New Mexico School Shooter Visited 'Neo-Nazi' Sites– Associated Press andThe Daily Times
A new report says a man accused of killing two students during a New Mexico school shooting visited "Neo-Nazi” websites and sought out people obsessed with school shootings.
The Daily Times of Farmington, New Mexico, reports a lengthy incident report issued by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office describes how 21-year-old Aztec resident William Atchison stayed virtually under the radar from the FBI and local authorities.
The report describes how Atchison came to purchase the handgun he used in the killings and was in contact with and talked with 18-year-old Ali David Sonboly, who shot and killed nine people in a Munich, Germany, mall on July 22, 2016.
Authorities say Atchison walked to Aztec High School in December, killed Francisco "Paco" Fernandez and Casey Jordan Marquez before killing himself.
Recreation Area To Reopen In Northern New Mexico Forest– Associated Press
A recreation area in Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico is about to reopen for public use after being closed several years because of a safety hazard.
Forest officials say Canjilon Lakes Recreational Area will reopen Aug. 22 after being closed in 2014 for removal of dead trees that created hazardous conditions for visitors and employees.
The trees died as a result of drought, disease and insects.
The recreation area includes 48 campsites near the shores of six small ponds along with two picnic spots.
The area is 64 miles (103 kilometers) north of Santa Fe.
Property Owner Questions Timing In Compound Raid– Associated Press
A New Mexico property owner says he told authorities in late spring that he met the father of a missing Georgia boy after he and others arrived in the area where they built a squalid desert compound.
Jason Badger said Friday that he doesn't understand why authorities didn't raid the site sooner, given his report about the father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj. He was being sought in Georgia in the disappearance of his young son.
Badger says he believes he saw the boy with his father this past winter. The owner later found out Wahhaj was wanted after searching online and reported him.
Authorities searched the compound for the severely disabled boy last week. They instead found Wahhaj, four other adults, and 11 other children whom authorities say were malnourished.
A second search uncovered a child's remains that haven't been identified.
The missing boy's grandfather says they're his grandson's.
Complaint: New Mexico Violated Law In Vote To Cut Sports– Associated Press
A New Mexico lawyer is asking a state judge to toss out a University of New Mexico decision to eliminate four sports over allegations the school violated the state's open meetings law.
Attorney Maria Touchet filed a complaint Friday in state district court and accused the school's board of regents of disregarding open meetings laws when it voted in July to cut men's soccer, men's and women's skiing and women's beach volleyball.
Court documents say that made the board's vote unconstitutional. Touchet is seeking to have the vote voided.
The complaint comes a day after New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas warned the University of New Mexico he would sue the school for violating the state's open meetings law during the sports elimination vote.
School spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair did not immediately return an email from The Associated Press.
5th Lawsuit Filed Against EPA Over 2015 Mine Waste Spill– Associated Press
A fifth lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over a mine waste spill the agency inadvertently triggered in 2015, polluting rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 3 in federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by 295 Navajo farmers and ranchers. Their attorney, Kate Ferlic, said Friday the lawsuit asks for about $75 million.
The suit says the farmers and ranchers lost crops and livestock and had to pay to haul clean water because the spill kept them from using the polluted rivers.
The EPA referred questions to Department of Justice officials, who did not immediately return a phone call.
A judge consolidated the new lawsuit with cases filed previously by the Navajo Nation, New Mexico, Utah and a dozen New Mexico residents. Those suits seek a total of $2.3 billion.
Dem New Mexico House Speaker Defends Candidate Hit By Audit– Associated Press
New Mexico Democratic House Speaker Brian Egolf is defending a Democratic House candidate slammed in a state audit for improper reimbursements as head of an agency that promotes the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Egolf told The Associated Press this week that a report released by State Auditor Wayne Johnson showed Andrea Romero acted properly to correct reimbursements as executive director of the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities.
The Democratic leader says he is not asking Romero to drop out the race for a House seat in Santa Fe and looks forward to working with her.
The audit hits Romero over unlawful reimbursements. Romero said she paid them all back.
Republican Party of New Mexico Executive Director Ryan Gleason says Romero's "chronic habit of breaking the law for personal enrichment" should disqualify her for elected office.