News

Gov. Susana Martinez's administration is tightening controls over capital improvement financing by requiring that local governments, school districts and others in New Mexico have a current audit before state money is released for a project

Martinez issued an executive order on Thursday to ensure that capital project financing goes only to governmental organizations that have completed their annual audits and corrected any problems identified by auditors.

New Mexico State University's next president is set to be announced next week.

The Las Cruces Sun-News (http://bit.ly/103TdSn ) reports regents plan tentatively to reveal their pick on Monday.

Finalists include NMSU business dean and former Gov. Garrey Carruthers, former Texas Tech University president Guy Bailey, former University of Nevada, Las Vegas president David Ashley, former Texas A&M University president Elsa Murano and University of Colorado Denver Dean Daniel Howard.

A wildfire is burning in the Sandia Mountains just north of Albuquerque.

The fire began around 2:30 a.m. Thursday and grew to an estimated 50 acres by the evening.

Officials say no structures are in danger and the cause of the blaze near the historic village of Placitas is unknown.

Albuquerque health officials issued a health alert due to wildfire smoke until Friday morning.

Firefighters battled the blaze on the ground and from the air, with helicopters and planes dropping water and fire retardant on the flames.

Last-minute funding has saved the jobs of dozens of civilian maintenance workers at Kirtland Air Force Base.

The Albuquerque Journal (http://bit.ly/11GpSju ) reports the jobs were on the chopping block because of across-the-board federal spending cuts.

Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Health Care Act is expected to bring in much needed dollars to the chronically underfunded Indian Health Service or IHS.  But tribal health experts say the main game changer in Indian country will be new health insurance exchanges.  For the first time ever, the IHS, a system traditionally open only to Native Americans, will be competing for non-Indian patients in order to survive. KUNM’s Tristan Ahtone reports.

A small wildfire is raging in the Sandia Mountains just north of Albuquerque.

The blaze Thursday was seen by motorists as they made their way into the state's largest city.

Officials say the fire is around three acres and no structures are in danger.

Cause of the blaze near the historic village of Placitas is unknown.

Firefighters have begun trying to contain the blaze amid dry conditions.

An employee of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority is dead after an apparent workplace accident.

Officials say the body of 47-year-old Glenn "Bo" Martin was found early Wednesday by fellow employees.

They say he died in an apparent vehicle accident while performing routine maintenance on a wastewater lift station.

Details weren't immediately available.

The Water Authority and Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department are investigating Martin's death.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez plans to attend a Cinco de Mayo celebration this week at the vice president's residence in Washington, D.C.

The governor's office said Wednesday that Vice President Joe Biden had invited Martinez to Friday's event, but the state is paying for the governor's travel expenses.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates an 1862 Mexican military victory against invading French forces.

The Republican governor leaves for the nation's capital late Thursday and will return to New Mexico on Friday after the event.

Federal authorities say nearly 2,400 pounds of marijuana has been seized from a big rig at the New Mexico border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection say the 2,387 pounds of pot was the largest seizure at the Columbus port of entry since a 2,323-pound bust in March 1998.

CBP officials say the tractor-trailer from Mexico was hauling a load of ceramic floor tiles when entered the port Tuesday afternoon.

A drug sniffing dog alerted officers to the cargo and officers say they found a wrapped bundle hidden inside a hollowed box of tile.

Two small wildfires in California's wine country this week could be a harbinger of a nasty summer fire season across the West.

Officials with the National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday a dry winter and predicted warming trend mean the potential for significant fire activity will be above normal in the West Coast states, the Southwest, and portions of Idaho and Montana.

The national fire agency in Boise, Idaho, issued its first 2013 fire outlook extending through the summer months.

Three congressmen are proposing legislation on the eve of the Kentucky Derby that would crack down on doping in horse racing.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, and Republican House members Ed Whitfield of Kentucky and Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania. The bill would give the United States Anti-Doping Agency authority to enforce standards in races with simulcast wagering.

A message was left with USADA, the official anti-doping agency for the U.S. Olympics.

Gov. Susana Martinez says she's forming a group to recommend improvements in New Mexico's child abuse laws.

The Republican governor, who is a former prosecutor, made the announcement Wednesday to mark the end of Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Martinez said law enforcement, child advocacy representatives and officials with the Children, Youth and Families Department will serve on the group that will consider how to strengthen state laws protecting children.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Taos restaurant is facing a lawsuit over allegations that it overserved a pedestrian who was struck and killed by a pickup.

The Albuquerque Journal (http://bit.ly/ZlwD8I) reports Julian Varela had a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit for driving when he left the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar on Dec. 29, 2011.

He was killed by a teen driver who wasn't cited in the incident.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Advocates for immigration reform are holding rallies and prayer events across New Mexico in an effort to push a federal immigration proposal.

Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a Santa Fe-based advocacy group, has scheduled a May Day rally in Santa Fe and a prayer vigil in Gallup "to call on Congress to pass a common sense immigration reform."

In Albuquerque, the group El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos (EE-gual-DAHD' EE deh-REH-CHOHS) are slated to hold a march and interfaith prayer service at a park. Activists also plan to march through Old Town Albuquerque.

TULAROSA, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State Police say they're investigating after a 19-year-old man was fatally shot in a confrontation with officers at a southern New Mexico elementary school.

Authorities say the shooting happened outside the Tularosa Elementary School Tuesday night, but had nothing to do with the school. They say because of the investigation, the school will be closed Wednesday.

Police say several rounds were fired during the altercation with Jesse Vigil of Tularosa and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

  New Mexico Health Secretary Retta Ward says post-traumatic stress disorder will remain as a qualifying condition for the state's medical marijuana program.

Ward made the announcement Tuesday. Her decision backed up a recommendation made last year by the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board.

The board had rejected a petition by an Albuquerque psychiatrist who said there was a lack of scientific evidence proving medical marijuana helped those with PTSD.

Lawmakers are creating a task force to consider how New Mexico can create more jobs in emerging and new industries.

The Legislative Council agreed Tuesday to establish a "jobs council" that will include legislative leaders as well as representatives of universities and the national laboratories in the state.

The group will meet during the next several months and issue a report later this year making recommendations to the Legislature.

Communities across the nation have imposed moratoriums on oil and natural gas drilling and some have banned the practice of hydraulic fracturing, but one northern New Mexico county has gone a step further.

The Mora County Commission has voted 2-1 in favor of an ordinance that makes it unlawful for any corporation to extract oil and natural gas within the sparsely populated county.

Former Public Regulation Commissioner Jason Marks has been named to a panel that will select New Mexico's top insurance regulator.

The Legislative Council on Tuesday appointed Marks, Albuquerque lawyer Maureen Sanders and two insurance agents, Bill Kinyon of Clovis and Scott Yurcic of Las Cruces.

They will serve on a nine-member committee that names the superintendent of insurance, who will run an independent office regulating insurance rates and policies starting in July.

Former Senate President Tim Jennings has been appointed to a board that oversees state investments and New Mexico's permanent funds.

The Roswell Democrat was named Tuesday to the 11-member State Investment Council. He fills a vacancy created by last year's resignation of Lordsburg banker Michael Martin.

Jennings is a rancher who served in the Senate for 34 years. He lost a re-election bid in 2012, and was targeted in the campaign by a political committee formed by supporters of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

Deputy Secretary of the US Department of the Interior, David Hayes, announced his resignation today.

Hayes will be leaving the department at the end of June after serving in the position for the Obama Administration for more than 4 years.

Jared King is the communications director for the Navajo Nation’s Washington office. He says, Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly thanked Deputy Secretary Hayes for his leadership and insight. Adding that Hayes was a friend to the Navajo Nation.

The state Court of Appeals has ruled against a government licensing board for penalizing an outspoken Albuquerque hydrologist, who criticized operations of a Rio Grande irrigation group.

The court said former Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board member Bill Turner's constitutional free speech rights were violated by the state Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors, which fined Turner in 2009 for practicing engineering without a license.

New Mexico's highest court is allowing the state's top water manager to decide proposed water rights transfers to increase flows in the drought-stricken Pecos River.

The state Supreme Court ruled Monday the state engineer's office can move ahead with an administrative hearing on a proposal to transfer water rights to allow more pumping of groundwater near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico. The water will go by pipeline into a reservoir to boost river flows.

The nations largest powwow, Gathering of Nations, is in full swing in Albuquerque, New Mexico this weekend. KUNM's Christine Trudeau reports the event is a time for celebration, but also security and surveillance for black market goods.

The Navajo Nation moved closer Monday to taking over a coal mine on the reservation. Tribal lawmakers voted to form a limited liability company that would run the Navajo Mine near Farmington, N.M.

KUNM Call In Show Thu. 5/2 8a: Are you feeling sad, numb, or tired in the wake of recent violent events like the Boston Marathon bombing and the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas? Are you arguing more with loved ones? Do you feel mentally drained? You could be experiencing the long-distance impacts of these events.

What can you do to help yourself and your family cope with these feelings? How can you explain these things to children?

New Mexico's highest court is refereeing a dispute over whether the state's top water manager can decide proposed water rights transfers to increase flows in the drought-stricken Pecos River.

The state Supreme Court is scheduled Monday to hear arguments from lawyers over a state plan to transfer water rights to allow more pumping of groundwater near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico. The water will go by pipeline into a reservoir to boost river flows.

Tuition and fees at University of New Mexico have doubled over the past decade, with the cost of admission rising at a rate that far exceeds inflation.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that regents approved another hike this month for the 2013-14 school year.

It will rise 13 percent for undergraduate students who take 12 credit hours or less.

That's the biggest jump in nine years, to a cost of about $6,846 in in-state tuition and fees for those students.

An Albuquerque lawyer has been elected as the new chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico.

Members of the party's central committee cast votes during a meeting Saturday in Las Cruces. Party officials say Sam Bregman won with just over 66 percent of the vote. Challenger Roxanne Lara finished with more than 33 percent.

Bregman replaces Javier Gonzales of Santa Fe, who is stepping down after nearly four years of leading the party.