Regional

By KRWG News

El Paso – U.S. officials have discovered a smuggling tunnel running under the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States, the first such underground passage found in the region.

U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said a sensor technician and border agent discovered Friday the crude 2-by-2-foot tunnel, which connects to a drainage tunnel at the border in El Paso.

By KRWG News

El Paso – A 15-year-old Mexican boy shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents was among El Paso's most wanted juvenile smugglers.

According to federal arrest records reviewed by The Associated Press, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka had been arrested at least four times since 2008 and twice in the same week in February 2009.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The state Court of Appeals has ruled that Gov. Bill Richardson's administration acted properly in redacting information from public records sought by the state Republican Party about illegal immigrants who got driver's licenses in New Mexico.

The court on Friday concluded the state Motor Vehicle Division and Taxation and Revenue Department properly blacked out personal information, such as names and addresses of drivers, from documents provided to the GOP.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The state Supreme Court has removed Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan from office because of her felony convictions.

The court issued its order on Wednesday.

Attorney General Gary King asked the justices to oust Sloan, but her lawyer contended it should be left to the Legislature to remove an elective official through impeachment.

Sloan was convicted in April of battery and burglary for attacking another woman, Brenda Yazzie. Sloan alleged the woman was having an affair with her husband.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The fire, dubbed the Long Canyon Fire, had burned 2600 acres.

Officials ramped up the response to the blaze when it moved to about a mile from the nearest home.

No evacuations were ordered.

The fire came closest to homes on small hills near Pena Blanca Loop, a dirt road south of Soledad Canyon Day Use Area near Las Cruces.

The blaze began Sunday southwest of a fire that burned on Fort Bliss land in New Mexico last week.

Cause: Human-Caused

Fuels: Light, flashy fuels with brush component

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – New Mexico State University president Barbara Couture has approved an administrative budget reduction plan that trims about $5.2 million for the coming fiscal year, resulting in the elimination of 68 jobs.

A proposal submitted by the university's budget advisory panel had called for another $156,000 in cuts and the elimination of 69 positions.

After a June 15 hearing, officials decided to restore one position under the Vice President of Student Success and change operating funds for the provost's office.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Autopsy results show a 17-year-old Mesquite boy who was shot to death during a March 30 altercation with a Dona Ana County Sheriff's deputy had a blood-alcohol content of .234 percent.

New Mexico's legal level of presumed intoxication is .08 percent.

Toxicology results released Tuesday also showed THC, the major psychoactive constituent of marijuana, in Nick Dominguez's system.

By KRWG News

El Paso – The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the expansion of unmanned drone aircraft flights to patrol the entire Texas-Mexico border.

In a prepared statement, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced the Wednesday decision expanding the flights long sought by Texas officials.

According to the statement, U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement will be allowed to begin the flights along the entire length of the Texas-Mexico border on Sept. 1.

By KRWG News

Las Vegas, NM – Actor Val Kilmer has apologized to his northern New Mexico neighbors after he was quoted making disparaging comments about the community.

San Miguel County commissioners invited Kilmer to a meeting Wednesday to explain comments published years ago in Rolling Stone and Esquire magazines.

Kilmer says he shares residents' concerns "when you hear negative things about a place you love."

By KRWG News

Deming – Deming's Municipal Airport is slated to receive a chunk of nearly $7 million allocated to airports statewide.

Nearly $500,000 has been awarded to the city to perform a rehabilitation on an approximately 6,000 foot runway.

Deming's community services director Aaron Sera said it's going to be a two-inch mill, an overlay, to rehab the runway and fix some cracks.

Sera said the fix is intended to last five years.

Final approval must come from Congress through the Federal Aviation Administration.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico's acting insurance chief has signed an order suspending a rate increase settlement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico.

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, which oversees the Insurance Division, says acting insurance superintendent Johnny Montoya signed the suspension order Tuesday.

A public hearing has been scheduled for August 25 in Santa Fe.

By KRWG News

Texas – A government watchdog group today filed a complaint against Gov. Rick Perry's campaign -- saying it failed to properly disclose how it spends money at the Governor's Mansion and at his temporary residence.

Since 2001, Perry's campaign has spent more than $800,000 under the loosely defined category of "mansion expenditures."

Texans for Public Justice claims the campaign violated disclosure laws by failing to itemize the spending.

By KRWG News

Juarez, Mexico – Mexico is asking a federal court in Arizona to declare the state's new immigration law unconstitutional.

Lawyers for Mexico on Tuesday submitted a legal brief in support of a lawsuit challenging the law.

The law generally requires police investigating another incident or crime to ask people about their immigration status if there's a "reasonable suspicion" they're in the country illegally.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Official results of New Mexico's primary election show that about 28 percent of New Mexico's eligible Democratic and Republican voters cast ballots.

The state Canvassing Board certified the results of the election on Tuesday.

Turnout in the primary was up from the 2006 gubernatorial primary election when 22 percent of voters participated. However, turnout in this year's election was down from the 2002 gubernatorial primary when nearly 34 percent of registered Democrats and Republicans cast ballots.

By KRWG News

El Paso – About 200 people rallied outside the U.S. Border Patrol El Paso headquarters, protesting the shooting death of a 15-year-old Mexican boy by a patrol agent earlier this month.