Local News

Developers of a $350 million project in northern New Mexico have been cleared to start selling transmission rights and services to energy developers on what would be 93 miles of beefed-up power lines.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has signed off on Colorado-based Lucky Corridor's request to sell up to 70 percent of the proposed project's capacity.

The project would be able to funnel 1,100 megawatts of electricity to existing customers and hubs that connect other western markets.

The Federal Communications Commission has awarded about $18 million to telecommunications companies to expand access to high-speed cellular phone and wireless Internet service in central and southeastern New Mexico.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall announced on Wednesday that about $9.5 million will go to Plateau Telecommunications in Clovis, $6.7 million to Leaco Rural Telephone Cooperative in Dexter and $1.8 million to T-Mobile West.

The companies were selected by the FCC after submitting bids for building new mobile telecommunications infrastructure.

Governor Susana Martinez's administration has agreed to settle a lawsuit and not revive a plan to cancel the driver's licenses of immigrants who fail to verify whether they still live in the state.

The administration announced the program last year but it was suspended by a state district court in Santa Fe after the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a lawsuit.

Governor Susana Martinez is hosting a meeting of border governors in Albuquerque this week.

Martinez, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and governors from three Mexican states are expected at the gathering, which opened with a private reception Wednesday night. Texas Governor Rick Perry and governors from the other three Mexican border states were expected to send representatives for two days of private workshops.

Topics on the agenda include agriculture and livestock, competitiveness, education, border crossing, health, security and sustainable development.

The state Court of Appeals has ruled against a group of current and former Hobbs residents who sued an oil company because of illnesses and other damages allegedly from environmental contamination from oil and natural gas production in an area that became a housing subdivision in the southeastern New Mexico community.

The court on Tuesday upheld a Lea County district court decision not to grant a new trial in the case against Shell Oil Co. and Shell Western Exploration and Production Inc.

Some ranchers have started cutting neighbors' fences or leaving gates open so their cattle can graze on greener pastures amid an extreme drought that has caused a spike in hay prices.

Ranchers from Missouri to Texas and west into New Mexico have sold off huge portions of their herds this year because the worst drought in decades dried up their pastures and they couldn't afford to buy food for their animals.

The Game and Fish Department is seeking public comments on proposed licensing changes for antelope hunting in New Mexico.

The State Game Commission is expected to consider the issue at a meeting Nov. 1 in Raton.

The department is holding meetings across the state to hear from sportsmen on establishing a licensing system for antelope hunting in parts of the state similar to that for deer hunting.

A drawing would be held for public land hunts. Licenses could be purchased over-the-counter to hunt on private lands and hunters would arrange access from the landowner.

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson says there's no hope a judge will allow him to participate in Wednesday night's presidential debate.

Johnson is running as the Libertarian Party candidate for president. He sued the Commission on Presidential Debates last month in federal court to try to force them to admit him to the debates.

Departing New Mexico State University President Barbara Couture will be paid nearly $454,000 when she leaves her post in January.

That's on top of the salary she'll earn while on paid administrative from now until she officially leaves at the end of the year. At an annual salary of $392,700, she'll earn about $100,000 for the next three months leave.

The state Board of Regents accepted Couture's resignation in what board Chairman Mike Cheney described as a mutually agreeable separation on Monday.

A woman walking along the railroad tracks south of Santa Fe has been struck and killed by a Rail Runner Express train.

Rail Runner spokeswoman Augusta Meyers says the woman was walking along the tracks about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and apparently decided to cross the tracks just ahead of the train.

The Albuquerque Journal reports the woman was then struck by a southbound train. She has not been identified.

Rail traffic has resumed but the incident stalled trains in both directions for a couple of hours.

Some ranchers have started cutting neighbors' fences or leaving gates open so their cattle can graze on greener pastures amid an extreme drought that has caused a spike in hay prices.

Ranchers from Missouri to Texas and west into New Mexico have sold off huge portions of their herds this year because the worst drought in decades dried up their pastures and they couldn't afford to buy food for their animals.

The rate of violent crime among Native Americans is more than twice the national average, according to federal crime reports.  KUNM’s Colleen Keane looked into how this law is fairing two years after it was passed and found that violence is often close to home and that most tribes don’t have the funding to implement the law. 

You can read more on this story in this week's edition of the Santa Fe Reporter.

The recent arrest of a high ranking drug cartel member in Mexico is being blamed for a wave of violence that has hit Nuevo Laredo. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies reports for Fronteras.

More than 15 people were killed in Nuevo Laredo over the last weekend. According to Mexican authorities 13 died in gun battles between rival criminal organizations and two more were killed in a run-in with the Mexican Army.

Nuevo Laredo is across the Rio Grande from Laredo Texas and is 150 miles South of San Antonio.