Campaign Turn Combative In New Mexico Governor Race- Associated Press
Increasingly combative campaigning in the New Mexico governor's race will culminate in a final public debate on Wednesday, as two members of Congress vie to succeed Governor Susana Martinez.
Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham has been highlighting Republican opponent Steve Pearce's ties to President Donald Trump, who lost New Mexico in the 2016 presidential race by 9 percentage points.
Pearce has painted her as a close associate of former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, who left office eight years ago under a cloud of scandal linked to state investments and pay-to-play schemes. Lujan Grisham led state health agencies under three prior governors including Richardson.
Registered Democrats accounted for about 55 percent of early voting statewide through Monday, while Republicans accounted for 33 percent. Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit a Republican stronghold in southeastern New Mexico on Friday to campaign for Pearce and the Republican candidate for his congressional seat.
Air Force Completes Water Testing Near Cannon Base- Eastern New Mexico News, Associated Press
Recent tests show three of 25 private water sites near Cannon Air Force Base are not safe to drink.
The Eastern New Mexico News reports the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center has completed testing the sites and two other sites are below Environmental Protection Agency safety threshold, but still need monitoring.
Twenty sites showed no evidence the water is contaminated.
The testing was done in response to Cannon's announcement in August that groundwater monitoring wells on base contained high levels of Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances, or PFAS.
Two other sites were found to be below the health advisory of 70 parts per trillion of certain PFAS, but high enough for monitoring.
The Air Force will continue to monitor the area but isn't planning additional tests outside that area.
Officials declined to identify the location of the three sites.
3 In The Running To Be New Mexico's Top Elections Chief- Associated Press
Closing loopholes in New Mexico's campaign finance reporting laws and a possible shift to an open primary system in one of the United States' last holdouts will be among the challenges for the next secretary of state.
Incumbent Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver is running for re-election. Her challengers are Republican Gavin Clarkson and Libertarian Ginger Grider.
Toulouse Oliver made waves earlier this year when she tried to include the option of straight-party voting on this year's ballots. The New Mexico Supreme Court ended up blocking the move.
Clarkson criticized Toulouse Oliver, saying her effort was politically motivated. She disputed the claim.
Grider has said it was the straight-ticket issue that influenced her decision to run. Grider is a Portales resident and vice president of a medical marijuana advocacy group.
Bernalillo County Panel Approves Increase To Minimum Wage- Associated Press
The minimum wage for employees working in areas of Bernalillo County outside city limits is going up.
The County Commission on Tuesday approved a cost of living adjustment that will increase the minimum wage to $9.05 from $8.85 on Jan. 1st.
A county ordinance that took effect in 2013 requires the commission to vote annually on whether to implement a cost of living adjustment for the next year.
New Mexico House GOP Hopeful Spurns Debate Invitations- Associated Press
Voters for a closely watched southern New Mexico U.S. House race likely won't get a chance to see a televised debate after the GOP hopeful ignored invites and rejected dates without giving alternatives.
Television news directors confirmed Wednesday that Republican nominee Yvette Herrell declined to respond to offers by three television stations to participate in a debate between her and Democrat Xochitl Torres Small, or told organizers that dates didn't work. When asked to provide other days for a debate, her campaign didn't respond, the news directors said.
Herrell's campaign also rejected an offer from a group of high school students to host a debate that would have been televised on the PBS-affiliate KRWG-TV in Las Cruces.
Prisoner Taken Into Custody After Van Escape- Associated Press
Police say a prisoner who escaped from a transport van in Las Cruces was located in El Paso and taken back into custody.
A Las Cruces police spokesman says 40-year-old Ralph Miera took a gun early Wednesday from a transport officer who then was locked in the van's cage area while a second officer was forced to drive the van. Police say they believe Miera then stole a pickup from a Las Cruces residence to drive about 45 miles south to El Paso.
Before his escape, authorities say he was being transported by a private company from Riverside, California, to Pueblo, Colorado, on a warrant for auto theft, burglary and contempt of court.
New Mexico State Police have been tasked with investigating the circumstances that led to his escape.
Las Cruces Officer Cleared In Shooting Death Of 29-Year-Old - Las Cruces Sun-News, Associated Press
A district attorney has cleared a Las Cruces police officer of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old man who was reportedly schizophrenic and bipolar.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports Third Judicial District Attorney Mark D'Antonio announced in a letter last week that Officer Jason Hayes would not face charges in the shooting death of James Bishop.
Authorities say officers were called to a home in August after Bishop's father reported him threatening his mother with a baseball bat.
Police say Bishop attacked an officer with the bat and wouldn't stop despite being hit with a stun gun.
Officials say Hayes then fired multiple rounds that struck Bishop, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bishop was the son of Betty Bishop, chairwoman of the Doña Ana Republican Party.
Crime Concerns Take Hold Of New Mexico Governor Race -Associated Press
Concerns about crime are being thrust into the political race for governor of New Mexico in the final weeks of voting.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce's campaign has launched lurid attack ads that accuse his Democratic rival of supporting automatic parole and show photos of a supposed criminal posing beside her.
Several veteran law enforcement officials gathered Monday in Albuquerque to denounce the ads as slanderous and pledge support for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham.
State analysts have outlined an uptick in crime in the New Mexico's largest metro area over a multiyear period as poverty and other social issues worsened.
Pearce wants to connect former jail inmates with work and housing opportunities. Lujan Grisham has outlined a lengthy anti-crime strategy that seeks better pay and technology for police.
Central New Mexico Community College To Start Police Academy -Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
Central New Mexico Community College is set to begin a police academy in an effort to grow the ranks of the Albuquerque Police Department.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the Albuquerque college announced Monday that it is launching the CNM Law Enforcement Academy next year.
The inaugural class will head to the Albuquerque Police Department after graduation.
Albuquerque police has about 880 officers. Ten years ago, there were 1,100 officers but, over the past six years, the number dwindled to a low of 831.
CNM President Katharine Winograd says Rio Rancho, the Village of Corrales, Los Lunas, Moriarty, and the Pueblos of Laguna and Isleta police departments also plan to use the CNM academy, as do sheriff's offices in Sandoval, Valencia and Torrance counties, and the 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office.
The academy starts next fall.
Marine From New Mexico To Be Buried In Hometown Friday -Associated Press
A U.S. Marine from New Mexico who was killed during fighting on a Pacific island during World War II will be buried Friday in his hometown.
Pfc. Paul D. Gilman of Belen was 19 in 1943 when he died on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands while serving with the 2nd Marine Division
The Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency says Gilman's remains were buried in a military cemetery immediately after the fighting and then weren't recovered when remains in that cemetery were reburied in a centralized cemetery in 1946.
According to the agency, Gilman's remains were identified through DNA analysis and other means after being found with other remains at a burial site on Betio by a nongovernmental organization, History Flight Inc.
Albuquerque Firefighters Rescue 3 From Flooded Arroyo – Associated Press
Albuquerque firefighters rescued three people experiencing homelessness from swift-moving water in an arroyo Tuesday as rainstorms trundled across New Mexico.
The Fire Department says two other people were able to get out of the water on their own before firefighters used a rope with a flotation device to rescue the other three adults.
New Mexico Man Sentenced To 44 Years Of Medical Pot Heist -Santa Fe New Mexican, Associated Press
A 33-year-old New Mexico man has been sentenced to 44 years in prison for his role in the armed robbery of a Santa Fe medical marijuana growing facility.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington handed down the sentence on Monday to Reyes Barela after three trials.
Authorities say Barela and at least two other men tied up the two owners of the New Mexico Top Organics cannabis facility and held them at gunpoint while stealing $30,000 worth of marijuana in 2013.
Prosecutors held three trials before getting a guilty verdict in the case.
At the sentencing hearing, Barela attacked Ellington's handling of the case, saying the judge had allowed jurors to hear testimony that should have been kept out.