Gusty winds fan wildfires in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — More than 5,000 firefighters are battling multiple wildland blazes in dry, windy weather across the Southwest. The fires include one that has destroyed dozens of structures in western Texas and another that is picking up steam again in New Mexico. Evacuation orders remained in place Thursday for residents near fires in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. Dangerous fire weather was forecast to continue through Friday, especially in New Mexico where the largest U.S. fire has burned for more than a month. The governor expects the number of structures that have burned to rise to more than 1,000. That fire has burned more than 473 square miles.
New Mexico court upholds $165M damage awards in FedEx crash
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday upheld jury awards of $165 million against FedEx in a wrongful-death lawsuit stemming from a deadly crash involving a Texas family and a contract driver for the delivery company. The 2011 crash on Interstate 10 west of Las Cruces killed Marialy Venegas Morga of and her 4-year-old daughter and critically injured the El Paso woman's 19-month-old son when the family's small pickup was rear-ended by the big rig. Truck driver Elizabeth Quintana also died. FedEx' argued unsuccessfully that the damage awards were excessive and that a judge should have ordered a new trial.
New Mexico delivers inflation relief payments to residents
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is delivering the first in a series of direct payments to the state's adult residents to offset higher consumer costs brought on by inflation. Individual taxpayers who receive direct deposit rebates are scheduled to receive $250 as early as Thursday and couples are set to get $500. Checks for another 200,000 taxpayers will arrive in the mail in coming weeks. The payments are among $1.1 billion in tax relief and payouts authorized by state lawmakers. High fuel prices are hurting household finances as New Mexico's state government benefits financially from record-setting oil production in the Permian Basin.
Biden forest plan stirs dispute over what counts as "old"
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Joe Biden's order to protect the nation's oldest woodlands is raising a simple but vexing question: When does a forest grow old? The answer could affect millions of acres of federally-managed forests where environmentalists want logging restricted as climate change, wildfires and other problems devastate vast forests. Scientists say there's no simple formula for what's old — in part because growth rates among species can vary greatly. That's likely to complicate Biden's efforts to protect older forests as part of his faltering climate change fight, with key pieces stalled in Congress. Underlining the issue's urgency are wildfires that have killed thousands of California's giant sequoias in recent years.
New rules about guns on movie sets fail in California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — New rules about how and when actors can use guns on movie sets have failed to pass the California Legislature. Two bills did not advance out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. The bills were filed after a gun actor Alec Baldwin was holding went off and killed cinematographer on a movie set in New Mexico last year. Senate Appropriations Committee chair Anthony Portantino said he decided to hold both bills in committee after entertainment industry groups failed to reach a consensus on the proposals. Portantino said he would be willing to reconsider the bills should the groups reach an agreement.
Right to film cops weighed by US court overseeing 6 states
DENVER (AP) — The U.S. government is asking the appeals court overseeing four western and two midwestern states to recognize that the First Amendment guarantee of free speech gives people the right to film police as they do their work in public. If the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals agrees, officers could be sued for interfering with people trying to record them. Six of the 12 U.S. appeals courts have recognized that right, but the 10th Circuit hasn't. The court heard arguments Wednesday in the case of a YouTube journalist and blogger who says he was blocked by a suburban Denver officer from recording a 2019 traffic stop.
Crews slow New Mexico fires, brace for dangerous conditions
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — More than 2,000 firefighters battling the largest U.S. wildfire are digging back-up fire lines and rearranging fire engines around homes in northeast New Mexico. Fire officials say they expedited efforts Wednesday to get ahead of the flames in anticipation of a return to windy, dangerous conditions in the days ahead. High fire danger alerts go back in effect Thursday from southern Nevada through parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Crews dug contingency lines east of Taos south of the Colorado line. No new evacuations were ordered Wednesday, and some were relaxed. But a fire behavior analyst said: "The next three days are going to be the giddy-up days."
Court weighs clash on online publication of voting records
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A conservative-backed foundation that posts voting registration records online is urging a federal judge to override objections by New Mexico election regulators who say the initiative violates state law and would discourage voter participation. At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Browning peppered attorneys with questions but took no immediate action. The VoteRef.com website does not list details of how people voted regarding candidates or initiatives. The Voter Reference Foundation has posted voter rolls from at least 20 states that can be searched by names or addresses to verify where people live and view whether they voted in various past elections.