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Police say a pipe bomb found near a water main valve adjacent to the Clovis landfill has been destroyed by the New Mexico State Police bomb squad.

Clovis police spokesman Capt. Patrick Whitney says the device was found by city workers Tuesday morning. He says it's similar to two others found in the Clovis area since the beginning of the year.

The devices consist of a metal pipe wrapped in tape with a fuse at one end. Inside is explosive powder and bits of metal scrap.

The bomb squad detonated the device at the scene. No one was hurt.

Credit Leora ZeitlinDr. WIlliam Clark, conductor of the Mesilla Valley Concert BandEdit | Remove

Alamogordo City Commissioners are set to vote tonight on banning cell phone use while driving. Edmundo Resendez has the story. 

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is scheduled to give the keynote address at Santa Fe Community College's commencement ceremony.

The 38-year-old is slated to speak May 22 in the William C. Witter Fitness Education Center.

Castro, whose twin brother is Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, was re-elected to a third term last week. He received 66.5 percent of the vote in his race against six challengers.

With another bad wildfire fire season expected across drought-stricken New Mexico, Angel Fire Resort is establishing a fund to aid firefighters.

The northern New Mexico resorts says it is creating the Northern New Mexico Firefighter Fund and will donate 10 percent of all sales from this weekend's summer season opening activities, including mountain biking, golfing, fishing, boating, zip lining and chairlift tickets.

The state Game and Fish Department is asking a federal court to lift a decades-old order preventing the agency from providing New Mexico residents with more licenses to hunt bighorn sheep, ibex and oryx.

The department wants the U.S. District Court to lift an injunction in place since 1977. The court determined that New Mexico discriminated against out-of-state hunters by setting quotas on how many licenses would be issued to them.

  A Las Cruces woman suspected of administering a double-dose of sleeping medication to her 6-year-old son has been charged with child abuse.  Lucinda Mary Randall, 43, of the 1400 block of Sacramento Street, is charged with one count of intentional child abuse.

At around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 7, Las Cruces Fire and emergency personnel were called to Randall’s home where her 6-year-old son was having difficulty breathing. The young boy was transported by ambulance to Mountain View Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

   The Kitty Condo at the Doña Ana County Government Center will celebrate its one-year anniversary at 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 22.

   The original Kitty Condo was located just below the north staircase in the Doña Ana County Government Center main lobby. A new and significantly larger enclosure – complete with a chair where potential adopters can interact with the kittens – was installed in April of this year.

  Doña Ana County Sheriff’s deputies responding to a crash early Monday morning quickly learned the alleged driver of the wrecked vehicle matched the description of a man seen in a surveillance video of a convenience store that had been burglarized moments earlier.

"Breaking Bad" actor Steven Michael Quezada is scheduled to address the League of United Latin American Citizens New Mexico convention as activists aim to tackle education reform.

Around 800 activists from around New Mexico are expected to take part of the three-day state convention of LULAC New Mexico slated to begin Friday at Albuquerque's Sheraton Uptown Hotel.

The state's first Latina congresswoman, Michelle Lujan Grisham, also is scheduled to address advocates.

A 70-year-old woman whose mummified body was recently found in her Santa Fe apartment was a Chicana activist, teacher and author.

Police say the decomposed remains of Barbara Salinas-Norman were discovered last week. Authorities say she may have been dead more than a year.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that Salinas-Norman founded and ran a publishing company called Pinata Publications and was the author of "Los Tres Cerdos: Nacho, Tito and Miguel" — her version of "The Three Little Pigs."

  According to statistics maintained by the City of Las Cruces, the city’s population surpassed the 100,000 mark as of April 1. The milestone was reached during the period between July 1, 2012 when the population estimate was 99,665 and April 1, when the population was estimated at 100,984.

“This is tremendously important news for us as a community,” said Mayor Ken Miyagishima. “It signals a continued healthy economy, and proves Las Cruces remains a desirable place to live, work, play and retire.”

An industry report says New Mexico's housing market is seeing fewer signs of distress.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that the report by the Mortgage Bankers Association shows 9.2 percent of homes in the state were either delinquent on mortgage payments or somewhere in the foreclosure process during the first three months of the year.

That's an improvement from 10 percent in the preceding fourth quarter and 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012.

In stable economic times, roughly 5 percent of homes in New Mexico are typically in some state of distress.

Alamogordo officials are scheduled Tuesday to take another try at passing a proposed ban on using cell phones while behind the wheel.

The Alamogordo Daily News reports that the city commission has struggled to pass the proposal for the past two months as members have added and deleted prohibitions on talking while driving and exceptions for law enforcement officers and other emergency personnel.

New Mexico Republican Rep. Steve Pearce has introduced legislation to expand the mission of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad.

Pearce says that because the plant is only tasked with handling radioactive waste generated by the Department of Energy as part of a defense mission, it is running out of material to process. And that will mean a loss of jobs.