Associated Press

  Nearly all of New Mexico continues to grapple with some level of drought, and federal forecasting models show those conditions are likely to persist through January.

State and federal officials reported during a drought monitoring meeting Thursday that there has been only one day of rain so far this month in the eastern half of New Mexico.

Those totals ranged from a half-inch to just over an inch of rain, not enough to catch up after back-to-back dry years.

  New Mexico Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall are asking President Obama to designate the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos and the Organ Mountains in southern New Mexico as national monuments.

The senators, who are sponsors of legislation that would elevate the sites to national conservation and wilderness areas, wrote a letter to Obama asking him to use his authority to establish the sites as National Monuments because a congressional logjam has made it difficult to pass their bill.

A fire burning in the Carson National Forest east of Taos has grown to an estimated 429 acres with zero containment so far.

Officials say the so-called Midnight Fire is mostly creeping and smoldering with little progression Thursday due to colder temperatures and a change of fuel type.

Fuels changed from mixed conifer and spruce to grass and aspen groves on Wednesday.

They say the rugged terrain, abundance of beetle-killed trees and other observed hazards also call for a change of strategy.

Months after the federal Indian Health Service said it was finalizing a policy that would make emergency contraception more accessible to American Indian women, advocates say they're still waiting. And in the meantime, Native women face a patchwork of policies at hospitals and clinics that don't always ensure timely access to the medication.

New Mexico has huge potential for developing aerospace and aviation industries because of its weather and wide open air space. But industry leaders say it also has many hurdles to overcome, including high taxes and a reputation as a poor state with crime and bad schools.

A fire burning in the Carson National Forest east of Taos has grown to an estimated 375 acres despite windy conditions.

Officials say the so-called Midnight Fire had less active behavior than expected Wednesday as fuels changed from mixed conifer and spruce to grass and aspen groves.

They say the rugged terrain, abundance of beetle-killed trees and other observed hazards also call for a change of strategy.

A decision has been made to implement a confine and contain suppression strategy rather than attempt a direct attack and compromise firefighter safety.

The American Red Cross has delivered 180 cases of drinking water to residents of the Navajo Nation Ramah Chapter House after a well pump outage in the small northwestern New Mexico village of Mountain View.

Officials say 150 families were affected Wednesday.

The water request came to the Red Cross from emergency management officials at the Chapter House and the Cibola County Emergency Manager.

Emergency vehicles from the Red Cross Regional headquarters in Albuquerque and from Farmington delivered the water Wednesday evening.

The city of Albuquerque is holding a number of events in honor of Rudolfo Anaya's novel Bless Me, Ultima. The Rio Grande Nature Center State Park is hosting tomorrow's "Walk in the Bosque" to allow residents to learn about plants in the New Mexico-based novel. Bless Me, Ultima is a coming-of-age story set in 1940s eastern New Mexico. The movie of the novel was released yesterday.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A former administrative assistant for Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston has filed a lawsuit claiming the sheriff created a hostile workplace for women.

Deborah Garcia provided a copy of her Aug. 28 complaint to the Albuquerque Journal (http://bit.ly/TxRT75) this week.

In the filing, Garcia alleges Houston made comments about female employees' clothing, body size and breast size. She also says he made negative remarks about her religion.

Police in Santa Fe are reporting a dramatic drop in the number of burglaries they're attributing to a focused effort to trim the numbers.

Police Chief Ray Rael says only 33 residential burglaries were reported in the city last month. That's half the number reported in August and a 55 percent drop from September 2011.

It's also the lowest monthly total since 2006.

A new Elvis hot air balloon and another in the shape of a child in a wheelchair are among the new shapes scheduled take part in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

The 41st annual event is set to begin Saturday with the launched of hundreds of hot air balloons.

Fiesta officials hope for better weather for the nine-day affair after wind and rains sidelined balloons for a few events last year cutting attendance by around 100,000 visitors.

Still, last year organizers broke a world record sending 345 balloons up at one time.

The New Mexico Department of Health has a new Web page aimed at educating parents about ways to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and other sleep-related causes of infant deaths.

Interim Health Secretary Brad McGrath says parents should put their babies to sleep in a bassinet or crib to keep them safe rather than sleeping in the same bed.

The Web page also stresses the importance of having infants sleep on their backs in safe places free of any soft bedding, blankets or quilts.

Third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Virgil Goode are blips in the presidential race, but even that might make them a big deal.

Democratic President Barack Obama's campaign quietly has been keeping track of the two former Republican officeholders who could prove pivotal in key states where he and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are in a tight race.

Johnson is a former New Mexico governor running as the Libertarian Party nominee. Goode is a conservative ex-congressman from Virginia competing as the Constitution Party candidate.

Forest officials plan to round up cattle that have been roaming freely for years in the Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico.

The Wilderness Ranger District announced its impoundment order this week. It stems from reports of cattle roaming along the Gila River near Turkey Creek, Johnson Canyon and Miller Springs.

Forest officials say the cattle are leftover from a 2006 impoundment effort.

Four government agencies in southeastern New Mexico are getting together to try to convince the federal government to put a high-level nuclear waste site in their region.

Eddy and Lea counties and the cities of Carlsbad and Hobbs say they've partnered with French nuclear conglomerate Areva to promote a storage site for waste from nuclear power plants.

The site they have in mind is midway between the two cities. It would be used as an interim storage site for nearly 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste now mainly stored at nuclear power plants.

Developers of a $350 million project in northern New Mexico have been cleared to start selling transmission rights and services to energy developers on what would be 93 miles of beefed-up power lines.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has signed off on Colorado-based Lucky Corridor's request to sell up to 70 percent of the proposed project's capacity.

The project would be able to funnel 1,100 megawatts of electricity to existing customers and hubs that connect other western markets.

The Federal Communications Commission has awarded about $18 million to telecommunications companies to expand access to high-speed cellular phone and wireless Internet service in central and southeastern New Mexico.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall announced on Wednesday that about $9.5 million will go to Plateau Telecommunications in Clovis, $6.7 million to Leaco Rural Telephone Cooperative in Dexter and $1.8 million to T-Mobile West.

The companies were selected by the FCC after submitting bids for building new mobile telecommunications infrastructure.

Governor Susana Martinez's administration has agreed to settle a lawsuit and not revive a plan to cancel the driver's licenses of immigrants who fail to verify whether they still live in the state.

The administration announced the program last year but it was suspended by a state district court in Santa Fe after the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a lawsuit.

Governor Susana Martinez is hosting a meeting of border governors in Albuquerque this week.

Martinez, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and governors from three Mexican states are expected at the gathering, which opened with a private reception Wednesday night. Texas Governor Rick Perry and governors from the other three Mexican border states were expected to send representatives for two days of private workshops.

Topics on the agenda include agriculture and livestock, competitiveness, education, border crossing, health, security and sustainable development.

The state Court of Appeals has ruled against a group of current and former Hobbs residents who sued an oil company because of illnesses and other damages allegedly from environmental contamination from oil and natural gas production in an area that became a housing subdivision in the southeastern New Mexico community.

The court on Tuesday upheld a Lea County district court decision not to grant a new trial in the case against Shell Oil Co. and Shell Western Exploration and Production Inc.

Some ranchers have started cutting neighbors' fences or leaving gates open so their cattle can graze on greener pastures amid an extreme drought that has caused a spike in hay prices.

Ranchers from Missouri to Texas and west into New Mexico have sold off huge portions of their herds this year because the worst drought in decades dried up their pastures and they couldn't afford to buy food for their animals.

The Game and Fish Department is seeking public comments on proposed licensing changes for antelope hunting in New Mexico.

The State Game Commission is expected to consider the issue at a meeting Nov. 1 in Raton.

The department is holding meetings across the state to hear from sportsmen on establishing a licensing system for antelope hunting in parts of the state similar to that for deer hunting.

A drawing would be held for public land hunts. Licenses could be purchased over-the-counter to hunt on private lands and hunters would arrange access from the landowner.

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson says there's no hope a judge will allow him to participate in Wednesday night's presidential debate.

Johnson is running as the Libertarian Party candidate for president. He sued the Commission on Presidential Debates last month in federal court to try to force them to admit him to the debates.

Departing New Mexico State University President Barbara Couture will be paid nearly $454,000 when she leaves her post in January.

That's on top of the salary she'll earn while on paid administrative from now until she officially leaves at the end of the year. At an annual salary of $392,700, she'll earn about $100,000 for the next three months leave.

The state Board of Regents accepted Couture's resignation in what board Chairman Mike Cheney described as a mutually agreeable separation on Monday.

A woman walking along the railroad tracks south of Santa Fe has been struck and killed by a Rail Runner Express train.

Rail Runner spokeswoman Augusta Meyers says the woman was walking along the tracks about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and apparently decided to cross the tracks just ahead of the train.

The Albuquerque Journal reports the woman was then struck by a southbound train. She has not been identified.

Rail traffic has resumed but the incident stalled trains in both directions for a couple of hours.

Some ranchers have started cutting neighbors' fences or leaving gates open so their cattle can graze on greener pastures amid an extreme drought that has caused a spike in hay prices.

Ranchers from Missouri to Texas and west into New Mexico have sold off huge portions of their herds this year because the worst drought in decades dried up their pastures and they couldn't afford to buy food for their animals.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Department is considering a proposed agreement with private landowners that would expand public hunting opportunities for deer and Barbary sheep.

The department says the agreement would open some private lands to hunting in southeastern New Mexico in exchange for closing areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The department has had these types of agreements involving state trust lands for more than 20 years. It's now proposing expanding the agreements to include BLM lands.

Two national forests in New Mexico are planning prescribed fires this week that are designed to clear out hazardous fuels from hundreds of acres.

Officials with the Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico plan to treat more than 200 acres east of Santa Fe as long as the weather cooperates.

The treatment is focused on improving the health of Santa Fe's watershed.

Smoke will likely be visible from Santa Fe, Pecos, Los Alamos and as far south as Albuquerque.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory has spent about $425 million on designs for its proposed new plutonium facility without reaching the level of confidence needed to prepare a reliable budget or begin building.

The proposed Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear has been delayed at least five years under President Barack Obama's budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins Monday. The budget cut funding for the program.

An emerging push to ban plastic grocery bags in Santa Fe will get its first public airing this week.

A city advisory committee is considering an ordinance calling for a prohibition on plastic carryout bags at stores in the city. The new law also would impose a fee stores must collect if they provide paper bags.

The idea is already facing lobbying against it from the plastics industry representatives and large-scale retail operators.