In the months before a federal judge struck down part of the city’s election transparency laws last week, outside groups had already spent more than one million dollars to influence Albuquerque elections in 2025. A City Desk analysis of city campaign finance data shows that Albuquerque’s 2025 local elections were among the most expensive in […]
Category: City Desk ABQ
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Who’s funding Albuquerque’s runoff campaigns? Voters may never know
A federal judge this week struck down Albuquerque’s donor disclosure rules for advocacy groups that spend money in city elections, opening the door for thousands or even millions of dollars in anonymous cash to flood the Dec. 9 runoff with early voting starting in 10 days. U.S. District Judge James Browning ruled Wednesday that Albuquerque’s […]
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Firefighters rescue one after sudden home explosion in NE Heights
Albuquerque firefighters are searching for the cause of an overnight explosion that blew out the side of a residential home in the Los Altos neighborhood near Eubank and Lomas NE. According to details from the Albuquerque Fire Rescue Department, an explosion was reported at 10:33 p.m. Firefighters found one home seriously damaged and another nearby. […]
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ABQ street homelessness grows 40% since ’23, outpacing shelter use by 2-to-1, count shows
Albuquerque’s unsheltered homeless population jumped 40% over two years, outpacing increases in shelter bed usage, up 18% over the same period, by two-to-one, according to the latest Point-in-Time count from the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness. By the numbers The annual statewide and local census of homeless persons, conducted each January but released just […]
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Dark money and developer dollars fuel District 3 runoff battle between Peña, Garcia
Competing visions of campaign finance transparency are front and center in Albuquerque’s City Council District 3 runoff election where outside money is pouring in and each candidate is calling out the other’s supporters for unnecessary big money influence in a relatively small city council runoff race. Klarissa Peña, the longest-serving member on the council currently, […]
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Leger Fernández: GOPers who back extending tax credits need to step up
Editor’s note: As a part of the deal to reopen the federal government, Republican leaders agreed to schedule a vote on, but not guarantee, extending federal healthcare subsidies, aka “Obamacare subsidies”, by mid-December. All 5 of New Mexico’s members of Congress voted against that deal, preferring to hold out for a permanent extension. With just […]
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Outside groups waste no time raising big bucks for city runoff elections
Business groups, labor unions and a handful of individual donors wasted no time writing more big checks in the first two weeks of the four week city runoff election sprint to Election Day. Campaign finance reports show that outside groups deposited more than $51,000 in new contributions from the day after regular elections ended, Nov. […]
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Democrat Louie Sanchez endorses Republican Joshua Neal for his open city council seat
City Councilor Louie Sanchez, a registered Democrat who has often agitated Democrats by aligning with a conservatives on the council, says a young Republican candidate running in his open Westside seat is his choice for someone who will “collaborate across party lines.” Sanchez announced on social media Thursday that he was endorsing Republican Joshua Neal […]
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International District project takes a different path on affordable housing
A church in Albuquerque’s International District and a nonprofit are teaming up to take a different approach to the city’s affordable housing crisis by preserving existing units instead of building new ones. New Creation Albuquerque and the Center for Housing Economics began a $644,000 rehabilitation Monday, Nov. 17, on a 63-year-old, seven-unit apartment complex at […]
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Forgotten ballot question won’t be on runoff ballot, either
A proposal to put a missing charter amendment on next year’s ballot was pushed back Monday as the Albuquerque City Council still needs the required public hearings before it can be approved. The amendment was mistakenly left off the Nov. 4 municipal ballot. Two measures sponsored by Councilor Joaquín Baca would let voters decide in […]