Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell are dropping to dangerous levels, reflecting the Colorado River's worsening "structural deficit," scientists said.Scientists from the Colorado River Research Group said Lake Powell has declined because of extra water releases flowing into Lake Mead, the Arizona Republic reported last week."I want people to know that what's going on at Lake Mead is very, very closely tied to what's going on Lake Powell," Doug Kenney said, the group's chair and a professor at the University of Colorado.

SANTA FE, N.M.

 LAS CRUCES, N.M.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities in Albuquerque say a 40-year-old man was arrested after police deployed spike strips to stop him driving an ambulance he allegedly stole from Presbyterian Hospital.The Albuquerque Journal reports that David Neher faces charges of aggravated eluding, criminal damage to property and vehicle theft in the 3 p.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities have identified five of the eight people who were killed when a semi-trailer veered across a median and smashed into a Greyhound bus, The Albuquerque Journal reported.The state Office of the Medical Investigator said Saturday night that five of the people killed in Thursday's crash near Thoreau, New Mexico, are Sadie Thomas, 50, Charla Bahe, 34, Terry Mason, 45, Veronica Williams, 49, and Greyhound bus driver Luis Alvarez, 50, the Journal reported.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Tevaka Tuioti threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns to lead New Mexico past Incarnate Word 62-30 in the season opener.New Mexico vowed to open up the offense this season and showed it right away as Tuioti had 192 yards passing in the first quarter, surpassing the entire-game totals for nine Lobo games last season, including the final six.Tuioti's touchdown total was the most for a Lobo quarterback in 20 years.New Mexico's wide receiver Q' Drennan was hurt while making a leaping, twisting catch in the first quarter.

By MORGAN LEE, Associated PressSANTA FE, N.M.

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated PressALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A California-based trucking company and one of its drivers were accused of negligence Friday in a pair of lawsuits as investigators sorted through the wreckage from a deadly bus crash on a New Mexico highway.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS, Associated PressALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's three senatorial candidates are promising to help descendants of families who lived the Trinity Test.Democratic U.S.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A former New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department worker faces nearly four years in prison on federal extortion convictions.A federal judge on Thursday sentenced 45-year-old Larry Mendoza of Santa Fe and ordered him to pay over $43,000 in restitution.Mendoza pleaded guilty Nov. 17 to a three-count criminal information filed that day.According to the U.S.

 THOREAU, N.M.

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated PressSANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico will become just one of several states to still allow the option to vote a straight-party ticket in the upcoming general election under an effort launched Wednesday by the state's top elections chief.Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said she's formatting the ballots to allow voting in which a slate of major party candidates can be chosen all at one time.The move drew immediate criticism from the Republican Party of New Mexico and others who described it as partisan maneuvering.

By MORGAN LEE, Associated PressTAOS, N.M. (AP) — The father of a 3-year-old boy found dead in a filthy New Mexico compound and his partner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of child abuse resulting in death after lesser charges were dismissed against them and other members of their extended family as the result of a deadline missed by prosecutors.The dead boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj (see-DAHJ' IBN wah-HAJ'), and his partner Jany Leveille remained silent as pleas were entered by a judge on their behalf.

TAOS, N.M.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's State Investment Council has approved two settlements that will allow the state to recover another $850,000 in connection with politically influenced investment deals brokered during the administration of former Gov. Bill Richardson.The Albuquerque Journal reports that will bump the total amount recouped by the state to more than $41 million.

By MORGAN LEE, Associated PressTAOS, N.M.

SANTA TERESA, N.M.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Nico Evans ran for 206 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries to help Wyoming beat New Mexico State 29-7 on Saturday night in the season opener for both teams.The senior came in with 36 career carries for 108 yards with one touchdown — a 6-yard reception against Fresno State on Nov. 18.Evans capped a nine-play, 60-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 with 9:30 left in the first quarter. New Mexico was called for holding on the ensuing kickoff and then a false start on its next play from scrimmage.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Money awarded to New Mexico through the federal Help America Vote Act will go toward replacing equipment at clerk's offices around the state and making other improvements to protect against security vulnerabilities.Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver on Friday detailed how the funding will be used.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Money awarded to New Mexico through the federal Help America Vote Act will go toward replacing equipment at clerk's offices around the state and making other improvements to protect against security vulnerabilities.Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver on Friday detailed how the funding will be used.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Environmentalists are threatening to sue the U.S. government in an effort to set aside hundreds of square miles of habitat they say is necessary for the survival of the northern Mexican garter snake and the narrow-headed garter snake.Once found in Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Mexico, biologists say the snakes have been limited to isolated populations due to nonnative species and the loss and degradation of their riverside habitats.The Center for Biological Diversity contends in a notice made public this week that the U.S.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Republican candidate for governor Steve Pearce suggested Thursday giving child-protection authorities greater powers to keep children in custody while investigating allegations of abuse and neglect, as part of a broad slate of proposals aimed at curbing household child abuse.A series of brutal deaths linked to household child abuse in New Mexico has stoked public concern and calls by politicians for reform.Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham also is campaigning on efforts to curb familial child abuse.GOP Gov.

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated PressALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's largest electric utility is asking state regulators for approval to join a wholesale trading market that allows participants in several western states to buy and sell energy to better balance supply and demand.The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is among those expected to join the energy imbalance market by 2020 while large utilities in Arizona, Nevada and Utah already are on board.Public Service Co.

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated PressALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The water utility that serves New Mexico's largest metropolitan area will lease water to the federal government to keep the stretch of the Rio Grande that flows through Albuquerque from going dry.Utility board members voted late Wednesday to approve the $2 million deal.It comes as the arid state grapples with an ongoing severe drought.

 DEMING, N.M. (AP) — Authorities have announced investigators are looking into possible embezzlement at a southern New Mexico high school.The Deming Headlight reports school officials, police and the New Mexico Sixth Judicial District Attorney's Office announced last week they are investigating embezzlement of student fees and other funds over several years at Deming High School.The investigation stems from the 2017 discovery of possible embezzlement of more than $140,000.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A Shiprock man who pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a woman in his home on the Navajo Nation is going to prison.A federal judge in New Mexico sentenced 57-year-old Jerry Johnson Jr. to more than 13 years behind bars Monday, followed by five years of supervised release.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Latest on Gary Johnson running for U.S. Senate in New Mexico (all times local):11:45 a.m.Former Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson says he likely would vote to confirm President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh if he was in the U.S. Senate now.Johnson told reporters Thursday in Albuquerque at his announcement to run for New Mexico's U.S. Senate seat that he would "probably" support the conservative Trump nominee.

SANTA FE, N.M.