Now You Know Oct. 2, 2026

Sheriff candidate forum

Southwest Organizing Project will host the nonpartisan Doña Ana County Sheriff Candidate Forum, featuring Republican Todd Garrison and Democrat Vanessa Orduñez.

Dr. José Z. García, former Secretary of the New Mexico Higher Education Department and NMSU professor, will serve as moderator. The forum will provide residents an opportunity to hear directly from both candidates about the sheriff's role and issues affecting Doña Ana County, including community safety, immigration and ICE, federal cooperation, constitutional protections, financial oversight, and the relationship between the Sheriff's Office, the Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners, and County Management.

The discussion will also address the recent Doña Ana County special audit, providing an opportunity to hear how each candidate views communication, coordination, financial oversight, and the respective responsibilities of elected officials and county administration.

The forum is intended to encourage civic engagement and give residents an opportunity to ask questions, hear the candidates' positions, and become better informed before the election.

Spanish interpretation will be available. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information: 575-621-026

Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 6-8 p.m.

Sombra Antigua Winery

430 La Viña Road, Anthony

City invites community feedback on Strategic Plan

The City of Las Cruces is inviting residents to review and provide feedback on the draft mission, strategic priorities, and goals that will help guide city decisions and investments over the next two to five years.

The draft is the latest step in the city’s ongoing Strategic Plan Update and reflects several months of community engagement, research, and planning. Since launching the process earlier this year, the city has heard from residents, community and business leaders, young people, city staff, and the city council about the opportunities and challenges facing Las Cruces and what the city should focus on in the years ahead.

That input, along with research on current community conditions and existing city plans, helped shape the draft now available for public input.

Community members can review the draft now through Oct. 10, and comment directly on individual words, phrases, priorities, or goals. The city is particularly interested in hearing whether anything is unclear, should be changed or better explained, or if something important is missing.

“This process started by asking our community what matters most, and now we want to make sure we got it right,” said Mayor Eric Enriquez. “Before we finalize the direction of the Strategic Plan, we are bringing these draft priorities and goals back to the community and asking residents to take another look and tell us what they think.”

The draft remains a work in progress. Feedback received during the comment period will be reviewed alongside input gathered throughout the strategic planning process and will help the city refine the mission, priorities, and goals that establish the overall direction of the Strategic Plan.

Once that direction is established, the city will develop the more detailed actions, timelines, responsibilities, and measures needed to put the plan into practice. That implementation work will be shaped by the priorities and community input gathered through this process and included in the full Strategic Plan, which is expected to go before the city council for adoption in November.

Residents can review the draft and submit comments through Oct. 10 on the city’s Strategic Plan website: LasCruces.Gov/StrategicPlan

Free charity concert (with donations welcomed)

 In 2013, songwriter Darryl Purpose started Camp Ned, a charitable arts organization dedicated to helping musicians write songs that can change the world. This year, the Camp Ned songwriting retreat is in Las Cruces, and multiple extraordinary artists are coming. The “Songwriter Sampler” concert is a chance to enjoy these musicians’ work while funding need-based scholarships to Camp Ned retreats, helping artists make meaningful, beautiful music without regard to income.

Multiple excellent songwriters from across the folk and Americana traditions:

·       Abby Nayra, a Las Cruces multi-instrumentalist known for jazz-infused melodies and witty lyrics

·       Darryl Purpose, a peace activist and narrative songwriter whose recent albums have twice topped the Roots Music Report and reached #5 on the Folk Alliance International Music Chart

·       Doug Adamz, a Las Cruces composer whose global rhythm instrumentals have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, the Joffrey Ballet, and the San Diego Ballet;

·       Emma Quarterman, a Colorado guitar and songwriting instructor whose compositions infuse traditional folk and bluegrass with influences from country, pop, and R&B;

·       Hana Zara, a poetic Las Cruces songwriter whose latest album reached #4 on the Folk Alliance International Music Chart and whose 2026 single “The Ballad of Husker Scruggs” reached #2;

·       Kevin Faherty, a Nashville songwriter whose storytelling compositions blend dry humor with surprising pathos;

·       Lara Ruggles, an award-winning Arizona lightning rod of anthemic, feminist folk-pop;

·       Laurie McClain, an award-winning Nashville folk and roots songwriter channeling the honeyed, healing spirit of 60s and 70s folk;

·       Nan Franzblau, a Silver City acoustic songwriter whose lyrics attentively trace the unfolding of a thought and the beauty of the natural world;

·       Pat DeSimio, a Las Cruces balladeer whose traditional-sounding, sing-along pieces have been picked up by church and community singing groups from the U.S. to New Zealand

The concert will be at Center for Spiritual Living, 575 N. Main St. in Las Cruces on Saturday, Oct. 10. Doors open at 6 p.m. Concert starts at 6:30 p.m.

Reproductive justice organization hosts Emmy Award winning journalist

Bold Futures NM will host renowned author and Emmy Award winning journalist Paola Ramos to speak at Doña Ana Community College East Mesa on Oct. 6.

Beyond Defection: A Community Conversation with Paola Ramos will focus on Ramos’ book “Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America”, its connections to immigrant and reproductive justice, and implications for the borderland area.

The event will bring together community members, advocates, students and local leaders to explore questions of Latino identity, belonging, democracy, and the evolving Latino experience in the borderland area.

The event is free to the public. Doors open at 4 p.m. with opening remarks beginning at 5 p.m. “Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America” will be available for purchase at the event, and an optional book signing with Paola Ramos will begin at 6:45 p.m.

Please note, while press are invited to attend, at Ms. Ramos’ request no filming or recording of the conversation will be allowed, and no individual interviews will be granted.

Paola Ramos is an author and Emmy-Award winning journalist. She is a contributor for Telemundo News and MSNBC, where she is the host of “Field Report.” Ramos is a former correspondent for Vice News. Her reporting has taken her from embedding with migrants in the Darien Jungle to interviewing cartel members in the US-Mexico border to deeply exploring Latinos’ shifting political identity across the nation.

Prior to her career in journalism, Ramos was the Deputy Director of Hispanic Media for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, a political appointee during the Obama Administration, and served in President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.