance from the New Mexico Public Education Department toolkit, highlighting the change in quarantine from 10 days to 5 following a positive test and the requirement of a booster vaccine for adults.

School board president Ray Jaramillo challenged the shortened quarantine time, saying: "With all due respect, we're going in the wrong direction. It makes no sense to me that we're breaking back down some of the things that we had in place, with the spike going up. It doesn't make sense to me."

Education reporter Miranda Cyr recently wrote a story about that debate.

"I've been taking extra care to monitor the COVID-19 numbers at LCPS because the numbers have been so crazy everywhere lately," she said. "I've been going to most of the board meetings in-person, but with the spread, I chose to stay home this time, especially because I didn't think there was anything that would call for a lot of public comment. What caught my eye was the clear discrepancy in COVID-19 numbers that were being presented, so I went on a mission to find out what was going on through Gabe Jacquez."

Jacquez did explain why the COVID-19 numbers he presents to the school board are different from the numbers on the public dashboard.

On Friday, days after the school board meeting, LCPS stated in a news release it will reinstate a social distancing protocol inside all gymnasiums and auditoriums. Beginning Friday, Jan. 21, spectators at school athletic events and other activities will notice marked locations for available seating on bleachers and seating areas. Beginning Monday, Jan. 24, concession stands will be closed and food and drink will be prohibited to encourage 100 percent mask compliance.

Read Miranda's reporting on the issue HERE.

City council postpones decision on Speak Easy business license

Jason Estrada, identified by the City of Las Cruces as the owner of Speak Easy, has been unable to meet with his attorney in person due to a recent illness, our city and county government reporter Michael McDevitt reported.

The city council postponed its decision over the fate of the business license of Speak Easy, the retail shop which got in trouble for gifting cannabis to customers last summer.

At its Tuesday meeting, the council was scheduled to decide whether to uphold or reverse the Community Development Department's decision to revoke Speak Easy's license in September over violations of city ordinance.

The shop has remained open while the decision has been appealed by the business.

Here's how Mike said he reported on the business, located near the intersection of El Paseo Road and Idaho Avenue, which sells CBD and cannabis-themed merchandise.

"After a run-in with the state Cannabis Control Division last summer for giving away free bud to customers who bought stickers and T-shirts — for which the store received a cease and desist letter — Jason Estrada, who may or may not own Speak Easy but who is DEFINITELY running for Las Cruces mayor next year, allegedly sold pot to undercover law enforcement out of the shop," he explained.

"Estrada was charged with a fourth-degree felony, a charge which, as I understand it now, has been dismissed but which his attorney told me may go before a grand jury. The felony charge led the city to revoke Speak Easy’s business license. Estrada appealed, sending the decision to the city council and stalling the revocation by several months.

"While Estrada and his attorney, Matt Madrid, were scheduled to make their case to the city council Jan. 18 for keeping Speak Easy’s license active, Estrada has been ill and unable to meet with Madrid in person. The council postponed the decision until next month."

Read Mike's reporting on the issue HERE.

The Bean at Josefina's soon to open near Mesilla's historic plaza

Mesilla’s historic plaza will soon welcome a new business to the mix: The Bean at Josefina’s.

The popular coffee shop The Bean of Mesilla, located along Avenida de Mesilla across from Andele Restaurant, recently announced that they will be expanding to a second location. Their coffee, pastries and café items will soon be available for customers out of Josefina’s, just off the plaza.

The Bean Owner Mickey Balderas, 30, said it was during that pandemic that the idea for a second location formed. Posting about the business on social media and offering walk-up and curbside pickup brought in more foot traffic and returning customers.

Our trending reporter, Leah Romero, spoke to Balderas about the café's expansion and future plans.

"The Bean of Mesilla announced via social media that they would be taking over Josefina's in Mesilla — a location that was vacated by another business in November 2021," Leah said. "Both The Bean and Josefina's are staples of the Mesilla community, so I thought the expansion would be the perfect for our first monthly business profile. I spoke with Mickey Balderas, owner of the coffee shop, who explained that opening a second location was something he was looking into before Josefina's became available.

"Once he and Kathleen Foreman, owner of Josefina's, connected, they both said they felt the businesses had a good fit. The Bean at Josefina's will be a café while the first location will focus more on coffee and specialty drinks. The off-the-plaza location is expected to open sometime at the end of January or beginning of February."

Read Leah's profile about The Bean at Josefina's HERE.

I hope that this newsletter helps shed a little more light on our reporting process, and allows you to get to know the reporters behind the bylines you see every day. This year, we've also launched a companion podcast — which has the same goal. Our first episode was on Garrey Carruthers, our 2021 Distinguished Resident. Our second episode looked at The McHard Report, which alleged $1.7 million was misspent by Visit Las Cruces, the city's convention and visitor's bureau. And our most recent episode features Leah's interview with actor William H. Macy, who will be honored at this year's Las Cruces International Film Festival in March.

Damien Willis is a Lead Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-541-5443, dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Republicans sign bogus electoral certificates, homicides of 2021 and LCPS battles COVID