Regional

  SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has ordered state officials to issue identification cards for the medical marijuana program to all qualifying patients, including people who live outside the state.

The judge's order Monday was in response to an emergency petition filed by three out-of-state residents after the state Department of Health denied their applications to enter the cannabis program, the Albuquerque Journal reported .

  SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Court documents show the state reached settlements totaling $1 million with three former state employees within the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

The settlement terms detailed in documents that were released Tuesday show Amy Orlando, a former deputy secretary for DPS, and another department employee each received $300,000. Another employee settled for $400,000.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Las Cruces will be able to digitize its permanent museum collection with the help of a $50,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation American Art Program.

The city of Las Cruces announced the funding Monday. The city's museum collection includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs and more.

Officials say the project will increase the accessibility of the permanent collection as digital images and updated information about each piece will be made available online.

Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University is introducing a new format for its Innoventure entrepreneurship and prototyping competition this academic year. Now called Innoventure Challenge, the new format keeps its focus on business development and prototype design while incorporating a more flexibile time commitment for teachers and students. 

Also new this year are cash prizes available to winning high school teams who travel to NMSU for the competition’s final round.

As part of the University Avenue Pedestrian Crossing H.A.W.K. Signal Project, Locust Street at the University Avenue intersection will have intermittent lane closures starting Tuesday, August 6, 2019. The intermittent lane closures are expected to last approximately three working days.

For the public’s convenience, crews will work only from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday leaving evenings and weekends free of construction activity. The lane closures will be on RoadRUNNER Transit routes 2 and 8 but will not affect any bus stop locations.

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama said Monday, in his first public statement since a pair of mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, that Americans must "soundly reject language" from any leader who "feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments."

The statement , which did not mention President Donald Trump directly, also reminded Americans that "we are not helpless" in the face of the nation's high frequency of mass shootings compared to other countries.

   EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The Texas border city jolted by a weekend massacre at a Walmart absorbed still more grief Monday as the death toll climbed to 22 and fear lingered in El Paso, where the shooting rampage claimed more lives than the number of murders here just two years ago.

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is failing to protect public health and the environment by not helping the state in its legal battle against the U.S. Air Force over contamination at two military installations.

The governor took aim at the federal agency in a letter sent Friday to EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler.

The man suspected in Saturday’s shooting on Embassy Drive has been charged with a felony.

Andrew Jason Torres, 35, of the 1600 block of Embassy Drive, is charged with a third-degree felony count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He’s also charged with misdemeanor counts of battery on a household member, negligent use of a deadly weapon, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities investigating the El Paso shooting call it an act of domestic terrorism, but they cannot apply the same terrorism law that prosecutors have used for years against supporters of the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

  DALLAS (AP) — About 20 minutes before the shooting started at an El Paso Walmart, a rambling screed was posted to an online message board saying the massacre was in response to an "invasion" of Hispanics coming across the southern border.

Titled "The Inconvenient Truth," it railed against the dangers of mass immigration and warned that Hispanics will eventually take over the economy and government. The writer argued that attacking "low-security" targets was a way to "fight to reclaim my country from destruction."

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Beto O'Rourke, his once-soaring presidential prospects in swift decline, returned to El Paso, Texas, to try to help cope with the shootings that killed 20 people. He no longer has the platform of a public office, but he still has his voice.

The former congressman was a persistent presence on his hometown's streets and on news shows Sunday, trying to offer comfort to his community and to lay at least partial responsibility at the doors of the White House.

  Mayor Ken Miyagishima, Councillor Gabe Vasquez and the Las Cruces City Council are asking residents to join them at the Downtown Civic Plaza on Monday evening for an Expression of Solidarity with the People of El Paso.  Here is a statement from the Mayor:

“I was in touch with El Paso Mayor Dee Margo immediately after the shooting on Saturday,” Miyagishima said, “offering our full support as a city, and as neighbors with deep ties to our friends in El Paso. To that end, our Las Cruces city councilors and I would like to invite all Las Crucens to join us at the Downtown Civic Plaza on Monday evening to show our solidarity with the people of El Paso.”

The event will be held at 8 p.m. Monday, August 5, at the Civic Plaza in downtown Las Cruces.

  Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard says Mexico will take legal action to protect Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent after the shooting in El Paso, Texas.

In a video statement, Ebrard called the shooting an "act of barbarism" and said the country's first priority is attending to the impacted families.

Next, he said, Mexico plans to seek legal measures to protect Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans in the U.S.

Mexican officials say three Mexican nationals were killed and another six were wounded in the Saturday shooting at a Texas Wal-Mart.

  BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — As the nation reeled from two mass shootings in less than a day, President Donald Trump spent the first hours after the tragedies out of sight at his New Jersey golf course, sending out tweets of support awkwardly mixed in with those promoting a celebrity fight and attacking his political foes.

Las Cruces Utilities (LCU) now publishes 6 different Water Quality Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) every year to provide comprehensive information about drinking water quality in each of its service areas. The most recent Report, with 2018 data, was mailed out at the beginning of July 2019, to all customers within the Las Cruces Municipal Water System (LCMWS).

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Democratic presidential candidates and the shootings in Texas and Ohio (all times Eastern):

10:45 a.m.

Democratic presidential candidates are pointing a finger of blame at President Donald Trump following recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

In television interviews, several urged additional gun restrictions such as universal background checks. But they also cited Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric and racial language.