The year is ending on a bloody note in ABQ with the number of murders soaring to 75, a modern day record.

An especially gruesome discovery shook the city two days before Christmas--a decapitated body so brutalized at first its gender could not be determined. The woman's corpse was found by hikers in the Four Hills area. A drug connected slaying?

Meanwhile, south of the border Mexico is also setting records:

This year has been Mexico’s deadliest on record. A total of 23,101 murder investigations were launched nationwide between January and November, reported Reuters, citing figures released by the country’s interior ministry. That’s Mexico’s highest annual murder tally since modern records began in 1997. 2011 had previously held the ignominious title, with 22,409 murders. 

Expert analysis:

“The more you legalize marijuana, the more other drugs matter and become more profitable,” said Arturo Fontes, a former FBI agent and expert on Mexico’s drug cartels, “And right now nothing matters more than meth, heroin. This is why we’re seeing such a bloody year.”

For ABQ 2018 will be ushered in with the same set of systemic problems that has forced so many to flee--rampant drug abuse, poverty and a demolished APD are all causes that have made ABQ #1 in the USA for property crime and the state #2 in the nation for violent offenses--many of which occur in the metro.

AN APO CHRISTMAS

Some would argue he's throwing this money away, but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jeff Apodaca has much catching up to do so he has done the unusual.

He comes with a TV ad during the holiday break--one of the lowest weeks for TV viewing. The 60 second spot, which began airing Dec. 22, is narrated by New Mexico native and former ABC newsman Sam Donaldson. The script:

Where is it that we learn to dream? Where we learn to reach for something bigger? For Jeff Apodaca, he learned watching his father, a teacher who became governor, that to change anything you must never give up. Jeff faced life-threatening cancer at 17, beat the odds, and returned stronger than ever. He’s an innovator who’s turned businesses around and Jeff and his wife Jackie raised over a million dollars for cancer patients. Now when career politicians have failed us, there’s only one candidate for governor who knows how to turn our state around. Jeff Apodaca. He will challenge the status quo. Jeff will invest a billion of New Mexico’s 23 billion dollars in rainy day funds to create 225,000 new jobs, help small businesses, expand affordable health care, and improve schools for our kids…so that their dreams are even bigger than ours. It’s time to turn New Mexico around. It’s time for Jeff Apodaca for Governor.

That reference to "career politicians" is a jab at Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the front-nunner for the '18 Dem Guv nod.

"Something new" may be Apodaca's best argument for chipping away at Grisham and getting the race in play.

No word yet on how much Apodaca spent for the ad which his campaign says will "run through the holidays."

With the mid-March preprimary convention looming and where he must show strength, you can see why the Apodaca camp decided to compete for attention with Santa and the New Year's Eve ball drop.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

Speaking of the ball drop, it may be one of the coldest ever in New York City while New Mexicans bask in balmy December weather more like the Bahamas than Bernalillo. Enjoy.

Thanks for joining us in 2017 and we'll catch up with you after the calendar turns to 2018.

Happy New Year, New Mexico!

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com)

Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2017