News

Reservoir levels at Santa Rosa Lake State Park have hit record lows due to a persistent drought, but state officials say the lake will soon be open to boaters.

A water release that was completed earlier this month exposed an area that will allow boaters to launch from the shore. Boats can begin hitting the water Saturday morning.

The lake is down to only 218 surface acres, but park officials say the majority of the hazards have been exposed.

Boating will be restricted to no-wake speeds due to the low water level and limited surface area.

A new state law will allow New Mexico to expand a warning system used to help search for abducted children

The state's Amber Alert system will be able to cover children abducted by a parent or other family member. The law takes effect June 14.

Gov. Susana Martinez signed the measure on Thursday and said the current system "requires law enforcement to sit on the sidelines" if a child is taken by relative and believed to be in danger.

Governor Susana Martinez has signed a measure into law to allow state officials to conduct immediate criminal background checks before placing foster children in the emergency protective custody of family members, neighbors or other individuals.

The governor said Thursday the new law can help prevent children from being placed in a potentially dangerous home with someone who has a criminal history.

Nambe Pueblo and Taos County Economic Development Corporation are two of ten organizations nationally that have received funding for Native food-systems projects. The projects could bolster economic development while combating food insecurity, health and nutrition disparities in tribal communities.

Thurs. 3/28 10a:  Audiences of all ages can immerse themselves in the world of fractals on the first Friday of every month in the planetarium at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. Spencer Beckwith speaks with the creator of the full-dome First Friday Fractals shows, founder of Albuquerque's Fractal Foundation, Dr. Jonathan Wolfe.

Wed. 3/27 10a:  Baroque trumpeter Brain Shaw and mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski join the Santa Fe Pro Musica Baroque Ensemble for a program of music for Holy Week, March 28, 29 and 30 in the Loretto Chapel.  Included in the program are J.S. Bach's Cantata BWV 51 and Johann Melchior Molter's Concerto No. 2 for Trumpet and Strings.  Spencer Beckwith is joined by the Music Director of the Santa Fe Pro Musica, Tom O'Connor.

Representative Steve Pearce is reintroducing a bill that would allow the Mescalero Apache tribe in Southern New Mexico to lease their unused excess water. If passed, the legislation could give surrounding communities access to some much needed water resources.

The Mescalero Apache Tribe Leasing Authorization Act would allow the tribe to lease their water rights for up to 99 years. Tribal President Frederick Chino says that would allow the tribe to better manage their water and allow them to work with neighboring communities on water usage. 

UPDATE 03/28/13: 

A student-run New Mexico community college newspaper suspended after publishing an issue focusing on sex will be allowed to resume publication.

Central New Mexico Community College spokesman Brad Moore says the CNM Chronicle has been authorized Wednesday to continue operations immediately, and the papers will be returned to the stands.

Gov. Susana Martinez has signed legislation to help people with mental health problems receive evaluations and assistance in New Mexico.

The measure expands the professionals who can trigger an emergency mental health evaluation by certifying that a person poses a likelihood of serious harm to themselves or others because of a mental disorder.

Clinical mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, clinical nurses with a mental health specialty and certified nurse practitioners could make those decisions under the new law.

An Albuquerque police officer has been charged with reckless vehicular homicide and reckless great bodily injury by vehicle.

That's according to a criminal complaint released Tuesday by the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

Sgt. Adam Casaus says he was trying to track down a drunk driver before he slammed into another vehicle on Feb. 10.

The crash killed a 21-year-old woman and seriously injured her younger sister, who was driving the SUV.

Bernalillo County authorities say they won't seek charges against an Albuquerque police SWAT team officer in a 2011 fatal shooting.

County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and Chief Deputy District Attorney Troy Davis wrote a letter of findings Monday to Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz.

Brandenburg and Davis say they found no probable cause to believe that officer Jim Perdue acted unlawfully when he shot robbery suspect Michael Marquez on Aug. 30, 2011.

Police say Perdue shot Marquez after a short standoff in a field near an Albuquerque apartment complex.

Federal wildlife managers have been working to return the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest for the past 15 years. Every now and then, there's a genetic hiccup.

It happens when a wolf breeds with a domestic dog, producing a litter of hybridized pups.

Just last month, an animal that looked like a wolf was spotted in the mountain community of Reserve near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Experts with the wolf management team say the uncollared animal was most likely a wolf-dog hybrid.

Gov. Susana Martinez has signed legislation into law to help New Mexico veterans, including requiring the state to expedite the handling of occupational licenses for military service members and their spouses.

The USDA announced Monday it would extend the filing deadline in the program to compensate Hispanic and women farmers who were discriminated against in loan applications.  The additional time may have been granted in response to low numbers of claims.

In a last-minute extension, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that farmers now have until May 1st to file claims.  The program is part of a decades-long effort to address discrimination at the USDA, which began with lawsuits brought by black farmers. 

Researchers searching for a treatment to a genetic disease called Cerebral Cavernous Malformation say they're poised to begin human trials. The University of New Mexico will lead the trials. In the past, the University of Utah used animals to test possible treatments.
The genetic disease affects thousands of New Mexicans, a large portion of that population Hispanic, and is known to cause epilepsy, disabling headaches, brain defects, bleeding and death.

The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority says it's in the final phases of unveiling high-speed broadband and wireless services for the majority of the Navajo Nation. The project would bring telecommunications services to the nations largest reservation straddling Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico.

A few companies have offered broadband accessibility to parts of the Navajo Nation in the past, however, historically, the Nation has dealt with little to no telecommunications access.

KUNM Call In Show Thu. 3/28 8a: Last week, Santa Fe officials announced they believed same-sex marriage is legal under current New Mexico law. The ACLU-New Mexico has filed a lawsuit on behalf of several same sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Bernalillo County. Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court hears arguments in two same sex marriage cases this week.  

Albuquerque firefighters contained a fire in rugged terrain in the city's northeastern foothills Sunday evening.

The Fire Department says 22 firefighters used hand tools to battle the fire.

Firefighters will be on scene Monday morning to determine the size of the fire and to check for any hot spots.

Calm weather helped firefighters' efforts Sunday evening.

The cause of the fire hasn't yet been determined. 

A group called Working America says it will be in Santa Fe Monday to try and persuade Gov. Susana Martinez to sign a minimum wage increase.

The group says it will deliver thousands of photo petitions and petition signatures to the governor's office in support of a just-passed Senate Bill to increase the state's minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 an hour.

The New Mexico Legislature's decision to phase out state reimbursements to local governments for not taxing food and medicine could lead some city and county governments to raise taxes.

The plan adopted by the Legislature on March 16 will require large and mid-sized city and county governments to accept a payout between 6 percent and 7 percent smaller each year starting in 2016 until the state's "hold harmless" subsidies for the food and medicine taxes are entirely eliminated by 2030.

The Albuquerque Journal reports some local governments say that tax hike may be needed.

President Obama will designate a historic landscape in northern New Mexico as a national monument Monday. The designation will help draw in more visitors while also protecting the land.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez has signed legislation aimed at simplifying New Mexico's tax code.

The bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Tom Taylor of Farmington targeted the statute that governs the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department and the procedures taxpayers have to follow.

With the governor's signature, the measure will extend deadlines so taxpayers filing amended returns as the result of actions by the Internal Revenue Service will have double the time — 180 days — to file.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Second Judicial District Attorney Kari Brandenburg's office is revamping how her office handles cases involving Albuquerque-area police shootings.

Brandenburg says the new process will have prosecutors decide whether there is probable cause that a crime was committed. Then the case will be presented to a grand jury to decide whether to issue an indictment.

A previous process blocked by courts had a special grand jury reviewing cases but not deciding whether cases should be prosecuted.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A judge has ordered some Santa Fe neighbors to stop threatening each other over barking dogs, loud music and access to a subdivision road.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports (http://bit.ly/WHTvRy) that State District Judge Frank Mathew told the feuding neighbors Thursday in the Mission Viejo subdivision not to harass or call one another after a series of bizarre complaints.

Keith Bujold has been in a long fight with neighbor Ernest Kavanaugh Sr. over access to a disputed road that has resulted in threats with pistols.

Fri. 3/22 10a:  Named after composer John Donald Robb, former Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico, the 42nd annual Composers' Symposium, four days of master classes, lectures and concerts of newly-commissioned works, takes place from March 24-27 on the UNM campus in Albuquerque.  Spencer Beckwith speaks with the co-Artistic Director of the Symposium, from the UNM Music faculty, composer Peter Gilbert.

Kirtland Air Force Base is putting the brakes on its plan to send furlough notices Friday to thousands of civilian employees at the Albuquerque base.

Base officials had said approximately 2,100 Kirtland workers would start getting notices that they'll face unpaid time off from work.

However, that changed Thursday when the Defense Department announced that it has decided to delay furlough notices for approximately two weeks.

The Pentagon's announcement said the delay will allow the department to carefully analyze the impact of budget legislation pending in Congress.

You may recall that on Monday the Mayor and City Attorney of Santa Fe released  legal analysis stating that same-sex marriage is legal in New Mexico, encouraging County Clerks to issue same-sex marriage licenses and urging couples to apply for them.  Since then the ACLU of New Mexico filed a lawsuit against Bernalillo County Clerk, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, for denying marriage licenses to same sex couples.  Chip Hindi and Paul Sanchez have been together for over six years.  They are one of a handful of couples who've applied for the license thus far.  Here is their story...

Thurs. 3/21 10a:  Four New Mexico cellists, Sally Guenther, Dana Winograd, James Holland and Joel Becktell, come together on March 30 and 31 at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos for a program of music for multiple cellos, an encore of a popular concert presented two years ago by the Taos Chamber Music Group. Spencer Beckwith speaks with Sally Guenther about the program.

New Mexico basketball coach Steve Alford has agreed to a new 10-year contract that could bring him up to $2 million per season including base salary, bonuses and incentives.

UNM Vice President of Athletics Paul Krebs announced the deal Wednesday prior to the team's practice at the NCAA tournament in Salt Lake City, where they play Harvard on Thursday.

The Lobos are in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years and their 29 wins this season are the second-most in school history.