Regional

By KRWG News

Albuquerque – The debate over whether New Mexico environmental regulations have stifled the oil and natural gas industry reached a boiling point Monday when Republican lawmakers walked out of a legislative meeting.

Rep. Don Bratton of Hobbs says he began to raise questions about the qualifications of a witness during the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee meeting and was silenced by Democratic chairman Rep. Brian Egolf of Santa Fe for being out of order.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – At a regular meeting Monday, Jan. 31, in Santa Fe, New Mexico State University's Board of Regents heard reports on the legislative session and the university's enrollment.

Ricardo Rel, NMSU's assistant vice president for government relations, updated the Regents on bills that have been introduced during the legislative session to-date that are of interest to the university.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – A New Mexico lawmaker is ready to have a tough conversation with older drivers.

Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, has sponsored a measure under which older drivers would face more monitoring of their driving skills and more frequent license-renewal deadlines.

Currently, everyone older than 75 must renew once a year and pass an annual eye exam.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Congressman Ben Ray Lujan is urging the Legislature to support the development of a clean energy industry in New Mexico.

Lujan spoke Monday to a joint session of the Legislature. He said education, energy and technology investments can help spur economic growth in New Mexico, and those investments should continue despite budget problems confronting the state.

By Claudette Ortiz

Las Cruces – The impact of war lasts for generations. Las Cruces Sun News columnist Claudette Ortiz illustrates that point in this month's edition of The Age Spot.

By KRWG News

El Paso – Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today delivered remarks at the University of Texas at El Paso highlighting the Department's unprecedented efforts over the past two years to secure the Southwest border by deploying historic levels of manpower, resources and technology and increasing collaboration with federal, state, local and tribal, and Mexican partners while facilitating legal trade and travel.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The Las Cruces District Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to conduct two prescribed burns during the week of February 7th.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Students in New Mexico State University's Model United Nations organization have announced that Edward J. Perkins, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and the United Nations, will give the keynote address at their third annual "Night at the U.N." banquet on Feb. 17. The 6 p.m. event, sponsored by NMSU's International and Border Programs and the Department of Government, takes place at the new Las Cruces Convention Center at 680 E. University Ave.

By KRWG News

Sunland Park – More than 300 people gathered along the U.S. side of a border fence that separates the far southern New Mexico community of Sunland Park from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to show solidarity with the Mexican city that has been ravaged by drug-related violence.

About 150 people gathered on the Mexican side of the border as well.

The Albuquerque Journal reports Saturday's demonstrators were calling for an end to the violence that cost the lives of more than 3,100 people in Juarez and surrounding areas last year.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – Alamogordo police detectives have reopened a 23-year-old murder case.

Otero County sheriff's deputies recovered the skeletal remains of 27-year-old Margaret Caroline Pointer in March 2004 in the forest near Cloudcroft, more than 16 years after her disappearance.

Alamogordo police detective Roger Schoolcraft says authorities hope to find some answers with modern forensic technology.

By KRWG News

Deming – Luna County in southern New Mexico and Rio Arriba County in northern New Mexico have been chosen for a pilot health program.

The state Department of Health is launching pilot programs in the counties to help raise awareness about how pneumonia and influenza deaths in the state disproportionately hit Hispanics older than age 65.

Goals of the program include increased vaccination rates, better planning, improved health literacy and eventually, fewer older adults dying of pneumonia or influenza.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – An inmate who escaped an Arizona prison last summer and went on a crime spree was taken to New Mexico on Saturday to face capital murder charges, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Tracy Province, 42, was flown from Kingman, Ariz., to Albuquerque. He was sentenced in Kingman on Friday to more than 38 years in prison on charges of escape, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault and weapons misconduct stemming from crimes in Arizona after his escape.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Gov. Susana Martinez has rescinded an executive order issued in December by former Gov. Bill Richardson that established a new process for selecting regents at New Mexico's public research universities.

Martinez issued her own executive order Friday to overturn what she called a "convoluted" process.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Gov. Susana Martinez spent about $861,000 on her inauguration, with donations from corporations and individuals covering the tab.

Martinez disclosed on Friday that she raised about $966,000 for inaugural activities and will donate nearly $105,000 in leftover money to safehouses for abused and neglected children.

A list of inaugural contributors was released on Martinez's gubernatorial transition website. Spokesman Danny Diaz said contributions were limited to $25,000.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico's new governor, who's a former prosecutor in Las Cruces, says some crimes deserve the ultimate punishment.

Gov. Susana Martinez wants the death penalty back on the state's books.

Some religious groups are opposing her effort, but organizations representing prosecutors and law enforcement officers say the death penalty is necessary.

When New Mexico repealed capital punishment in 2009, it replaced lethal injection with life in prison without the possibility of parole,.