- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico National Guard is helping to deliver food to some school districts as they scrambled to feed children on the first day of the statewide closure. Nine districts from Santa Fe and Estancia to Bloomfield, Silver City and Texico were without supplies as students there were supposed to be on spring break. The Albuquerque Journal reports the National Guard delivered the food Sunday night and Monday morning. Students are tentatively scheduled to go back to school April 6, but countless events have been canceled and businesses are trimming hours due to the new coronavirus. New Mexico has 21 cases of COVID-19.
- ELECTION 2020-HOUSE-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A Las Cruces businessman says he has collected enough signatures to qualify to be placed on the ballot in a crucial U.S. House race in southern New Mexico. Chris Mathys told The Associated Press he will submit more than 3,000 signatures and is planning to be on the Republican primary ballot for New Mexico's 2nd Congressional seat. His announcement comes days after failing to obtain enough delegates at a statewide GOP convention. Mathys, former state lawmaker Yvette Herrell and oil executive Claire Chase are seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small. Herrell earned top billing at a statewide GOP convention on the Republican primary ballot for the 2nd Congressional District.
- WATER PLANNING
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Three New Mexico organizations will be sharing nearly $300,000 for projects aimed at improving watersheds. The Bureau of Reclamation says the money will go toward work being done by the Jornada Resource Conservation and Development Council, the Santa Fe Watershed Association and New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. The alliance will work with experts from the University of New Mexico and the U.S. Geological Survey to assess water quality and ecological resiliency in the Rio Chama. In southern New Mexico, one of the projects involves forming a task force to develop a comprehensive watershed plan for the Hatch and Mesilla valleys.
- IMPERSONATING DEPUTY
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico teen has pleaded no contest after being arrested for impersonating a sheriff's deputy. KRQE-TV reports Brenden Wysynski was sentenced to a year of probation following his arrest in last year. Authorities say Wysynski pulled over a car in Albuquerque. An officer was driving by and noticed the situation didn't appear right. The officer found Wysynski was driving what looked like a police car and he also had a badge on his belt. He told police he was a Bernalillo County deputy. Wysynski was arrested after the officer checked and found he was not with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.
- BANK ROBBERY SUSPECT
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — An Oklahoma man accused of robbing a bank in New Mexico has had his initial court appearance. Federal prosecutors say 47-year-old Randy Matthew Peraza of Oklahoma City is charged in a criminal complaint with bank robbery. Peraza is in custody awaiting a detention hearing. Prosecutors say he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. According to the criminal complaint, Peraza allegedly robbed a bank in Roswell on March 13. Witnesses say Peraza demanded money from a teller and walked out of the bank and across a street before sitting in a grassy area where police arrested him a short time later. It was unclear Monday if Peraza has a lawyer yet.
- NUCLEAR WASTE-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Top New Mexico officials are concerned the U.S. government isn't taking seriously its obligations to clean up waste left behind by decades of nuclear research and bomb-making at one of the nation's premier laboratories. The birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos National Laboratory would see only a fraction of the $6 billion the U.S. Energy Department is proposing to spend next year on cleanup work nationwide. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration is taking another look whether it can make stronger a 2016 agreement with the federal government that spells out cleanup milestones and consequences for not achieving them.
- BC-VIRUS OUTBREAK-IMMIGRATION COURTS
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. immigration courts sharply scaled back operations Monday but have stopped well short of a total shutdown demanded by employees, including judges and government attorneys. The partial shutdown doesn't extend to courts in immigration detention centers or to the government's "Migrant Protection Protocols" policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in the U.S. Wearing face masks, about 30 asylum-seekers who had been waiting in Mexico were escorted by authorities into a federal building on Monday in El Paso, Texas, some carrying children.
- ENMU PRESIDENT CONTRACT
PORTALES, N.M. (AP) — The head of Eastern New Mexico University System is stepping down. University officials announced over the weekend that Chancellor and ENMU-Portales President Dr. Jeff Elwell is not extending his contract. Elwell notified the ENMU Board of Regents that his tenure will end June 30, 2021. He says he wanted to give early notice so the board has plenty of time to search for a successor. Elwell is credited with furthering unity between all three campuses of the ENMU system through his "One Eastern" plan.