- COLORADO RIVER FUTURE
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Projections for water levels in two massive lakes in the U.S. West are expected to remain high enough to avert severe cuts in states that rely on the Colorado River. Despite the optimistic forecast, water officials say there's no time to waste to prepare for a drier future as climate change and prolonged drought shrink the amount of water available for cities and farms. With a combination of conservation and alternative sources, officials hope they can avoid painful cuts to their water supply from the river that serves 40 million people in seven states.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez is urging all schools on the tribe's reservation to use online learning during the fall semester to help reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. Nez's statement released Thursday night cited all public and private schools, including charter schools, schools operated by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and those controlled by the tribe. Over 9,300 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported on the reservation, which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah..
- ELECTION 2020-HOUSE-NEW MEXICO
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small and Republican challenger Yvette Herrell have agreed to at least two televised debates in a closely watched race in southern New Mexico. Torres Small and Herrell said this week they agreed to participate in a KOB-TV debate and another sponsored by KOAT-TV and the Albuquerque Journal. Both say they'd like to add some more debates in the El Paso, Texas, market, which is home to many residents in the southern part of the district. Torres Small defeated Herrell by less than 4,000 votes in 2018, but the two never faced off in a televised debate.VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
New Mexico governor warns of family, Labor Day gatherings
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says family gatherings and long holiday weekends have been a source of infection for many New Mexicans who have contracted COVID-19. She warned during a briefing Thursday that gatherings in a COVID-19 world make for the worst possible situation. She asked everyone to buckle down and stick to the five-person limit mandated by the state's public health order. Her plea comes as state officials monitor the rate of spread as a deadline approaches for determining whether public schools can resume limited in-person classes after Labor Day. The governor and health officials were optimistic as they reported a decline in daily case counts.
- RACIAL INJUSTICE-LAS CRUCES
A New Mexico city will seek to adopt racial bias training for police and may require officers to intervene in possible excessive force episodes following the choking death of a Latino man. An agreement announced Thursday between the city of Las Cruces and a lawyer for the family of Antonio Valenzuela was part of the relatives' push to reform the city's police. Police say then-Las Cruces Officer Christopher Smelser applied the chokehold after Valenzuela fled during a traffic stop in February. Valenzuela died at the scene. Smelser was later fired and faces a murder charge. His lawyer says the charge was a political move meant to grab headlines.
- VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CHILD CARE
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Working parents in New Mexico are scrambling to find child care as summer programs and in-person public schooling is delayed until at least Labor Day. Hundreds of child care centers remain shuttered due to staffing shortages stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says New Mexico will fall short on meeting everyone's child care needs in the short term. Efforts by Lujan Grisham's newly created child care agency could help, but parents still are having to decide whether to pay for private schooling, cut back hours or create home schooling groups.
- WATER SETTLEMENT-CONSTRUCTION
POJOAQUE PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) — Work is underway on a project that will bring drinking water to residents of four northern New Mexico pueblos as part of a settlement that ended a decades-long fight over water rights. Federal officials said construction on the Pojoaque Basin regional water system began this week. The pueblos of Pojoaque, Nambe, San Ildefonso and Tesuque will benefit along with other residents of Santa Fe County. The system will divert water from the Rio Grande. It will include treatment facilities, storage tanks and transmission and distribution pipelines with the capability to supply about 3.57 million gallons of drinking water a day.
- HOT SOUTHWEST
PHOENIX (AP) — Excessive heat is expected across the U.S. Southwest into early next week, with forecasters warning of temperatures over 110 degrees in desert cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas. High temperatures are expected to be be the norm through Monday across much of Arizona, and the National Weather Service said high temperature records might be broken in central and eastern New Mexico. Temperatures were expected to reach 114 degrees in Phoenix on both Friday and Saturday and 113 degrees in Las Vegas on Sunday. According to ta Twitter post by the weather service's Phoenix office, the five-day ""can be described by one word...HOT!"