Las Cruces Shooting Aftermath, Project 2025, and New Lobo Basketball Coach

Las Cruces Mass Shooting Aftermath

• 🚨 A mass shooting at Young Park in Las Cruces resulted in three teenage fatalities and 15 wounded, occurring at an unsanctioned car show.
• 🔫 The incident involved an argument between groups, leading to four suspects firing semi-automatic pistols into a crowded area, with four individuals (including three juveniles) indicted on first-degree murder charges.
• 💔 The community is traumatized, drawing comparisons to a 1990 bowling alley massacre, with ongoing frustration about park safety and police resource limitations.
• 💡 Police Chief Jeremy Story advocates for a Realtime Crime Center with surveillance cameras, while community advocates emphasize the need for behavioral health services and youth engagement.
• ⚖️ The timing of the shooting during a legislative session on child crime has intensified political debate, with the District Attorney planning to try the juveniles as adults.

Project 2025: Policy and Impact

• 🏛️ Project 2025 is a nearly 1,000-page document by the conservative Heritage Foundation, described as a "manifesto to dismantle the government" and install a president as a dictator.
• 📝 Many of its authors are former Trump administration members, and despite Trump's public disavowals, his policies align with the document's detailed prescriptions.
• 🚫 The document outlines "raw" policies such as outlawing abortion and dismantling the Department of Education, filling the void of a detailed Republican platform.
• 🌍 Its immigration proposals include the "largest deportation operation" and allowing immigration agents into "protected areas" like schools and churches, which critics argue creates a "1930s atmosphere of enemies".
• 🇲🇽 In New Mexico, this rhetoric is particularly damaging due to the state's strong ties to immigrants, with concerns raised about the potential impact on birthright citizenship and public safety.

Lobo Men's Basketball: New Era

• 🏀 Eric Olen has been appointed as the new head coach for Lobo Men's Basketball, replacing Richard Pitino, who departed for Xavier.
• 🧠 Olen, who spent 21 years at UC San Diego, is known for his "smart" and "numbers-driven" approach, emphasizing efficiency and high three-point rates.
• 💰 Pitino's departure was influenced by uncertainty in the Mountain West Conference, the stability of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) opportunities, and a significantly higher salary at Xavier.
• 🔄 The team faces significant roster turnover, with eight players entering the transfer portal, a common trend in the new era of college basketball driven by instant transfers and NIL earning potential.
• 📈 Despite the changes, high expectations remain for Lobo basketball due to strong community investment and top national home attendance figures.

Nash Jones Joins NMPBS

• 📺 Nash Jones will join New Mexico in Focus as a new full-time host, bringing extensive experience from KUNM.
• 🌟 Jones, an award-winning Albuquerque native and proud member of the transgender community (they/them pronouns), will expand the show's journalism.