Water in Las Cruces comes to our taps without too much thought for the average resident. Las Cruces Utilities (LCU) provides safe, clean water through not just pipes and filters but also through regulations enacted to keep our water safe throughout the United States.

In 1912, the U.S. Public Health Service Act was enacted to keep communicable diseases, such as typhoid, out of the water through chlorination.

“Before it was more of an honor system, but people cut corners, and people got sick,” said LCU Interim Deputy Director Water Ronald Borunda. “But, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (SDWA) was the game-changer for water safety.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Roberto Carlos Cervantes, 27, of Chaparral, New Mexico, was sentenced in federal court to 19 years and seven months in prison for kidnapping. Upon his release from prison, Cervantes will be subject to three years of supervised release.

According to the plea agreement and other public court documents, he and four co-defendants abducted the victim from a travel center in Mescalero, New Mexico, on April 4, 2019.  Cervantes and Joshua Bowen, 28, of Alto, New Mexico, each had a firearm at the time.  Cervantes hit the victim in the face several times.  They also tied and bound the victim in an attempted robbery. 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Joel Aguilar Villanueva, 45, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, was sentenced in federal court to 11 years and three months in prison for transportation of a visual image of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  Villanueva pleaded guilty on Nov. 8, 2019.

According to the plea agreement and other court records, on Oct. 23, 2018, Villanueva, who was the principal of a middle school in Las Cruces, uploaded a video from an electronic device to Twitter. The video depicted a child engaged in a sexual act with an adult, and was posted with the comment “aprenden rapido,” which translates to English as, “they learn fast.” 

Upon his release from prison, Villanueva will be subject to five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former Albuquerque television meteorologist Mark Ronchetti on Wednesday announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of New Mexico. Ronchetti said in a statement posted on a campaign website that as governor he would focus on small businesses, education, crime and the border. He also said he'd “listen and find solutions that actually work." In joining a crowded Republican primary field targeting Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Ronchetti is making his second run for statewide office. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2020. Ronchetti  resigned from KRQE-TV last week. He also stepped away from the station to run in 2020.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Investigators say there was “some complacency” in how weapons were handled on a movie set where Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a cinematographer and wounded another person. Speaking Wednesday at a news conference, they also said it’s too soon to determine whether charges will be filed. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza noted that 500 rounds of ammunition were found while searching the set of the Western “Rust.” They included a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and live rounds.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Another group of workers is suing Los Alamos National Laboratory over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Tuesday announced 687 additional COVID-19 cases and eleven more COVID-19 deaths. Per the state Department of Health, the most recent cases are:

·     147 new cases in Bernalillo County

·     2 new cases in Catron County

·     17 new cases in Chaves County

·     12 new cases in Cibola County

·     5 new cases in Colfax County

·     19 new cases in Curry County

·     1 new case in De Baca County

·     68 new cases in Doña Ana County

·     15 new cases in Eddy County

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It's been years in the making and now officials say the first leg of a major renewable energy transmission line in New Mexico has been energized.

The New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority made the announcement Tuesday. The Western Spirit project is expected to be in operation by the end of the year. The transmission line will carry wind-generated power to the grid in New Mexico and other western markets. The project involved a novel public-private partnership between the state transmission authority and Pattern Energy.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Experts predict a tremendous legal fallout after Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger on a prop gun while filming “Rust” in New Mexico and unwittingly killed a cinematographer and injured a director.

In addition to Baldwin, a call sheet for the day of the shooting obtained by The Associated Press lists five producers, four executive producers, a line producer and a co-producer. They, assistant director Dave Halls and an armorer could all face some sort of liability even if they weren't on the set.