Regional

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The New Mexico State University Center for the Arts is being designated as a centennial building for the state of New Mexico.

The announcement came at the groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday at the corner of Espina Street and University Avenue, the site of the new arts center. It will be the first building in the state to receive this designation.

By KRWG News

Texas – Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has filed a legal brief on behalf of nine states supporting Arizona's immigration law.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate said Wednesday that Michigan is the lead state backing Arizona in federal court. Michigan is joined by Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia, as well as the Northern Mariana Islands.

Cox says states have the authority to enforce immigration laws and protect their borders.

By KRWG News

Texas – Texas' Republican Gov. Rick Perry has picked plenty of battles with Washington, D.C. Lately, Democrats in the nation's capital are hitting back.

In the past two weeks, President Barack Obama's administration overturned Texas' air permitting program, and U.S. House Democrats restricted how the state can spend $800 million in federal education money.

Perry says he won't stop criticizing what he sees as excessive federal spending and interference with states' rights by an activist federal government.

By KRWG News

Texas – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she was being firm and not testy with Gov. Rick Perry during a recent conversation about National Guard troops on the Texas border.

Napolitano said Thursday during a Laredo visit that she perhaps needed to get Perry "more information" on what she called a record amount of security resources given to the southwest border under President Barack Obama's administration.

By KRWG News

Silver City – The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) is currently conducting Chip Sealing operations in the Grant County area. The work will be from mile post 55 to 35 between Cliff and Silver City, NM.

The NMDOT has placed temporary pavement tabs, and will placing permanent pavement markings once the project is complete.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman said a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report suggests that American taxpayers might be over-subsidizing corn-based biofuels, even while failing to provide any tax credit for algae-based fuels, which hold great promise for the nation's environment and energy security, and for Southern New Mexico's economy.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The Las Cruces Police Department and a multi-agency task force are continuing to investigate Tuesday morning's shooting death of 23-year-old Lance G. Hummell who threatened officers with a 4-foot long samurai-type sword.

Hummell, who resided at the Mesilla Manor Apartments, was fatally shot just after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 13, after he aggressively closed distance on two Las Cruces Police officers at the apartment complex at 1101 E. Boutz Road.

By KRWG News

El Paso – Four suspected illegal border crossers are safe after being rescued from a canal at the Mexican border.

El Paso Fire Department spokesman John Concha said the group was spotted in the canal on El Paso's east side, just across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, around 5:25 a.m. Wednesday. U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued two men and a woman, while a fourth man was plucked from the water by the El Paso Fire Department, he said.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Las Cruces Police have arrested four members of the same family after it was discovered that the husband conspired to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from two general contractors, and then helped his wife and two adult children create falsified documents to illegally obtain home loans.

Judd Moore and his wife Rose Moore, both 45, and their adult children Leanna Moore, 20, and 18-year-old Jeffrey Moore were arrested Tuesday, July 13, on warrants and face multiple charges related to incidents that date back to 2007.

By KRWG News

Santa Teresa – The Santa Teresa port of entry on the Mexican border in southern New Mexico will receive $10 million in federal stimulus funds to build expanded lanes for commercial and private vehicles, along with other improvements.

Passenger vehicle lanes will be expanded from two to five lanes while the number of commercial inspection lanes will increase from two to three. A pedestrian inspection area will be expanded, a pedestrian sidewalk will be installed and landscaping will be improved.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The State Land Office says it collected about $420 million in the just-completed budget year, with most of that coming from oil and natural gas production on trust lands.

Land Commissioner Pat Lyons announced Tuesday that oil and royalties and other revenues totaled $390 million in the fiscal year ending in June. That's down about 20 percent from 2009.

The Land Office also collects money from mining, grazing and business leases and land sales.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Federal authorities are now investigating the deaths of two endangered Mexican gray wolves, one in eastern Arizona and one in southern New Mexico.

Both wolves were alpha males, dominant males in a pack.

The Arizona male was found shot to death on June 18. U.S. Fish and Wildlike officials say he was part of the Hawks Nest Pack that uses the area east of Big Lake on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest as a breeding ground.

By KRWG News

Texas – Gov. Rick Perry is urging Texas employers to help high school dropouts finish school.

He proposed a business tax credit Tuesday that would reward businesses who grant employees two hours a week of paid time off to return to school or study for the GED. Employers would be eligible for a $1,500 credit on their sales taxes for each student who obtains a diploma or GED.

Perry, who is running for re-election to an unprecedented third term, has been sharply criticized for Texas' high dropout rate.

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – Thousands of New Mexicans are losing their unemployment benefits each week and New Mexico U.S Senator Jeff Bingaman says it's important that Congress pass an extension. KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – This week the Senate is working on the Small Business Jobs Bill and New Mexico U.S Senator Jeff Bingaman says several parts of the legislation would benefit New Mexico. KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports