Regional

U.S. Border Patrol agents have seized nearly $270,000 in cash during an inspection at a checkpoint along Interstate 10 in southern New Mexico.

Agents found 17 vacuum sealed bundles of money hidden in a rear quarter panel while inspecting a semi-truck that was hauling vehicles.

The truck driver denied knowing anything about the money. The cash and the vehicles were seized by the Border Patrol.

A lawyer for a Texas paramedic arrested on charges of possessing bomb-making material says his client will plead not guilty and had no connection to the fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month.

Waco attorney Jonathan Sibley said in a prepared statement Saturday that his client, Bryce Reed anxiously awaits his next court appearance Wednesday, which will include a detention hearing.

Authorities arrested Reed on Friday, but stressed that he has not been linked to the April 17 explosion in West.

An investment broker who fled to France after investigators began looking into pay-to-play scandal involving state investments is now suing his wife in New Mexico District Court.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports (http://bit.ly/14dBaxn) that the lawsuit filed this week by Marc Correra accuses his estranged wife of hacking his company's email account with the intention of getting privileged information.

Correra claims the "criminal wiretap" caused him to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend himself in the couple's divorce proceedings.

  Dona Ana Community College is being sued by eight current and former nursing students over the school's failure last year to maintain national accreditation.

The lawsuit was filed in state district court Friday. It also names the community college's parent institution, New Mexico State University.

The filing came the same day as diplomas were handed to some former nursing students who transferred. Two other students were slated to graduate Saturday.

Forget those feel-good vibes at the Capitol. Unless a deal on a new Texas budget is struck in the next two weeks, a summer bummer is coming.

Gov. Rick Perry wants $1.8 billion in tax cuts and $2 billion for a new water fund. So does most of the Legislature, which is also close to making peace with furious teachers, and restoring most of the massive classroom spending cuts in 2011.

But in a 140-day session defined by surprising bipartisan harmony, gridlock is souring the mood.

El Paso police are investigating the death of a 5-month-old girl found inside an SUV parked at a high school.  Police spokesman Mike Baranyay says it's not immediately certain how long the baby was in the vehicle at Riverside High School when her mother found her unresponsive late Friday afternoon.

No charges have been filed.

Police haven't said if the mother was an employee at the school, a student or a visitor. The mother also was taken to a hospital after she became upset and authorities were concerned about her health.

Lobbying disclosures show that a national group founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pumped nearly $32,000 into an advertising campaign in New Mexico for legislation to expand criminal background checks of gun buyers.

The ad campaign by Mayors Against Illegal Guns Action Fund was the most costly lobbying effort in this year's legislative session, according to a computer-assisted analysis of lobbying disclosure reports by The Associated Press.

The gun background check legislation passed the House but died in the Senate.

A New Mexico high school tennis player has been penalized for speaking Spanish during a state championship singles match.  The Albuquerque Journal reports that New Mexico Military Institute's Jose Gonzales was penalized a point Thursday for speaking Spanish after on-court official warned him twice to speak only English.

Gonzales eventually lost 6-4, 6-3 loss to Sandia Prep's Michael Atkin.

NMAA executive director Sally Marquez identified the official as Brian Bingham of Albuquerque.