Regional

  SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Santa Fe police investigating the fatal shooting of a 64-year-old Michigan man visiting the northern New Mexico city are looking for five young people.

Richard Milan of Kalamazoo died Wednesday night after being shot while walking in his dog during a stop in Santa Fe on a return trip to Michigan from California.

Police spokesman Greg Gurule says investigators believe Milan was shot during a confrontation with a group of males and females in their late teens or early 20s.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The federal government is demanding that New Mexico repay $164 million of alleged overpayments for food benefits provided to low-income families, but the state agency involved denies it provided too many benefits.

Trashard Mays, a graduate student at New Mexico State University, is using valuable resources provided by Arrowhead Center at NMSU to commercialize vacuum technology developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory that solves a problem scientists and technicians have grappled with for years.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An attorney for a former Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy on Friday questioned prosecutors' motivation in planning to bring a voluntary manslaughter charge against the officer, noting juries twice cleared him of murder charges in the shooting death of a fellow deputy.

Attorney Tom Clark's comments came a day after District Attorney Mark D'Antonio in Las Cruces said his office will seek a grand jury indictment for voluntary manslaughter against Tai Chan. He is accused of opening fire on Deputy Jeremy Martin at a Las Cruces hotel during a work trip.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico environmental regulators will continue monitoring two national laboratories in the state under a grant renewed by the U.S. Energy Department.

The renewal helps to fund ongoing environmental oversight and monitoring by the state at Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico lawmakers are studying ways to extend the typical school year by 10 days or more, with longer summer extensions at schools catering to low-income families.

A report from the Legislature's lead budget writing committee puts a price tag on efforts to extend instructional time and shorten long summer gaps that increase disparities in learning.

  The shirts on loan are still too big, but Erik Medrano and Armando Chavez have theirs on order. Medrano and Chavez are freshly graduated high school students and the second pair who have decided to not only pursue a water technology Associate Degree, funded by Las Cruces Utilities (LCU), but also gain a working knowledge of the trade with the LCU Internship Program.

Las Cruces police and the multi-agency Officer-involved Incident Task Force are investigating a shooting that occurred Thursday evening.

U.S. District Court Judge James O. Browning has granted qualified immunity to two Las Cruces Police Department officers who were sued in federal court for alleged Constitutional violations that happened in April 2016.  Here is a statement from the city of Las Cruces:

  SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Attorney General's Office is accusing a state lawmaker of violating the Legislature's rules of conduct by apparently seeking special treatment when detained by police at a sobriety checkpoint.

The office of Attorney General Hector Balderas on Thursday said it is asking an ethics committee to review conduct by Republican Rep. Monica Youngblood of Albuquerque during her May arrest for drunken driving.

A judge this week found Youngblood guilty of aggravated drunken driving. Youngblood could not be reached immediately for comment.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that alleged Wells Fargo engaged in predatory and unlawful banking practices with members of the Navajo Nation.

The tribe filed the lawsuit last December in federal court in New Mexico. It sought recovery of improper fees, service charges and penalties on unauthorized cards and accounts.

Wells Fargo asked a judge to dismiss the case. The company argued many claims had been addressed through a previous consumer protection action and the tribe lacked standing to file other claims.

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) — Supervision of Holloman Air Force Base and the 49th Wing assigned to the southern New Mexico base is being shifted from one Air Force command to another.

Holloman officials say on the base's website that the reassignment from the Air Combat Command to the Air Education and Training Command will take place during a ceremony scheduled Friday morning with the change take effect on Monday.

Holloman hosts training units for MQ-9 Reaper drones and for F-16V fighters.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A former senior adviser for President Barack Obama is expected to speak at New Mexico State University next week.

The university says its Interdisciplinary Studies Department and Gender Studies Program has tapped Valerie Jarrett to present at the Women's Leadership Salon. The event is set for Monday evening at the university's College of Health and Social Services Auditorium in Las Cruces.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A group of single mothers and an advocacy group is suing New Mexico, saying the state's child welfare agency is using vague regulations to deny child care assistance to thousands of low-income families without due process.

The complaint was filed late Tuesday in state District Court by the women and the nonprofit organization OLE.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Two candidates for governor of New Mexico are offering starkly different visions on issues of gun control and public safety in a state where the Democrat-led Legislature has been reticent to approve major restrictions on firearms.

An Associated Press review of all firearms-related legislation by states this year shows largely predictable and partisan patterns, with exceptions such as Florida and Vermont where Republican governors signed sweeping legislation.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's spaceport for vertical rocket and runway launches is asking for a 72 percent increase in funding from the state's general fund for the coming fiscal year.

Spaceport America CEO Dan Hicks was scheduled Wednesday to brief state lawmakers about operations and finances for the southern New Mexico facility.

The Legislature's lead budget-writing committee says the New Mexico Spaceport Authority is seeking a $700,000 increase, starting in July 2019, to its $976,000 annual allowance from the state general fund.