The Route 66 Independent is a part of the New Mexico-owned nm.news group.
The Route 66 Independent News has been providing local news coverage since 1999. Originally founded as a community paper in Tijeras, it soon expanded to include Edgewood when the town was founded in 2000. The paper ceased publishing briefly in 2022 following the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023, it was purchased and relaunched by the Ctrl-P Publishing group.
Editor
Kevin Hendricks
Editor
Kevin Hendricks joined the nm.news team in 2024 as an editor. He previously served as asst. editor at the Rio Rancho Observer and on the sports desk at the Albuquerque Journal. He is a proud native of Albuquerque and Highland High Hornet.
Newsroom
Contributors
Connor Currier, Local news reporter
Rodd Cayton, Senior Reporter
Roberto Rosales, Senior Photojournalist
More of our full directory coming soon!
Publishing
Pat Davis
Publisher
Pat Davis is a recovering politician and community organizer on a mission to rescue and rebuild local news across New Mexico. Read more.
Tierna Unruh-Enos
Sales Director
Tierna Unruh-Enos is a lifelong and award-winning journalist. A graduate of NMSU’s journalism program, she has served as a daily news assignment editor at KOAT TV and associate publisher at the Weekly Alibi and became a co-founder of The Paper. in 2021 after the Alibi’s demise. She served as the editor for several publications with nm.news before becoming the lead for revenue programs.
Rachel Mills
Design Manager
Rachel Mills is an award-winning graphic designer who manages our print publishing program.
News tips
News tips and story pitches are welcome anytime. Send your tips and stories to our editor.
My community group is having an event. Can I invite you? Yes! We do our best to cover community events, but when events conflict we may ask organizations to follow up with photos or videos we can share online or in print. When submitting a community event for us to share, consider including a simple paragraph summarizing your pitch to readers. We often use these as the introduction or quotes from organizers to help make the events more approachable.
Can I submit an anonymous tip? Yes, but anonymous tips can be hard to follow up on, especially if we need additional information to help us focus our research. Consider contacting us and asking us not to disclose your name instead.
Advertising
Learn about our advertising and community partnership opportunities here.