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Governor Signs College Scholarship Program Fix - The Associated Press

Gov. Susana Martinez has signed a measure into law to shore up the finances of a college scholarship program that relies on lottery revenue.

The governor signed the bill Wednesday, which was the deadline for acting on measures passed by the Legislature.

The scholarship program will receive liquor tax money for two years starting in 2015. Until that happens, a newly enacted state budget provides extra money to keep the program solvent.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved changes to the way sexual assault cases are handled by the military on Monday night—but stopped short of removing the chain of command from the process. Last week a measure that would have done just that failed by five votes.

KUNM Call In Show Thu. 3/13 8a: New Mexico is perpetually at or near the bottom of state child well-being rankings. New Mexico's children are and have been at risk for abuse, poverty, hunger, and other issues that affect their ability to learn, grow, and be health.  

BLM Grants Peabody Lease To Expand NM Coal Mine -  The Associated Press

The Bureau of Land Management has issued a lease allowing for more than 9 million tons of coal to be mined in western New Mexico.

The federal agency said Tuesday it issued the 640-acre lease to Peabody Natural Resources Co. after considering an appeal that stemmed from a lease sale in August 2013.

The BLM says it weighed potential environmental effects and determined there would be no significant impacts.

Community health workers can be paid through Medicaid after a measure signed by Gov. Susana Martinez on Sunday, March 9, goes into effect. As things stand, workers’ salaries are primarily funded by grants.

The legislation also creates a state certification program and funding for trainings.

Los Alamos Studying Alternatives For Toxic Waste -The Associated Press

With the nation's only underground nuclear waste dump shuttered by a mysterious leak, Los Alamos National Laboratory has begun looking at alternatives for getting toxic waste off its campus.

Lab spokesman Matthew Nerzig confirmed Tuesday that officials have begun looking at options if the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in Carlsbad remains closed indefinitely.

As the March 31st deadline for signing up for individual insurance under the Affordable Care Act looms, insurance companies tried to obtain personal information in order to contact potential customers who were previously covered by a state plan.  But state officials would not release the information.

New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange officials say they will market Obamacare to the low-income group themselves, rather than provide personal information to the four big insurance companies. 

Before the end of the year New Mexico officials will have to make a decision about water development in the state—they’ll decide what will happen to the Gila River. It’s a decision that’s been ten years in the making. But as details emerge, some lawmakers and scientists are worried about the future of New Mexico’s last free flowing river.

We’re standing on the banks of the northern Rio Grande, about forty miles downstream of Colorado. We’re next to a small diversion which waters some pasture and a garden in the village of Pilar, N.M.

Albuquerque Man Facing Federal Hate Crime Charge  The Associated Press

A 58-year-old Albuquerque man is facing a federal hate crime charge after authorities said he posted threatening anti-Semitic notes outside a Jewish deli.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that John W. Ng (ING) made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque related to notes found at the Nosh Jewish Delicatessen & Bakery.

UPDATE 3/10 7a: The U.S. Department of Energy says new air testing in the nation's only underground nuclear repository shows no detectable radioactive contamination from a leak last month.

Officials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad said Sunday that instruments used to measure air quality and radioactivity were sent underground Friday and Saturday in the first step to resuming operations at the plant.

They say initial results indicate no contamination in the air or on the measuring equipment.

Critical habitat has been designated for endangered jaguars in the southwest United States.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has declared 1,194 square miles of protected habitat in Arizona and New Mexico for the West's biggest cats. 

Governor Susana Martinez is not going to block an overall 3 percent pay increase for state employees, including teachers. She told New Mexico Watchdog she would not line-item veto that part of the budget. 

Martinez had originally proposed some merit-based pay increases in education.

Blowing Snow Expected In Parts Of New Mexico - The Associated Press

The National Weather Service says residents and travelers in New Mexico can expect accumulating and blowing snow in parts of the state Friday and into the weekend.

Forecasters say several inches of snow may accumulate Friday night in the northern mountains, the northeastern highlands and the plains.

Woman Suing Former New Mexico Parole Officer - The Associated Press

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against the state Corrections Department and a former probation officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman.

Gordon Chavez was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty last September to a civil rights violation.

The ACLU's suit filed on behalf of a parolee who alleges that Chavez violated her constitutional rights.

KUNM Call In Show Thu. 3/6 8a: Over a dozen employees at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad recently tested positive for radiation after sensors detected a radiation leak deep underground. We'll take your questions about the WIPP radiation leak and find out more about the health of the workers who were exposed.

We'd like to hear from you! Email callinshow@kunm.org, post your comments online, or call in live during the show!

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Santa Fe Elects Javier Gonzales As New Mayor - The Santa Fe New Mexican

Santa Fe voters have elected Javier Gonzales as the city’s new mayor.

  Regulators have been creating various models in order to try to predict when a plume of contamination from a decades old jet fuel leak at Kirtland Airforce Base will reach Albuquerque drinking water wells. 

Just 26 miles east of Carlsbad, N.M., in the Chihuahuan Desert, the United States buries its radioactive waste. Mostly, that’s the clothes, tools and rags that come into contact with elements heavier than uranium on the Periodic Table. But about 4 percent of what’s dumped at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is more toxic and has to be stored in lead casks.

President Obama’s $3.9 trillion budget could provide $2.4 billion to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. That’s an increase of about $33 million from the previous year.

The budget increase would go to education, social services, and Indian child welfare. It would also fund water projects in New Mexico.  

Union Awaits Info On Leak At New Mexico Nuke Dump - The Associated Press

A union representing some 200 workers at the nation's only underground nuclear waste dump says its wants to be sure employees are safe when the repository opens after a radiation leak that exposed at least 13 people.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad has been off-limits to most workers for nearly three weeks.

NM Sets Deadlines For Handling Waste At Nuke Dump  - The Associated Press

The New Mexico Environment Department is giving the federal government a deadline for dealing with radioactive waste that's sitting above ground at a nuclear dump near Carlsbad.

Dozens of drums and other special containers of waste are being stored in a parking area at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and inside the facility's waste handling building.

In 1889 the University of New Mexico's first students used to catch a horse and buggy from Old Town up the hill to where UNM's first building, Hodgin Hall, stood in Albuquerque.

At noon Friday in the  Student Union Building a birthday cake made up of cupcakes was served to students in honor of UNM's 125th birthday celebration.  

This week President Obama introduced legislation that would change the way money is used to manage wildfires. It makes more funds available for fire prevention by shifting the source of cash needed to fight raging fires from the Department of Agriculture to the the disaster relief fund.  It's a move that land managers have been calling for for some time.

New Mexico To Address Medical Marijuana Shortage - The Associated Press

The number of children receiving flu vaccines in New Mexico is higher than the national average, according to the state Department of Health.

During the 2010-2011 flu season, almost 60 percent of kids between the ages of five and 12 got vaccinated for flu. However, that number jumped to about 70 percent the following year.

The chaotic transition a state agency forced last year from 15 New Mexico-based health organizations to five Arizona companies had many problems, an annual audit has found.

NM Deal Clears Way For Oil, Gas Development -  The Associated Press

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says the state has brokered an agreement that stands to benefit Navajo landowners who want to lease their land to oil and gas developers.

Martinez visited Farmington on Thursday to announce the partnership between the state, San Juan College and the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Federal Indian Minerals Office.

  The Department of Energy says preliminary tests indicate 13 workers were exposed to radiation during a recent leak at the nation's underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico.

The DOE said in a news release Wednesday that it has notified the workers of the positive results and will do further testing. They declined to comment further on the extent of the possible exposure until a news conference Thursday afternoon.

New Mexico Senator Tom Udall has proposed two bills to address access to health care in rural communities. 

Every county in New Mexico, except one, has been designated by the federal government as having a health care provider shortage. And beyond a shortage, surveys show that over half of the doctors in New Mexico were at capacity and unable to take on more than a handful of new patients.