Regional

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico regulators are hearing testimony that an environmental group's proposal for curbing greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico won't destroy the state's economy as critics have complained.

Attorney Steve Michel of Santa Fe is testifying Monday before the Environmental Improvement Board on behalf of a petition filed by New Energy Economy.

By KRWG News

Mexico City – Mexican officials say the mayor of a city on the outskirts of the northern industrial hub of Monterrey has been kidnapped by a gang of more than 15 armed men.

State prosecutor Alejandro Garza says no ransom demand has been received for Edelmiro Cavazos, the mayor of of Santiago in the border state of Nuevo Leon.

Garza said Monday the mayor was taken from his home around midnight. The men wore uniforms from a police agency that was dissolved years ago.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Every Monday, Fred Martino speaks with Las Cruces Sun News Business Editor Brook Stockberger.

By KRWG News

Santa Teresa – The New Mexico Border Authority has signed a $1.23 million grant agreement with the Economic Development Administration to continue a study into expanding commercial rail services along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Officials say the agreement has the potential to unlock trade opportunities for the Santa Teresa area.

The Economic Development Administration awarded the grant for a feasibility study that had been suspended 18 months earlier because of budget concerns.

By KRWG News

Texas – U.S. Border Patrol agents are killing themselves in greater numbers, after nearly four years without one suicide.

Records obtained by The Associated Press show that at least 15 agents have taken their own lives since February 2008. It's the largest spike in suicides the agency has seen in at least 20 years.

It's unclear exactly why the men ended their lives. Few left notes.

Federal officials insist the deaths have nothing to do with the agency or the increasingly volatile U.S.-Mexico border.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Gov. Bill Richardson is using $2 million in federal economic stimulus money to help protect New Mexico teachers and school employees from health insurance premium increases.

The governor announced Monday that he's also providing $500,000 in federal aid for professional development of educational assistants in Albuquerque Public Schools.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – With two cases of West Nile Virus already reported in El Paso County this year, Dona Ana County is stepping up its mosquito abatement program in advance of the upcoming school year.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – New Mexico State University is reporting a 5.8 percent increase in fall enrollment across all of its campuses.

Enrollment at the main campus in Las Cruces has risen to just short of 19,000 students.

University spokeswoman Minerva Baumann says New Mexico State won't have official enrollment numbers until after Aug. 30, since students continue to register during the first weeks of school.

Classes start Thursday at the main campus.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – DASO investigators earlier were called out to the 1400 block of Vista Del Cerro, which is in the Picacho Hills area, west of Las Cruces, after a male, age 19, reported being stabbed at approximately 9:00 p.m. last night.

According to Sheriff's Investigators, the Victim was airlifted to University Medical Center with a single non-life threatening stab wound to his lower left back area and is reported to be in "Satisfactory" condition.

The Suspect, age 15, was questioned by authorities.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Earlier this morning at approximately 2:30 a.m. an individual, age 23, reported to Sheriff's Deputies, that while at an area behind the Love's Truck Stop, commonly referred to as the "illegal race grounds," was approached by two individuals who jumped him from behind, wrestling him to the ground, taking his 2000 Ford Mustang.

The vehicle was later discovered abandoned in the desert area near the Butterfield Shooting Range, on the West Mesa.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – Gov. Bill Richardson is meeting with officials of the National Institutes of Health next week to object to a planed move of chimpanzees from a former medical research lab in southern New Mexico.

The governor wants the NIH to permanently retire the chimps and make the Alamogordo Primate Facility a sanctuary for the animals.

The NIH plans to move the chimps to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, Texas, where they can be used for medical experiments.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Navajo gaming officials are hoping to break ground this fall on a major casino to be built in the Upper Fruitland Chapter in northwest New Mexico. The tribe hopes the project leads to the creation of 400 jobs.

The chief executive officer of the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise says the tribe is facing 56 percent unemployment.

Gaming facilities are a high priority for the Navajo Nation, which joined the gaming industry decades after Indian gaming became legal.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – A New Mexico attorney says Native American gambling casinos have become big business, such a large enterprise that he believes they should be exempted from a cornerstone of Indian legal authority tribal sovereignty.

Sam Bregman has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case where a client, retired Albuquerque city worker Gary Hoffman, sued Sandia Resort and Casino over what the tribe characterized as a malfunctioning slot machine that displayed a $1.6 million jackpot.

By KRWG News

Santa Fe – An effort by a state agency to change the way arbitration is handled when state workers are fired or disciplined has been rejected by a judge.

District Judge Barbara Vigil ruled on Friday against a Regulation and Licensing Department effort to have an appeal of a compliance officer's firing heard under state personnel board rules.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees argued that its agreement calls for binding arbitration, which gives fired workers more rights.

By KRWG News

Washington, D.C. – President Barack Obama has signed into law a $600 million border security that will put more agents and equipment along the Mexican border.

Obama signed the bill in the Oval Office Friday alongside Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The measure will fund the hiring of 1,000 new Border Patrol agents to be deployed at critical areas along the border, as well as more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It also provides for new communications equipment and greater use of unmanned surveillance drones.