News

By KRWG News

Carlsbad – A relatively small earthquake struck about 19 miles northwest of Carlsbad in southern New Mexico on Saturday.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports the 4.3-magnitude earthquake occurred just after 6 p.m. in a "very remote location."

Dale Grant, a USGS geophysicist, says a number of people in the area reported feeling the quake for about five to six seconds.

There were no reports of injuries or damages.

By KRWG News

Sunland Park – Bob Baffert's Conveyance rates the 9-5 morning line favorite for this Sunday's Grade 3 $800,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – White Sands Missile Range will open Trinity Site to the public for
another open house on Saturday, April 3.

Trinity Site is where the world's first atomic bomb was tested at 5:29:45 a.m. Mountain War Time on July 16, 1945.

The open house is free. At the site visitors can take a quarter-mile
walk to ground zero where a small obelisk marks the exact spot where the
bomb was exploded. Historical photos are mounted on the fence
surrounding the area.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico's environmental secretary wants the National Nuclear Security Administration removed from environmental cleanup and surveillance programs at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Ron Curry says the National Nuclear Security Administration has had a "troubled history" in implementing a 2005 consent decree over cleanup.

He wrote Energy Secretary Steven Chu that the agency's involvement "has compromised the pace and direction" of work to protect the New Mexico's water resources and its citizens' health.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The Navy has commissioned its newest nuclear-powered submarine.

The 377-foot-long New Mexico was formally accepted Saturday at Naval Station Norfolk.

The $2.3 billion Virginia-class attack submarine was built at the nearby Northrop Grumman Shipyard in partnership with General Dynamics Electric Boat. It was delivered to the Navy four months early.

The 7,800-ton ship can dive to depths greater than 800 feet, operate at speeds topping 25 knots and remain submerged for three months.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – City parks and medians in Las Cruces are getting spruced up by a donation of more than 1,400 plants and trees from a local businessman.

City officials estimate the value of the donation by Randy Farmer, who owns a landscape company, is between $50,000 and $60,000.

Assistant City Manager Robert Garza says the donated landscape plants are a windfall for the city, adding that "this is very meaningful, especially during these tough economic times."

By KRWG News

El Paso – A potentially deadly situation was averted yesterday after Border Patrol agents, helped rescue ten migrants who were put in a perilous situation by a smuggler in an attempt to elude authorities.

By KRWG News

El Paso – Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today highlighted the United States' significant progress in securing the U.S.-Mexico border one year after the Obama administration announced the Southwest Border Initiative a series of unprecedented steps to crack down on Mexican drug cartels by deploying additional personnel and technology, increasing information sharing, working closely with the Mexican government, and improving federal coordination with state, local and tribal law enforcement authorities.

By Carrie Hamblen

March 27th, 2010 – George Jarden and Dave Edwards from the upcoming show "Gee and Ess and I" at the Rio Grande Theater. On the program, they talk about the concept of the performance, the music, how the production came together and what they hope the audience will take away from the performance.

By KRWG News

Silver City – The Western New Mexico University Museum is happy to announce the arrival of its newest short-term exhibition. Costumes Through Time and Space, on display from April 1 through June 30, 2010, features the creativity and artistry of Silver City residents Duane and Kathryn Elms. Duane, WNMU Director of Information Technology, and his wife Kathryn have selected some of their finest historical reproductions and costumes to help celebrate the University Museum's 35th Anniversary.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – At 15, high school sophomore Coloradas Mangas knows all too much about suicide.

He's recently had several friends who took their own lives.

Coloradas, a member of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, lives on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, where have been five youth suicides since the start of the school year. All were his friends.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Representatives from a national American Indian group are urging New Mexico's pueblos and tribes to participate in the 2010 Census.

The National Congress of American Indians' southwest area vice-president, Derek Valdo, was in Albuquerque on Thursday as part of campaign to encourage Indians and other Americans to fill out their census forms.

By KRWG News

Juarez, Mexico – A government report says Mexican criminal organizations have more than doubled heroin production in a year and have cemented their grip as the predominant wholesale suppliers of illicit drugs in the United States.

The National Drug Threat Assessment concluded Thursday that Mexican groups were the only drug trafficking enterprises operating in every region of the United States.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – KRWG is part of local news initiative announced on Thursday in Washington D-C.

Public radio and TV stations across the country will receive more than $10 million dollars over the next two years to boost local news coverage.

The money comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting .the organization that allocates federal funding for the system.

At individual stations like KRWG, the CPB investments are small, enough to pay for a full time reporter at each station.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – A New Mexico Department of Health program that provides early intervention for at-risk young children has improved in all eight categories measured in an annual report card.

The report card for the Family Infant Toddler program is submitted to the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs and looks at various aspects of the program, including how local providers perform.