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Las Cruces, New Mexico

Las Cruces ( "the crosses") is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the most populous city in both Doña Ana County and southern New Mexico. The Las Cruces metropolitan area had an estimated population of 213,849 in 2017. It is the principal city of a metropolitan statistical area which encompasses all of Doña Ana County and is part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces combined statistical area with a population of 1,088,420 making it the 56th largest combined statistical area in the United States.

Las Cruces is the economic and geographic center of the Mesilla Valley, the agricultural region on the floodplain of the Rio Grande which extends from Hatch to the west side of El Paso, Texas. Las Cruces is the home of New Mexico State University (NMSU), New Mexico's only land-grant university. The city's major employer is the federal government on nearby White Sands Test Facility and White Sands Missile Range. The Organ Mountains, 10 mi to the east, are dominant in the city's landscape, along with the Doña Ana Mountains, Robledo Mountains, and Picacho Peak. Las Cruces lies 225 mi south of Albuquerque, 42 mi northwest of El Paso, Texas and 41 mi north of the Mexican border at Sunland Park.

Spaceport America, which has corporate offices in Las Cruces, operates from 55 mi to the north; it has completed several successful crewed, sub-orbital flights. The city is also the headquarters for Virgin Galactic, the world's first company to offer sub-orbital spaceflights.

History
During the Mexican–American War, the Battle of El Bracito was fought nearby on Christmas Day, 1846. The settlement of Las Cruces was founded in 1849 when the US Army first surveyed the town, thus opening up the area for American settlement. The town was first surveyed as the result of the American acquisition of the land surrounding Las Cruces, which later became the New Mexico Territory. This land had been ceded to the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, which ended the Mexican-American War. The town was named "Las Cruces" after three crosses which were once located just north of the town.

Initially, Mesilla became the leading settlement of the area, with more than 2,000 residents in 1860, more than twice what Las Cruces had; at that time, Mesilla had a population primarily of Mexican descent. When the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway reached the area, the landowners of Mesilla refused to sell it the rights-of-way, and instead residents of Las Cruces donated the rights-of-way and land for a depot in Las Cruces. The first train reached Las Cruces in 1881. Las Cruces was not affected as strongly by the train as some other villages, as it was not a terminus or a crossroads, but the population did grow to 2,300 in the 1880s. Las Cruces was incorporated as a town in 1907. Pat Garrett is best known for his involvement in the Lincoln County War, but he also worked in Las Cruces on a famous case, the disappearance of Albert Jennings Fountain in 1896.

New Mexico State University was founded in 1888, and it has grown as Las Cruces has grown. The growth of Las Cruces has been attributed to the university, government jobs, and recent retirees. The establishment of White Sands Missile Range in 1944 and White Sands Test Facility in 1963 has been integral to population growth. Las Cruces is the nearest city to each, and they provide Las Cruces' workforce with many high-paying, stable, government jobs. In recent years, the influx of retirees from out of state has also increased Las Cruces' population.

In the 1960s Las Cruces undertook a large urban renewal project, intended to convert the old downtown into a modern city center. As part of this, St. Genevieve's Catholic Church, built in 1859, was razed to make way for a downtown pedestrian mall. The original covered walkways have been removed in favor of a more traditional main street thoroughfare.

On February 10, 1990, seven people were shot, four fatally, in the Las Cruces bowling alley massacre. The incident remains unsolved.

Geography
The approximate elevation of Las Cruces is 3908 ft above sea level.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 198.5 sqkm, of which 198.1 sqkm is land and 0.4 sqkm, or 0.18%, is water.

Las Cruces is the center of the Organ Caldera; the Doña Ana Mountains to the north and the Organ Mountains to the east are its margins. Its major eruption was 32 Ma.

Doña Ana County lies within the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion, and the vegetation surrounding the built portions of the city are typical of this setting; it includes creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), soaptree (Yucca elata), tarbush (Flourensia cernua), broom dalea (Psorothamnus scoparius), and various desert grasses such as tobosa (Hilaria mutica or Pleuraphis mutica) and black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda).

The Rio Grande bisects the Mesilla Valley and passes west of Las Cruces proper, supplying irrigation water for the intensive agriculture surrounding the city. However, since the institution of water rights, the Rio Grande fills its banks only when water is released from upstream dams, which before 2020 usually occurred at least from March to September. Drought conditions, exacerbated by climate change, mean that the Rio Grande experiences increasingly short or small flows. Prior to farming and ranching, desert shrub vegetation extended into the valley from the adjacent deserts, including extensive stands of tornillo (Prosopis pubescens) and catclaw acacia (Acacia greggii). Desert grasslands extend in large part between the edges of Las Cruces and the lower slopes of the nearby Organ and Robledo Mountains, where grasses and assorted shrubs and cacti dominate large areas of this mostly rangeland as well as the occasional large-lot subdivision housing.

The desert and desert grassland uplands surrounding both sides of the Mesilla Valley are often dissected with arroyos, dry streams that often carry water following heavy thunderstorms. These arroyos often contain scattered small trees, and they serve as wildlife corridors between Las Cruces' urban areas and adjacent deserts or mountains.

Cityscape

Unlike many cities its size, Las Cruces lacks a true central business district. This is because in the 1960s an urban-renewal project tore down a large part of the original downtown. Many chain stores and national restaurants are located in the rapidly developing east side. Las Cruces' shopping mall and a variety of retail stores and restaurants are located in this area.

However, the historic downtown of the city is the area around Main Street, a six-block stretch of which was closed off in 1973 to form a pedestrianized shopping area. The downtown mall has an extensive farmers market each Wednesday and Saturday morning, where a variety of foods and cultural items can be purchased from numerous small stands that are set up by local farmers, artists and craftspeople. This area also contains museums, businesses, restaurants, churches, art galleries and theaters, which add a great deal to the changing character of Las Cruces' historic downtown.

In August 2005, a master plan was adopted, the centerpiece of which was the restoration of narrow lanes of two-way traffic on this model portion of Main Street. Main Street was reopened to vehicular traffic in 2012.

In February 2013, Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima announced during his "State of the City" address that a 700 acre park in the area behind the Las Cruces Dam was under construction, in cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers. The area features trails through restored wetlands and serves as a major refuge for migratory birds and a key recreational area for the city.

Climate
Las Cruces has a cool desert climate (Köppen BWk). Winters alternate between colder and windier weather following trough and frontal passages, and warmer, sunnier periods; light freezes occur 69 nights on average. Spring months can be windy, particularly in the afternoons, sometimes causing periods of blowing dust and short-lived dust storms. Summers begin with the hottest weather of the year, with some extended periods of over 100 °F temperatures not uncommon, while the latter half of the summer sees increased humidity and frequent afternoon thunderstorms, with slightly lower daytime temperatures. Autumns feature decreasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation.

Precipitation is very light from October to June, with only occasional winter storm systems bringing any precipitation to the Las Cruces area. Most winter moisture is in the form of rain, though some light snowfalls happen most winters, usually enough to accumulate and stay on the ground for a few hours. Summer precipitation is often from heavy thunderstorms, especially from the late summer monsoon weather pattern. Since records began in 1892, the lowest temperature recorded at New Mexico State University has been −10 °F on January 11, 1962 – though only ten nights have ever fallen to or below 0 °F – and the highest 110 °F on June 28, 1994. The lowest maximum on record is 16 °F on January 28, 1948, and the highest minimum 83 °F on June 8, 2024. The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with 19.60 in, although 1905 with 17.09 in is the only other year to exceed 15 in. The only months to exceed 6 in have been September 1941 with 7.53 in and August 1935 with 7.41 in. The wettest single day has been August 30, 1935 with 6.49 in and the driest calendar year 1970 with 3.44 in.

2020 census
As of the 2020 census Las Cruces had a population of 111,385.

Estimates for 2019 say that Las Cruces had a population of 103,432. Its demographics were 32.5% Non-Hispanic White, 2.8% African American or Black, 1.4% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 2.9% Two or more races, 60.5% Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 39,925 households with an average household size of 2.51 people per household. Median household income was $43,022, and the percentage of people in poverty was 23.6%.

Census 2010 data
As of the 2010 census Las Cruces had a population of 97,618. The ethnic and racial makeup of the population was:
 * 56.8% Hispanic and Latino Americans (Hispanics may be of any race)
 * 34.3% Non-Hispanic White
 * 2.4% African American or Black
 * 1.7% Native Americans
 * 1.6% Asian
 * 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
 * 3.5% Two or more races

Census 2000 data
As of the census of 2000, there were 74,267 people, 29,184 households, and 18,123 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,425.7 PD/sqmi. There were 31,682 housing units at an average density of 608.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 69.0% White, 2.3% African American, 1.7% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 21.6% from other races, and 4.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 51.7% of the population.

There were 29,184 households, out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.3% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 27.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 16.0% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,375, and the median income for a family was $37,670. Males had a median income of $30,923 versus $21,759 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,704. About 17.2% of families and 23.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.7% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Major employers in Las Cruces are New Mexico State University, Las Cruces Public Schools, the City of Las Cruces, Memorial Medical Center, Walmart, MountainView Regional Medical Center, Doña Ana County, Doña Ana Community College, Addus HealthCare, and NASA.

Film and television shoots
Movies and TV series shot in Las Cruces include:
 * The 2018 film, The Mule, written, produced, directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood, filmed for 6 days in and around Las Cruces.
 * The 1964 pilot, Calhoun: County Agent, starring Jackie Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, was filmed in and around Las Cruces, but never aired. The process of writing and shooting the pilot is the subject of Merle Miller and Evan Rhodes's book Only You, Dick Daring!

Arts and culture
Most of Las Cruces's cultural events are held late in the calendar year.

Museums
The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum is state-operated and shows the history of farming and ranching in New Mexico. It is located just east of New Mexico State University.

The New Mexico State University Arthropod Museum and Collection contains approximately 500,000 arthropod specimens. The University Museum (Kent Hall) at New Mexico State University focuses on archeological and ethnographic collections and also has some history and natural science collections.

The Zuhl Museum (located in the Alumni and Visitors' Center) at New Mexico State University focuses on geologic collections, including the finest collection of petrified wood on display and a large fossil and mineral collection.

There are four city-owned museums. The Branigan Cultural Center examines local history through photographs, sculpture, paintings, and poetry. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Las Cruces Museum of Art offers art exhibits and classes. The Las Cruces Museum of Natural History makes science and natural history more accessible to the general public and has an emphasis on local animals and plants. The Las Cruces Railroad Museum is in the historic Santa Fe Railroad station. It exhibits the impact of the railroads on the local area.

Las Cruces Symphony
The Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra is an 80-member orchestra, conducted by Dr. Ming Luke. The orchestra consists of 47% students, 17% NMSU faculty, 20% other local musicians, and 16% professionals from outside Las Cruces. The venue of the orchestra is the NMSU Music Center Recital Hall. The orchestra received attention with the world premiere of Bill McGlaughlin's Remembering Icarus, a tribute to local radio pioneer Ralph Willis Goddard, performed by the LCSO on October 1, 2005. The performance was taped and broadcast nationally on NPR's Performance Today on December 9, 2005 and on July 4, 2007, on Performance Today and on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Points of interest
Several water tanks in Las Cruces have been painted with murals by Tony Pennock, including one at the intersection of Triviz Drive and Griggs Avenue. Multimedia artist group Keep Adding have a large mural titled Wave Nest on Picacho Avenue at the Lion's Park.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces.

Sports
Las Cruces is the home of Vado Speedway Park, a 3/8ths of a mile dirt track that host the annual Wild West Shootout.

At the university level, the New Mexico State Aggies compete in the Conference USA Division for men's and women's basketball, and as well for football. Aggies men's basketball has had a rich history of success. Between 2010 and 2019, the Aggies made the NCAA tournament eight times. The team also reached the Final Four of the tournament in 1970. The 2014-15 NMSU women's basketball team reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1988, when it won both the WAC regular season and tournament championships.

The Las Cruces Kings have been a long running semi-professional football team in the city.

Beginning in the 2010 season, the Las Cruces Vaqueros were the first ever professional sports team in Las Cruces. In the 2011 season the Vaqueros joined the Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs against the White Sands Pupfish, Roswell Invaders, Ruidoso Osos, Alpine Cowboys and Carlsbad Bats. The Vaqueros played in the Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs for the 2011–2013 seasons. The team returned for the 2015 season, but structural damage to their home ballpark in January 2016 forced them to sit out the 2016 season. They plan to return for the 2017 season.

Parks and recreation
Las Cruces operates 87 city parks, 18 tennis courts, and four golf courses. A list of parks, with facilities and maps, is available.

Las Cruces holds a Ciclovía, a citywide event featuring exercise and physical activities, on the last Sunday of each month at Meerscheidt Recreation Center.

The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum is a 47-acre (190,000 m2) interactive museum that chronicles the New Mexico's 3,000-year history of farming and ranching. The museum is part of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

Government
Las Cruces is a charter city (also called a home rule city) and has a council–manager form of government. The city council consists of six councillors and the mayor, who chairs the meetings. The mayor is elected at-large, and each of the city councilors represents one neighborhood district within the city. Each resident of Las Cruces is thus represented by the mayor and by one city councilor. The mayor and city council members serve staggered four-year terms. As of the 2024, the mayor is Eric Enriquez. Councilors are Cassie McLure, Dist. 1; Bill Mattiace, Dist. 2; Becki Graham, Dist. 3; Johana Bencomo, Dist. 4; Becky Corran, Dist. 5; Yvonne Flores, Dist. 6. Live and archived video of city council meetings are available anytime at Las Cruces, NM. In the November 2019 municipal election, Ranked Choice Voting was used for the first time.

Public schools
Public schools are in the Las Cruces Public School District, which covers the city of Las Cruces as well as White Sands Missile Range, the settlement of Doña Ana, and the town of Mesilla. The system has 26 elementary schools, nine middle schools, and six high schools. Of the high schools, Rio Grande Preparatory is an alternative high school.

There are four charter schools within the Las Cruces Public Schools. Alma d'arte is a high school with a focus on an integrated arts curriculum. Las Montañas is a charter high school that opened in fall 2007 and caters to at-risk students. New America High School offers schooling for young and older adults who want to go back to school for their diploma or GED. Academia Dolores Huerta Middle School is the only recognized dual language program in the state.

New Mexico School for the Deaf operates a preschool facility in Las Cruces.

High schools

 * Arrowhead Park Early College High School
 * Centennial High School
 * Las Cruces High School
 * Mayfield High School
 * Organ Mountain High School
 * Alma d'arte Charter High School

Private schools
There are five private Christian schools in Las Cruces. College Heights Kindergarten is a private Christian kindergarten, founded in 1954. Desert Springs Christian Academy, Las Cruces Catholic Schools, Mesilla Valley Christian School, and a small independent Baptist school called Cornerstone Christian Academy are other Christian schools in the area.

A secular non-profit private school, Las Cruces Academy offers grades K-8 with plans to eventually enroll grades K–12.

University

New Mexico State University, or NMSU, is a land-grant university that has its main campus in Las Cruces. The school was founded in 1888 as Las Cruces College, an agricultural college, and in 1889 the school became New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. It received its present name, New Mexico State University, in 1960. The NMSU Las Cruces campus had approximately 18,500 students enrolled as of fall 2012, and had a faculty-to-student ratio of about 1 to 19. NMSU offers a wide range of programs and awards associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through its main campus and four community colleges. For 10 consecutive years, NMSU has been rated as one of America's 100 Best College Buys for offering "the very highest quality education at the lowest cost" by Institutional Research & Evaluation Inc., an independent research and consulting organization for higher education. NMSU is one of only two land-grant institutions classified as Hispanic-serving by the federal government. The university is home to New Mexico's NASA Space Grant Program and is one of 52 institutions in the United States to be designated a Space Grant College. During its most recent review by NASA, NMSU was one of only 12 space grant programs in the country to receive an excellent rating. The Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM), a private osteopathic medical school, opened on the campus of NMSU in 2013. The first class began instruction in August 2016.

Doña Ana Community College is a branch of New Mexico State University. When it first opened in 1973, it had 500 students in six programs. In the 2015–2016 school year, there were 4,997 full-time equivalent credit enrollments and 4,246 non-credit students, served by 136 full-time faculty, 401 part-time instructors, together with 225 full-time staff and 55 part-time staff.

DACC operates centers in Anthony, Sunland Park, Chaparral, and White Sands Missile Range. In Las Cruces, its central campus is at 3400 S. Espina Street, and its East Mesa campus is at 2800 Sonoma Ranch Boulevard. Community Education is available at all centers and campuses and also in Las Cruces at the Mesquite Neighborhood Learning Center at 804 N. Tornillo, and Workforce Center at 2345 E. Nevada Street.

Libraries
Thomas Branigan Memorial Library is the city's public library. It was constructed in 1979 and has a collection of about 185,000 items. The previous library building, also called Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, opened in 1935. That building is now the Branigan Cultural Center. and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The two university libraries at the New Mexico State University campus, Branson Library and Zuhl Library, are open to the public. Any New Mexico resident can check out items from these libraries.

Media
Las Cruces is part of the El Paso – Las Cruces Designated Market Area (DMA) as defined by Nielsen Media Research. The City of Las Cruces operates CLC-TV cable channel 20, an Emmy award-winning 24-hour Government-access television (GATV) and Educational-access television channel on Comcast cable TV in Las Cruces. CLC-TV televises live and recorded Las Cruces city council meetings, Doña Ana County commission meetings and Las Cruces School board meetings. The channel had previously televised City Beat, a monthly news magazine, hosted by Jennifer Martinez, with information directly related to the City of Las Cruces. The program is no longer available but segments can still be found on Youtube.com/Clctv20. Also available for viewing is health news and other government/education related programming, as well as current weather reports and road and traffic information. CLC-TV is not a Public-access television cable TV channel. In addition to a 2009 Emmy Award by the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, CLC-TV received a 1st and 3rd place award by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and five national Telly Awards, four platinum and one gold. Las Cruces Sun-News is a daily newspaper published in Las Cruces by Digital First Media. Las Cruces Bulletin is a weekly community newspaper published in Las Cruces by FIG Publications, LLC. It is tabloid size and covers local news, business, arts, sports, and homes. The Round Up is the student newspaper at New Mexico State University. It is tabloid size and published twice weekly. The Ink is a monthly tabloid published in Las Cruces, covering the arts and community events in southern New Mexico and west Texas.

Las Cruces has one television station, the PBS outlet KRWG-TV, operated by New Mexico State University. The Telemundo outlet KTDO is licensed in Las Cruces but serves El Paso. The city also receives several Albuquerque, El Paso, and Ciudad Juárez stations. Las Cruces is in Nielsen Media Research's El Paso/Las Cruces television media market.

Las Cruces has one local commercial independent cable television station called "The Las Cruces Channel" (LCC98). It can be seen on Comcast cable channel 98. LCC-98 is not a Public-access television channel. The channel airs programs that are produced locally in their studio facility and by outside producers.

There are approximately ten commercial radio stations in the Las Cruces area, running a variety of formats. Four of these stations are owned by Adams Radio Group and four are owned by Bravo Mic Communications, LLC, a Las Cruces company. The local NPR outlet is KRWG-FM, operated by New Mexico State University. NMSU also operates a college radio station, KRUX. KRUC is a Spanish-language station in Las Cruces. Many El Paso stations are received in Las Cruces. See list of radio stations in New Mexico for a complete list of stations. Las Cruces is in Arbitron's Las Cruces media market.

Airports

 * Las Cruces International Airport – No current regularly scheduled commercial passenger flights since July 25, 2005, when Westward Airways ceased operations. General aviation, New Mexico Army National Guard (4 UH-72 Lakota Helicopters), private charters and CAP use the airport, among others.
 * El Paso International Airport – Nearest airport with regularly scheduled commercial flights.

Major highways

 * Interstate 10, east–west travel: south-southeast to El Paso, Texas; west to Tucson, Arizona.
 * Interstate 25, north–south travel: north to Albuquerque. Las Cruces is the southern terminus for Interstate 25 where it intersects Interstate 10.
 * U.S. Route 70, east–west travel: northeast to Alamogordo; to the west it is merged with Interstate 10.
 * U.S. Route 180

Rail
Las Cruces is served by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, via a freight service line that extends from Belen, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas. Passenger service on this line was discontinued in 1968, due to low ridership numbers on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway's (predecessor to the BNSF) El Pasoan train.

Bus transit
The city operates a small transit authority known as RoadRUNNER Transit. RoadRUNNER Transit operates a total of eight routes, and two Aggie routes running Mondays through Saturdays.

NMDOT Park and Ride's Gold Route connects Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas Monday through Friday during commute hours. The Silver Route connects Las Cruces to White Sands Missile Range.

Ztrans connects Las Cruces with Alamogordo.

Greyhound's Las Cruces stop is located in the nearby unincorporated community of Doña Ana. Buses departing Las Cruces serve El Paso, Amarillo, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Utilities
The city of Las Cruces provides water, sewer, natural gas, and solid waste services, including recycling centers. El Paso Electric is the electricity provider, CenturyLink is the telephone land line provider, and Comcast is the cable TV provider.

Hospitals
Memorial Medical Center is a for-profit general hospital operated by LifePoint Hospitals Inc. The physical plant is owned by the City of Las Cruces and the County of Doña Ana, who signed a 40-year, $150 million lease in 2004 with Province HealthCare, since absorbed into LifePoint. Prior to 2004 it was leased to and operated by the nonprofit Memorial Medical Center Inc. The hospital is a licensed 286-bed acute care facility and is accredited by JCAHO. It offers a wide range of patient services. The University of New Mexico Cancer Center-South opened in 2006 on the MMC campus. It is 5300 sqft and has 9 exam rooms.

The original facility was called Memorial General Hospital and was opened in April 1950 at South Alameda Boulevard and Lohman Avenue after the city obtained a $250,000 federal grant. In 1971 the city and county joined to build a new hospital on South Telshor Boulevard. In 1990 it was renamed Memorial Medical Center.

MountainView Regional Medical Center is a for-profit general hospital operated by Community Health Systems (formerly Triad Hospitals). It opened for business in August 2002. It is a 168-bed facility with a wide range of patient services.

Mesilla Valley Hospital is a 125-bed private psychiatric hospital operated by Universal Health Services. It is an acute inpatient and residential facility offering a variety of treatments for behavioral health issues.

Rehabilitation Hospital of Southern New Mexico is a 40-bed rehabilitative care hospital, operated by Ernest Health Inc. It opened January 2005. It treats patients after they have been cared for at general hospitals for injuries or strokes.

Advanced Care Hospital of Southern New Mexico is a 20-bed long-term acute care facility operated by Ernest Health Inc. It opened in July 2007.

Notable people

 * Richard Artschwager (1923-2013), painter and sculptor, grew up in Las Cruces
 * Anwar al-Awlaki (1971-2011), Alleged Al-Qaeda spokesman and regional leader, born in Las Cruces; killed by the U.S. government in 2011 for his alleged propaganda on behalf of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
 * Barnard Elliott Bee, Jr., career U.S. Army officer and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War; spent six years in Las Cruces prior to the war
 * Rich Beem, professional golfer who played high school and college golf at Las Cruces High School and New Mexico State University; winner of the 2002 PGA Championship
 * Joseph Benavidez, Mexican-American mixed martial arts fighter
 * Baxter Black, cowboy, poet, philosopher, former large-animal veterinarian, and radio commentator, who grew up in Las Cruces and attended New Mexico State University
 * Frank Borman, NASA astronaut and engineer, has a home and auto dealership in Las Cruces. Known for Gemini VII, a nearly 14 day low Earth orbital mission (1965) and Apollo 8, the first humans to leave low Earth orbit, reach and orbit the Moon, and return safely (1968)
 * William Bowers, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, born in Las Cruces
 * Randy Brown, professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls while winning three NBA titles during 1996–98; previously played at New Mexico State University
 * Pamela Burford, novelist, born in Las Cruces
 * Edgar Castillo, Mexican-American association football player
 * Denise Chávez, author, playwright, and stage director
 * Steve Colter, professional basketball player in the NBA, played at New Mexico State University
 * John A.D. Cooper, physician and educator, first president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, grew up in Las Cruces
 * Sharon Douglas, actress, attended Las Cruces Union High School
 * Doug Eddings, Major League umpire, lives in Las Cruces
 * Albert Fall, U.S. Senator from New Mexico and U.S. Secretary of the Interior
 * Richard Farrer, South African–American soccer player, grew up in Las Cruces
 * Albert Jennings Fountain, lawyer, Indian fighter, and Republican politician in Texas and New Mexico whose disappearance remains a mystery
 * Chuck Franco, First Gentleman of New Mexico
 * Pat Garrett, Old West lawman who killed Billy the Kid
 * Mimi Reisel Gladstein, professor of English and Theatre Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso, specialist on authors Ayn Rand and John Steinbeck
 * Lou Henson, basketball coach who coached New Mexico State University and University of Illinois teams to the Final Four
 * Po James, running back who played four seasons for NFL's Philadelphia Eagles; played collegiately at New Mexico State University
 * Albert Johnson, first black mayor in New Mexico
 * Charley Johnson, NFL quarterback, professor of chemical engineering at his alma mater, New Mexico State University, resides in Las Cruces
 * Paul Wilbur Klipsch, engineer and high fidelity audio pioneer, known for developing the high-efficiency folded horn loudspeaker; graduated from New Mexico State University
 * Timothy Kraft, political consultant, 1980 campaign manager for Jimmy Carter, retired in Las Cruces
 * Kiki Lara, soccer player, born in Las Cruces
 * Delano Lewis, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, president and CEO of National Public Radio, resides in Las Cruces
 * Kerry Locklin, football coach, most recently defensive line coach for NFL's New York Jets
 * Mireille Marokvia, French writer best known for two books about her ordeals during World War II in Nazi Germany; lived in Las Cruces later in life until her death in 2008
 * Mark Medoff, Tony Award-winning playwright of Children of a Lesser God
 * Rose Marie Pangborn, scientist, pioneer in the sensory analysis of food, born in Las Cruces
 * J. R. Patton, racing driver, born in Las Cruces
 * Bertha M. Paxton, first woman elected to the New Mexico Legislature
 * Lenny Pickett, the saxophonist and musical director of the Saturday Night Live band was born in Las Cruces
 * Buck Pierce, professional Canadian football quarterback who played for New Mexico State University; lives in Las Cruces during the off-season
 * Bashir Ramzy, long jumper in track and field, won a bronze medal in the 2007 Pan American Games; born in Las Cruces
 * Patricia Ryan, writer of romance, mystery and erotic novels; born in Las Cruces
 * Mai Shanley, Miss USA 1984
 * Tom Smith, playwright and director, teaches at New Mexico State University, resides in Las Cruces
 * Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer, discovered Pluto, lived in Las Cruces until his death in 1997
 * Austin Trout, former WBA light-middleweight champion of the world, was born and fights out of Las Cruces
 * Prentiss Walker, member of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi, lived part of his childhood in Las Cruces
 * Cora Witherspoon, stage and screen character actress, Las Cruces resident along with her sister, Maud Witherspoon
 * Fredd Young, four-time Pro Bowl football player for the Seattle Seahawks and the Indianapolis Colts; played for New Mexico State, lives in Las Cruces

Sister cities

 * 🇲🇽 Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, Mexico
 * 🇩🇪 Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Germany

Las Cruces Sister Cities Foundation is responsible for overseeing sister cities activities on behalf of the citizens of Las Cruces. The Foundation was created in 1989 to officially recognize a relationship that began in 1982 with exchanges between Dona Ana Community College and the Centro de Bachilleratio Technológico Industrial y de Servicios Numero 4 of Lerdo, Durango, Mexico. In 1993, a second partnership was established with Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Germany which grew from a school exchange between Mayfield High School and Albert Schweitzer School (Nienburg).

title: Las Cruces, New Mexico


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Talk:Poppy Z. Brite

Gothic rock
68.38.52.3, please don't just add "Gothic rock" to horror authors' articles without some explanation as to the connection. -- Zoe 22:48, 22 October 2002

Drawing Blood
In regards to this edit: "When a man burnt himself to death in a California post office, several copies of a signed, limited edition of Brite's novel Drawing Blood were saturated with the smell of burnt flesh. They were sold by a book dealer as collectibles."

How about citing this?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.35.147.198 (talk)  14:12, 19 September 2005

This was again removed twice today, once without comment, and once with the comment "Man set himself on fire" story and quote neither accurate nor germane." The information comes from the Associated Press story linked to in the paragraph.  If this AP story is inaccurate, please provide a source for this and correct the paragraph.  As for its relevance, that's a matter of opinion, and obviously I feel it is relevant.  However, in my most recent edit I have moved it to a newly created "trivia" section in an attempt to forge a compromise.  Hopefully, de-emphasizing this material by placing it in this section farther down the article will be satisfactory to those who wish to remove it altogether. Gamaliel 23:03, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I think at the very least you should cite the direct source as well as the claimed indirect source. The direct source is the Arizona Daily Wildcat, which appears to be the student newspaper of the University of Arizona.  They give an AP credit.  Does that mean the words or information are wholly the Associated Press'?  Anyway, I'm going to search for further supporting evidence, if any is available.

 * Perhaps the user removing it thinks it is given too much prominence next to the rest of the article, which point I can kind of see. Perhaps this would work better as a trivia item in the book's article, rather than the author's? —Morven 00:04, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Google searches located a couple of retellings of this story, with several different claimed Brite quotes. Direct interview texts, however, showed only Brite saying she 'declined to disapprove' of the sale.

It's entirely possible that the supposed Brite quotes in the Arizona Daily Wildcat article and other places were made up or severely out of context.

That said, it's a very minor incident and when placed in this article plays it out of proportion, I feel. —Morven 00:13, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

I'd also like to remind User:Gamaliel and User:Pzbrite about WP:3RR, given that they have each reverted twice today. —Morven 00:19, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Huh??
How is Brite transgendered or transexual, exactly? She hasn't had any surgery, nor does she dress as the opposite sex. I'll remove the category unless someone objects. --207.6.31.119 (talk) 09:46, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
 * She isn't transgendered or a transexual--she "identifies" as a gay man. She has written at length about this on her site here, which really should be added to the External Links portion. I'm not sure why you would want to remove anything. Lady 3Jane 15:04, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * In her journal she's refered to herself as a non-op transgenderAndral 09:08, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think PZB should be allowed to edit her own Wikipedia page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.76.218.46 (talk) 08:47, 25 July 2007

 * I edit this page only to correct factual errors, update my bibliography, add factual information about my work, and (very occasionally) remove libelous material. While I realize Wikipedia isn't a vanity site, I did not create this page, I'm not aware of any Wikipedia rule preventing public figures from editing their own pages, and I'm not sure why you would want to stop me given that I have more up-to-date knowledge of my own career than most contributors. User:pzbrite 20:29, 5 August 2007

 * I find it both highly innacurate (and offensive) that ms. Brite should present herself as a transsexual man. She has never transitioned and apparently does not wish to do so at any time in the future; nor does she attempt to live as a man in any way. A non-op transsexual person is someone who doesn't have genital surgery for any reason (either of their own volition or practical issues), but still transitions, medically (i.e. hormone therapy, chest or other surgeries), legally and socially. It's not so much questioning her own self-identification (though I find it puzzling that you can have a deep-grained identity that does not show in your social self at all, but I might be not understanding ms. Brite's perspective), it's that she is not socially or politically (or indeed semantically) a transsexual. She's never been through the pains of transition, discrimination, loneliness, all the medical, social and legal issues that all transsexual persons have to go through in any part of the world, even if they are lucky enough to have a receptive and friendly environment. No, she's by far more comfy in her life than many, many, of us are. Being a transsexual woman myself, I find it too close to the idea of slumming for comfort. Perhaps she can call herself transgender (which is very much an indefined word), but I believe we should not be using transsexual in any way when referring to her. I think the article should be edited in order to make that very clear. 87.196.223.224 (talk) 16:31, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

 * Done that myself. No transsexuality here, sorry - we wouldn't class ms. Brite in aviation if she identified as a plane. No criteria at all are met. Transgender might be accurate in some way (but then again, most folk may well disagree), kept that. Also did away with some of the flowery language and context-less 'factoids'. 87.196.137.144 (talk) 03:17, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

 * Please, feel free to discuss objections here, otherwise we'll be stuck in revert war. Ok, guys? 87.196.190.68 (talk) 03:56, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

 * The edits to the article, prefixing Being biologically and having been assigned female at birth, and suffixing even though she has never transitioned or undergone either hormone therapy, surgeries or any other procedures, beside not presenting herself nor attempting to live as a man, are defended by anonymous IP numbers whose sole edit history is WP article Poppy Z. Brite to express the POV that a gender dysphoric must (a) dress and act, and (b) undergo body modification (surgery and/or hormone therapy), as a gender-normative stereotype of the opposite of their biological sex, to be accepted as genuine.

 * I think my edits are NPOV. "Sympathetic"? Perhaps to an unsympathetic rigidly doctrinaire POV. This is the page about "Poppy Z. Brite" author, not a transgender politics soapbox. The gender dysphoria of PzB is a sidebar.

 * Being biologically and having been assigned female at birth, is not proper king's or queen's English. The previously mentioned fact that PzB's parents named PzB "Melissa Ann" makes having been assigned female at birth redundant.

 * even though she has never transitioned or undergone either hormone therapy, surgeries or any other procedures, beside not presenting herself nor attempting to live as a man. is a redundant re-statement of points that were previously made in she self-identifies almost completely as male, however makes no attempt to dress or appear male and does not expect to be referred to as "he".

 * The original pre-war "she said she self-identifies" is also redundant (if "she self-identifies" then "she said" it). Female is biological (PzB could not be geologically female) so "born female" is sufficient. The pre-war source for the "nonoperative transsexual" label does not indicate PzB applied it to herself; if one follows the link and reads, the cited source indicates that the label is used by a third-party gender theorist and PzB wrote she is not comfortable with such labels.

 * Born female, Brite has written and talked much about her gender dysphoria/gender identity issues.(ref)Poppy Z. Brite, "Enough Rope", in Crossing the Border: Tales of Erotic Ambiguity, edited by Lisa Tuttle, Indigo Books, 1998.(/ref) She self-identifies with gay males but makes no attempt to dress or appear male and does not expect to be referred to as "he". Brite has written that, while gender theorists like Kate Bornstein would call her a "nonoperative transsexual", Brite herself would not insist on a pedantic label, writing "I'm just me".(ref name="gender")See Brite's LiveJournal, especially the August 22, 2003 entry(/ref)

 * -- Naaman Brown (talk) 14:41, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Headings + Template
I've added some section headings and sub-section headings in an attempt to try to make the article appear more encyclopdic. I also created a template for the article. When the dead links get filled out it will look really nice. I would fill them out myself, but I have not read anything by her since "Exquisite Corpse" (which, IMO, wasn't that good). Tschuess, Na uf ana  :  talk  05:19, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Attention: Poppy Z. Brite
You are one of my favorite authors and, as a writer myself, one of my major influences. I noticed in the History page of your entry here that you have been editing it yourself. I've checked over the entry and found nothing really wrong with your edits--so I am assuming that you're not out to make yourself look better or anything. In any case, I request that you please stop editing your own entry. I request this because, not counting the few bad apples that vandalize articles, the majority of users here on Wikipedia aim to create and maintain factual, balanced, and non-biased entries. You editing an entry on yourself makes it unbalanced and biased because, well, your editing an entry about yourself. This makes wikipedia users such as I leery.

If there is something unaddressed, or if you believe that something is false, please address it on your official website and/or provide a link to an interview or site with the info. That way, us wikipedians can put it in the entry and have a citation for it.

Thank you for your cooperation. And if you ever get the urge to edit your entry again, please refer to this wiki article about the Stephen Colbert and think about the consiquences of your actions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colbert_Report#Wikipedia_references

Yours Truly, Rimbaud 2 (talk) 17:43, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Rimbaud, as I asked below (and I don't feel I have yet received a definitive answer): Are people forbidden to edit their own entries, or are they merely "strongly discouraged" from doing so? In other words, is this an order from an administrator couched in polite terms, or are you truly just requesting that I stop editing my entry? If the latter, I will continue editing the entry as I see fit, since I don't think the reasons for this policy are sensible or valid. If the former, then I will honor Wikipedia's rules and stop contributing to the entry.

I'm obviously dense, but I have no idea what point you were trying to make with the Colbert link.

Best -- Pzbrite — Preceding undated comment added 22:04, 15 July 2008

To the resident Doc. Brite, I think that what Rimbaud 2 is trying to say with that Colbert link is: someone editing their own wikipedia page could be purposefully writing with a biased slant, so as to give the impression of being "bigger" and "better" than reality (although I don't see any traces of this happening in your article, so in reality, there's no problem with it). The Colbert page mentions, among a million other things, "...where corporations are allowed to act out their fantasies online by editing their own Wikipedia entries." And if you consider yourself a corporation, then it almost applies. NEON CONDITION (talk) 06:19, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Autobiography issues
Ms. Brite, please see WP:Auto for why people are highly discouraged from writing or editing on their own biography. Additionally, suggesting that you will use another handle to edit on wikipedia, suggests you are attempting to ignore those recommendation and use deception to continue with your actions.--155.33.245.158 (talk) 20:23, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I do have another Wikipedia account, if you want to get cloak-and-dagger about it: I am also ThomasFowler. However, as you can see, I have never used that account to edit my entry, nor did I create it with the intention of doing so. I created it because I don't like the stupid baggage that sometimes surrounds my real name (as in this discussion). I did not suggest that I would edit my entry under another name, and I don't appreciate being accused of deception. Though you seem to have missed it, I said I would no longer be editing my entry. I simply pointed out that if I had made the exact same edits to my entry under the pseudonym "Joe Blow," presumably no one would have noticed or cared.

Please clarify this policy: Are people forbidden to edit their own entries, or are they merely "strongly discouraged" from doing so? If the latter, I will continue editing the entry as I see fit, since I don't think the reasons for this "strong discouraging" are sensible or valid. If the former, then I will honor Wikipedia's rules and stop contributing to the entry. Pzbrite —Preceding comment was added at 20:57, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

 * Having looked at the policy page, whatever gets posted here, whether it's you or someone else, needs to be cited to sources other than yourself. If what you put on here meets that standard, then that's fine.--155.33.245.158 (talk) 21:04, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

OK, I removed the paragraph I wrote about my use of recurring characters. (Obviously, if Wikipedia admin disagrees with this, they can restore it.) As best I can recall, this is the only time I have contributed anything to the entry other than small factual corrections (e.g. misspelled titles), bibliography updates, and removal of vandalism. I looked at the WP:Auto page and would like to address a few of the points:

 * They are often biased, usually positively. People will write overly positively about themselves, and often present opinions as facts. Wikipedia aims to avoid presenting opinions as facts. (Neutral point of view does not mean simply writing in the third person).

I believe I have removed my only contribution that could be seen as "positively biased" (see above).

 * They can be unverifiable. If the only source for a particular fact about you is you yourself, then readers cannot verify it. (One common area where this is the case is with hopes, dreams, thoughts, and aspirations. There is no way for readers to verify what you think.) Everything in Wikipedia articles must be verifiable.

When I add an item to the bibliography, it is obviously verifiable, given that the new book exists and can be found on Amazon, etc.

 * They can contain original research. People often include in autobiographies information that has never been published before, or which is the result of firsthand knowledge. This type of information would require readers to perform primary research in order to verify it. Wikipedia is not a publisher of first instance; original research is not permitted in Wikipedia.

I do not believe I have posted any information to which this applies. As I say, I've removed the only instance in which I may have done so (though the fact that I use recurring characters is certainly verifiable), and will not do so in future.

Unless expressly forbidden to do so, I will continue to update the entry's bibliography, correct factual errors, and either remove vandalism or report it to Wikipedia administration. Pzbrite —Preceding comment was added at 21:14, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

 * I don't mean to step into a more or less dead conversation that doesn't directly concern me but I would like to point out that I tend to stop by the article's history page from time to time to check out the ongoing editing process. I started doing this because Poppy Z. Brite appeared to be editing her own article and I wanted to see if she were adding superfluous praise for herself, which is something I've seen several (mostly musical) artists do. My two cents to this discussion is that user:PZBrite has not edited this article in an unethical manner. Really the user has not really edited the article that much at all. To the Anon who began this discussion I would ask you to do some research before posting inflammatory comments. Finally, something that really bothers me is how users tend to cling to essays and guidelines as if they were laws given from on high. To be clear, as far as I know, only policies are truly enforceable. Guidelines and essays are just opinions and while they ought to be followed it is neither compulsory nor necessary to do so. That's just my personal opinion. Na uf ana  :  talk  04:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

On Editing My Own Entry
After yesterday's tempest in a teapot, I've gone over Wikipedia's guidelines and cannot find anything prohibiting the sort of basic information I've been adding to or correcting in this entry. I've also been advised by a senior Wikipedia administrator that I have done nothing to violate policy. Thus, I don't think Rimbaud 2's "request" is valid, and unless Wikipedia decides to ban me to prevent me from doing so, I will continue editing my entry when and as I wish. pzbrite —Preceding comment was added at 18:19, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Pronouns?
This article uses 'she' to refer to the subject early on, and 'he' for the rest of the article. That seems unsatisfactory to me; our policy with transgendered and transsexual people, as I understand it, is to use one pronoun and be consistent throughout the article, or else use none at all (which tends to look rather awkward). The key question is 'what does the subject of the article prefer?'. I'm not familiar with this person, but could someone who is find out how they prefer to be referred to, and change the article accordingly? Robofish (talk) 17:58, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Reading Brite's LiveJournal (specifically, the entry cited in the source) she seems to be genderqueer in a true sense of that word, addressing the pronoun question directly and saying that, although she doesn't identify as female, she doesn't expect people to use the pronoun 'he,' and is in fact a little irritated by being called 'he.' I'm a big advocate for the manual of style and using the pronouns people use to identify themselves, but reading Brite's own words, I think that 'she' is the correct pronoun in this article- it would be nice if English had a gender-neutral personal pronoun, but since it doesn't, and since eliminating all the personal pronouns from the article leads to unnecessary grammatical awkwardness, I'm going to switch the pronouns back to 'she,' which appears to be what Brite prefers.  If anyone else has a better source that indicates I'm reading her preference incorrectly, I'm open to that.   -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:24, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Actually, I'm going to hold off on making that change; I see some indication that Brite's position has changed since writing that in 2003, and that in 2010 he began the process of gender reassignment, but I'm only finding other people's blogs as sources. Does anyone know if he's written about this?  -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:29, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Found it. I feel like I'm carrying on a conversation with myself as I search and find things... :)  Brite says that yes, Brite is in the early stages of FTM transition, and no, Brite does not know whether Brite will be having surgery or not for financial reasons, and Brite does not care what pronouns people use, as Brite is a relaxed, easygoing person who knows that Brite doesn't look recognizably male at this time.  On a personal level, I find that I like Brite for Brite's attitude for this.  I'm going to react at this time by taking no action at all, leaving the pronouns male, and not worrying about it.  'He,' 'She,' or 'Zie,' I am just glad I have books about Rickey and G-Man to take the edge off of rotten days.  -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:37, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * In this tweet (05:56, 9 May 2011 (UTC)) Brite says: "Remember I said I'd let people know when I became uncomfortable with female pronouns? I'm there. I'd prefer the standard male ones, please." Beenabadbunny (talk) 09:25, 9 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Works for me. Nice to have a clear idea of what he prefers, and the article should be adjusted accordingly. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 20:55, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

I suggest moving the section on Personal History above the information on her writing. This might clarify the use of male pronouns, which could be surprising in an article about someone with a female name. The photo is also very old, and shows Poppy looking very different from the way he currently looks. It would be great to get permission to use a more recent one. Totorotroll (talk) 19:15, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

 * Okay, I see that all the male pronouns have been changed to female. A shame that this discussion hasn't been read beforehand. Totorotroll (talk) 08:26, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

 * I changed them all to male and someone reverted them to female again. This is incorrect. Brite identifies as male and male pronouns should be used throughout. rosefox (talk) 18:41, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Name
According to his LiveJournal, the subject of this page is now called Billy Martin. If this is the case, shouldn't his Wikipedia article be changed to reflect this? --217.28.10.31 (talk) 07:44, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, it should. He also notes in his Etsy store that this is the name he uses, but that his works are under the name Poppy Z Brite. As such, I'm going to be bold and will modify the page to reflect this, and move it to Billy Martin (author), leaving a redirect from the former page. I understand that the move may be contested, but I believe this to be appropriate, and this issue has been dormant for a long time. Regardless of the article name, it is certain that the subject should be referred within it as Billy Martin. --Poppy Appletree (talk) 13:14, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Actually, I think I'll leave the article name as it is. That's the name he's most known by, and he seems to treat it as his nom de plume, so it seems appropriate enough. Potentially, we could also refer to him as Brite in the literary history name, with a note at the start of that section picking up from the comment in the lead that it's his professional name. --Poppy Appletree (talk) 13:36, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

The "he" pronoun
If I prefer to be referred to as a duck, does that make me a duck? And if I prefer to be referred to as "lord and master of all time and space", should an encyclopedia comply with my wish? 66.66.149.221 (talk) 15:14, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
 * You may disagree, but Wikipedia has firm policies on how to refer to trans people. See the box at the top of this talk page, and MOS:IDENTITY. Robofish (talk) 16:32, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Photo
I think it is high time that the photo be replaced with a more recent image. Totorotroll (talk) 17:18, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Cat shelter
I think the detail of the cat shelter is a relevant part of his life. Large portions of his blog deal with day to day life among the cats and so on. Totorotroll (talk) 08:22, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

Contradiction regarding birthplace
I would like to point out something I noticed. In the infobox it says that he was born in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky. But in the body of the article it says he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Would somebody verify the facts and correct this? Please and thank you. (Mike, a Wikipedia reader) 2602:304:CCED:BFC9:649F:3F32:AA43:7FB1 (talk) 13:42, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

 * Poppy Z Brite's website says he was born in New Orleans. Birthplace in infobox was changed to Bowling Green..., Kentucky on Dec 30 by 174.21.144.58, with the "ref" of warrencounty.state.ky.us added by another IP. But that ky.us ref is either DOWN or doesn't exist. (that subdomain of ky.us is also down {or doesn't exist} according to isitdownrightnow.com) --EarthFurst (talk) 11:41, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

 * So yeah the editor was saying that public records show he was just making the New Orleans thing up... we need a reliable secondary source for this, but WP:BLP probably says something about what to do in the meantime! ‑‑ Yodin T 18:07, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Categories inconsistencies
I noticed that in the Categories for this article, these categories are listed:

American women novelists 20th-century women writers 21st-century women writers American male novelists Women science fiction and fantasy writers

Does it make sense to leave in the ones that identify Martin as a woman writer, when he is obviously not a woman? Doesn't this go against MOS:GENDERID and MOS:IDENTITY guidelines? It's very confusing that there are multiple categories listing him as a gay male writer, a male writer in general, a transgender writer, and then also several for female writer... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.19.112.126 (talk) 11:11, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

Add information about Brite's work?
Quite a few years ago, there was a debate about whether Brite should edit her own article, even through her edits seemed to concern factual (and verifiable) information only, and did not seem to depart from neutrality.

As a concession, Brite removed the one passage she conceded *could* appear non-neutral, although she didn't believe it was in fact non-neutral. (She correctly pointed out that editing one's own article is not forbidden.)

Well, I also believe the passage is neutral, and could be useful information for those interested in her work, and I wonder if it would solve the neutrality problem if it were added by someone else.

Here is the passage in question:

 * One interesting and popular aspect of Brite's work is her use of recurring characters in works that are not necessarily "series" or "sequels": the friends/bandmates Steve and Ghost and the residents who interact with them in the fictional town of Missing Mile, North Carolina (Lost Souls, "Angels", "How to Get Ahead in New York", "America", "The Rest of the Wrong Thing"); her fluidly gendered alter ego Dr. Brite, the coroner of New Orleans ("Monday's Special", "O Death, Where Is Thy Spatula?", "Marisol", "Crown of Thorns," "Wound Man and Horned Melon Go to Hell"); and most recently longtime companions/chefs Rickey and G-man (The Value of X, Liquor, Prime, Soul Kitchen, D*U*C*K, numerous short stories). About her fondness for revisiting characters, Brite has said, "If I really get obsessed with a character or set of characters, it's usually not enough for me to write about them once; I like to revisit them over the course of time, at different periods in their lives, learning new things about them, getting to know them better and better over the course of several stories." Of her various recurring characters, Brite has stated that she is finished writing about Steve and Ghost and suspects she may be done with Dr. Brite as well. She plans to continue writing about Rickey, G-man, and the Stubbs family.

(I have just regularized the inconsistent placement of commas and closing quotation marks around story titles.)

Would this passage be acceptable if reinstated by someone other than the subject of the article? If I get an affirmative answer or two, I will go ahead and do it - or possibly, if I get no response, I may "be bold" and do it anyway - I'll think about that.

Thank you. M.J.E. (talk) 10:02, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Have these comments by Brite been published by a reliable, secondary source that can be cited? I would omit the forward-looking final two statements as mere conjecture WP:CBALL, especially now that we have the section on Brite's retirement. You might also have a problem with the claim that this aspect of Brite's work is "interesting and popular", unless you can tell the reader who finds it interesting and popular, and how that opinion is relevant. Jack N. Stock (talk) 12:07, 21 September 2019 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Poppy Z. Brite


text:
Talk:Super

A dictionary definition. Can this be an article? Otherwise, delete. -- Sam

 * I agree, I've added it to Votes for deletion. --Camembert 00:16 Oct 26, 2002 (UTC)

 * I'd love it if it could become more; but I can't see it! -- Sam

What do you think of it now, Sam and Cam? Ortolan88

 * Yep, it's shaping up very nicely, thanks to you and others. I didn't want to add it to the deletion page (I hardly ever ask for things to be deleted unless they're nonsense of the "hi, my name is dave" variety), but like Sam, I couldn't see how it could get much bigger. I'm glad to be proved wrong :) I'll remove my vote for deletion. --Camembert

Terminology (Super vs. Hyper)
Recently, in RC, I've been studying articles talking about 2 similar phrases that differ only in that one uses super and the other hyper. "Super" is Latin for "above" and "hyper" is Greek for "over". How are these terms interchangeable?? Any other pairs of prefixes of this kind?? 66.245.98.219 00:36, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

RE: Terminology (Super vs. Hyper)
Most people I know use Hyper as being higher then super, I've never heard of them being used to mean exactly the same thing.

H-Bomb and "The Super"
To User:Fastfission: You mean only the designs -- and not the bomb itself -- were called "The Super"? That's confusing. Anyways, there's no reference to "The Super" or "Super" at Nuclear weapon so I'm probably just gonna delete the reference here. Ewlyahoocom 08:11, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

 * I added a little link to the more relevant article (Teller-Ulam design) on the page. I think it is fine to put it there; it is a very common phrase in the history of nuclear weapons, but it only refers to early ideas about the H-bomb. For example, one early design was called the "Classical Super" while another was the "Run-away Super". --Fastfission 01:24, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Again, that's nice information to have, but why does this information appear only on this Talk page and not on any of the actual articles about nuclear weapons? I'm deleting the link for now. Hopefully, if that information is ever added to its article proper, that author will remember to come here and add a disambiguation link. Ewlyahoocom 22:13, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Super vs. Superclass
Currently, this dismabiguation page links to superclass, another disambiguation page with only two links on it. That seems like a waste of a page, not to mention a hassle for anyone who has to go through the extra clicks. Is there any objection to just merging the content of superclass here and making a redirect? 168.12.253.82 15:47, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

super (disambiguation)
shouldn't that be the article title^^? Any takers? Randy6767 02:14, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Super short for 'Superannuation'?
When talking about insurance, I once read 'super' and wondered what it is. When I read a reference article it turned out to be the Australian 'Superannuation' program. Is this worth to be included into the disambiguation article? --188.102.181.242 (talk) 10:30, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Looking at super (I am not an Aussie), it says "(Australian, New Zealand, informal, uncountable) Short form of superannuation, the Australian/New Zealand retirement benefits or pension scheme." From that perspective, I'd say it can be added. – sgeureka t•c 10:57, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

ReevesG.
archive.is/4 RB9u OriginalSuperhuman Superman ReevesG. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:241:8801:50A0:3DD0:BA8C:F68F:599 (talk) 04:30, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Super


text:
Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla (also known as La Mesilla and Old Mesilla) is a town in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 2,196 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

During the Civil War, Mesilla briefly served as capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona.

The Mesilla Plaza is a National Historic Landmark.

History

The village of Mesilla was incorporated in 1848, after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo moved the U.S.–Mexico border south of the village of Doña Ana, placing it in the United States. A small group of citizens, unhappy at being part of the United States, decided to move south of the border. They settled in Mesilla at this time.

By 1850, Mesilla was an established colony. By this time, its people were under constant threat of attack from the Apache. By 1851, the attacks caused the United States to take action to protect its people just to the north of the border, in the Mesilla Valley. They did this by creating Fort Fillmore. As a result of the fort, the United States declared the Mesilla Valley region part of the United States. Mexico also claimed this strip of land, causing it to become known as "No Mans Land". This boundary dispute, which was officially caused by a map error, was resolved in 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase. Mesilla became a part of the United States, as well as the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona.

Two battles were fought at or in the town during the Civil War. Mesilla served as the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona in 1861–1862 and was known as the "hub", or main city for the entire region. Recaptured by the Volunteers of the California Column, it then became the headquarters of the Military District of Arizona until 1864.

During the "Wild West" era, Mesilla was known for its cantinas and festivals. The area attracted such figures as Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett and Pancho Villa. The village was also the crossroads of two major stagecoach, mail, and trade routes: the Butterfield Stagecoach and the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The village of Mesilla was the most important city of the region until 1881.

In 1881, the Santa Fe Railway was ready to build through the Gadsden Purchase region of the country. Mesilla was naturally seen as the city the railroad would run through. However, the people of Mesilla asked for too much money for the land rights, and a landowner in nearby Las Cruces, a much smaller village than Mesilla, stepped in and offered free land. The city of Mesilla has not grown much since, and Las Cruces has grown to a population of an estimated 101,000 people (2014) and is currently the second largest city in New Mexico.

La Mesilla Historic District, which includes Mesilla Plaza, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

The Fountain Theatre, except for 12 years, has been in operation since the early 1900s.

In 2008, the Roman Catholic parish church of San Albino was raised to the status of minor basilica by the Holy See.

The gazebo in the center of the plaza was torn down and rebuilt due to unnoticed structural problems that made the gazebo unsafe. Demolition started in October 2013 and rebuilding ending in May 2014 for the annual "Cinco de Mayo" celebration.

Geography
Mesilla is located near the geographic center of Doña Ana County. It is bordered to the northeast by the city of Las Cruces. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 17.4 km2, all land. The Rio Grande passes through the western part of the town.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,180 people, 892 households, and 595 families residing in the town. The population density was 407.0 PD/sqmi. There were 981 housing units at an average density of 183.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 74.0% White, 0.2% African American, 1.0% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 20.7% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 52.2% of the population.

There were 892 households, out of which 26% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54% were married couples living together, 9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33% were non-families. 28% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.4 and the average family size was 3.0.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 22% under the age of 18, 8% from 18 to 24, 23% from 25 to 44, 29% from 45 to 64, and 17% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $42,275, and the median income for a family was $51,181. Males had a median income of $30,500 versus $25,000 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,922. About 6% of families and 9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7% of those under age 18 and 6% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Las Cruces Public Schools is the local school district.

The district operates Mesilla Elementary School, and Zia Middle School.

title: Mesilla, New Mexico


text:
Mesquite, New Mexico

Mesquite is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,112 at the 2010 census, up from 948 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History
Mesquite was established and named by executives of the Santa Fe Railroad after brush which grew profusely along the tracks. The persistent desert shrub had long been a feature of the landscape. In 1847 a military detachment left El Paso, Texas, on an expedition against the Apaches. Before leaving the saloon of El Paso, where "Pass Whiskey" was plentiful, they armed themselves with a supply. By the second day out, a portion of the party where so befuddled that they got lost in the jungle of mesquite that grew in the area. When they finally found their way back to the main body of troops, their Commander ordered them to make camp, confiscating the rest of their whiskey, and gave them the remainder of the day to sober up.

Geography
Mesquite is located in southeastern Doña Ana County in the Mesilla Valley, on the east side of the Rio Grande. Interstate 10 passes just east of the CDP, with access from Exit 151. I-10 leads northwest 13 mi to Las Cruces, the county seat, and southeast 35 mi to El Paso, Texas.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Mesquite CDP has a total area of 2.1 km2, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 948 people, 262 households, and 227 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,148.2 PD/sqmi. There were 276 housing units at an average density of 334.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 65.30% White, 0.42% African American, 0.84% Native American, 0.11% Asian, 29.01% from other races, and 4.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 94.83% of the population.

There were 262 households, out of which 54.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.3% were married couples living together, 16.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 13.0% were non-families. 9.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.62 and the average family size was 3.86.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 38.1% under the age of 18, 13.4% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 14.9% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $21,875, and the median income for a family was $21,458. Males had a median income of $20,370 versus $15,577 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $7,129. About 38.4% of families and 43.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 49.7% of those under age 18 and 15.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education
The Gadsden Independent School District operates public schools, including Mesquite Elementary School, and the designated high schools would either be Gadsden High School or Alta Vista Early College High School.

title: Mesquite, New Mexico


text:
Radium Springs, New Mexico

Radium Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,699 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography
Radium Springs is at the upstream end of the Mesilla Valley of the Rio Grande. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 6.0 square miles (19.6 km$2$), all land. It is also the location of an old hot springs and the old Fort Selden of the Indian Wars.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Radium Springs has a cold semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Radium Springs was 110 F on July 9, 1951 and June 16, 1980, while the coldest temperature recorded was -20 F on January 29, 1948 and February 3, 2011.

Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,699 people living in the CDP. The population density was 283 PD/sqmi. There were 689 housing units at an average density of 115 per square mile (44/km$2$). The racial makeup of the CDP was 85.5% White, 0.5% African American, 0.9% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 10.9% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 52.8% of the population.

There were 635 households, out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were married couples living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.6% were non-families. 19.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68, and the average family size was 3.06.

In the CDP, the population's age was spread out, with 22.4% under the age of 15, 10.6% from 15 to 24, 21.99% from 25 to 44, 32.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 16 and over, there were 94.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $53,188, and the median income for a family was $66,250. Male full-time workers had a median income of $36,753, versus $30,829 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $20,497.

Education
It is located in Las Cruces Public Schools.

title: Radium Springs, New Mexico


text:
Rincon, New Mexico

Rincon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 271. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography
Rincon is located adjacent to Hatch, in the valley of the Rio Grande.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.0 sqmi, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 220 people, 60 households, and 55 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 213.6 PD/sqmi. There were 65 housing units at an average density of 63.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 45.00% White, 2.73% Native American, 51.82% from other races, and 0.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 87.27% of the population.

There were 60 households, out of which 48.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.7% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 8.3% were non-families. 8.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.67 and the average family size was 3.76.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 37.3% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.1 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $18,929, and the median income for a family was $18,068. Males had a median income of $15,972 versus $11,250 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $7,572. About 18.9% of families and 31.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.7% of those under the age of eighteen and 42.9% of those 65 or over.

Economy
Rincon is 33 miles north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Interstate 25, and approximately 20 miles south of Spaceport America, a new purpose-built spaceport being built by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority with State and county funding. Spaceport construction has generated some 800 temporary jobs on the site, but some Rincon residents have been skeptical that the spaceport will generate as many jobs in the long term as supporters claimed in the runup to public funding. , one company, Virgin Galactic, plans to employ about 150 persons at the spaceport site.

Education
It is zoned to Hatch Valley Public Schools.

title: Rincon, New Mexico


text:
Salem, New Mexico

Salem is a census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 942 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.3 sqmi, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 795 people, 178 households, and 160 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 615.1 PD/sqmi. There were 199 housing units at an average density of 154.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 29.43% White, 0.50% African American, 1.38% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 64.53% from other races, and 3.90% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 94.09% of the population.

There were 178 households, out of which 67.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.8% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 10.1% were non-families. 7.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.47 and the average family size was 4.74.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 46.9% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 13.2% from 45 to 64, and 5.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 19 years. For every 100 females, there were 116.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.9 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $14,934, and the median income for a family was $16,591. Males had a median income of $21,705 versus $12,292 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $7,405. About 49.3% of families and 53.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 57.9% of those under age 18 and 70.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education
It is zoned to Hatch Valley Public Schools.

title: Salem, New Mexico


text:
Santa Teresa, New Mexico

Santa Teresa is a census-designated place (CDP) in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, United States. It is home to the Santa Teresa Port of Entry and is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area, although geographically it is considerably closer to El Paso, Texas than to Las Cruces. While the United States Census Bureau has defined Santa Teresa as a CDP, the census definition of the area may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with the same name. The population was 4,258 at the 2010 census and 5,044 at the 2020 census. The National Weather Service El Paso Weather Forecast Office that serves extreme western Texas and Southwestern New Mexico states is based in Santa Teresa.

History
In 2015, the community of Santa Teresa petitioned the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners to incorporate it as a city. When Sunland Park proposed annexing Santa Teresa, every Board member agreed that Sunland Park had no jurisdiction over Santa Teresa, whereupon Sunland Park filed an appeal to that decision with the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 10.9 sqmi, all land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,607 people, 952 households, and 755 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 238.0 PD/sqmi. There were 1,007 housing units at an average density of 91.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 82.09% White, 1.19% African American, 0.65% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.23% Pacific Islander, 13.04% from other races, and 2.42% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 55.58% of the population.

There were 952 households, out of which 40.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.0% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.6% were non-families. 17.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 27.8% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 31.8% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $61,500, and the median income for a family was $66,833. Males had a median income of $43,500 versus $30,326 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $24,561. About 2.2% of families and 1.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.7% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Education
The Gadsden Independent School District operates public schools, including
 * Santa Teresa High School
 * Santa Teresa Middle School
 * Santa Teresa Elementary School

Infrastructure
Water is supplied by the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority.

The community is served by the Doña Ana County International Jetport.

title: Santa Teresa, New Mexico


text:
Sunland Park, New Mexico

Sunland Park is a city in southeastern Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States, on the borders of Texas and the Mexican state of Chihuahua, with Ciudad Juárez adjoining it on the south and El Paso, Texas, on the east. The community of Santa Teresa adjoins it on the northwest. The population of Sunland Park was 14,106 at the 2010 census and was estimated at 17,978 by the United States Census Bureau in 2019. Though it lies adjacent to El Paso, being in Doña Ana County makes it a part of the Las Cruces metropolitan statistical area. Las Cruces is 42 mi to the north.

The city is at the foot of Mount Cristo Rey, next to the Rio Grande, and is named for Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino, which lies within the city limits. The location was formerly called "Anapra", a name shared by an adjacent area of Ciudad Juárez.

History
Sunland Park was formed when the unincorporated communities of Anapra, Sunland Park, and Meadow Vista voted to incorporate as Sunland Park on July 13, 1983.

2012 extortion scandal
In February 2012, then-Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas and City Manager Jaime Aguilera were arrested and charged with extortion of mayoral candidate Gerardo Hernandez. Salinas and Aguilera allegedly tried to blackmail Hernandez into withdrawing from the race with a videotape of Hernandez receiving a lap dance in his campaign office.

An election for mayor was held in March 2012, with Daniel Salinas winning the mayor's office, but he was denied taking office due to extortion, bribery, and election fraud charges filed against him, which disqualified him from taking an oath of office.

Border barrier

A private organization, named We Build the Wall built a 0.5-mile wall on at the border of Sunland Park and Mexico in 2019. Privately financed using a GoFundMe campaign, the wall was built on private property but the gate they constructed blocked access needed to maintain a federal dam. The barrier in Sunland Park also blocked access to Monument One, an official marker of the International Boundary and Water Commission that was set where New Mexico, Texas and the Mexican state of Chihuahua converge. Lighting along the stretch was shut off in 2021 after the group failed to pay electricity bills, and the owner of the land upon which the wall stood owed property taxes and penalties. The group's leaders built only two small stretches of wall/fencing, while defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which were diverted to personal expenses. Among the group's organizers, Brian Kolfage pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and a tax offense; Steve Bannon was also criminally charged, but accepted a pardon from Donald Trump during his final hours as president.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, Sunland Park has a total area of 30.1 sqkm, of which 29.5 sqkm is land and 0.6 sqkm, or 2.02%, is covered by water.

Sunland Park is the only U.S. border town to the south of the Rio Grande. The city sits close to the unincorporated community of Santa Teresa, New Mexico, another border town.

Economy and points of interest
The Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino is located in the city; in the 2010s, it was the main economic driver of the city, which suffers from a high poverty rate. After New Mexico began legal sales of marijuana for recreational use in 2022, a booming marijuana economy sprung up in Sunland Park, sustained primarily by Texans who travel to New Mexico to purchase marijuana, as recreational marijuana sales are prohibited in Texas. As of January 2024, sixteen marijuana dispensaries operated in Sunland Park, the second-most in the state (after Albuquerque, which has a much larger population).

Although the town sits on the U.S.-Mexico border, there is no port of entry in the town.

Western Playland, an amusement park, moved to Sunland Park in 2006, after it left its original location in El Paso County, Texas's Ascarate Park, where it had opened in 1960. The park shut down in November 2021, but reopened in 2023 under new ownership.

Demographics
As of the census of 2010, 14,267 people, 3,884 households, and 3,314 families resided in the city. The population density was 1,260.6 people per mi2 (486.6/km$2$). The 4,131 housing units averaged 342.6 per mi2 (132.2/km$2$). The racial makeup of the city was 76.00% White, 0.63% African American, 0.51% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 26.02% from other races, and 2.76% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 96.44% of the population.

Of the 3,884 households, 44.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55% were married couples living together, 24% had a female householder with no husband present, and 11.5% were not families. About 12.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.63 and the average family size was 3.97.

In the city, the population was distributed as 37.5% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 20 to 24, 7.6% from 25 to 29, 6.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.4 males.

Government
Sunland Park is led by a mayor and a city council. In the mayor's absence, the powers of the mayor are exercised by a mayor pro tem. In the event of a vacancy in the mayor's seat between elections, the council selects a mayor by appointment. There is also a city manager. City politics are often fractious, and in the 2010s, local politics were marred by a series of scandals.

Education
Sunland Park is served by the Gadsden Independent School District, which operates these schools located in the city:
 * Santa Teresa High School
 * Santa Teresa Middle School
 * Desert View Elementary School
 * Riverside Elementary School
 * Sunland Park Elementary School

Sunland Park also has a branch campus of Doña Ana Community College, a two-year college branch of New Mexico State University.

Infrastructure
Water is supplied by the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority.

Points of interest

 * Mt. Cristo Rey

title: Sunland Park, New Mexico


text:
University Park, New Mexico

University Park is a census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 4,192 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The CDP is almost all of the area bounded by University Avenue, Interstate 10 and Interstate 25 and is thus very nearly coextensive with the Las Cruces campus of New Mexico State University.

Geography
University Park is surrounded by the city limits of Las Cruces, with the city center located to the north.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.0 km2, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,732 people, 417 households, and 351 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,741.2 PD/sqmi. There were 615 housing units at an average density of 392.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 66.69% White, 4.98% African American, 5.60% Native American, 5.67% Asian, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 12.48% from other races, and 4.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 37.15% of the population.

There were 417 households, out of which 64.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.8% were married couples living together, 24.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.8% were non-families. 12.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 16.5% under the age of 18, 63.2% from 18 to 24, 17.9% from 25 to 44, 2.3% from 45 to 64, and 0.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 20 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $13,045, and the median income for a family was $13,365. Males had a median income of $16,500 versus $18,750 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $4,152. About 56.4% of families and 53.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 56.5% of those under age 18 and 100.0% of those age 65 or over.

In 2010, University Park had the fourth-lowest median household income of all places in the United States with a population over 1,000.

Education
It is located in Las Cruces Public Schools.

title: University Park, New Mexico


text:
Vado, New Mexico

Vado is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 3,194 at the 2010 census. The ZIP code for Vado is 88072, its area code is 575, and it is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History
Founded in 1920 by Francis “Frank” Marion Boyer and his wife Ella Louise, after the previous freedom colony they founded, Blackdom, New Mexico, became a ghost town due to water well issues.

Geography
Vado is located in southeastern Doña Ana County in the Mesilla Valley, on the east side of the Rio Grande. Interstate 10 forms the eastern edge of the CDP, with access from Exit 155. I-10 leads north 17 mi to Las Cruces, the county seat, and south 32 mi to El Paso, Texas.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 7.7 km2, all land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,003 people, 776 households, and 709 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,013.8 PD/sqmi. There were 814 housing units at an average density of 274.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 53.98% White, 1.03% African American, 1.50% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 39.93% from other races, and 3.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 95.00% of the population.

There were 776 households, out of which 61.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.6% were married couples living together, 16.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 8.6% were non-families. 7.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.87 and the average family size was 4.03.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 39.2% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 16.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.7 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $23,538, and the median income for a family was $24,136. Males had a median income of $16,335 versus $15,121 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $6,323. About 32.8% of families and 34.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46.2% of those under age 18 and 24.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education
The Gadsden Independent School District operates public schools, including Vado Elementary School, the designated high school for this area would be Gadsden High School. or Alta Vista Early College High School.

title: Vado, New Mexico