Associated Press

JEMEZ SPRINGS, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico water managers are planning to study the water quality of the Jemez River watershed.

The survey will include the Jemez River from its headwaters in northern New Mexico's Jemez Mountains down to the village of San Ysidro. A tributary of the Rio Grande, the river cuts through Valles Caldera National Preserve and Jemez Pueblo land.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico lawmakers are proposing a financing boost for road projects across the state.

A nearly $5.9 billion budget proposal heading to the House includes $20 million for the Department of Transportation for major road projects.

The measure also allows the department to spend $35 million from its fund balances for road maintenance.

The department has told lawmakers the need for road and bridge maintenance and construction far exceeds its current budget.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A proposal advocated by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez to increase penalties for human trafficking is heading to the Senate for consideration.

The measure would make it a first-degree felony for human trafficking if the victim was under the age of 16. Convictions could carry a basic sentence of 18 years in prison. That doubles the penalty because the crime is currently a lesser felony.

The proposal would triple the basic penalty — to nine years in prison — for human trafficking if the victim was 16 years or older.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Efforts aimed at preservation of Native American languages would continue with the help of federal funding under legislation introduced by New Mexico Congressman Ben Ray Lujan.

The New Mexico Democrat says his bill would reauthorize the Esther Martinez Native Languages Preservation Act for another five years.

The original legislation was brought by former Republican Congresswoman Heather Wilson in honor of a Tewa storyteller and linguist who was known for her life's work of preserving her native language and traditions.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District is getting 20,000 acre feet of water amid continuing drought.

Scott Verhines, the New Mexico State Engineer and Rio Grande Compact Commissioner for New Mexico, recently announced the water allocation to help farmers and water users in the area.

New Mexico lawmakers say all options need to be considered as the state grapples with a persistent drought, dwindling water supplies and legal pressure from neighboring Texas.

Numerous bills have been introduced, from revamping the state's water plan to boosting the number of judges who handle water rights and spending millions of dollars on infrastructure.

Senate Conservation Commission Chairman Peter Wirth says the bills don't provide a "silver bullet" but mark the start of an important discussion on the state's future.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's chile crop acreage has increased in the past two years since it hit a nearly 40-year low in 2010.

Experts speaking at the state's annual chile conference held Tuesday in Las Cruces reported that 9,600 acres were harvested in 2012. That's a slight increase from 2011.

According to the Las Cruces Sun-News (http://bit.ly/UWtIEk ,), New Mexico's acreage dropped from over 12,000 in 2009 to under 9,000 in 2010.

Acreage was over 20,000 as recently as 1998.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An actor from the TV show "Breaking Bad" has won a seat on Albuquerque's school board.

Steven Michael Quezada plays federal drug agent Steven Gomez on the Albuquerque-based show.

He was running unopposed Tuesday for a seat on the city's west side District 5.

There's no incumbent in that district, and Quezada was the only candidate to file for the position.

 A lawyer who died after being shot by a gunman in a Phoenix office was a former reporter with the Santa Fe New Mexican.

The paper reported (http://bit.ly/TlxKH2) that Mark Hummels left the Santa Fe New Mexican in 2001 to attend law school at the University of Arizona.

A publicist for his law firm said Friday that the 43-year-old Hummels died after being placed on life support. He was the second of three people hit by gunfire to die from in the attack.

New Mexico may be spending too little on special education to qualify for perhaps as much as %93 million in aid this year from the federal government.

Legislators were recently told by state education officials that $43 million to $93 million in grants could be withheld in future years by the Feds.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico lawmaker wants to end what he calls the practice by public officials of creating "monuments to me."

Republican Sen. Mark Moores of Albuquerque says he has introduced a bill that would prohibit any public building from being named after a living person. He says the practice can turn embarrassing, as in the case of the Manny Aragon library at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque. Aragon is a former Senate leader serving time in federal prison for accepting kickbacks.

Bernalillo County District Court judges are barring District Attorney Kari Brandenberg's office from using investigative grand juries to probe shootings involving police officers.

Chief Judge Ted Baca and another judge say in a letter to Brandenberg that there's an appearance of a lack of impartiality.

The judges' letter says that's because the investigative grand juries are used only in officer-involved shootings and only after there's been a determination that there's no probable cause for criminal charges against the officers.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico advocacy groups say Walgreens won't allow individual pharmacists' personal religious beliefs to prevent customers from filling birth control prescriptions.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico announced Tuesday that Walgreens told the ACLU and the Southwest Women's Law Center that the company will take steps nationwide to make sure customers received prescriptions regardless of employees' beliefs.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is withholding some Medicaid payments to hospitals while the state tries to resolve a funding dispute with the federal government.

State Human Services Department spokesman Matt Kennicott says the quarterly payments suspended in December affect several categories of funding that add up to $250 million annually.

Those funding categories include hospitals that are the sole providers in their community and hospitals that treat more uninsured patients.

The federal government reports that New Mexico's graduation rate for the 2009-2010 was 67.3 percent. That's below the national average of 78.2 percent. Only the rates in Nevada and Mississippi were lower. 

The so-called "average freshman graduation rates" indicate the percentage of 9th graders who go on to graduate within four years.

The rates are being reported by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is part of the U.S. Department of Education.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The University of New Mexico has hired a new company to lobby on its behalf in Washington, D.C. — at nearly double the cost the school has paid in recent years.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/VaTYgJ) that UNM will pay Madison Associates, based in the nation's capital, $237,000 this year for its lobbying services under a one-year contract that could be renewed for three years.

President Bob Frank says the firm will have to earn "every cent we pay them."

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A new computer system is skewing the data on unemployment claims in New Mexico.

The state's "fully integrated tax and claims system" launched Jan. 6. But because the switchover was done Jan. 1 to Jan. 6, those collecting unemployment were unable to re-certify or file new claims for unemployment from New Mexico during that time.

Because of the shutdown, the number of claims being reported to the federal government is way down.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Lawmakers are proposing a tax credit to encourage businesses to hire students receiving graduate degrees in science and technology from a New Mexico college.

The measure is to help stop the so-called brain drain of highly educated professionals leaving New Mexico for jobs in other states after earning a master's or doctorate degree in mathematics, engineering, technology, the sciences or a health-related field.

povertyOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Federal Reserve says U.S. farm income could decline in 2013, but it depends upon whether the drought continues.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo., said Thursday that if drought conditions persist, prices of corn and other crops would remain volatile because of tight supply. But if normal weather conditions return, crop prices would decline and lead to lower farm incomes.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A new report released by a nonprofit organization gives New Mexico a top ranking for providing breakfasts to low-income students at schools.

The report by the Food Research and Action Center says 70 percent of low-income students in New Mexico who receive lunch also got breakfasts during the 2011-2012 school year.

That's up from about 64 percent the year before.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An economist says one reason why New Mexico's unemployment rate is only 6.2 percent could be because some people leave the state to find work elsewhere.

University of New Mexico economist Lee Reynis says natural population growth and migration into the state increased the state's overall population in the 12 months ended last July.

But Reynis says that 7,500 more people moved out of the state than moved in during the same period.

The state Senate has elected Democrat Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces as its top-ranking leader, making her the first woman in more than 70 years to serve as president pro tem.

Papen won Tuesday with the unanimous support of majority Democrats, who rallied behind her rather than pushing ahead with a potentially divisive contest between Papen and Democrat Pete Campos.

She was elected shortly after the Legislature convened.

A New Mexico children's advocacy group is hoping the latest statistics on child poverty rates, teen birth rates and math and reading proficiency will spur action by the state Legislature.

Officials with New Mexico Voices for Children and others gathered at the state capitol Tuesday to release the annual New Mexico Kids Count report.

It shows 42 percent of New Mexico children now live in single-parent households and the state ranks last when it comes to the reading proficiency of fourth graders.

Overall, New Mexico is ranked 49th in child well-being.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg says she expects to resume the controversial practice of presenting police shooting cases to "investigative grand juries."

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/WxAjBM) that Brandenburg sent a letter this week to Second Judicial District Court judges saying she will begin scheduling the first of 12 pending police shooting cases for grand jury presentations.

BELEN, N.M. (AP) — Voters in a small community in Valencia County will find out if they are one step closer to creating a new town.

KRQE-TV reports  that the votes will be canvassed Friday to determine if Rio Communities can incorporate.

In a special election Tuesday, residents in Rio Communities, just east of Belen, voted to incorporate into a new municipality with its own mayor and town council.

Residents in this 4600 square acre area say they want a new town so they could have their own police department.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — If a Bernalillo County commissioner gets his way, the minimum wage in unincorporated areas of the county would increase to match the minimum wage now in effect in Albuquerque.

Commissioner Art De La Cruz says he plans later this month to propose raising the minimum wage in unincorporated areas to $8.50 an hour later.

That's the rate now in effect in Albuquerque as a result of a voter-approved ordinance that raised the rate from $7.50 an hour.

New Mexico State Police says they'll no longer monitor shipments of nuclear waste traveling to a plant in Carlsbad.

Deputy Chief Pete Kassetas says the decision means a dispatcher will no longer monitor the shipments from a computer in Santa Fe.

KOAT -TV (http://bit.ly/13dzUu4 ) reports that the monitoring began about 15 years ago because there were worries about the security and safety of the shipments.

Kassetas said the state police would hear immediately from the federal Department of Energy if there's a problem.

If a Bernalillo County commissioner gets his way, the minimum wage in unincorporated areas of the county would increase to match the minimum wage now in effect in Albuquerque.

Commissioner Art De La Cruz says he plans later this month to propose raising the minimum wage in unincorporated areas to $8.50 an hour later.

That's the rate now in effect in Albuquerque as a result of a voter-approved ordinance that raised the rate from $7.50 an hour.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A former South Carolina sheriff's lieutenant is suspected of robbing a Santa Fe, N.M., pharmacy at gunpoint and trying to rob a second pharmacy of the potent narcotic Oxycodone.

Police in Santa Fe say 43-year-old George William Smith is married to a Santa Fe prosecutor. They say Assistant District Attorney Dorie Biagianti-Smith called authorities and confronted her husband after recognizing him on a television news broadcast about the Monday and Tuesday robberies.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez has ordered flags around the state to fly at half-staff in honor of former House Speaker Ben Lujan.

Lujan died late Tuesday at age 77 after a long battle with lung cancer. He was one of the most powerful and longest serving state legislators in New Mexico history and the father of U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan.

Under Martinez's order, flags will be lowered from sunrise on Saturday through sundown on Dec. 29.