Regional

By KRWG News

New Mexico – In a few hideouts around the Southwest, the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse has a precarious foothold on survival.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges the mouse found in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado deserves protection, but a listing proposal under the Endangered Species Act has languished because the agency has too much to do.

WildEarth Guardians is suing, accusing the agency of dragging its feet.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Three people are suing a drug task force, seeking the return of money seized in connection with 2009 drug arrests in southern New Mexico.

Erica Silva Lopez, Eulalio Valentine Chavez and Michael Novak are suing Las Cruces, Dona Ana County and a drug task force in which both governments participate.

The three allege money was either improperly seized in the first place or was not returned once charges were dropped.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Federal authorities confirmed Friday they are investigating the death of another endangered Mexican gray wolf that was found shot along the New Mexico-Arizona border.

The male wolf is the third to be found dead within the past month. It was a member of the Hawks Nest Pack.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Tom Buckley called the latest death "very troubling." He says that leaves the Hawks Nest Pack with an alpha female and a yearling female to hunt for seven pups.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Conservationists, sportsmen groups and others interested in the outdoors are getting a chance to share their ideas with the federal government.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and other administration officials will be in Albuquerque on Saturday for a listening session as part of President Barack Obama's "America's Great Outdoors Initiative."

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Five southern New Mexico counties will share $4 million in federal funds aimed at bolstering security efforts along the Mexican border.

Dona Ana and Luna counties will receive the largest shares, $1.2 million each. Hidalgo County will get $750,000, while Grant and Otero counties each were awarded $400,000.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – New Mexico State University Air Force ROTC cadets are standing out at their field training exercises this summer at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

The Congressionally mandated training event is part of the cadets' commissioning curriculum. Once cadets return from this capstone event, they are required to formally contract with AFROTC within 10 days or opt out of going any further in the program.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – JESUS "CHUY" CASTILLO, age 23, who is currently being detained at the Dona Ana County Detention Center, was tried and found guilty of four felony counts by a District Court Jury and immediately sentenced to 19.5 years in prison yesterday for a retaliatory gang related drive-by shooting in Anthony, New Mexico on February 11, 2010.

On February 11, 2010, rival gang members committed a drive-by shooting at the residence of CASTILLO'S parents located in the 900 block of Grant Street, Anthony.

By KRWG News

Texas – The unemployment rate in Texas dropped to 8.2 percent in June, a one-tenth point decline from May.

The Texas Workforce Commission says the unemployment rate remained well below the national seasonally adjusted rate of 9.6 percent for June in the report released Friday.

The jobless rate had risen to 8.3 percent in April and May after holding steady at 8.2 percent in the first three months of 2010.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The leader of the nation's largest Hispanic rights group has a message for senators and congressmen on comprehensive immigration reform.

Rosa Rosales says the League of United Latin American Citizens will aggressively target anyone in Congress who isn't supporting reform efforts.

By KRWG News

El Paso – Mexican authorities have recovered the body of a New Mexico man from the Rio Grande after he had been hunting and went into the water to retrieve a duck.

The body of Ezequiel Roman Lesa, who is from the Las Cruces area, was located Thursday. Bernardo Escudero Ortega, director of Ciudad Juarez Ecology and Civil Protection, says the body was recovered near the Bridge of the America. The cause of death is pending, but rescue crews believe Lesa drowned.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico has been so cautious in licensing and regulating growers under its 3-year-old medical marijuana law that the small number of providers can't grow enough, creating a shortage that has forced some patients to the street buy illegal drugs.

The dilemma could have ramifications elsewhere because the state's program has been held up as a national model, with other states looking to replicate its strong regulatory structure to avoid the chaos that has prevailed in places like California.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – New Mexico spaceport officials say they're taking steps to solve problems for ranchers who saw their water supplies cut off or curtailed because of heavy pumping tied to spaceport construction.

The four households, located about seven miles north of the spaceport site, reported declining water supplies in April, after a contractor acquired access to a nearby private well and began using it to supply water for construction.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – U.S. Forest Service regional offices in the West are considering whether to close bat caves to help prevent the spread of a disease that is fatal to the mammals.

Officials with the agency's Rocky Mountain and Southwest region offices say they have been discussing the matter with other federal and state agencies.

Rocky Mountain region spokesman Dave Steinke says the office in Denver hopes to have a decision on the bat caves within a couple of weeks.

By KRWG News

Juarez, Mexico – Gunmen shot and killed the nephew of the governor-elect of the Mexican border state of Chihuahua in what authorities say was a botched kidnapping in the drug-plagued state.

Mario Medina was the 42-year-old nephew of Governor-elect Cesar Duarte. State prosecutors' spokesman Eduardo Esparza says Medina was shot in the back Wednesday as he tried to escape from his assailants in the state capital, also named Chihuahua.

By KRWG News

Berino – Dona Ana County Sheriff's Investigators earlier this afternoon arrested and charged ERICA SIGALA, age 26, of the 120 block of Feathergrass Road, Berino, with one count of First Degree Child Abuse - Intentional (Resulting in Death or Great Bodily Harm).

According to Sheriff's Investigators, on July 5, at approximately 11:30 a.m. Central Dispatch received a call that a one year old child, male, was not breathing.