News

  WASHINGTON – Today U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with Reps. Ben Ray Luján, Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Steve Pearce announced they have introduced a bill to strengthen the nation's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and training programs in New Mexico and the U.S.

WASHINGTON – U.S.

New Mexico State University's Strengthening Families Initiative alongside, Milo's Barber Shop and La Clinica De Famila Early Head Start, will host Fatherhood Buzz, an initiative to increase awareness around responsible fatherhood and parenting issues, 9 a.m. on June 15 at 304 Wyatt Drive in Las Cruces.

  HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. – An Airman assigned to the 4th Space Control Squadron at Holloman AFB was found dead in her home in Alamogordo, N.M., at approximately 11:30 p.m. June 11.  No foul play is suspected at this time.

The incident is under investigation, and more details, including the name of the deceased, will be released 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.

Gov. Susana Martinez's administration says the lesser prairie chicken's population has stabilized so there is no need for the bird to receive federal protection.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that Cal Baca, chief of wildlife management at the New Mexico Game and Fish Department, said this week that the bird in New Mexico is safe. He told the Legislature's Water and Natural Resources that granting it federal protection as a threatened species would hurt businesses and be disruptive to private landowners in New Mexico

The state medical marijuana advisory board's chairman is leaving office after not being reappointed by Gov. Susana Martinez's administration.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that Dr. Steve Jenison was instrumental in establishing New Mexico's medical marijuana program.

Health Secretary Retta Ward told Jenison in a letter that he will no longer be part of the board.

Health Department spokesman Kenny Vigil declined to elaborate on why Jension isn't being reappointed.

Republican state senators have rejected every proposed change to court-drawn political districts, setting the stage for what will likely be years of lawsuits.

The Senate Redistricting Committee met in Austin on Wednesday and adopted the current political maps for use in 2014.

Gov. Rick Perry called the Legislature into special session to adopt redistricting maps drawn by federal judges after a separate court declared maps drawn by lawmakers to be unconstitutional.

A New Mexico father has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for using homemade instruments to tattoo the letter "I'' on the arm of his 3-year-old son.

Federal prosecutors say 29-year-old Cruz Tenorio of Kewa Pueblo was sentenced Tuesday. He must serve six months in a half-way house when he's released from prison.

Tenorio must also pay restitution. Prosecutors say that will ensure the child has access to any needed medical or psychological services, including the removal of the tattoo.

The head of the state livestock board says it can't roundup free-roaming horses from the mountain hamlet of Placitas.

The Coronado Soil and Water Conservation District agency on Monday ordered the state to remove the horses. But the Albuquerque Journal reports Wednesday that the board's executive director, Ray Baca, says the conservation district has no authority to issue such an order.

Baca says the livestock board will assist any way it legally can, but that the horses are the problem of Sandoval County and property owners in Placitas.

The Las Cruces Police Department’s Mobile Operations Command center will deploy to south Solano Drive next week for four days of community interaction.

The Mobile Operation Command will be stationed in the parking lot of the Families and Youth, Inc., agency at 1320 S. Solano Dr. The MOC will be parked in the northeast corner of the parking lot, near the corner of Solano Drive and Idaho Avenue.

  Las Cruces Police have arrested a woman suspected of running over and killing her boyfriend during a dispute early Wednesday morning.

Annette Larson Fuschini, 38, has been charged with an open count of murder and aggravated driving while intoxicated.

Fuschini’s boyfriend, Carlos Nevarez Jr., was transported to Mountain View Regional Medical Center where he was subsequently pronounced dead. Nevarez, born June 12, 1971, had just turned 42 today.

WASHINGTON – The DEA today announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated 18 individuals and 15 entities linked to Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug trafficker.  Rafael Caro Quintero is a significant Mexican narcotics trafficker who began his criminal career in the late 1970s when he and others, including Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno (a.k.a.

SANTA FE, N.M. - The Rosemont Leadership Institute, in collaboration with the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University, has named 31 high school juniors to its inaugural class of Rosemont Leadership Institute Scholars.

Nearly 270 highly qualified high school juniors from across New Mexico applied for RLI, which includes a $25,000 scholarship to attend either the University of New Mexico or New Mexico State University. Semi-finalists were interviewed by faculty and staff from NMSU and UNM, as well as representatives from Rosemont Realty.

  Delfina C. Domínguez, Ph.D., a professor of clinical laboratory sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso, has received a grant from the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) to develop a point-of-care device to detect pertussis, also known as whooping cough, which can be used in schools and doctors’ offices.