News - The Daily Lobo

News

Community, NM United bring World Cup matches to neighborhood parks

Paloma Chapa | June 17

Approximately 400 Albuquerque community members gathered at Montgomery Park on Friday evening to watch the United States and Paraguayan men’s national soccer teams battle in their World Cup opener in Los Angeles. The game was projected on a large viewing screen with a quality sound system, and the park offered space for pick-up games and soccer activities during commercial breaks. The event was the second of multiple watch parties that are scheduled at local parks throughout the month of June, which are a collaboration between the City of Albuquerque and New Mexico United, according to a press release.

News

Multiple officer-involved shootings in one week spark protest, questions

Leila Chapa and Paloma Chapa | June 10

On Friday, June 5, protesters and relatives of Jose Armas and Robert Salas — who were both fatally shot by Albuquerque Police Department officers the week prior — gathered and marched from Robinson Park to APD’s headquarters. Protesters called for “justice” for Salas and Armas, along with others who have been killed by APD officers in recent years. The march concluded with a vigil on the staircase of the APD headquarters, during which family members spoke to participants, calling for the release of all body camera footage and for police to handle mental health crises differently.

News

2026 New Mexico primary election results

Leila Chapa and Paloma Chapa | June 5

On Tuesday, June 2, voters in New Mexico decided who would be the nominees for U.S. Senate, governor and lieutenant governor, among other local races during the state’s primary election day. Here are the election results of the 2026 New Mexico primary elections, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.

News

2026 primary Election Day voting guide

Paloma Chapa | June 2

Election Day for New Mexico’s primary elections is on June 2, when voters will have the opportunity to vote at 74 voting center locations across Bernalillo County from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to Bernalillo County. The University of New Mexico’s Student Union Building will also serve as a voting center on Tuesday, with same-day voter registration available. Here are some of the major races in which Democratic and Republican candidates are running to be on the ballot during the general election in November.

News

UNM to launch campus-wide guidelines on ethical AI use

Leila Chapa and Paloma Chapa | May 18

This fall, the University of New Mexico AI Steering Committee will be launching campus-wide guidelines and best practices to address aspects of artificial intelligence use that are considered “urgent,” including ethics and academic integrity, according to College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences Dean and AI Steering Committee Chair Mark Emmons. The AI Steering Committee is made up of students, staff and faculty from across campus with a variety of expertise in artificial intelligence, and formed because of the large amount of AI use on campus without a coordinated set of policies or strategies to follow, Emmons said. The committee was charged in late February by Interim Provost Barbara Rodriguez and will integrate AI efforts around campus with both a long-term and a short-term path, according to Emmons, who said the long-term path will involve a town hall that gathers students, faculty, staff and any interested stakeholders to supply guidance that may ultimately end up in policies.

News

Steve Goldstein chosen as 24th UNM president

Leila Chapa and Paloma Chapa | May 18

On Friday, May 15, the University of New Mexico announced that Steve Goldstein would be the next president of the University, succeeding outgoing president Garnett S. Stokes, who retires in July. The announcement came after the UNM Board of Regents unanimously agreed to select Goldstein as the next president, and all five candidates had spoken at public forums between April 20 and May 13. “I am delighted to welcome Steve Goldstein to the Lobo family,” Stokes told UNM Newsroom. “He inherits a university that is stronger, more innovative and more consequential to the people of New Mexico than ever before, and I have every confidence that he will build on that momentum in ways that will continue to benefit our students and our state for years to come.”

News

UNM needs more healthy food options, students say

Paloma Chapa | May 18

Some students eating lunch at the Student Union Building during finals week this spring said that the University of New Mexico needs more healthy food and fresh fruit options available on campus. The Student Union Building has multiple food vendors, including Chick-fil-A, Blake’s Lotaburger, Mandalay Express, Subway, Dion’s Pizza and Freshens, as well as a rotating local food vendor that switches each semester and a “grab-and-go” market downstairs. Junior Kieren Sanchez said that while UNM has a lot of food offerings, she doesn’t think that there are a lot of healthy options.

News

Newsroom leader, Managing Editor Nate Bernard turns the page

Addison Fulton | May 11

If you know the Daily Lobo, then you know the work of our departing Managing Editor Nate Bernard. As managing editor, Bernard is responsible for ensuring that everything published in the Daily Lobo is correct and clear. If you trust us, you trust him. Bernard began his career three years ago at the Lobo like many, he said, as a freelance reporter for the news desk. As a political science and psychology double major, Bernard said his work as a journalist allowed him a new perspective on what it means to make change and do good work. “Oftentimes, we’re told that the only change we can make is the big sweeping changes to the federal government, but in actuality, the biggest changes that we can make are right here at home,” Bernard said. “The Daily Lobo is how I sought to make those changes and hold powerful people accountable.”

News

President Stokes looks back on eight years at UNM

Elliott Wood | May 11

For many at the University of New Mexico — and throughout the state — President Garnett Stokes’ name looms large. Stokes joined UNM as its 23rd president in 2018, the first woman to hold the position after previous stints at the University of Missouri, Florida State University and the University of Georgia. In September 2025, Stokes informed the Board of Regents that she would be retiring at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. Stokes was inspired to take her first real trip to the state after reading a novel by another big name in New Mexico, author Tony Hillerman, a UNM professor who taught journalism and served as an assistant to two University presidents.

News

Simon Reseigh, a reporter with many takes, retires

Rodney Prunty | May 11

Simon Reseigh’s first article was an opinion article, an article type he would continue to write during his time at the Daily Lobo. From “Bobbleheads of the Week” to predictions, Reseigh always had something to say. “I’m a big yapper when it comes down to sports, and I have some very strong opinions on certain teams and how I feel about certain teams, so I thought, might as well just throw it out into the universe and let everyone read my ramblings and see if the agree or if they think I am a crazy person,” Reseigh said.

News

Graduating Daily Lobo cartoonist Avery Silfer illustrates a powerful legacy

Leila Chapa and Paloma Chapa | May 11

For the past year, Daily Lobo readers could always count on seeing a — very often cat-inspired — positive or thought-provoking comic strip on the last page of the weekly paper. Daily Lobo Cartoonist Avery Silfer’s weekly comics have the ability to make readers smile and boost self-worth, or reflect on tragedy and political tension. This semester, Silfer is graduating with her bachelor’s degree in art studio with a minor in journalism, after having produced over 100 illustrations for the paper.

News

Melissa Maldonado loves talking to people, and you should too

Shin Thant Hlaing | May 11

Melissa Maldonado is a week away from obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in Spanish. This will be her third and final year at the University of New Mexico as a transfer student from CNM. Maldonado was initially drawn to criminology because of an interest in crime documentaries. Through this degree she was exposed to sociology, which allowed her to study how society was organized and what pushes people to make certain choices. This drew her to social work. However, as she got further into her degree, something didn’t quite click. She began to feel concerned about the possibility of social work taking a heavy emotional toll. It was when she took a marketing class at the beckoning of a friend that everything clicked.

News

Shin Thant Hlaing centers the people at the heart of law, journalism

Elliott Wood | May 11

Next year, Daily Lobo beat reporter Shin Thant Hlaing will be headed to one of the best law programs in the country after graduating from the University of New Mexico with a degree in political science. If you’d asked her a year ago about what her plans were after UNM, law school wouldn’t even have been in the conversation. “I wanted to either become a researcher or a policy advisor,” Hlaing said. “My mind was going in a lot of different places, but what drew me to law was when the earthquake happened in Myanmar.”

News

In a world of stress and somberness, be an Addison Fulton

Nate Bernard | May 11

If you’ve visited creative spaces around the University of New Mexico campus, then you’ve likely encountered Addison Fulton. Whether through student films, local arts events, satire magazines or newsroom conversations, Fulton has spent much of her college career immersing herself in the communities creating culture around Albuquerque. On top of being a serial contributor to Conceptions Southwest, the founder of satire magazine Weekly Coyote and a writer, actress and director, Fulton is also the outgoing culture editor at the Daily Lobo.

News

Wyatt Padilla leaves the Lobo after a rewarding year

Marley Herndon | May 11

“Wyatt Padilla is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo,” is not a phrase readers are going to see at the end of new articles anymore as the UNM senior out of Los Lunas retires and his contributions to the paper become reflected upon fondly. Wyatt Padilla got his start at the Daily Lobo in the spring of 2025, after being a student manager for the UNM women’s basketball team for two years. When he left that job, he knew he wanted to stay in sports in some way, but he didn’t know how. That was until he met the Daily Lobo Sports Editor Rodney Prunty, who encouraged him to apply for a job as a freelance sports writer.

News

Haaland talks data centers, free graduate tuition during Law School visit

Paloma Chapa | May 4

During a Q&A style conversation at the University of New Mexico Law School on Monday, April 27, Law Students spoke to New Mexico gubernatorial candidate from the Pueblo of Laguna Deb Haaland about a variety of topics including data centers, economic stimulus, healthcare and the Israel and Palestine conflict. Haaland opened her remarks by recalling her “depression and frustration” over not passing the bar exam after graduating from the UNM Law School. “You do all the work, and the Creator makes you take a sharp right turn or a left turn, and you have no clue why,” Haaland said. “I feel very strongly that if I had passed my bar exam, I wouldn't be standing here as the Secretary of the Interior.”

News

City Nature Challenge puts local biodiversity on the map

Paloma Chapa | April 27

The Albuquerque City Nature Challenge, taking place from April 24-27, is inviting everyone to become citizen scientists through documenting the city’s biodiversity in Bernalillo, Sandoval and Valencia Counties, as part of a global collaborative effort to document wildlife observations of all kinds. R.H. Mallory Center for Community Geography Associate Director Laurel Ladwig said the City Nature Challenge is a way to get people to know the nature around them while helping create an urban biodiversity map using the iNaturalist app or website, and that Albuquerque has participated in the challenge since 2019. Ladwig said that habitat is everywhere in the city, citing her experience with some trees in a restaurant parking lot along I-25.

News

Meet Gwich'in elder, caribou protector Sarah James

Leila Chapa and Paloma Chapa | April 27

Albuquerque’s final annual Gathering of Nations Pow Wow drew over 100,000 participants and attendees from tribes across the country to Expo New Mexico on April 24-25. One of the attendees was Neets’aii Gwich’in elder Sarah James from Arctic Village, who came from Alaska for the Pow Wow. James is internationally-known for her efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas development. She won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2002, and is among multiple Native women authors in the book “Worlds within Us: Wisdom and Resilience of Indigenous Women Elders.”

News

One year in, 250+ hrs served by ABQ RIDE volunteers

Shin Thant Hlaing | April 27

When riding the bus in Albuquerque, passengers may have seen people in neon shirts. These people are volunteers with the newly-launched ABQ RIDE Transit Ambassador program. Launched last year on April 1, 2025, the program is one of two programs for which ABQ RIDE recruits volunteers. The volunteers seek to promote a safer environment for bus passengers by providing education of ABQ RIDE’s Rules to Ride, and being another set of trained eyes to monitor service, according to the City of Albuquerque.

News

Earth Month: NM environmental leaders talk sustainability

Penelope Loyd Sment | April 20

This Earth Month, two sustainability activists spoke about the efforts the University of New Mexico has been taking to address the climate crisis and its role in environmental issues. While the University’s efforts have been a good start, there is still more work to do, they said. The clearest example of action taken by UNM on environmental matters is the University’s strategic sustainability plan, released in October 2025, with goals set to be accomplished by 2030. The plan outlines multiple objectives for both transforming campus operations and building sustainability engagement and culture on campus. The goals tackle energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions, land and water use, waste management, transportation and limiting waste in food and dining.