Regional

New Mexico women entrepreneurs will have a new avenue for growing their business thanks to New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The SBA announced Arrowhead Center as one of its winners for the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, enabling the entrepreneurial hub to start a women-focused business accelerator with a $50,000 award.

Infrastructure work on the 36-acre Aggie Uptown development project on land owned by New Mexico State University is now underway and should be finished in January.

The area of development encompasses a parcel of vacant land north of the NMSU Golf Course that borders a stretch of East University Avenue from Las Alturas Drive to Terrace Drive. It sits within a 2,300-acre area east of Interstate 25 known as NMSU’s East Campus.

A free course focused on helping young people who are experiencing mental health or substance abuse problems will be offered from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019 and Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019 at Las Cruces City Hall, 700 N. Main St.

Youth Mental Health First Aid is being offered to the community by Western Sky Community Care, a managed care organization that exists to improve the health of its beneficiaries through focused, compassionate and coordinated care. Western Sky Community Care is a subsidiary of Centene Corporation.

Effective Monday, October 28th, the South Central Regional Transit District (SCRTD) will begin operation of bus service carrying passengers from Garfield, Salem, Hatch, Rincon, Radium Springs, and the Village of Doña Ana to Las Cruces. Here is a statement from SCRTD:

The new service will provide access to work and school as well as support trips to medical appointments and other locations in order to provide independence for those residents wishing to travel within Doña Ana County.

The Green Route will operate four round trips daily, Monday through Friday, beginning with its first trip from Garfield at 6:10 a.m. and continuing throughout the day until its final stop 7:15 p.m. Additionally, in Las Cruces there will be stops at the Doña Ana Community College, East Mesa Campus, Mountain View Regional Medical Center and Memorial Medical Center, Mesilla Valley Mall, and New Mexico State University. In Las Cruces, District buses will share bus stops and shelters provided by RoadRunner Transit.

The City of Las Cruces will be giving away 200 trees through the Arbor Day Foundation’s Energy-Saving Trees program. The program helps residents conserve energy and reduce utility costs while beautifying their neighborhoods.  Here is a statement from the City:

The Desert Willow trees will be distributed in five-gallon containers for easy transport.

To qualify, for the giveaway, participants must reside inside City limits and reserve their tree early through the Arbor Day Foundation online tool at www.arborday.org/lascruces with a limit of two trees per address.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A winter storm warning has been issued for northern and northeastern New Mexico through Thursday evening with heavy snowfall expected.

The National Weather Service in Albuquerque says the coldest air of the season will also filter in by Thursday afternoon and Friday morning with freezing temperatures possible as far south as southern New Mexico.

Up to a foot of snow could fall over Raton Pass and the Johnson and Bartlett Mesas by Thursday with up to 8 inches (203.2 millimeters) blanketing the highest elevations of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A leading proponent of so-called red-flag legislation in New Mexico to restrict firearms for people perceived as threats says he has been unable to reach a comprise with sheriffs who criticize his initiative.

Democratic Rep. Daymon Ely of Corrales told a panel of legislators Wednesday that he cannot support suggested changes to his so-called red-flag bill after a meeting with sheriffs in the governor's office and additional correspondence.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (AP) — Thousands are expected to participate in the 80th-anniversary pilgrimage and Mass on a New Mexico hill sacred to Catholics.

The El Paso Times reports the Diocese of Las Cruces and the Mount Cristo Rey Restoration Committee are scheduled Sunday to lead the 5-mile (8-kilometer) pilgrimage to the top of Mount Cristo Rey.

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Authorities say a head-on crash on a Rio Rancho street killed one person and injured two others, including a New Mexico State Police sergeant and the driver of a vehicle that crossed the center line.

No identities of those involved in the wreck Tuesday were released but the NMSP said the injured sergeant was listed in stable condition at a hospital.

The State Police is investigating the crash that occurred on Unser Boulevard near Mariposa and said no additional information was available.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Native American leaders from New Mexico are opposing plans that call for storing in the desert Southwest tons of spent nuclear fuel from power plants around the U.S.

The All Pueblo Council of Governors in a resolution adopted late last week affirmed its commitment to protecting tribal natural and cultural resources.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico officials have issued their final decision to deny an out-of-state company's request for a migrant children's shelter in Albuquerque.

Charlie Moore-Pabst, a spokesman for the Children, Youth and Families Department, said Tuesday that VisionQuest had given the agency notice that it does not plan to further appeal the decision.

VisionQuest's application was initially denied in August. That led the Arizona-based company to initiate steps for an appeal.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State lawmakers in the Republican minority are crafting a proposal that would return some of the state's budget surplus to taxpayers rather than spend it on government programs and services.

Republican House Whip Rod Montoya of Farmington says his caucus is drafting a pay-back proposal as well as a bill to lower New Mexico's gross receipts tax rates on sales and business transactions. The Legislature reconvenes in January 2020.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A University of New Mexico dean has announced plans to ask the state to fund full-ride scholarships to medical students who commit to practicing within the state.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It will be up to a federal judge whether to sign off on a proposed order that would clear the way for a tree to be cut from the Carson National Forest in Northern New Mexico and displayed outside the U.S. Capitol building over the holidays.

The proposal the result of an agreement reached Monday between environmentalists and the U.S. Forest Service in a case centered on the threatened Mexican spotted owl.

The plan allows personal Christmas tree-cutting permits, prescribed fires with stipulations and commercial firewood gathering in certain areas.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel will be getting her flu shot as the state kicks off its campaign to get more people vaccinated this season.

Kunkel and Deputy Secretary Abinash Achrekar will be visiting a public health office in Albuquerque on Tuesday. They'll be talking about the importance of annual vaccinations.

Kunkel says flu can be fatal if left untreated.

More than 200 New Mexicans died of flu and flu-related pneumonia during the 2018-2019 flu season.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A University of New Mexico law student is suing the school and a construction company for kicking up dust.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Executives with New Mexico's largest electric utility are touting energy efficiency, pointing to a recent report from a clean energy group that shows more than a quarter of energy sector jobs in the state are related to improving efficiency.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The first-ever quarterly report from the New Mexico Corrections Department on its use of solitary confinement shows about 4% of inmates are held alone in a cell for at least 22 hours a day.

The report shows the top reason inmates were held in solitary during the past three months was because they were awaiting court hearings.

The second most common reason was that they were awaiting transfer to another facility.