A coup in Española shifted control of a large private army that has won more than $3.5 billion in government contracts, ownership of a trans-Atlantic natural foods empire and, not least, the fate of an influential decades-old religious sect called Sikh Dharma.

On June 15, in their testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the chief executives of America’s leading oil companies argued that BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was an aberration— something that would not have occurred with proper corporate oversight and will not happen again once proper safeguards are put in place. This is fallacious, if not an outright lie.

Santa Fe’s real estate market remains sluggish, but values for homeowners claiming affordable housing credits are inexplicably on the rise.

For a moment, it looked like there was a way out. In the cockpit of the New Mexico State Police helicopter, sitting idle on a mountain ridge in the Pecos Wilderness northeast of Santa Fe, Sgt. Andrew Tingwall pointed at a break in the clouds. To his fellow officer, 29-year-old Wesley Cox, it looked like a tunnel, a thin valley through the dark and ominous cloud bank overhead.

On a clear day with only a slight breeze, Heidi Newsome walked up a canyon seeking signs of the rare ferruginous hawk, so named for the rusty hue of its feathers. In a week, pink phlox would carpet the undulating desert landscape below Rattlesnake Mountain, followed soon after by a rush of violet lupine. Mother Nature hasn’t always received that kind of respect in these parts.

New Mexico voters will head to the polls June 1 following a disheartening year of political scandals and economic hardship. Frustration with government is palpable on the campaign trail—and understandable.

Six years ago, Mary Katherine Ray was hiking in the Cibola National Forest when, purely by accident, she kicked a trap and it snapped shut before one of her dogs could step into it. Until then, Ray had never realized trapping still occurred. But the incident chilled her and, as a result, she started learning about wildlife trapping in New Mexico and the international fur industry it supports.

Even if the economy was great and the Democrats were handing out gold-plated puppies, Republicans could win some statewide elections in 2010. American politics is famously cyclical, after all, and the Dems have just had a turn. Besides, New Mexicans are shameless political swingers.

In the far northeast corner of New Mexico, there’s a rugged sanctuary where eagles wing silently overhead and elk roam unmolested through forests of pine and juniper—at least until hunting season begins. Come autumn, this place roars to life with all-terrain vehicles and gunfire as hunters collect on this season’s elk licenses. This is the now-infamous White Peak, a patchwork of state and private lands that has become a focal point for a series of political and ideological conflicts.

Each year, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression recognizes the previous year’s most egregious acts of disregard for the First Amendment. This year’s “Muzzle Awards” are steeped in two key points.