Regional

Silver City, NM – The Western New Mexico University Board of Regents, at its annual spring meeting voted unanimously to pass domestic partnership benefits for university employees.

The vote of approval was the culmination of efforts by both faculty and staff senates that had within their own bodies passed votes in favor for the benefits. With the board’s approval, domestic partners are now eligible for insurance benefits. The couples must meet the legally required standards as set forth by the university’s insurance carrier.

Alamogordo officials have decided not to prohibit drivers from texting or using cell phones while behind the wheel.

According to the Alamogordo Daily News, several commissioners said during Tuesday's meeting that the proposed bans were unenforceable.

Other commissioners have objected to language that exempted law enforcement and criticized wording that said when a person is presumed to have broken the law.

The commission struggled with the proposed ban for months as it added and deleted various provisions.

Legislator auditors are recommending that New Mexico strengthen its regulatory oversight of gambling at horse racing tracks and casinos operated by Indian tribes.

A Legislative Finance Committee report released Wednesday said the New Mexico Racing Commission and the state Gaming Control Board are understaffed and hampered by limited regulatory powers.

Dry conditions are prompting federal officials to impose more fire restrictions in New Mexico.

The Bureau of Land Management will be implementing restrictions across 2.5 million acres in central New Mexico starting May 20. The area includes Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, McKinley, Sandoval, Socorro and Valencia counties.

Campfires as well as charcoal, coal and wood stoves will be prohibited under the BLM restrictions. Smoking will also be limited to vehicles, buildings and developed recreation sites.

Federal prosecutors say the last of nine defendants charged in connection with a drug trafficking case in southern New Mexico has been sentenced.

Sandra Portillo on Wednesday was ordered to serve 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. She and her husband were accused of using Pettit Farms and Nursery in Anthony, N.M., as a place to store and sell drugs.

Prosecutors say the Portillos and their sons sold drugs to an undercover agent on five separate occasions.

Gov. Susana Martinez says New Mexico National Guard senior officers can serve as commanders of active duty military forces assigned to help with wildfires and other emergencies in the state.

The governor said Wednesday the agreement with the Defense Department should help streamline emergency response efforts. Her announcement came as New Mexico braces for a potentially difficult wildfire season because of prolonged drought conditions.

Congress has approved an additional $19 million for nuclear waste cleanup at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The New Mexico congressional delegation on Wednesday announced the approval of a "reprogramming" request by the Department of Energy to transfer money from other programs to ensure the lab can meet its promise to remove thousands of barrels of radioactive waste by 2014.

The potential dangers of the waste, which is stored above ground, made national headlines in 2011 when the Las Conchas fire raged near the lab.

A new audit has found that more than 50 inmates were mistakenly released early from New Mexico prisons largely due to miscalculations.

The New Mexico Corrections Department released Wednesday a review of 6,900 inmate files and identified 51 offenders who were incorrectly released early between September 2010 and September 2012.

Names of those released early were not named since authorities were seeking to bring them back into custody.

Officials say the audit was "phase 1" of three massive reviews of inmate files.

Time now for KRWG’s Story Corps. Today we meet Sandra Iturbe as she talks to her cousin, Cemelli de Aztlán about the Temazcal or pregnancy sweating lodge and how that was a healing experience not only for Cemelli who had had a traumatic experience when she gave her son for adoption at 16 years old.