Do帽a Ana County Clerk announces campaign for NM Secretary of State- Danielle Prokop Source New MexicoAmanda L贸pez Askin, a Democrat who has led the Do帽a Ana County Clerk鈥檚 office since 2018, announced her campaign Wednesday for New Mexico鈥檚 top election office.
L贸pez Askin, is so far the only Secretary of State candidate in the 2026 election. Current Secretary of State Maggie Tolouse Oliver has served two consecutive terms, and cannot run for the seat in the upcoming election. The position is third in succession, behind the governor and lieutenant governor. The Secretary of State administers elections, enforces ethics and keeps official records for state government.
Do帽a Ana County commissioners appointed L贸pez Askin to the office just two months before the 2018 mid-term elections after the ; she has since won two elections to keep the seat in 2020 and 2024.
L贸pez Askin will not step down from the Do帽a Ana County Clerk鈥檚 office during the campaign, she told Source, saying she will work more and lean on Deputy County Clerk Caroline Zamora.
鈥淚鈥檒l be working double-time evenings and weekends,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I will continue to lead the office in Do帽a Ana County.鈥�
L贸pez Askin said she has the 鈥減erseverance and dedication鈥� to fight electoral changes at the federal level, such as House Republicans voting for a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, and the ,
鈥淚t鈥檚 never been more important to protect the right to vote,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been battle-tested. Since 2018, I have been challenged. I have had to deal with extremists and election deniers and litigation. And in every single instance, I defended what we do, and I defended it well.鈥�
Those challenges included a by former Republican candidate Solomon Pe帽a, before his arrest for organizing four shootings at the homes of four Democratic politicians after he lost an election for a New Mexico House of Representatives seat.
L贸pez Askin has a masters in marriage and family therapy, along with a PhD in educational leadership from New Mexico State University.
According to , L贸pez Askin has just under $19,000 in the campaign鈥檚 coffers, transferred from her previous county clerk campaign.
Despite vetoed funding, AG plans to prop up new child-focused oversight office- Dan Boyd, Albuquerque JournalA new office tasked with providing outside oversight of New Mexico鈥檚 child welfare agency will set up shop this summer with just a fraction of its proposed state funding.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week authority to ax $1 million in start-up funding that lawmakers had appropriated in a state budget bill for the new Office of the Child Advocate.
She also vetoed a separate $650,000 appropriation for the office, but left intact a similar earmark in a different part of the spending bill.
While advocates have expressed concern about the vetoes鈥� impact, Attorney General Ra煤l Torrez does not plan to let the governor鈥檚 actions snuff out the plan.
A spokeswoman for the Democratic attorney general said Torrez has already authorized the state Department of Justice to make up the budget shortfall for the newly created office, which will be administratively attached to the agency.
鈥淲e intend to keep working with our partners in the Legislature to ensure adequate funding for the Office of the Child Advocate as its important work gets underway and will continue to advocate for children鈥檚 civil rights with or without the governor鈥檚 support,鈥� Torrez鈥檚 chief of staff Lauren Rodriguez told the Journal.
She also said the Department of Justice was 鈥減rofoundly disappointed鈥� by Lujan Grisham鈥檚 vetoes and her resistance to outside oversight of the Children, Youth and Families Department.
During the final days of this year鈥檚 60-day legislative session, Lujan Grisham signed into law the creation of the new Office of the Child Advocate, which a bipartisan group of lawmakers had pushed for years to establish.
But the signing of House Bill 5 came after the governor worked with senators to make changes to the legislation. She also in which she criticized legislators and the first-term attorney general alike.
鈥淢ake no mistake about it, this bill was not designed to protect children,鈥� Lujan Grisham said at the time, while accusing lawmakers and Torrez of pushing the legislation as part of a political vendetta.
The governor and CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados have in recent years staunchly opposed outside oversight of the agency, saying such action could damage employee morale and lead to a fractious relationship between the two government entities.
But backers of the legislation have amid CYFD鈥檚 struggles to reverse chronic staff shortages and an increase in the state鈥檚 rate of repeat child mistreatment.
The new Office of the Child Advocate will hit the state鈥檚 books in July and will be tasked with reviewing CYFD鈥檚 handling of cases and investigating complaints filed on behalf of children in state custody. A telephone hotline will be set up to help process such complaints, among other steps.
In addition, the office will be led by a director to be appointed by the governor, who will pick from a list of names approved by a selection committee.
A Lujan Grisham spokesman pointed out Tuesday the governor left $650,000 in the budget bill intact so that the new office can be established.
鈥淭he Office of the Child Advocate can come back to the Legislature in the next budget cycle and request additional funding based on its needs, but $650,000 is enough to get started,鈥� Lujan Grisham spokesman Michael Coleman said.
He did not elaborate on the governor鈥檚 rationale behind the funding vetoes, but said CYFD would continue its work on behalf of New Mexico children and families until the new office is up and running.
Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull becomes first GOP candidate in race for governor- Dan Boyd, Albuquerque JournalOne day after filing a report detailing more than $200,000 in campaign donations, Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull confirmed his plans to run for governor next year.
Hull, who is Rio Rancho鈥檚 longest-serving mayor, is the first Republican to officially enter the 2026 gubernatorial race.
Two Democrats, Deb Haaland and Sam Bregman, have already announced campaigns to succeed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is barred under the state Constitution from seeking a third consecutive term in office.
A Hull campaign spokesman said Tuesday the mayor will publicly launch his campaign in June, but plans to continue meeting with local leaders, GOP stakeholders and other New Mexicans in the run-up to that event. He has already launched .
鈥淢ayor Gregg Hull appreciates the outpouring of support and encouragement he has received to run for governor of New Mexico,鈥� campaign spokesman Corey Stevens told the Journal.
Other Republicans could also join the race in the coming weeks and months, though one potential candidate, 2024 GOP U.S. Senate nominee Nella Domenici, .
Hull has served as Rio Rancho mayor since 2014, having twice won reelection to the post.
The city is New Mexico鈥檚 third largest, behind only Albuquerque and Las Cruces, and has grown faster than the state as a whole, with its population rising from 87,521 residents in 2010 to 110,660 as of 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
A former businessman and avid chef, Hull has not previously run for statewide office.
His campaign report filed Monday with Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver鈥檚 office shows Hull has received more than $206,000 in donations dating back to January.
That amount includes a $500 contribution he made to his own campaign. Other large contributions include $11,000 donations from Roswell auto dealership owner Tom Krumland and his wife, and $10,000 contributions from housing developers Chris Hakes of Albuquerque and David Parmeter of Las Cruces.
New Mexico has not had a Republican governor since Susana Martinez left office at the end of 2018, and state Democrats were quick Tuesday to point out that murder investigations in Rio Rancho went up last year.
The Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Governors Association also issued a statement about Hull鈥檚 candidacy.
鈥淎s New Mexico braces for what will no doubt become a crowded, messy GOP primary, Republicans can expect an uphill battle as Gregg Hull and anyone else who jumps in this race will have to answer for their party鈥檚 extreme attacks on Americans鈥� livelihood and efforts to strip away their rights,鈥� DGA senior communications adviser Izzi Levy said in a statement.
The 2026 primary election will take place next year in June, with the general election scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026.
Border deployment vehicle accident kills two service members, third in critical condition - By Tara Copp, Associated Press
Two service members deployed to the U.S. Southern border were killed and a third is in serious condition after a vehicle accident near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, the military announced late Tuesday.
The region where the accident took place is just over the state line and west of Fort Bliss, a major Army installation in West Texas that has played a critical role in dispatching military deportation flights and served as a touchpoint for thousands of soldiers and pieces of equipment now deployed along the border.
The troops are deployed there in support of President Donald Trump's executive order to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
A defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details not yet made public said the accident occurred in a civilian vehicle, but no civilians were harmed in the incident.
The incident did not involve any of the scores of Stryker vehicles the Pentagon has sent down to the border to perform patrols, the official said.
The accident occurred around 8:50 a.m. MDT Tuesday; the names of the deceased will not be released until the next of kin are notified.
New political party seeking expanded democracy and a return to the center launches in New Mexico - Patrick Lohmann,
The Forward Party, a political party whose members say they want a return to civility in politics and improvements to U.S. democracy, announced Tuesday it is seeking 3,500 signatures to secure minor party status in New Mexico.
The New Mexico chapter鈥檚 launch comes after what members tout as a major success a decade in the making: allowing unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in primary elections here.
Bob Perls, New Mexico Forward Party chair and a former state representative, championed that effort since 2015. He told a small group gathered at a historic church in Corrales on Tuesday afternoon that a major focus of the Forward Party in New Mexico will be those types of democratic improvements, like taking on unfairness in the redistricting process, campaign finance reform, and empowering more people to vote in races where there are meaningful choices on the ballot.
鈥淚f you look at what is the root cause of hyper-partisanship and political polarization in this country, you can trace a lot of it to how we elect, district and finance candidates,鈥� Perls said.
The party hopes to collect enough signatures to endorse and recruit candidates to run in the 2026 midterm elections. It will likely not have enough support or resources to weigh in on the Albuquerque mayoral elections this year, said spokesperson Karin Williams.
Perls also said the party would target members of both parties who voted to keep New Mexico鈥檚 primaries closed and would seek to increase the number of candidates on the ballot across the state.
In the most recent New Mexico legislative elections, had already won their primaries on the day the primary election was held. That meant that 70% of registered Democrats and 78% of registered Republicans had one or zero House candidates to vote for that day, according to a Source New Mexico analysis.
The group hopes that it can tap into what its leaders describe as widespread disenchantment with the two major political parties. As of December 2024, 340,000 New Mexico voters, roughly a quarter of all voters in the state, were not affiliated with any of the state鈥檚 three major parties, which are Democrats, Republicans or Libertarians, according to the Secretary of State鈥檚 Office.
And 40% of New Mexico voters aged 18 to 24 are unaffiliated, said Rep. Cristina Paraj贸n (D-Albuquerque), who sponsored the open-primary bill, during the House floor debate March 21.
Andrew Yang, who unsuccessfully ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, founded the Forward Party in 2022. Its leaders now cite a number of 鈥淔orwardists,鈥� most recently ato join the Forward Party last month.
Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor and Environmental Protection Agency secretary during George W. Bush鈥檚 presidency, is also a Forward Party leader. She joined Perls on Monday, saying the party is focused heavily on expanding its footprint in local races and statehouses, along with nationally, as part of its strategy to challenge two-party dominance.
The Forward Party does not have much of a platform, apart from a pledge it requires candidates it supports. The pledge requires candidates to affirm their commitments to the rule of law and the Constitution, data-driven policy-making, and creating 鈥渁 safe space to discuss controversial issues,鈥� Todd Whitman said.
鈥淏ut we recognize that every state is different, and within states, you鈥檙e going to have different areas of issues, and that people need that flexibility,鈥� Todd Whitman said. 鈥淐andidates need to be able to respond to their constituents.鈥�
Todd Whitman said Forward Party, to her, represents a 鈥渃entrist鈥� alternative to two parties that have increasingly catered to extreme members of their own parties, though she suggested leaders might not want to market themselves as centrists.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we are, in a vacuum, and that鈥檚 what most of the people who are part of Forward are. They鈥檙e in the center,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey want to see the problem solved. They鈥檙e not extreme, which makes you in the center, but you have to find the right language.鈥�
Heather Balas, a Democrat who lost her primary race for state Senate in 2024, asked what it would take for a third party to become competitive in New Mexico and across the country. William Scott, another Democrat, spoke up to say he was 鈥渉ammered by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party,鈥� for being a 鈥渃entrist, Forward鈥� Democrat.
He ran unopposed in the primary but lost to Republican Ant Thornton for state Senate District 19. He said he needs more support from the Forward party, in terms of a campaign manager and fundraising, if he were to run again.
鈥淪o I鈥檓 just wondering, what is the way forward?鈥� he asked. Perls and Todd Whitman told him to run again, promising more support should he seek a state House seat in an upcoming election and noting that, if the party can get ballot access, he can skip the Democratic primary.
鈥淚 think just bypassing the Democratic primary is going to make a huge difference for your ability to speak your mind and be true to yourself, and represent a far broader cross section of the voters than you would trying to appeal to the party base to get through the Democratic primary,鈥� Perls told him. 鈥淧lease run.鈥�
Last updated 6:37 p.m., Apr. 15, 2025
NMDOJ launches federal disruptions tracker 鈥� Daniel Monta帽o, 91暗网 News
The New Mexico Department of Justice announced Tuesday a website to track the impact of federal disruptions on New Mexicans and provide them information on available support.
The includes a form where users can submit information about any 鈥渋nterruption, reduction, or delay in Social Security payments, disability benefits, or other federal support鈥� including federal funding freezes, mass layoffs or discontinued program grants.
According to the website, any information provided will support recent efforts by NMDOJ to restore access to federal resources that have been cut off.
Attorney General Raul Torrez said the tracker was created to keep New Mexicans up to date on federal changes that 鈥渕ight affect their wallets, their jobs, or their benefits."
"We created this page to make sure people have timely, reliable information and know where to turn for help when they need it most,鈥� he said.
Last week, Torrez signed on to a lawsuit with 22 other states challenging an executive order rescinding education financing, and has filed a temporary restraining order seeking to immediately restore funding for critical services.
He has similar in the last few weeks.
Kinship program will begin after rulemaking this summer - Leah Romero,
Kinship caregivers in approximately half a dozen counties will be part of a new pilot program expected to start this summer designed to help support older New Mexicans and other relatives who take over raising children when parents are unable to do so.
That program is a result of , which establishes the , signed last week by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Joey Long, a spokesperson for the Aging and Long-Term Services Department, told Source NM that the department does not anticipate services starting before the beginning of the next fiscal year, which begins in July. The process will also include a 30-day public comment period.
According to the , about 36,000 New Mexico children were raised by grandparents or other next of kin in 2023 鈥� an increase from about 30,000 in 2017.
The bill states that the pilot program will be established in five to seven counties in the state with 50 participants chosen in each county. A previous version of the bill identified Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Taos, McKinley and Do帽a Ana counties as communities participating in the program, but the specific counties were struck from the final version of the bill.
Long told Source in a written statement that the department is 鈥渁ssessing geographic areas based on data, stakeholder consultations, and availability of private funding to support participant stipends, as well as other considerations鈥� before choosing communities to participate.
Program participants will eventually be connected to case management assistance, legal assistance, mental health support and respite care.
鈥淭oo often kinship caregivers鈥攅specially grandparents鈥攁re left to navigate complex systems alone while providing childcare,鈥� Kaltenbach said in a statement. 鈥淭his pilot program will help us establish more resources to help keep families together and ensure caregivers have the support they need to provide the best care possible.鈥�
The program is a three-year pilot, meaning the state will evaluate the outcomes of all participants to help create a possible statewide program in future years. An annual report with outcomes and recommendations is due each December to the Legislative Finance Committee.
US measles cases surpass 700 with outbreaks in six states. Here's what to know鈥� Devi Shastri, AP Health Writer
The New Mexico Department of Health announced today/yesterday [TUES] the measles outbreak has reached New Mexico鈥檚 second most populous county.
An unvaccinated child in Do帽a Ana County was diagnosed with the highly contagious virus, bringing the total cases in the state to 63.
Most of those cases, 59, have been in Lea County, 2 others have been identified in Eddy, and 1 in Chaves.
DOH Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Miranda Durham says they expect more cases to pop up in Do帽a Ana as confirmed diagnoses in neighboring El Paso have begun to rise.
Texas health officials confirmed 20 more cases of measles in its nearly 3-month-old outbreak Tuesday, alongside five new cases in New Mexico and six in central Ohio.
Last week, U.S. measles cases topped 700 as Indiana joined five others states with active outbreaks. Even as the virus continued to spread and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention redeployed a team to West Texas, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed in a televised Cabinet meeting Thursday that measles cases were plateauing nationally. The U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.
Texas is reporting the majority of measles cases. Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses near the epicenter of the outbreak in rural West Texas. An adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated also died of a measles-related illness.
Other states with active outbreaks 鈥� defined as three or more cases 鈥� include Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma and Ohio.
The multistate outbreak confirms health experts' fears that the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year. The World Health Organization has said cases in Mexico are linked to the Texas outbreak.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that's airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
Here's what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.
HOW MANY MEASLES CASES ARE THERE IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO?
Texas' outbreak began in late January. State health officials said Tuesday there were 20 new cases of measles since Friday, bringing the total to 561 across 23 counties 鈥� most of them in West Texas. Two more Texans were hospitalized, for a total of 58 throughout the outbreak, and Reeves County logged its first case.
State health officials estimated Tuesday that about 4% of cases 鈥� fewer than 25 鈥� are actively infectious.
Sixty-five percent of Texas' cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has logged 364 cases since late January 鈥� just over 1% of the county's residents.
The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Kennedy. Health officials in Texas said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of "what the child's doctor described as measles pulmonary failure." A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February 鈥� Kennedy said age 6.
New Mexico announced five new cases Tuesday, bringing the state's total to 63. Three more people are in the hospital, for a total of five since the outbreak started. Don虄a Ana County reported its first case. Most of the state's cases are in Lea County. Two are in Eddy County and one in Chaves County.
State health officials say the cases are linked to Texas' outbreak based on genetic testing. New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult on March 6.
HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN KANSAS?
Kansas has 32 cases in eight counties in the southwest part of the state, health officials announced Wednesday. Two of the counties, Finney and Ford, are new on the list and are major population centers in that part of the state. Haskell County has the most with eight cases, Stevens County has seven, Kiowa County has six, and the rest have five or fewer.
The state's first reported case, identified in Stevens County on March 13, is linked to the Texas and New Mexico outbreaks based on genetic testing, a state health department spokesperson said. But health officials have not determined how the person was exposed.
HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN OKLAHOMA?
Cases in Oklahoma remained steady at 12 total cases Tuesday: nine confirmed and three probable. The first two probable cases were "associated" with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks, the state health department said.
A state health department spokesperson said measles exposures were confirmed in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Rogers and Custer counties, but wouldn't say which counties had cases.
HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN OHIO?
The Knox County outbreak in east-central Ohio has infected a total 20 people as of Tuesday, according to a news release from the county health department, but seven of them do not live in Ohio. In 2022, a measles outbreak in central Ohio sickened 85.
The Ohio Department of Health confirmed 20 measles cases in the state last week: 11 in Ashtabula County near Cleveland, seven in Knox County and one each in Allen and Holmes counties. The state updates its count on Thursdays, and it only includes Ohio residents.
The outbreak in Ashtabula County started with an unvaccinated adult who had interacted with someone who had traveled internationally.
How many cases are there in Indiana?
Indiana confirmed six connected cases of measles in Allen County in the northeast part of the state 鈥� four are unvaccinated minors and two are adults whose vaccination status is unknown.
The cases have no known link to other outbreaks, the Allen County Department of Health said Wednesday. The first case was confirmed Monday.
WHERE ELSE IS MEASLES SHOWING UP IN THE U.S.?
Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an outbreak as three or more related cases. The agency counted seven clusters that qualified as outbreaks in 2025 as of Friday.
In the U.S., cases and outbreaks are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. It can then spread, especially in communities with low vaccination rates. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles. So far in 2025, the CDC's count is 712.
DO YOU NEED AN MMR BOOSTER?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
People at high risk for infection who got the shots many years ago may want to consider getting a booster if they live in an area with an outbreak, said Scott Weaver with the Global Virus Network, an international coalition. Those may include family members living with someone who has measles or those especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases because of underlying medical conditions.
Adults with "presumptive evidence of immunity" generally don't need measles shots now, the CDC said. Criteria include written documentation of adequate vaccination earlier in life, lab confirmation of past infection or being born before 1957, when most people were likely to be infected naturally.
A doctor can order a lab test called an MMR titer to check your levels of measles antibodies, but experts don't always recommend it and health insurance plans may not cover it.
Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says.
People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don't need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from "killed" virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said. That also includes people who don't know which type they got.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF MEASLES?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
HOW CAN YOU TREAT MEASLES?
There's no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
WHY DO VACCINATION RATES MATTER?
In communities with high vaccination rates 鈥� above 95% 鈥� diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called "herd immunity."
But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.
The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.
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AP Science Writer Laura Ungar contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Records show Gene Hackman's wife researched symptoms of illness days before her death - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Authorities on Tuesday released a trove of records related to the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, including a lengthy investigation report detailing some of the last emails, phone calls and internet searches by Hackman's wife indicating that she had been scouring for information on flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques.
Betsy Arakawa died in February of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome 鈥� a rare, rodent-borne disease that can lead to a range of symptoms that include flu-like illness, headaches, dizziness and severe respiratory distress, investigators have said. Hackman is believed to have died about a week later of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer's disease.
The partially mummified remains of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found in their Santa Fe home Feb. 26, when maintenance and security workers showed up at the home and alerted police.
Photos, hours of footage and other documents were made public Tuesday after a recent court order that mandated any depictions of the deceased couple would be blocked from view. Authorities said additional records including dashboard camera footage could later be released.
The records had been restricted from release by an earlier, temporary court order. The Hackman estate and family members had sought to keep the records sealed to protect the family's privacy.
According to the lengthy investigation report, a review of Arakawa's computer showed she was actively researching medical conditions related to COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms between Feb. 8 and the morning of Feb. 12. The searches included questions about whether COVID-19 could cause dizziness or nosebleeds.
She also had mentioned in an email to her massage therapist that Hackman had woken up Feb. 11 with flu or cold-like symptoms but that a COVID-19 test was negative and she would have to reschedule her appointment for the next day "out of an abundance of caution."
Arakawa's search history also showed a query for a concierge medical service in Santa Fe the morning of Feb. 12. A review of her phone records by investigators showed she had a call with the service that lasted less than two minutes and missed a return call later that afternoon.
Investigators reviewed a call history to the home phone along with voicemails and security footage from stores that Arakawa had visited Feb. 11.
The redacted police body camera footage showed investigators working inside the home as they tried to piece together what had happened to the couple.
Investigators found one of the couple's dogs sitting in the bathroom near Arakawa's body. They then walked to the other side of the house, where Hackman was found dead.
"Two totally separate areas of the house," an officer comments.
"Mhm, it's strange," another responds.
The officers, worried about a possible gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning, opened doors and windows around the house. Subsequent testing showed there were no leaks.
The footage showed them going through rooms of the home and finding nothing out of the ordinary and no signs of forced entry, with the couple's art collection still adorning shelves and walls throughout. The investigators also can be seen counting cash that was found around the home and looking at the prescription medication on the bathroom counter as one of the couple's dog barked in the background.
An environmental assessment of the Hackman property by state health personnel found rodent feces in several outbuildings along with live traps on the property. There was no evidence of rodent activity inside the home.
Nestled among the pi帽on and juniper hills overlooking Santa Fe, the Hackman home is not unlike others in the area as mice are common within the surrounding landscape.
One of the couple's three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs were found alive. A state veterinary lab tied the dog's death to dehydration and starvation.
An attorney for the estate, Kurt Sommer, argued during a hearing last month that the couple had taken great pains to stay out of the public light during their lifetimes and that the right to control the use of their names and likenesses should extend to their estate in death.
The Associated Press, CBS News and CBS Studios intervened in the matter, saying in court filings that they would not disseminate images of the couple's bodies and would blur images to obscure them from other records.
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Associated Press writers Rio Yamat in Las Vegas and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.