Official: Progress Made To Reign In Jet Fuel Contamination - Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
The head of the New Mexico Environment Department says a massive plume of jet fuel at the edge of Albuquerque is shrinking.
Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn says an extraction well has removed more than 13 million gallons of contaminated water over the past six months.
Another 5,000 tons of soil have been removed from the site at Kirtland Air Force Base since cleanup began two years ago, and more than a half-million gallons of contamination have been sucked from beneath the surface using a vapor-extraction system.
But two state senators and the New Mexico Environmental Law Center say progress has been too slow. They're threatening a lawsuit.
Flynn says it was the Martinez administration that began pressuring the Air Force, and that critics should have sued years ago when the plume was first discovered.
Martinez Opposes Fed Plan To Accept More Syrian Refugees – Associated Press
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says she's opposed to the Obama administration's plan to accept any more Syrian refugees until there's a clear plan in place to properly vet and place them.
Martinez made the comment Monday as several U.S. governors threatened to halt efforts to allow Syrian refugees into their states in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Martinez, the nation's only Latina governor and a leader within the Republican Governors Association, says the top priority should be safety.
The Obama administration recently pledged to accept about 10,000 Syrian refugees. Governors in many states are responding to heightened concerns terrorists might use the refugees as cover to sneak across borders.
Government statistics show the U.S. has taken about 2,150 Syrians since October 2011 — most in the last year.
New Mexico Plans To Devote Prison To Only Sex Offenders – KRQE, Associated Press
New Mexico officials are planning to devote a prison in Grants just to sex offenders.
KRQUE-TV reports that officials plan to shuffle hundreds of inmates around the state in hopes of alleviating overcrowding at the women's prison. Female inmates will be split into two prisons, Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants and Springer Correctional Facility.
Women will be moved out of the current Grants facility, and male sex offenders will move in.
New Mexico Corrections Dept. Deputy Secretary of Operations Joe Booker says devoting a prison to sex offenders will give those inmates more access to treatment options.
Some residents of Grants say they worry about the influx of sex offenders nearby for fear of violence if they escape. They say they want more information about the plan.
New Mexico Lawmakers Warn Agencies Of Belt Tightening – The Associated Press
A key legislator is warning that New Mexico could be headed into a financial storm thanks to growing spending pressures and slumping oil and gas prices that have resulted in weaker revenues.
Legislative Finance Committee Chair Sen. John Arthur Smith issued the warning during a meeting Tuesday in Santa Fe. He questioned whether state agencies have any backup plans for reducing spending.
Legislative analysts say agencies already have asked for $85 million in supplemental appropriations to make it through the rest of the fiscal year. That includes some $47 million to cover growing Medicaid costs.
Analysts and lawmakers say they'll have a better idea of whether the state will be able to make ends meet next year when new revenue estimates are released in early December.
Census Weighs Changes To Counting American Indians In 2020 – The Associated Press
The U.S. Census Bureau is testing new questions on tribal enrollment to try to get a more accurate count of American Indians in 2020.
Director John Thompson told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the agency is aiming to avoid a 5 percent undercount of the population seen in 2010.
Dee Ann Alexander, a census tribal specialist, says past censuses didn't ask whether someone was an enrolled tribal member. She says there was an American Indian box to check with instructions on describing a tribe.
Officials say the bureau is getting feedback from tribal leaders and will decide later whether the questions make it on the 2020 census.
Thompson says the agency is reaching out to American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages five years early because of distrust of federal government.
Debt Forgiveness Coming To New Mexico For College Students – The Associated Press
Authorities say hundreds of New Mexico residents who were students of a for-profit college chain will receive $632,000 in student-loan forgiveness as a result of a settlement of a multistate investigation into consumer complaints.
The agreement announced Tuesday by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office is part of a nationwide settlement with Education Management Corp.
Pittsburgh-based EDMC is the nation's second-largest for-profit college provider. The company operates 110 schools in 32 states plus Canada through Argosy University, The Art Institutes, Brown Mackie College and South University.
In New Mexico, the Attorney General's Office says EDMC operates a Brown Mackie campus in Albuquerque and that numerous New Mexico residents enrolled in online programs.
New Mexico Auditor Issues 'Risk Advisory' On School Hiring – The Associated Press
The New Mexico State Auditor's Office has issued a "risk advisory" to school district on licensure and background checks for employees.
State Auditor Tim Keller announced Tuesday the advisory to alert schools and school districts about the School Personnel Act following recent high-profile cases involving school employees.
Mora Independent School District superintendent Charles Trujillo resigned last month after an investigation found he faked his credentials.
And the Albuquerque school board voted in August to accept former Superintendent Luis Valentino's resignation after it became public he hired an administrator charged with child sex abuse in Colorado. The administrator did not go through the required background check.
Under the School Personnel Act, every education professional must hold a valid professional license or certificate. Employees also must be fingerprinted and undergo background checks.
Federal Judge Says Forests Can Stay Closed To Protect Mouse – Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
A federal judge says parts of New Mexico's national forests can stay closed to cattle grazing to protect the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Judge Robert C. Brack threw out most of a lawsuit filed by ranchers who wanted to see parts of Santa Fe and Lincoln national forests re-opened.
The Forest Service in October 2014 closed about 224 acres in the Jemez Mountains to both grazing and recreational activities.
Parties on both sides are still sorting out Brack's decision, but the complicated order appears to keep alive the ranchers' request to reopen a smaller amount of mouse habitat in Otero County.
An attorney for the ranchers says they will probably ask the judge to reconsider key points in his Nov. 3 ruling.
CBS Sports Talk Show Host Jim Rome To Visit Albuquerque – Associated Press
Syndicated CBS sports talk show host Jim Rome is slated to visit Albuquerque days after the one of the biggest sports nights in the city's history.
The Los Angeles-based Rome is scheduled to visit the Duke City on Friday and will interview sports icons from the area.
He also will hold an event for fans at the Sandia Resort & Casino on the Sandia Pueblo.
His visit on behalf of 610 KNML-AM The Sports Animal comes after Albuquerque native Holly Holm stunned Ronda Rousey in UFC 193, knocking out the women's bantamweight champion in the second round with a powerful kick to the head.
New Mexico also upset college football powerhouse Boise State, 31-24, and became bowl-eligible for the first time in nearly a decade.
Gov. Susana Martinez said Holm demonstrated to the "world what it means to be New Mexico True" with her win and likely inspired little girls all across the state to become "champions in their own right."
Official Makes Recommendation In New Mexico Power Plant Case – Associated Press
A hearing officer is recommending that state regulators approve a plan for replacing electricity that would be lost by the partial closure of a coal-fired power plant in northwestern New Mexico.
The recommendation came Monday in the case of the San Juan - Generating Station.
Plant manager Public Service Co. of New Mexico proposed using a mix of coal, nuclear, natural gas and solar resources to make up the lost capacity, saying it would be the most economical for ratepayers and would ensure the reliability of the utility's system.
Some environmentalists argue coal and nuclear power would end up costing ratepayers more due to cleanup costs and future pollution regulations.
The state Public Regulation Commission is expected to act on the recommendation before the end of the year.
Feds Stand Behind Report That Colorado Agreed To Mine Plan – Associated Press
A federal agency is standing behind its assertion that Colorado officials signed off on a cleanup project that led to a 3 million-gallon toxic waste spill from an inactive gold mine.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's statement Monday was the latest twist in a dispute between state and federal agencies over what role Colorado officials had in the spill.
Colorado has objected to federal agencies' claims that its experts endorsed the plan.
The spill occurred Aug. 5 at the Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was trying to gradually drain water from the mine but inadvertently unleashed a torrent of water laden with heavy metals.
The Bureau of Reclamation conducted an outside investigation of the spill. It hadn't previously commented on the dispute.
New Mexico Base To Hold Ceremony On Anniversary Of POW Raid – Associated Press
The Air Force plans a ceremony at Cannon Air Force Base in eastern New Mexico to commemorate the 45th anniversary of an unsuccessful rescue mission during the Vietnam War.
Nine participants in the Son Tay raid will attend Friday's ceremony hosted by the 27th Special Operations Wing.
The Nov. 20, 1970 raid was intended to rescue dozens of American prisoners of war believed held at a camp in what was then North Vietnam.
The POWs were moved elsewhere before the raid, but the U.S. military considers the raid a success in several ways, including the Army and Air Force raiders' execution of the planned mission.
Military officials say the mission laid the groundwork for future joint forces operations by serving as a model of "organization, cooperation, and flexible execution."