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TUES: New Mexico wildfire prompts call for US disaster declaration, + More

A burned car and piece of machinery are seen following a wildfire near Las Vegas, New Mexico, on Monday, May 2, 2022. Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexico's tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state's psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing. The big blaze burning near the community of Las Vegas has charred more than 217 square miles. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
Cedar Attanasio/AP
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AP
A burned car and piece of machinery are seen following a wildfire near Las Vegas, New Mexico, on Monday, May 2, 2022. Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexico's tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state's psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing. The big blaze burning near the community of Las Vegas has charred more than 217 square miles. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

New Mexico wildfire prompts call for US disaster declaration - By Cedar Attanasio And Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press

New Mexico's governor on Tuesday asked President Joe Biden to declare a disaster as firefighters scrambled to clear brush, build fire lines and spray water to keep the largest blaze burning in the U.S. from destroying more homes in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

During a briefing on the fire burning across the state's northeast, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a request for a presidential disaster declaration that will be sent to the White House in hopes of freeing up financial assistance for recovery efforts. She said it was important that the declaration be made on the front end rather than waiting until the fire is out.

"I'm unwilling to wait," said Lujan Grisham, a first-term Democrat who is running for reelection. "I have 6,000 people evacuated, I have families who don't know what the next day looks like, I have families who are trying to navigate their children and health care resources, figure out their livelihoods and they're in every single little community and it must feel to them like they are out there on their own."

She vowed to get them help, but residents in the small northeastern New Mexico city of Las Vegas were already voicing concerns about grocery stores being closed as some people chose to leave ahead of the flames even though evacuations had not been ordered.

Those from villages in the mountains surrounding the community who had found refuge with family members and at a shelter in Las Vegas were worried they might have to find another place to go if the fierce winds predicted Wednesday and this weekend push the flames closer to the city.

A battery of fire engines and their crews were busy Tuesday working to protect homes and other structures on the edge of Las Vegas while bulldozers cleared more fire lines on the outskirts. Air tanker and helicopter pilots took advantage of a break in the thick smoke and falling ash to drop fire retardant and water.

New Mexico was in the bull's eye for the nation's latest wave of hot, dry and windy weather. Forecasters also issued warnings for parts of Arizona and Colorado, and authorities in Texas urged people there to be careful after crews in that state had to respond to several new fires Monday.

Authorities in northeastern New Mexico said the flames were a couple miles from Las Vegas, which serves as an economic hub for most of northeastern New Mexico and the ranching and farming families who have called the rural region home for generations. It's home to the United World College and New Mexico Highlands University.

The blaze has charred 228 square miles of mountainsides, towering ponderosa pines and meadows, destroying around 170 homes in its path and forcing the evacuation of the state's psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas. Schools in the community also canceled classes at least through Wednesday.

The governor said during the briefing that the number of homes destroyed would likely go much higher given the ground that the fire has covered and the villages that it moved through over the past week.

San Miguel County officials said Tuesday they have been unable to get back into the burned areas to continue assessments since conditions were too dangerous.

Wildfires have become a year-round threat in the drought-stricken West and they are moving faster and burning hotter than ever due to climate change, scientists and fire experts say. Fire officials also have said that many forested areas have become overgrown and unhealthy and that the buildup of vegetation can worsen wildfire conditions.

Nationally, the National Interagency Fire Center reported Tuesday that a dozen uncontained large fires have burned about 400 square in five states, including New Mexico. Nearly 3,500 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to fires burning across the country.

On the northern flank of the big New Mexico fire, crews were trying to keep the flames from reaching the town of Mora as the winds shifted. Dozer lines were holding, but state officials urged those residents who have refused to leave the area to reconsider, saying it's a dangerous situation.

Northeast of Las Vegas, on the other side of an interstate, is the Zamora Ranch. Owner Kenny Zamora has opened up his corrals and stables for livestock refugees, including 160 cattle, 50 horses, 70 sheep, 10 goats and a couple of pigs.

José Griego and wife Casey Taylor brought 10 horses and a small donkey to the ranch. Each has its own story: One was a wedding gift to the couple. Another is Griego's go-to horse for rounding up cattle.

"Everything that's breathing is out, and that's what matters," said Taylor, who teaches science in a nearby community.

State livestock inspectors said green flags are flying at the entrances of ranches where livestock are left behind during evacuations so that responders know later.

The fire merged last week with another blaze that was sparked in early April when a prescribed fire set by land managers escaped containment. The cause of the other fire remains under investigation.

Lujan Grisham said Tuesday that the federal government bears some responsibility.

Another New Mexico wildfire burning through forested areas to the northeast has forced the evacuations of about 800 homes while charring 92 square miles

A separate fire burning in the mountains near Los Alamos National Laboratory prompted the evacuation of about 200 homes. It has charred more than 39 square miles and destroyed at least three homes.

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Associated Press writers Paul Davenport in Phoenix contributed to this report. Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

NM governor to the feds: Stop igniting prescribed burns in windy, dry conditions – By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling on the federal government to change its rules around prescribed burns after one such blaze grew out of control in early April. It’s contributed to one of the biggest fires in state history that today is threatening homes, farms, villages and cities.

What’s now known as the Hermits Peak Fire began as the Las Dispensas Prescribed Burn. Earlier this year, federal forestry officials announced the proposed 1,200-acre burn to help preserve the Gallinas Watershed, which is the primary water source for Las Vegas, New Mexico.

After canceling the proposed burn once in mid-March, Santa Fe National Forest officials announced April 1 they would try to find the right window in April to try again.

“The decision to proceed will depend on multiple factors, including resource availability, fuel moisture levels, air quality, ventilation, and forecasted weather and wind,” they wrote in a news release. “Prescribed burns are designed to meet specific objectives and are always managed with firefighter and public safety as the first priority.”

But the blaze they set April 6 quickly grew out of control due to “unexpected erratic winds in the late afternoon” that caused spot fires outside of the proposed burn site, according to forest officials.

They noted that they started the fire when they were satisfied weather forecasts were within the appropriate parameters.

The fire burned at least 7,500 acres before merging with the highly destructive Calf Canyon fire. Now the combined fire has consumed at least 145,000 acres and, at 20% containment, is quickly approaching the record for second-biggest fire in state history.

In a news briefing Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Lujan Grisham said she was calling on the federal government to change its rules around prescribed fires and expected payments from the feds that will be “reparation,” in addition to the money unlocked as part of a federal disaster declaration.

The governor said the federal government should not be setting fires during the windy season in April. The fires occurred during a historically dry period in New Mexico, and destructive winds later in April ultimately fanned as many as 20 different fires that flared up in the state on a single day.

Lujan Grisham noted that prescribed burns are part of the equation for managing healthy forests.

She went on to say that burns might be safer after a rainstorm or when it’s colder, though she acknowledged a prescribed burn in the winter might be less productive.

Santa Fe National Forest managers canceled a previous attempt at a Las Dispensas Prescribed Burn due to snow on the ground, which put moisture levels above “prescription parameters in the burn plan.”

“We’re going to have to figure it out. But this cannot occur again, anywhere in the U.S.,” she said. “New Mexico is going to work diligently to make sure the feds have a whole new set of rules that keep us safer. That’s for sure.”

Another of the most destructive wildfires in state history also started as a prescribed burn that whipped out of control due to low humidity and high winds. In 2000, the Cerro Grande Fire in Los Alamos burned about 43,000 acres and, in doing so, destroyed about 400 homes. Officials ignited that fire on May 4 that year.

In addition to the call for a change to federal prescribed burn rules, Lujan Grisham also announced that she would be submitting a request for basically “unlimited” federal aid in fighting the fire and to help the 6,000 families who had to flee their homes.

If the request is approved — and the governor said it is certain to be — it will be the first time the federal government has approved a request for disaster aid while a disaster is still ongoing, she said.

“I have no doubt that in addition to the declaration, and early investments by the feds, we should expect what I’m calling reparation, restitution — direct investments by the feds,” she said.

Change trains: Mexico favors N. Mexico over Texas - By Mark Stevenson Associated Press

The Mexican government is snubbing Texas and moving a proposed border rail link to New Mexico after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott backed up border crossings with state inspections in April.

Mexican diplomats met Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and touted a rail line linking Mexican seaports on the Pacific with the San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa crossing in New Mexico, about 20 miles (36 kilometers) west of El Paso, Texas.

Mexico had considered a route through Texas, but in recent days officials have said they can no longer rely on that state. Abbott had required all commercial trucks from Mexico to undergo extra inspections, tying up traffic and causing millions in losses.

Roberto Velasco Álvarez, Mexico's director for North American affairs, wrote in his Twitter account about the meeting in Washington.

"There is a regional vision and management of migration, legal pathways and more development options, as well as advances in infrastructure with New Mexico that will allow us to develop immediate alternatives to commercial traffic that currently passes through Texas," Velasco Álvarez wrote.

Mexico's Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier was more forceful last week on the fate of a proposed rail line linking the Pacific coast port of Mazatlan in Mexico's Sinaloa state with the U.S. and Canada.

"There is a very important project that will hopefully be finished soon that will connect Sinaloa and, we used to say Texas, but I don't think we're going to use Texas anymore because we cannot put all our eggs in one basket and be held hostage to those who want to use trade as a political issue," Clouthier told a business conference.

"So we are going to look for another connection point because we cannot go through again what we went through a few weeks ago," she said.

Some truckers reported waiting more than 30 hours to cross during the state inspections. Others blocked one of the world's busiest trade bridges in protest.

Abbott, who is up for reelection in November and has made the border his top issue, fully lifted the inspections after reaching agreements with neighboring Mexican states that outline new commitments to border security.

But those Mexican states have little authority or manpower to intercept drugs or migrant smuggling — the two issues Abbott cited in implementing the inspections, though state officials found little of either — so the agreements were seen as a way of pressuring Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to act.

López Obrador, has described Abbott's actions as "vile." But Abbott hasn't backed down, and has said he is considering invoking defense powers by declaring that Texas is being "invaded."

On Monday, López Obrador brushed it off, saying, "Now that there are elections, some politicians in the United States are making accusations."

"But how are they going to talk about an invasion?" Lópz Obrador said, referring to the fact that Texas — like much of the rest of the U.S. Southwest — once belonged to Mexico.

US to hold back Lake Powell water to protect hydropower - By Sam Metz Associated Press

U.S. officials announced plans Tuesday that they characterized as extraordinary to keep hundreds of billions of gallons of water stored in a reservoir on the Utah-Arizona line to prevent it from shrinking more amid prolonged drought and climate change.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plans to hold back about 480,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell to maintain Glen Canyon Dam's ability to produce hydropower for millions of homes and businesses in the region. That's roughly enough water to serve 1 million to 1.5 million average households annually.

Tanya Trujillo, the bureau's assistant secretary of water and science, said keeping the water stored in the reservoir would stave off hydropower concerns for at least 12 months, giving officials time to strategize for how to operate the dam at a lower water elevation. The lake currently holds less than one-fourth of its full capacity and the dam produces electricity for about 5 million customers in seven U.S. states.

"We have never taken this step before in the Colorado River basin, but conditions we see today and the potential risks we see on the horizon demand that we take prompt action," Trujillo said.

The decision will not have any immediate impacts on the amount of water allocated for the region's cities. And it won't affect farms that rely on the Colorado River, which already face mandatory cuts in central Arizona.

But it illustrates the compounding challenges facing Mexico and the seven U.S. states that rely on the Colorado River, which supplies water to about 40 million people and a $5 billion-a-year agricultural sector.

There is less water flowing through the river than is consumed by cities and farms throughout the region. And the water levels in the river's two primary storage reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — have plummeted substantially over the past two decades — to such an extent that boaters found a decades-old dead body in a barrel exposed on Sunday.

The action announced Tuesday is one of several that have been taken to shore up Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation has also ordered releases from other reservoirs upstream frpm Lake Powell, including 500,000 acre-feet of water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border announced last month. Releases from Flaming Gorge as well as Blue Mesa reservoir in Colorado and the Navajo reservoir in New Mexico were ordered last year.

Shoring up Lake Powell may allow water to continue flowing through the turbines at Glen Canyon Dam and keep its hydropower-generating capacity intact, but that's only one of several interests that officials are juggling in managing reservoir levels.

The decision injects uncertainty into the boating and recreation industries that rely on consistent reservoir levels to operate infrastructure like docks. And it forces officials to confront that without drastic conservation measures, demand for water in growing regions will likely come up against supply constraints in a hotter, drier future.

The Bureau of Reclamation announcement followed months of talks between upper basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — and their lower basin counterparts in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico, which are already taking mandatory and voluntary cuts.

Federal officials first floated the proposal last month in a letter to the seven states, which responded with a joint letter in support of the move in which they asked the bureau to adjust water accounting and how it reports lake levels when deciding on future cuts.

The request centered on the fact that keeping water stored in Lake Powell will decrease the amount of water flowing downstream to Lake Mead, the Colorado River's other main storage reservoir.

In response to concerns that less for Lake Mead would require lower basin states to take additional cuts, the bureau agreed to act as if the water had flowed downstream in calculating Lake Mead's elevation. That compromise alters agreements reached over the past 15 years triggering cuts to water users in the lower basin once Lake Mead falls to certain thresholds.

It means moving forward, U.S. officials will "credit" Lake Mead and act as if the water kept to preserve Lake Powell had been delivered downstream when deciding how to enforce agreements — effectively splintering the lake's actual levels from the levels used to determine cuts.

"We are going to account for the water as if it had been released. And we will do it in a way so that it will not trigger additional releases from the upper basin or additional layers of shortage in the lower basin," Trujillo said.

Wildfire in northeastern New Mexico expected to keep growing - By Cedar Attanasio and Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press

The fire burning about 10 miles away from Priscilla Crespin's home was the first blaze that forced the 81-year-old to leave the small northeastern New Mexico community where she has spent nearly all her life.

Crespin left her home in Las Vegas, New Mexico, because smoke from the fire wasn't good for her asthma, her children were growing concerned and other family members who live nearby were making plans to leave.

When her daughter showed up to take her to Albuquerque on Monday, fire crews were cutting down trees, raking pine needles and spraying water on properties in the area near her home. She grabbed clothes, photos and essential documents.

"It's awful. It scares you," Crespin said as she was being driven away from her hometown. "You don't know when it's going to get to the houses."

Even though no evacuations were ordered in the town of 13,000, the blaze that has charred 217 square miles in New Mexico's pine-covered mountainsides had prompted some residents to flee the community. It also led to an evacuation of the state's psychiatric hospital.

Fire crews battled on several fronts to keep the fire, the largest wildfire burning in the U.S., from pushing into more populated areas as it fed on the state's drought-parched landscape. Authorities were encouraged by a forecast for Tuesday of improving humidity and shifting winds. Still the blaze is expected to keep growing, putting it on track to possibly be one of the largest and most destructive in the state's recorded history.

Wildfires have become a year-round threat in the drought-stricken West and they are moving faster and burning hotter than ever due to climate change, scientists and fire experts say. In the last five years, California for example has experienced the eight largest wildfires in state history, while Colorado saw a destructive blaze tear through suburban neighborhoods last December.

The fire in northeastern New Mexico ballooned in size Sunday, prompting authorities to issue new evacuation orders for the small town of Mora and other villages.

Residents in some outlying neighborhoods of the town of Las Vegas were told to be ready to leave their homes as smoke choked the economic hub for the farming and ranching families who have lived for generations in the rural region. No evacuations had been ordered within the city as of Monday evening.

Las Vegas is also home to New Mexico Highlands University and is one of the most populated stops along Interstate 25 before the Colorado state line.

Crews got a bit of a break Monday afternoon as the wind diminished and helicopters were able to make water drops in key locations. Still, flames running along the ridges above town could be seen from the discount store, an empty baseball field and other vantage points.

The county jail, the state's psychiatric hospital and more than 200 students from the United World College have evacuated and businesses that remained open were having a hard time finding workers as more people were forced from their homes.

"We're trying to house and feed people with skeleton crews. Hundreds of people have lost their homes. It's an extraordinary tragedy," said Allan Affeldt, a hotelier in Las Vegas. He said most of his staff were evacuated from their homes and he canceled guest reservations to accommodate firefighters and emergency crews.

The 197 patients at the Behavioral Health Institute were being sent to other facilities around the state, with some transported in secured units and others escorted by police.

Officials have said the northeastern New Mexico fire has damaged or destroyed 172 homes and at least 116 structures.

It merged last week with another blaze that was sparked in early April when a prescribed fire set by land managers to reduce fire danger escaped containment. The cause of the other fire remains under investigation.

Another New Mexico wildfire burning in the mountains near Los Alamos National Laboratory also prompted more evacuations over the weekend and other communities were told to get ready to evacuate if conditions worsen. That blaze has reached the burn scars of wildfires that blackened the region a decade ago when New Mexico had one of its worst and most destructive seasons.

A wildfire in 2000 forced the closure of the laboratory and left about 400 people homeless. The community was threatened again in 2011 when another blaze caused by a downed power line blackened more of the surrounding forest.

In the southern New Mexico community of Ruidoso, two people were killed in a wildfire that destroyed more than 200 homes in April. That mountain community saw similar destruction from a 2012 fire.

And new wildfires were reported over the weekend — three in Texas, two in New Mexico and one each in Oklahoma and Tennessee, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 3,100 wildland firefighters and support personnel are fighting fires across the country, with about one-third of them trying to prevent the big blaze in New Mexico from spreading.

More than 4,400 square miles have burned across the U.S. so far this year.

Lawmakers in 19 states want legal refuge for trans youth - By Holly Ramer Associated Press

Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states are following California's lead in seeking to offer legal refuge to displaced transgender youth and their families.

The coordinated effort being announced Tuesday by the LGBTQ Victory Institute and other advocates comes in response to recent actions taken in conservative states. In Texas, for example, Gov. Gregg Abbott has directed state agencies to consider placing transgender children in foster care, though a judge has temporarily blocked such investigations. And multiple states have approved measures prohibiting gender-affirming health care treatments for transgender youth.

To combat such moves, lawmakers in both Minnesota and New York recently filed refuge state legislation modeled after the bill proposed in March by state Sen. Scott Wiener in California. Democrats in 16 other states plan to follow suit, though about half of their legislatures are out of session or not currently accepting new bills.

Wiener said he immediately began hearing from other states after coming forward with his bill, which would reject any out-of-state court judgments removing children from their parents' custody because they allowed gender-affirming health care. It also would make arrest warrants based on alleged violation of another state's law against receiving such care the lowest priority for California law enforcement.

"We're sick of just playing defense against what these red states are doing," Wiener said in an interview Monday. "We're going on offense, we're going to protect LGBQT kids and their families and we're going to build a rainbow wall to protect our community."

Also joining the effort are LGBTQ lawmakers in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

Annise Parker, president and CEO of the Victory Institute, acknowledged that the legislation likely will fail in some states but said it was time to stand against the onslaught of bills targeting the LGBTQ community.

"This is our opportunity to drive the conversation and the debate, and to call on our allies proactively to step up instead of allowing ourselves to be targeted," said Parker, who was the first openly LGBTQ mayor of a major American city when she led Houston for six years.

"We would love to see these bills in states where there are more progressive legislatures," she said. "But we also think it's important that trans kids and their families out there see and hear legislators from our community standing up and defending them."

Wiener said it is despicable that any family would have to consider moving to a new state to protect a child, but if that happens, he hopes as many states as possible will welcome them.

"When your kid is being threatened with removal from your home, families are going to consider a lot of different options, and we just want to be clear that if you decide that's the option for you, we're going to do everything we can do to welcome you and protect you," he said.

Jan. 6 panel asks three GOP members of the U.S. House to cooperate in probe - Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom 

The U.S. House committee looking into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol sent letters Monday to Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Ronny Jackson of Texas, asking them to share information about meetings and conversations they had in the days and weeks leading up to the insurrection.

“The Select Committee has learned that several of our colleagues have information relevant to our investigation into the facts, circumstances and causes of January 6th,” Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, and ranking member Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said in a statement.

As we work to provide answers to the American people about that day, we consider it a patriotic duty for all witnesses to cooperate. We urge our colleagues to join the hundreds of individuals who have shared information with the Select Committee as we work to get to the bottom of what happened on Jan. 6.

In the letter to Biggs, the panel asks for information about meetings that took place in-person at the White House ahead of the Jan. 6 attacks, as well as remotely, including one on Dec. 21, 2020.

The Select Committee has heard testimony from other witnesses that “suggests that the discussion that day” included plans for Vice President Mike Pence to “unilaterally refuse to count certain states’ certified electoral votes” on Jan. 6 when Congress met to certify the presidential election results.

The panel wants to know if Biggs and two other unidentified members of Congress originally came up with the idea of bringing protesters into Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6.

The letter says that Ali Alexander, an “early and aggressive proponent of the Stop the Steal movement who called for violence before January 6th,” has publicly said that Biggs and two other lawmakers crafted the idea.

The panel also wants additional information about conversations Biggs had with state lawmakers and officials about claims the election was “stolen” and efforts to overturn the election results.

The Select Committee is also interested in conversations Biggs and other House Republicans had about receiving pardonsfor their actions related to attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“We would like to understand all the details of the request for a pardon, more specific reasons why a pardon was sought, and the scope of the proposed pardon,” the letter to Biggs says.

A trio of lawsuits in Arizona that sought to disqualify Republican Reps. Biggs and Paul Gosar and state Rep. Mark Finchem from the ballot for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was dismissed in April.

The letter to Brooks is somewhat shorter, asking him to meet with the panel to detail comments he made this March that appear “to provide additional evidence of President Trump’s intent to restore himself to power through unlawful means.”

Brooks said during an interview and a statement that Trump asked him to “rescind” the election of 2020. In the statement, he goes on to write that; “As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period.”

The Select Committee wants to interview Jackson about why “Oath Keepers, including its leader, Stewart Rhodes, exchanged encrypted messages asking members of the organization to provide you personally with security assistance, suggesting that you have ‘critical data to protect.’”

“As you likely know from public disclosures, individuals in these groups have been charged with seditious conspiracy,” Thompson and Cheney wrote. “Several of these individuals are alleged to have plotted the violent overthrow of the United States and allegedly staged weapons at a location near Washington D.C. for that purpose.”

The panel would like to know why members of the organization were interested in Jackson’s location, why they thought he had “critical data” that needed protection, why they wanted to keep Jackson safe and whom he spoke with on his cell phone that day.

The Select Committee said it also wants to record Jackson’s “firsthand observations” of the attack on the U.S. House chamber, during which Jackson was one of the people who barricaded a door to try to stop rioters from getting in.

The letter said panel members would like Jackson to include “the reactions and statements of other members of Congress to the violence at that moment.”

The panel suggested each of the three Republicans meet with the committee the week of May 9, but said other days were an option if the members’ schedules were too packed that week.

The Jan. 6 Select Committee plans to begin holding public hearings on its findings into the insurrection next month.

Albuquerque sees 3 different homicides over the weekend - Associated Press

Authorities in Albuquerque are dealing with three different homicide scenes that occurred over the weekend.

Albuquerque police say on Sunday officers responded to a single-vehicle car crash. One person was taken to the hospital and later died. But the victim had a gunshot wound. So the cause of death remains under investigation.

Earlier in the day around 4 a.m., a woman asked a neighbor to call police after she claimed to have stabbed her boyfriend. Officers found a man dead inside the woman's home with wounds consistent with a stabbing.

The woman told investigators her boyfriend had tried to stab her first. She was taken to the hospital for injuries. She has not been arrested.

On Saturday, police were called at 11 p.m. about a shooting. They found two people shot to death inside a home. There have been no arrests.

New Mexico's largest city has faced persistent crime problems. Albuquerque shattered its homicide record last year.