Regional

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – The White Sands Soaring Association is celebrating its 50-year anniversary this month.

The club, based at Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport, is for glider enthusiasts. Treasurer Art Davis says there are about 27 members right now, ranging in age from 14 to about 65 years old.

Gliders are lightweight aircraft that get into the air with a tow by a motorized plane. Once it's airborne, the glider sails high into the air.

The aircraft can stay up for eight or nine hours if conditions are favorable.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Authorities have recaptured the last of seven men who escaped from a Las Cruces halfway house.

U.S. marshals arrested 21-year-old David Luis Aguilera in Las Cruces Monday night.

Earlier in the day, authorities captured 23-year-old Mario Vasquez.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Fred Martino speaks with Las Cruces Sun News Business Editor Brook Stockberger every Monday at 7:51am.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – A New Mexico State University program has received more than 400 thousand dollars in federal stimulus funds.

The NMSU Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program for Native American Students at Community Colleges received more than 417 thousand dollars in federal grant money.

And part of that funding will allow NMSU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to buy some much needed lab equipment.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has been accredited by a national professional organization.

The department says New Mexico is the 22nd state program to be accredited by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program.

Homeland Security and Emergency Management Secretary John Wheeler says the accreditation is voluntary. It lasts for five years.

Wheeler says the department had to meet a rigorous set of standards and undergo a peer review.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The Obama administration has thrown its backing behind a bill that would protect the Organ Mountains east of Las Cruces and other scenic areas in Dona Ana County.

A Bureau of Land Management official expressed the administration's support for the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act during testimony at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday.

New Mexico Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall introduced the bill last month. It would create a 259,000-acre wilderness area and a 100,000-acre conservation area.

By KRWG News

Albuquerque – The daughter-in-law of an Albuquerque teacher whose remains were found buried in the Jemez Mountains has been indicted on an open count of murder and numerous other charges.

The Bernalillo County District Attorney also obtained indictments against two others on murder charge and other charges and a fourth person on evidence tampering and conspiracy.

Albuquerque police announced late in September that they had recovered the remains of 60-year-old schoolteacher Ellen Roth. She was reported missing May 6.

By KRWG News

Texas – Prosecutors say more than 1,200 Harris County driving while intoxicated convictions are invalid after a Texas contractor was convicted and sentenced for faking inspections of alcohol breath testing devices.

Deetrice Wallace, a Department of Public Safety contractor, told investigators that she had falsified inspections records for the two police department intoxilyzers. Wallace was prosecuted for three counts of tampering with a governmental record and on Friday was sentenced to a year in prison.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Authorities have recaptured six of the seven men who escaped from a Las Cruces halfway house.

The Dona Ana County Sheriff's Department says 23-year-old Mario Vasquez was arrested about 2 a.m. Monday.

Earlier, the department announced 24-year-old Ricardo Real, 32-year-old Brian Dolan, 24-year-old Colby Edward Steele and 35-year-old Laurence Mose were captured Sunday.

The sheriff's department says 20-year-old Jese Carrillo was captured Saturday the same day the seven left the Charities Halfway House.

By KRWG News

Santa Fe – More than 1,000 people rallied at New Mexico's state Capitol to protest possible cuts for schools and government services to deal with a state budget deficit.

Public employee and educational unions organized Friday's rally to show support for raising taxes, rather than cutting budgets.

Many of those who spoke at the rally advocated rolling back personal income tax cuts that were enacted in 2003. However, Gov. Bill Richardson opposes that.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – A former Sunland Park municipal judge has been sentenced to 18 months' probation and ordered to take a government class after being convicted of falsely certifying where he lived.

State District Judge Lisa Schultz ordered Horacio Favela to take introductory government classes at New Mexico State University, then give schoolchildren in the Gadsden district a speech on civic involvement and why rules exist.

He also must complete 150 hours of community service and pay $700.

By KRWG News

Texas – A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower decision to dismiss a case by current and former Burleson, Texas, students who sued after school officials banned them from carrying purses bearing the Confederate battle flag.

A federal judge dismissed the case in April 2008. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision in a ruling issued Friday.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has met with the Dalai Lama to discuss the situation in Tibet.

In a statement released late Friday by the governor's office, Richardson says he believes there's a way for Tibetans to have "genuine autonomy."

China accuses Tibet's exiled spiritual leader of seeking independence from Beijing and objects whenever he meets a foreign leader. The Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, insists he seeks only more autonomy to preserve the Himalayan region's unique Buddhist culture.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – David N. Halpern, the man found Friday morning in a residential fire on Dr. King Way, was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces.

Halpern, 46, was the sole occupant of the home. Las Cruces firefighters discovered him, unconscious, just inside the front door of the residence. Firefighters and paramedics attempted to revive him at the scene and while en route by ambulance to the hospital. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at MMC.

By Melissa Aguilera

Las Cruces, NM – A historic chapel in Las Cruces is falling apart. But a restoration effort is being launched by Las Cruces residents. KRWG's Melissa Aguilera reports.