News

Time now for KRWG’s Story Corps… I’m Edmundo Resendez. Today we meet Sara Belger who talks with her boyfriend Andrew Polk about how they started dating but how Sara was resistant to the relationship. Then, Andrew had a surprise for Sara. 

The Mimbres Region Arts Council was named as one of the recipients of the 2013 NM Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts. Edmundo Resendez has the story. 

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has been named to a National Governors Association task force on health care.

The organization announced Tuesday the panel will consider how states can improve the delivery of quality health care while controlling the costs of Medicaid, a program jointly financed by states and the federal government to provide medical services for the needy.

Other members of the task force on health care sustainability are governors from Oregon, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, California, New York, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Maryland and Nevada.

New Mexico children could win a trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom or ride in a hot air balloon with Gov. Susana Martinez under a program that state officials hope will encourage students to read when they aren't in school.

The governor is to announce several reading contests on today in Albuquerque. The state is partnering with private and public organizations, including the city of Albuquerque, the University of New Mexico and the Albuquerque Isotopes.

The governor's office says the goal is to prevent a drop in the reading proficiency of students during the summer months.

The New Mexico Game Commission will be meeting in Roswell to consider revising the hunting season for squirrels and grouse and the renewal of a lease that would allow access to state trust land.

The daylong meeting is scheduled for Thursday at the New Mexico Military Institute.

The grouse and squirrel proposal is aimed at simplifying the current hunting seasons, which are divided into north and south zones with different dates.

  Oil production in New Mexico has increased by nearly 50 percent over the last three years, making it one of five western states that have helped boost national production over the last three years.

Statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show onshore oil production increased nationally by more than 2 million barrels a day — or nearly two-thirds — between February 2010 and February 2013.

North Dakota and Texas have been the driving forces, but New Mexico along with Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah account for 15 percent of the growth.

The University of New Mexico hospital is sending a 26-member team of medical, computer and security specialists to Moore, Okla., to help with the response to Monday's massive tornado hit.

Medical personnel who are part of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team include doctors, nurses and medical managers.

The deployment could be for up to two weeks.

According to the hospital, the team is part of a national system that deploys medical support to events of national significance.

A proposed ban on sales of sugary sodas in public elementary and junior high schools is on its way to the governor.

In a 24-6 vote on Tuesday, the Senate approved a bill intended to help the state's youngest students develop nutritious drinking habits. It would allow schools to sell only water, low-fat milk and pure juice.

Democratic Sen. Carlos Uresti of San Antonio said the change will save the state untold millions in health care costs.

New Mexico is slipping further into drought, having marked the driest two-year period in nearly 120 years of record-keeping.  National weather forecasters and water managers shared the latest statistics on New Mexico's devastatingly dry conditions during a meeting Tuesday. They say the last 12- and 24-month periods have eclipsed even those dry times of the early 20th century and the 1950s.

For the first four months of this year, New Mexico has seen less than half of its normal precipitation, with communities in the south and along the Rio Grande Valley seeing even less.

A judge has ruled that a North Texas lesbian couple can't live together because of a morality clause in the divorce papers of one of the women.

The clause is common in divorce cases in Texas and other states. It prevents a divorced parent from having a romantic partner spend the night while children are in the home. If the couple marries, they can get out from under the legal provision, but that is not an option for gay couples in Texas.

The trial for an Albuquerque teenager accused of killing his father on a November 2010 hunting trip in the Gila National Forest has been pushed back.

Trial had been scheduled to begin in July for 18-year-old Thomas Manning. But attorney Stacey Ward says a witness critical to the defense won't be available to testify until early next year.

The Silver City Sun-News says State District Judge J.C. Robinson vacated the July trial date and will rule later on Ward's brief about the availability of the defense's key witness.

Warmer weather may seem like a good reason to leave windows open, but Las Cruces residents are reminded that most home and automobile burglaries are considered ‘crimes of opportunity’ and committed by perpetrators who want easy access to items of value.

Las Cruces Police have learned through their investigations that the vast majority of auto burglaries are committed when windows are left rolled down, doors are unlocked and valuables left in plain sight.

Many residential burglaries are committed by perpetrators who found a door unlocked or window left open.

  WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Principal Deputy Director Neil Kornze honored two BLM employees today at a ceremony held by the Public Lands Foundation.  Bill Childress and Jon Reponen were presented with national awards for their commitment and exceptional dedication to managing America’s public lands.

FORT BLISS, Texas- The Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss, Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, and Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, 41st Infantry Regiment, will conduct a memorial for three Soldiers killed in Afghanistan, at 1pm, Wednesday, May 22, at the 1st Armored Division Chapel, East Fort Bliss. (11272 Biggs St.)

The Las Cruces Police Department, in cooperation with the New Mexico Department of Transportation and law enforcement agencies throughout the state, is participating in a zero-tolerance Click It or Ticket Campaign for two weeks ending June 2.