Regional

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, and the Las Cruces Fire Department is encouraging residents to install new batteries in their smoke alarms when setting clocks to ‘fall back’ one hour.

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, and the fire department urges residents to install fresh batteries in their smoke alarms when clocks are adjusted to standard time. Most people tend to adjust their clocks before bedtime Saturday evening.

WASHINGTON– Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) voted to void the Trump administration’s recent rule issuing waivers to allow “junk plans” that do not offer full protections for preexisting conditions and fail to provide adequate health insurance. Here is a statement from the office of Senator Tom Udall:

The Trump administration’s rule allows using waivers under section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to sabotage Americans’ health care and undermine the critical pre-existing condition protections that more than 130 million Americans rely on, including hundreds of thousands in New Mexico. Despite Udall, Heinrich, and Senate Democrats’ vote to safeguard protections for pre-existing conditions, Senate Republicans voted to preserve the Trump administration’s “junk plans” rule.

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Ben Ray Luján, the U.S. House Assistant Speaker, along with U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Deb Haaland and Xochitl Torres Small, joined Tribal leaders and conservation advocates to celebrate the House passage of the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, a bipartisan bill to prevent future mineral leasing on federally-owned lands around Chaco Canyon.  Here is a statement from the office of Congressman Ben Ray Luján:

Introduced in April by the New Mexico Delegation, the Chaco Cultural Heritage Protection Act would withdraw 316,076 acres of minerals owned by the federal government from future leasing and development located within the Proposed Chaco Protection Zone, an approximately 10-mile protected radius around Chaco. It does not affect the mineral rights of an Indian Tribe or member of Indian Tribe to trust or allotment land.

Earlier this year, Luján, Udall, and Heinrich secured a one-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. As Vice Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, Haaland guided the bill through the committee in September.

  Doña Ana County Sheriff’s detectives are looking for a woman believed to be using a stolen credit card.

   On Oct. 19, two women told detectives they had been at Dripping Springs on a hike. When they returned to their vehicle, they noticed it had been burglarized and their purses had been stolen.

Holloman Air Force Base officials say a pilot ejected and is being treated at an area hospital after an F-16 crashed Tuesday night during a training exercise. 

The crash occurred at 7:16 p.m. about 80 miles Southeast of Holloman. It is under investigation and the cause has yet to be determined. 

Information from 49th Wing Public Affairs at Holloman Air Force Base.

As part of an effort to ensure that children have a safe Halloween, Las Cruces firefighters will be offering free glow sticks on Thursday for kids who will be trick’-or-treating.

The glow sticks can be attached to costumes or worn around a wrist. Properly worn, the glow sticks help trick-or-treaters become more visible to motorists and homeowners the evening of Halloween.

Free glow sticks will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31, at Las Cruces fire stations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. Glow sticks are limited to one per child and are available only while supplies last.

Roadway is now open in all directions, removed from NM Roads.

Please continue to use caution as emergency responders are still in the median.  

Earlier post:

The New Mexico Department of Transportation reports a closure on I-10 for Westbound traffic from mile marker 116 at NM549 to Deming.

Traffic is being detoured and law enforcement is on the scene; no other details are available at this time.  

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Walls of stacked stone jut up from the canyon floor, some perfectly aligned with the seasonal movements of the sun and moon. Circular ceremonial subterranean rooms called kivas cut into the desert, surrounded by the remnants of what historians say was once a hub of indigenous civilization.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is at the center of a decades-long debate over how to manage oil and gas development in a sprawling area of northwestern New Mexico that is dotted by sites tied to the park but that lie outside its boundaries.

Police are asking for the public’s help locating two young Las Cruces brothers who were taken by their father and have not been seen since Oct. 8.

  EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities are testing a program to speed up reviews of asylum claims at a Texas Border Patrol station, offering a glimpse of how the Trump administration may enforce its partial asylum ban.

The pilot project, called the "Prompt Asylum Case Review" system, began Oct. 7 in El Paso, with a goal of having a decision by an immigration judge within 10 days, according to a senior Department of Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the program have not been made public. Mexicans are exempt.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An unrivaled path to the 2020 Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate emerged Tuesday for Rep. Ben Ray Luján after his only challenger quit the race to succeed retiring Sen. Tom Udall.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico has developed a proposed final rule for regulating the hemp industry and it wants the public to weigh in.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico state district judge has sentenced Nicholas Ortiz to 25 years in prison for killing three members of an El Rancho family eight years ago.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has removed his name from consideration for a U.S. District Court seat in New Mexico after the state's two Democratic senators withdrew their support.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico state education officials want public schools to become more attuned to the culture and linguistics of a heavily Hispanic and Native American population, as they outline priorities for the next school year.

The Friends of Organ Mountains Desert Peaks and New Mexico State University’s Native American Business Student Association (NABSA) have partnered together to sponsor the Annual Native American Market on November 9th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and November 10th 10 a.m. to 3 p.m in the Mesilla Plaza in New Mexico.  Here is a statement from the Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks: 

This event is to showcase the amazing talents of Native Americans to the Las Cruces/Mesilla community; celebrating Native American Heritage Month; and increase awareness of our cultures. The Native American Market will showcase traditional dances on November 9h at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and November 10th at 11 a.m and 1 p.m. 

A Las Cruces woman suspected of strangling her young son and biting her daughter is now facing child abuse charges.

Monique Montellano, 32, of the 1600 block of Burke Lane, is charged with three counts of child abuse. All three counts are second-degree felonies.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico has developed a proposed final rule for regulating the hemp industry and it wants the public to weigh in.

The first meeting on the proposal is set for Tuesday in Santa Fe. Subsequent meetings are planned in Albuquerque and Las Cruces.

  Walmart has announced it will award up to $1.5 million in matching grants to eligible El Paso non-profits through two local initiatives. Here is a statement from the company: The first component of the company’s commitment is a match up to $1 million for funds raised during the El Paso Giving campaign launching Nov.

HATCH, N.M. (AP) — The South Central Regional Transit District began Monday bus service from Hatch, New Mexico, to Las Cruces. The service will also carry passengers from towns like Garfield, Salem, Rincon, Radium Springs, and the Village of Doña Ana.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's governor is urging federal immigration authorities to open an investigation of conditions at a privately-managed processing center where Cuban migrants reportedly have attempted to kill themselves.

Washington, D.C.—Today, Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small, alongside U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján and Congresswoman Deb Haaland, introduced the Western Water Security Act of 2019, legislation to improve water management in the West through investments in water infrastructure, a focus on conservation, efficiency, and environmental restoration, and tailored funding for local communities. Here is a statement from the office of Rep. Torres Small: 

The forward-looking legislation will arm communities with the federal funding and research necessary to grapple with the potential of a long-term drying trend in the West and changes in water availability exacerbated by climate change.

“Water is life, and few places have felt the impact of its scarcity like New Mexico. The future of our state and the rest of the West depends on communities and industries’ ability to adapt in the face of a dwindling water supply. Smart investments in water management will ensure that our way of life, economy, and environment are preserved for generations to come,” said Torres Small.

A pedestrian who died as a result of Friday’s hit-and-run crash on north Solano Drive has been identified as 58-year-old Jose Alberto Carrillo of Las Cruces.

Traffic investigators learned Carrillo was walking across Solano, from west to east, when he was initially struck by a black pickup shortly before 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 25, near the 1400 block of north Solano Drive. Witnesses told police Carrillo was then hit by a silver car. Both vehicles were traveling north on Solano and both vehicles fled without stopping.