- OIL BOOM-CONSTRUCTION JOBS
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A surge in construction jobs continues in New Mexico thanks in large part to the oil and gas boom in the southeastern corner of the state.The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the Associated General Contractors of America says New Mexico added 4,300 construction jobs in a one-year period beginning in August 2018 to reach 51,100 construction jobs.
The group's analysis of U.S. Department of Labor statistics found that top construction job-growth states all have strong mining/petroleum sectors.
Nearly all the job growth is in support of the oil and gas boom in Lea and Eddy counties and their hub cities, Hobbs and Carlsbad.
North Dakota had the top year-over-year percentage job growth in August followed by Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and Alaska.
- BALLOON FIESTA-AMERICA'S CHALLENGE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Polish balloon pilot Krzysztof Zapart and American teammate Andy Cayton are the apparent winners of the 2019 America's Challenge gas balloon race.The team crossed the Canadian border and landed Thursday just south of Hudson Bay, having traveled more than 1,600 miles (nearly 2,600 kilometers) after launching from Albuquerque earlier this week.
The annual contest occurs during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which draws balloon pilots and hundreds of thousands of spectators from around the world.
America's Challenge is one of the world's premier distance races for gas balloons. The team that travels the longest distance wins.
Officials will verify flight data as part of the scoring process before crowning Zapart and Cayton this year's winners. Eight other teams competed, with the second team traveling nearly 1,330 miles (2,135 kilometers).
- EL MALPAIS-CAVE CLOSURE
GRANTS, N.M. (AP) — Junction Cave at El Malpais National Monument is closed for the season.Monument officials said Friday that the closure is expected to be in effect until April to ensure the bats that hibernate inside the cave over the winter months will not be disturbed.
Eric Weaver, the monument's branch chief of natural resources, says Junction Cave has the largest known hibernaculum in the monument for Townsend's big-eared bats. The species is of special concern in New Mexico.
He says human disturbance during hibernation can cause significant impacts to bats and may even result in the abandonment of the cave as a hibernaculum.
Big Skylight, Giant Ice, Four Windows and Xenolith caves remain accessible to cavers through the winter.
- NEW MEXICO FIRES-INVESTIGATION
TAOS, N.M. (AP) — Authorities in northern New Mexico are investigating a series of fires that were sparked earlier this month.Forest officials say 18 separate fires along a forest road near the El Rito Campground burned more than 100 acres (40 hectares) and were all human caused.
Investigators still are trying to determine the source of the ignitions.
The fires were first detected on Oct. 1. They were declared contained about a week later. Officials say the quick response by firefighters kept the fires from growing.
Officials say the fires unnecessarily put firefighters and the public at risk. They're asking anyone with information about the cause of the fires to contact the Carson National Forest.
- DEATH AND DISAPPEARANCE-ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police data shows there have been 42 Native Americans who have been reported missing in Albuquerque so far this year and 36 in 2018.Dawn Begay, the city's Native American affairs coordinator, says the figures represent open missing persons cases in Albuquerque. Figures from U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey show the metro area is home to roughly 50,000 Native Americans.
Of the 36 missing in 2018, 15 were women.
Begay shared the numbers Friday at an event held to highlight the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in New Mexico's largest city.
An Urban Indian Health Institute study last year listed Albuquerque among cities with the highest number of missing Native American women. Authors of the report had counted 37 missing and homicide cases total for Native American women and girls.
- INFRASTRUCTURE-PUBLIC DISCLOSURE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is making it easier to monitor progress on local government construction projects through a new public webpage.Launched Friday by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration, the capital outlay online dashboard aims to encourage efficiency and financial accountability as the state goes on a major spending spree on everything from sewers to cemeteries, museums and baseball fields.
Lawmakers this year approved a $933 million infrastructure spending bill amid a surge in state government income. Most expenditures come directly from the state general fund.
The new website uses color-coded charts and data spreadsheets to indicate progress on local construction as spending deadlines approach.
Capital Outlay Bureau Chief Wesley Billingsley hopes that greater public scrutiny will ensure that state dollars are put to use quickly.
- MURDER CONVICTION-RESENTENCING
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A man sentenced to death in the 1994 strangulation killing of a 17-year-old Flora Vista girl has been resentenced to life in prison in response to a New Mexico Supreme Court decision that set aside his death sentence.The Farmington Daily Times reports that Timothy Allen was resentenced Thursday in the death of Sandra Phillips.
Allen also was convicted of kidnapping and criminal sexual penetration.
This summer, the state Supreme Court set aside Allen's death sentence and explained that his punishment was disproportionate in comparison with similar murder cases.
Sandra's mother, Darlene Phillips, says it was injustice that Allen's death sentence was thrown out.
Allen had been among New Mexico's last two inmates who were awaiting execution.
The state repealed the death penalty in 2009.
- THREATENED OWL-TIMBER PROJECTS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service is asking a federal judge to reconsider an earlier order that banned tree-cutting across thousands of square miles of Southwest forest.The ruling stemmed from a 2013 case that alleged the agency failed to consider the effects of thinning and logging on the threatened Mexican spotted owl and its habitat.
The Forest Service says without clarification, efforts to mitigate wildfire threats will be compromised until at least 2023 when data on the owl population is expected.
Environmentalists say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service have failed to track the bird's numbers.
The ban excludes personal firewood cutting permits that rural residents rely on, but it does prohibit thinning projects, prescribed burns and commercial wood cutting across all five national forests in New Mexico and the Tonto National Forest outside Phoenix.