- POLICE SHOOTING-ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUIQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man is dead after being shot by Albuquerque police after officers went to make a welfare check on that person. The Albuquerque Journal reports that police say the incident occurred at a home Monday where police went after being contacted by the person's concerned employer. No identities were released. Deputy Chief Harold Medina said the shooting occurred inside the home during an altercation after police made contact with the employee. Medina said he didn't immediately have specifics on the circumstances of the altercation, including how many officers fired their weapons or whether the person shot had a gun or other weapon.
- COUNTY OFFICIAL-ASIANS
DEMING, N.M. (AP) — A southern New Mexico county official is under fire for posting a social media video casting blame for the novel coronavirus pandemic on "Asians." The Las Cruces Sun-News reports Luna County Safety and Risk Coordinator Tyler Massey posted an expletive-laden video on Snapchat earlier this month, where he complained about people of Asian descent buying "in bulk" at a Walmart. He says their "cousins" started the pandemic and then alleged the Asian customers in the parking lot left him "exposed" to COVID-19. Luna County Attorney Charles Kretek verified that Massey remained a county employee and said county manager Chris Brice "addressed the matter internally."
- ETHICS COMMISSION-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's newly founded State Ethic Commission plans to meet by online video conference later this week to review the first four complaints it has received. The complaints will be reviewed by the seven-member panel Friday in an executive session without public access to deliberations. The commission treats complaints as confidential until there is a probable-cause finding, including determinations about jurisdiction or dismissals. That doesn't prevent people from going public with accusations or rebuttals. Voters overwhelmingly approved the creation of the commission in 2018 in the wake of a series of high profile corruption scandals. It began fielding complaints this year.
- WILDFIRES-SATELLITE TRACKING
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — This season New Mexico has a new tool that could help crews get an early jump on any wildfires that might break out. The State Forestry Division will be getting real-time alerts via a satellite tracking system designed by the Santa Fe-based startup Descartes Labs. The program can detect temperature increases from new fires using data that's updated every few minutes. Text messages will then be sent to State Forestry with the location and a detailed map. While the agency is faced with unusual circumstances this fire season, officials say they're still prepared with hundreds of firefighters at the ready across New Mexico.
- NAVAJO POET-WHITING AWARD
GALLUP, N.M. (AP) — Navajo poet Jake Skeets has been named one of the winners of this year's Whiting Award. The Gallup Independent reports the Giles Whiting Foundation recently announced Skeets as one of the 10 writers to receive the honor. Last year, he was named the winner of the 2018 Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Contest and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, one of the most honored literary prizes in America. Skeets says he writes from personal experiences and focuses on Native American issues and challenges. Skeets holds a master of fine arts in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts and teaches English at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXIC
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Local elections officials petitioned the New Mexico Supreme Court for permission to conduct the June 2 primary elections by mail because of the coronavirus. County clerks said in the petition Monday that the pandemic makes it impossible to conduct traditional election-day balloting and that existing procedures for mail-in balloting should be adopted for all voting with limited in-person assistance. They also say it is impractical for the Legislature to quickly meet and establish emergency voting procedures. The Supreme Court had no immediate response. The number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the state increased to 281 cases on Monday.
- NAVAJO-MEDICAID PLAN
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Plans for a Navajo Nation entity to manage Medicaid on parts of the reservation are up in the air over disagreements among tribal leaders. A tribal corporation has been touting a plan that would incorporate traditional healing, food boxes and customer service in the Navajo language. But it hit another snag last week when tribal President Jonathan Nez vetoed a resolution that he says unconscionably tried to capitalize on the spread of the coronavirus. Nez says the resolution wasn't an emergency as written and the corporation wasn't set up to manage health care. Tribal lawmakers had approved the corporation's efforts to administer Medicaid on the New Mexico portion of the reservation.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHACO DRILLING
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Archaeologists, historians and environmentalists are joining New Mexico's congressional delegation and a coalition of Native American tribes in asking federal land managers to grant more time for the public to comment on a contested plan that will guide oil and gas development near Chaco Culture National Historical Park. They say the federal government should wait until the coronavirus outbreak subsides to ensure the public has an adequate opportunity to participate. Despite existing protections within its boundaries, the World Heritage site has been at the center of a decades-long fight over drilling in northwestern New Mexico.