- GIRL SCOUTS-EDUCATION
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails says it will offer after-school and weekend online enrichment courses amid the pandemic. The group said Thursday it would administer the classes in age-appropriate small groups facilitated by Girl Scouts staff and volunteers to fill the educational gaps. Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails CEO Rebecca Latham says that over the summer, the group transitioned programs and activities in STEM, entrepreneurship, outdoor education, and life skills to a completely virtual mode. She says more than 1,600 girls have participated in free online classes since May.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHILE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico green chile distributors say health restrictions amid the pandemic are forcing them to sell chiles directly to the public. KOB-TV in Albuquerque reports distributors have no choice but to sell directly because many restaurants are operating differently during the pandemic. Quality Foods, for example, will be buying chile directly from New Mexico farmers and selling it to the public right outside its Albuquerque facility. On Thursday, New Mexico health officials said there were 212 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 21,773. Officials said two more people have died from the virus, bringing the state death total to 669.
- UTILITY DISCONNECTION-NEW MEXICO
AZTEC, N.M. (AP) — Regulations in New Mexico that prohibit residential utility customers from being disconnected are set to expire, meaning service at some households could be disconnected for missing payments during the pandemic. A new rule would not become effective until mid-October. The Farmington Daily Times reported that the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission has raised concerns about the gap in time between the two regulations. Commission general counsel Judith Amer said there was nothing they could do to prevent it, but expressed hope that the utilities will voluntarily choose not to disconnect residential customers.
- BC-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-DIARY-WE-ELOPED
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — For one writer, plans to elope took an unexpected turn when the virus hit. He and his fiancee — an American and a Dane — watched borders close and worried they wouldn't be able to be together. A first attempt at a wedding didn't materialize. Then, finally, they met in his mother's backyard in New Mexico. There they took their vows.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico plans to gradually restore visiting opportunities with residents of some nursing homes and other long-term care facilities by arranging outdoor or open-window meetings. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday that face masks and Plexiglas dividers will still be used out of an abundance of caution to guard against transmission of COVID-19 at long-term care centers. The initiative will begin next week in a handful of counties with relatively low rates of positive testing for the coronavirus. The state is also adding two new exceptions to self-quarantine requirements for travelers entering or returning to the state, as health officials try to keep outside coronavirus outbreaks at bay.
- DROUGHT-ARIZONA-NEW MEXICO
PHOENIX (AP) — Large stretches of New Mexico and much of neighboring Arizona face severe or extreme drought conditions. The latest weekly Drought Monitor map shows areas of extreme drought in northern New Mexico and in the state's southeastern corner. Meanwhile, areas of severe drought are seen in other parts of those regions as well as across much of southern and south-central Arizona. The Drought Monitor said the West has seen temperatures well above normal in the past week and that much of the region has been dry "with only spottty preceiptiation in places" though the monsoon provided some relief to eastern New Mexico.
- SLAIN SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Bail has been set at $2 million cash-only for a U.S. Air Force airman charged in the killing of a Sunday school teacher who was living in northwestern New Mexico. Mark Gooch became eligible for bond after the deadline passed for prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the case. He faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Sasha Krause. She disappeared from a Mennonite community outside Farmington earlier this year. Her body was found in a forest clearing near Flagstaff. An Arizona judge considered more than a dozen factors in setting the bail amount during a hearing in the case Thursday.
- RACIAL INJUSTICE-SPANISH LEGACY
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A southern New Mexico school district has blocked efforts to repeal a vote to change the name of a high school named after a brutal Spanish conquistador. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports the Las Cruces school board did not take a vote Tuesday to annul their decision last month to drop the name of Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar from a high school. Instead, the board voted to rename it Organ Mountain High School. The proposal to change the name of the school comes amid a national conversation about monuments and names of institutions honoring historical figures linked to racism, slavery, and genocide.