After one term in retirement, former Grant County Sheriff Raul Villanueva will likely return to the office next year after his victory in Tuesday s Democratic primary election. With all votes counted, Villanueva tallied 1,939 votes to incumbent Sheriff Frank Gomez’s 1,514, winning with 56 percent of the vote in the primary. No Republican candidate filed to run for sheriff this year, so the Democratic primary winner will likely take the …
Nearly a year after the original incident, DWI charges have been refiled against former District Attorney Francesca Estevez. The charges relate to her arrest in June 2021, when Sheriff Frank Gomez said his department got a call about a reckless driver headed into Silver City and responding deputies allegedly found Estevez impaired behind the wheel. According to current Sixth Judicial District Attorney Michael Renteria, his office asked the N.M. …
Health care services in Grant County especially mental health services and abortion rights were among the hot topics at Monday evening’s Daily Press-sponsored forum for Democratic candidates for District 39 state representative. Hopefuls Karen Whitlock and Rudy Martinez squared off throughout the hour-and-a-half debate, and though they expressed similar opinions, their methods, beliefs and experiences served to differentiate them. In her opening statement, Whitlock highlighted her work as …
The Daily Press will once again hold a series of candidate forums in advance of the June 7 major party primary election, marking the ninth year that the newspaper has hosted the events. The forums, which will all take place in the auditorium of Western New Mexico University’s Besse-Forward Global Resource Center, will pose written questions from audience members and the newspaper’s reporters to candidates in competitive races. Candidates will …