News

When Albuquerque photographer Wes Naman invited friends to pose for a series of what was meant to be goofy portraits, neither he nor his models had any idea the images would end up reaching millions of people across the globe.

NM Officer In Van Shooting Is Fired- Associated Press

The New Mexico State Police officer who fired shots at a minivan full of children during a chaotic October traffic stop has been fired.

New Mexico State Police spokesman Lt. Emmanuel Gutierrez says he confirmed with State Police Chief Pete Kassetas that Officer Elias Montoya is no longer employed by the department. His termination was effective at 5 p.m. Friday.

Montoya has 30 days to appeal his firing to a public safety advisory council.

Winter weather continues to produce difficult driving conditions on New Mexico highways and delays affecting public services.

Crews are plowing Interstate 40 between Clines Corner and Santa Rosa and Interstate 25 between Rowe and Raton.

Delayed openings Friday include state offices in Santa Fe. Schools with delays include Santa Fe Community College and Albuquerque's east mountain schools.

AP Files Open Records Lawsuits Against NM Governor - Associated Press

The Associated Press has sued Gov. Susana Martinez's administration for refusing to release records about her work and travel schedules, cell phone calls and expenses of security officers.

The lawsuits were filed Thursday in state district court in Santa Fe against the governor, the Department of Finance and Administration and Department of Public Safety.

The governor's office issued a statement in which it stood by its record on open government.

KUNM Call In Show Thu. 12/5 8a: The City of Rio Rancho experienced an 80 per cent increase in its population from the year 2000 to 2013. Neighbor to the state's largest city, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho continues to grow and has blossomed into New Mexico's third-largest city.  

We'll take a close look at the rapid growth - has the city been able to meet the challenges of providing essential services and health care, protecting the environment and creating jobs?

Former Nuke Lab Scientist May Change Plea - Associated Press

A defense lawyer says a former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear physicist who admitted communicating classified nuclear weapons data may try to withdraw his guilty plea.

Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni and his wife, Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, were accused of offering to help develop a nuclear weapon for Venezuela through dealings with an undercover FBI agent posing as a representative of the Venezuelan government.

UPDATE 10:20a: UNM Police say classes can return to normal after an anonymous bomb threat was called in Tuesday morning. The LoboAlert system sent an "All Clear" message at 10:15a thanking the campus for its cooperation.

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UNM's Mitchell, Ortega and Popejoy Halls were evacuated at 8:20a Tuesday. According to a UNM Emergency Alert text message sent to staff and students, police are investigating an anonymous bomb threat. 

Police have asked people to avoid these areas of the Albuquerque campus until further notice. 

Court Broadens Domestic Violence Arrest Authority - Associated Press

New Mexico's highest court is giving police more leeway to make arrests without a warrant in domestic violence cases.

The state Supreme Court on Monday ruled that police can make a warrantless arrest when it's reasonably close to the scene of the domestic violence.

State law allows a warrantless arrest at the scene of a domestic disturbance, and the justices broadened that to include a location near the place where the incident happened.

Infant mortality rates in the Southwest have been steadily declining over the years. But recent data from New Mexico show a surprising spike in 2012. The state has surpassed national infant death rates for the first time since the 1990s.

According to the Associated Press:

 An effort to establish a high-tech research and development center in downtown Albuquerque could get an infusion of some serious cash depending on what the University of New Mexico's Board of Regents decides.

The regents will review proposals to invest $13 million in the Innovate Albuquerque initiative during a special meeting Friday. This will be their first opportunity to fully vet the project.

Gov. Susana Martinez will ask the Legislature to provide $600,000 next year for telemedicine services to help provide access to medical specialists for patients and primary care providers in rural areas.

The governor proposed Monday that the money be used for buying and installing equipment and computer technology, such as teleconferencing video systems.

If the money is approved by lawmakers, Martinez said, health care provider organizations could apply for grants.

It's been almost six months since the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) froze Medicaid payments to mental health providers in the state due to a "credible allegation of fraud."

State Report: More Tourists Visiting New Mexico - Associated Press

Tourism officials in New Mexico say more people are visiting the state.

A report from the state's Tourism Department found that New Mexico saw 2.6 percent more overnight and day visitors in 2012 than in 2011.

There were 32 million overnight and day visitors in 2012. The previous high was in 2008, with 31.4 million visits.

Tourists spent an estimated $5.9 billion in New Mexico last year. In 2011, tourists spent just over $5.5 billion in the state.

Los Alamos Working To Create National Park- Associated Press

Tucked away in one of northern New Mexico's mountain canyons is a log cabin that was the birthplace of a top-secret mission that forever changed the world.

Pond Cabin is one of the structures scattered in and around the modern day Los Alamos National Laboratory being proposed as sites for a new national park commemorating the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb.

Albuquerque Tech Center Gets Fed Grant - Associated Press

The economic development arm of the University of New Mexico has received a $1.5 million federal grant for creating a new high-tech business district in downtown Albuqueruque.

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich Wednesday announced the Commerce Department funding for the Innovate ABQ initiative.

The grant brings funding for the project to $6.5 million, or close to the appraised value for the seven-acre First Baptist Church site that the project hopes to purchase.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico is considered to be a natural wonder of the world. Recently, cavers surveying the limestone caverns formed over millions of years came across an unexplored chamber. It's the largest discovery at the park in decades.  

A lawsuit says a New Mexico corrections officer used a "chemical agent" on a woman's genitals after authorities found a plastic baggie protruding from her vagina.

The federal lawsuit filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico says the Bernalillo County corrections officer sprayed the chemical agents twice on the woman's genitals during a strip search in Nov. 2011.

ACLU officials say the chemical agent was pepper spray and was used to "punish" the woman.

The 400-year-old San Miguel Church in Socorro County is getting a $1.1 million grant to complete a restoration and expand services.

The grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, along with $400,000 dollars raised in the community, will be used for a museum, a gift shop and a classroom for at risk youth programs at the historic church, which was founded in 1598.

Conrad Hilton of the famous hotel line was baptized at the San Miguel Mission, and Pastor Andy Pavlak says he got help from some of Hilton’s distant relatives when he applied for the funding.

Over the summer, the New Mexico Human Services Department froze Medicaid payments to a dozen mental health providers due to allegations of fraud.

The basis for those allegations: an audit conducted by an out-of-state company called PCG. That audit was never seen by the public or even by those accused of fraud. 

But in October, a heavily redacted version was released, and in it, PCG said it did not uncover what it would consider to be credible allegations of fraud. 

NM's Infant Mortality Rate On The Rise - Associated Press

New Mexico health officials are concerned about an increase in the state's infant mortality rate.

The state Department of Health says New Mexico's rate has exceeded the national rate for the first time since 1994. The latest figures show an increase from 5.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 6.9 in 2012.

Health Secretary Retta Ward says the department will monitor the numbers closely to see if the increase signals a trend.

New Mexico's ski season is starting early because of the big snowstorm last weekend.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that ski areas planning to open Thanksgiving Day include Ski Santa Fe, Taos Ski Valley and Ski Apache near Ruidoso.

Ski Santa Fe has 15 inches of new snow, adding up to a 27-inch base.

Taos Ski Valley marketing director Adriana Blake says the resort got 26 inches of snow since Friday and she expects a 35-inch base.

Ski Apache reports 10 inches of new snow and has its snow-making machines going.

Two New Mexico citizen groups are repeating demands for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to conduct an independent review of the Kirtland Air Force Base groundwater contamination.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that the Albuquerque-based Citizen Action and the environmental group Amigos Bravos sent a letter last week calling on the EPA to conduct its own preliminary assessment.

A dispatch recording reveals that New Mexico State Police never provided a reason for a high-speed pursuit the night a 39-year-old Santa Fe woman was shot and killed by police.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that recently released audio recorded early on Nov. 7 between a Santa Fe police dispatcher and state police dispatcher shows that state police failed to provide a reason before reporting shots were fired.

As a result, Santa Fe police never came for backup.

NM Governor To Seek Money For Water Emergencies - Associated Press

Gov. Susana Martinez will ask the Legislature to create an emergency fund to help communities with critical drinking water supply problems.

The governor proposed Monday that lawmakers allocate $200,000 to allow the administration to immediately respond when local governments face emergencies and potentially are running out of water.

Martinez also wants to be able to replenish the fund automatically in $200,000 installments by issuing an executive order.

A state District Court judge has ruled in favor of Gov. Susana Martinez's administration and its implementation of new teacher evaluations. 

Democratic State Senator Howie Morales joined two other lawmakers and the state's teachers unions to try and stop the Public Education Department from moving forward with the new plan. 

Morales, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Governor next year, says the Martinez Administration shouldn't have used a top-down process of adding the new plan without buy-in from lawmakers. 

Audit Proposes NM Health Benefits Super Agency- The Associated Press

Legislative auditors are recommending that health care benefits for public employees and educators be administered by a single government agency.

A Legislative Finance Committee audit called last week for merging the self-funded health insurance operations for state and local government workers, public school and higher education employees.

  A watchdog group has filed a lawsuit seeking the release of nuclear safety records for Sandia National Laboratories.

The suit filed Friday in federal court in Albuquerque alleges the National Nuclear Security Administration has withheld documents and work papers for more than two years about whether nuclear reactors at Sandia have experienced shutdowns, accidents or violated safety regulations.

It also alleges a continuing pattern and practice of wrongful delay by the NNSA to violate the Freedom of Information Act.

Judge Says State Can Keep Audit Secret - Associated Press

A state district judge in Las Cruces has ruled the state can keep secret the audit that prompted it to freeze payments to substance abuse and mental health providers.

State District Judge Douglas Driggers rejected a request by the Las Cruces Sun-News and New Mexico In Depth to order the Human Services Department to release the audit under state open records laws.

UPDATE Mon 6:30a: Snow accumulation with gusty winds are expected today as wintry weather tapers off through tonight.

Snow showers crossing into New Mexico will continue through much of the morning. Local accumulations could reach 1-2"

North winds will develop over the northeast plains in the wake of the departing storm system this afternoon, with gusts expected to reach 50 miles an hour.