VP Mike Pence To Speak On Trade Agreement In New Mexico – Associated Press
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has been scheduled to visit New Mexico as a special guest for a United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade event.
Local news stations reported Thursday that Pence is expected to attend the Aug. 21 event hosted by America First Policies, an organization supporting policy initiatives.
Federal officials say Pence will speak about how the USMCA agreement will benefit the economy and its workers.
Officials say the agreement was drafted last year and is a renegotiated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Officials say the USMCA passed Mexico's Senate, passed Canada's House of Commons and still needs approval from the United States Congress.
The event will be held at 12:30 p.m. at Elite Well Services in Artesia about 250 miles southeast of Albuquerque.
Court Limits Order That Had Stopped Trump Asylum Limits – Associated Press
A federal appeals court ruling will allow the Trump administration to begin rejecting asylum at some parts of the U.S.-Mexico border for migrants who arrived after transiting through a third country.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar's order would only apply to states within the circuit. Two southern border states, California and Arizona, are in the circuit's jurisdiction, but New Mexico and Texas aren't.
The two busiest areas for border crossings are in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley and the region around El Paso, Texas, which includes New Mexico.
The American Civil Liberties Union says it will continue fighting the restrictions.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately comment.
New Mexico City Aims To Keep Open Coal-Fired Power Plant – Associated Press
Farmington city officials have signed an agreement with a company that proposes outfitting the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station with carbon-capture technology in an effort to extend its life.
The city announced the agreement with Enchant Energy Corp. on Friday. Under the plan, the company would acquire a 95% ownership interest from utilities that will be divesting in the plant in 2022.
That's when Public Service Co. of New Mexico plans to shut down the facility as it moves toward a 2040 emissions-free goal. The utility's decommissioning application is pending before state regulators.
Environmentalists oppose keeping the power plant open.
There also are questions about how Enchant Energy's plan will fit in with the state's new energy transition law, but Farmington officials say the proposal could save hundreds of jobs.
Very Large Oversize Load To Travel On New Mexico Highways – Associated Press
Officials say a very large oversized load will be traveling at very slow speeds on several highways across part of New Mexico the next couple of days.
The state Department of Transportation says the so-called "super load" will be escorted by state police as it travels Friday night, Saturday and Sunday from Texas to Albuquerque, with stops in Vaughn and Bernardo.
Highways that are part of the route include U.S. 380, U.S. 60 and Interstate 25.
Sandia National Laboratories spokesman Troy Rummler says the load consists of a large electrical transformer that will be used for Department of Energy research.
Albuquerque-based Sandia is a federal installation involved in the nation's nuclear weapons program and international nonproliferation efforts.
GOP Senate Candidate Is Expert Witness, Tiny-Home Enthusiast – Associated Press
Financial disclosures by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gavin Clarkson show that he works as professional court witness and lives in an experimental tiny home that is 15 feet long and wide.
Clarkson campaign spokesman Stephen Sebastian said Thursday that the tiny home in southern New Mexico owned by Clarkson is a prototype of an affordable housing unit geared toward Native American communities.
Clarkson has recently used his expertise in tribal finance and economic development to work as a college professor, private consultant and former official for the Trump administration.
He filed required financial disclosures with the Senate this week as he seeks the Republican nomination to succeed Democratic Sen. Tom Udall, who retires next year.
Clarkson lost his campaign last year for New Mexico secretary of state.
New Mexico Energy Firm Cancels Plans To Build Power Line – Santa Fe New Mexican, Associated Press
A Texas-based energy company has ended plans to build a power line that would have stretched throughout northern New Mexico.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Thursday that Hunt Power terminated the Verde Transmission Line project that would connect two state Public Service Company substations from Ojo to Santa Fe.
Experts say the proposed transmission line would have stretched for 30 miles providing additional power to the area and a new way to transport energy from renewable sources statewide.
Residents say a petition signed by more than 4,600 people opposed the project because it would harm low-income communities and wildlife in the region.
The energy firm says multiple agencies and county governments have opposed the project prohibiting progress for more than two years.
Albuquerque Muslim Lawmaker Speaks Out On Immigrant Poem - Associated Press
The first Muslim elected to the New Mexico Legislature is speaking out against a Trump administration official who said the inscription on the Statue of Liberty welcomed only people from Europe.
State Rep. Abbas Akhil told The Associated Press this week that comments by Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, were divisive and racist.
The Albuquerque Democrat says Emma Lazarus' poem welcoming "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses" spoke to him when he came to the U.S. in 1972 from India.
Beginning in the 1930s, immigration supporters began using the poem to bolster their cause.
Cuccinelli had said the poem should read "give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."
Virgin Galactic Reveals Futuristic Outpost For Space Tourism – By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from this remote spot in the New Mexico desert.
The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin Galactic will run its commercial flight operations.
Company officials, offering the first glimpse of the facility Thursday, say the space is meant to create "an unparalleled experience" as customers prepare for what Virgin Galactic describes as the journey of a lifetime.
Just how soon customers will file into Virgin Galactic's newly outfitted digs for the first commercial flights has yet to be determined. A small number of test flights are still needed.
Billionaire Richard Branson, who is behind Virgin Galactic, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, first pitched the plan for the spaceport nearly 15 years ago.
There were construction delays and cost overruns. Virgin Galactic's spaceship development took far longer than expected and had a major setback when its first experimental craft broke apart during a 2014 test flight, killing the co-pilot.
At the facility Thursday, the carrier plane for Virgin's rocket-powered passenger ship made a few passes and touch-and-goes over a runway.
Latino Actors, Writers Pen 'Letter Of Solidarity' Amid Fears - By Russell Contreras Associated Press
America Ferrera and Eva Longoria are leading a coalition of actors, writers and leaders in penning a public "letter of solidarity" to U.S. Latinos in the wake of the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, and an immigration raid in Mississippi.
The letter, published Friday in The New York Times and in a handful of Spanish-language newspapers, says the signers stand with U.S. Latinos who may feel "terrified, heartbroken and defeated by the barrage of attacks." It says such "indignities and cruelty" won't diminish the contributions Latinos have made to the U.S., and urges Hispanics to keep standing up to bigotry.
Latinos across the country have expressed anxiety after the El Paso shooting and another in Gilroy, California, claimed Hispanic victims.
Environmental Lawyer Enters Race For US House Seat – Santa Fe New Mexican, Associated Press
An environmental lawyer has entered the crowded field of New Mexico candidates aiming for Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján's seat.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Kyle Tisdel of Taos announced his candidacy Wednesday.
Tisdel directs the climate and energy program for the nonprofit Western Environmental Law Center.
The other Democratic candidates include First Judicial District Attorney Marco Serna, attorney Teresa Leger Fernandez, Sandoval County Treasurer Laura Montoya, state Rep. Joseph Sanchez, and former CIA operative and author Valerie Plame.
Luján is running for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2020.
Colorado River Improves, But Voluntary Cuts Loom – Associated Press
Conditions on the over-taxed Colorado River have improved dramatically over the past year, but not enough to stave off voluntary cutbacks for some water users in the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico.
A federal report released Thursday says the water level in Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir on the river, is expected to be slightly below 1,090 feet above sea level on Jan. 1.
That's nearly 15 feet higher than projected last year, thanks to a snowy winter. It means river users will avoid tougher mandatory cutbacks.
But it's low enough for Mexico and the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada to make voluntary reductions from their share of water, which they agreed to in March.
The Colorado River serves 40 million people in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming as well as Mexico.