Regional

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas says the state's natural resources are plentiful but there have been missed opportunities to create prosperity because minority communities haven't been involved. He announced Tuesday that he's establishing a council to look into bolstering inclusion of communities of color for decisions about environmental protection and access to natural resources.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation is implementing a stricter weekend lockdown as it looks into new clusters of coronavirus cases.

Residents of the vast reservation that extends into New Mexico, Arizona and Utah will be required to stay home from Friday evening until early Monday morning. A previous lockdown was a day shorter.

Police are continuing to investigate Monday evening’s hit-and-run crash that claimed the life of a 43-year-old Las Cruces man and critically injured a second man near the intersection of Espina Street and Arizona Avenue.

About 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, Las Cruces police and fire were dispatched to the report of two pedestrians who were struck by a vehicle that fled from the area of Espina and Arizona. Officers arrived to find the two victims. One of the victims, 43-year-old Jaime Valenciano, was pronounced dead on scene. A 60-year-old man was rushed in critical condition to an area hospital.

A $1 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agricultural will support an innovative cross-campus collaboration at New Mexico State University that aims to transform the educational experience and increase accessibility and workforce opportunities for underrepresented students in natural resources and agriculture.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas on Monday began relaxing some coronavirus restrictions, including allowing restaurants to let more people inside.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced the changes last week. Bars though still remain closed indefinitely and a mask mandate is still in place. Under the new orders, restaurants and retail shops that until now have only been allowed to operate at half capacity were allowed to open up to 75% starting Monday in most of the state.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is siding with the father of a seventh grade prep school student in a lawsuit that challenges pandemic-related limits on classroom capacity at private schools in New Mexico as more restrictive than public school guidelines.

  SANTA FE – New Mexico state health officials on Monday announced 106 additional COVID-19 cases and 2 deaths.

As of today, there are 71 individuals hospitalized in New Mexico for COVID-19. This number may include individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 out of state but are currently hospitalized in New Mexico. This number does not include New Mexicans who tested positive for COVID-19 and may have been transferred to a hospital out of state.

  SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is sending campaign emails that accuse President Trump of single-handedly botching the nation’s coronavirus response. Governors including Lujan Grisham and California’s Gavin Newsom have been noticeably reluctant at times to criticize Trump publicly since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as their state’s rely heavily on aid from the federal government to respond to the crisis and balance budgets. That tone shifts in a campaign email from Lujan Grisham that says Trump refused to take action “while knowing how deadly and dangerous COVID-19 would be.” State health officials responded last week to an increased number of virus outbreaks associated with work settings.

  LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A Las Cruces police officer has been arrested or allegedly driving while under the influence. The Las Cruces News-Sun reported Monday that 25-year-old Lourdes Hernandez has been released on her own recognizance after being booked for aggravated drunk driving and other charges. New Mexico State Police say Hernandez was stopped on Interstate 25 early Saturday for going nearly 20 mph above the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit. According to authorities, Hernandez showed signs of impairment. She identified herself as a police officer and said that she had her on-duty firearm with her. Hernandez then refused to take a Breathalyzer test. A police spokesman says she is on administrative leave.

  Two more Las Cruces Public Schools employees have reported positive test results for COVID-19. One employee is at Hermosa Heights Elementary and the other is at Mesa Middle School, according to LCPS administrators. These cases bring the total number of LCPS employees who have tested positive to 10.  

The Hermosa Heights employee learned of their test results on Sunday but has not been in the school since Sept. 14.  

All staff at both schools have been notified. Mesa Middle School was closed Monday and will reopen after the building has been sanitized. Hermosa Heights is also scheduled to be sanitized.  

While scientists and doctors are still working to understand the virus that causes COVID-19, the pandemic has also had many indirect effects on the health of people working remotely while in isolation.

A group of researchers from Australia and the U.S., including New Mexico State University, recently co-authored an article for the International Journal of Sports Science offering tips to increase physical activity, which will not only benefit physical health but mental health as well.

  Silver City, NM – Western New Mexico University and Freeport-McMoRan are co-hosting the community’s first drive-thru training expo on Wednesday, September 30, from 3 to 5 p.m. Mine employees and contractors are invited to the WNMU Silver City campus, where advisors will provide services and give personal consultations.

The expo is intended to guide community members through the process of applying for Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act assistance and Trade Adjustment Assistance tuition funding while exploring their expanded training and higher education options.

The Las Cruces Police Department graduated 13 police cadets Friday from its state-certified law enforcement training academy.

Because of the public health emergency, the 49th Las Cruces Police Academy’s graduation was limited to a short Zoom presentation and 13 separate badge-pinning ceremonies – one for each new graduate. To remain in compliance with current orders from the New Mexico Department of Health, each cadet was permitted to have up to four relatives present during their individual badge-pinning.

UPDATE: CDC posted this on its website Monday: A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency’s official website. CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process has been completed, the update language will be posted.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police in Albuquerque say the body of a missing hiker has been found in the Sandia Mountains. They say the death of 40-year-old Gilbran Hernandez-Avila is being ruled as accidental. Police say the body was located Saturday. A missing person’s alert was issued for Hernandez-Avila on Sept. 15, two days he went hiking and sent his last known communication to his family. The search was a combined effort involving Albuquerque police, New Mexico Search and Rescue and State Police.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police say an Albuquerque man is accused of vehicular homicide in the death of his girlfriend. They say 29-year-old Robert Mentz was arrested Saturday after allegedly running over 30-year-old Brandi Garcia with his car Friday night. According to a criminal complaint, Mentz got into an argument with his girlfriend and allegedly grabbed her by the hair and started driving while Garcia’s father was on top of his car. Mentz told police that he hit the brakes and Garcia wasn’t on his car anymore, but he kept driving to get her father off. Police say Mentz told them that he didn’t intentionally run Garcia over and thought she died from hitting her head.

  WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of mass death and sickness, what could possibly count as a success story against the pandemic?

President Donald Trump would have you believe Americans are already living that success story, even as the death toll approaches 200,000 and infections spread by the tens of thousands a day.

Trump's latest revisionism on the pandemic came during a week when he unleashed a torrent of misbegotten claims about mail-in voting, a monthslong preoccupation growing more intense with the approach of the Nov. 3 election.

While Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden laid out a broad and largely supported case that Trump has underplayed the severity of the pandemic, the devil was in the details: No, Trump did not call the coronavirus a hoax.

A new pressure reducing valve was installed on Well 117 and it was time to connect it into the Las Cruces Utilities (LCU) monitoring system. That system, known as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), not only oversees the security at different LCU locations, but also gives LCU staff a vast amounts of data regarding the operation of various LCU Gas, Water, and Wastewater systems.

  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas health officials report 3,433 new coronavirus cases and 135 more deaths due to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. The state health department on Saturday reported 686,068 total cases and 14,848 deaths. The true number of cases is likely higher though because many people haven’t been tested and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick. The department estimates that 605,522 people have recovered from the virus and that there are 65,698 active cases.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police say a double-homicide suspect in New Mexico was posing as his brother when he was arrested for a separate warrant against his brother. Dakota “Outlaw” Briscoe is accused of killing two men in in Albuquerque, torching their bodies inside a vehicle and carjacking a woman at gunpoint to escape. Two days after Briscoe's arrest, officials say they discovered the sibling scheme and charged Briscoe with 15 counts. Online court records didn’t list a defense attorney for Briscoe who could comment on his behalf.