- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation is finding no new COVID-19 related deaths for an eighth consecutive day. The tribe on Sunday afternoon reported seven new virus cases but no additional deaths on the vast reservation. The latest numbers bring the Navajo Nation's pandemic case total to 30,366 with the death toll remaining at 1,262. Tribal officials said 16,477 people have recovered from COVID-19 thus far. The tribe slowed its reopening process somewhat after coronavirus variants were confirmed on the reservation, which stretches into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. Tribal officials have urged residents to stay vigilant. They say a recent cluster was due to a family gathering with no masks.
- APARTMENT EXPLOSION
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities say a man accused of manufacturing drugs in an Albuquerque apartment was injured in an explosion. Albuquerque police say the suspect was transferred to a burn unit in Texas on Sunday with critical injuries. Police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos Jr. said reports of an explosion and unexploded pipe bomb at the Rio Volcan Apartments came in Sunday evening. All residents were evacuated. A police bomb squad determined that the explosion was caused by the use of butane to make narcotics. There were no other injuries reported. Albuquerque Fire Rescue arson investigators are now leading the investigation. Authorities have not released the suspect's name.
- IMMIGRATION-MIGRANT CHILDREN
U.S. officials are scrambling to handle a dramatic spike in children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone. It's led to a massive expansion in emergency facilities to house them as more kids arrive than can be released to close relatives in the United States. Advocates and former U.S. officials say the government failed to prepare for a big increase in children traveling alone as President Joe Biden ended some of his predecessor's hardline immigration policies and decided that unaccompanied kids wouldn't be expelled from the country like the Trump administration did for eight months. So many children are coming that there's little room in long-term care facilities, where capacity shrank during the coronavirus pandemic.
- POLICE SHOOTING-ROSWELL
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — Authorities say law enforcement officers fatally shot a 22-year-old Roswell man when he brandished a gun outside a bank as he tried to run away after an attempted traffic stop and vehicle pursuit. The New Mexico State Police said it was investigating the fatal shooting that involved two Roswell city police officers and a Chaves County sheriff's deputy. The state agency identified the man killed Thursday as Victor Ivan Barron. According to a State Police statement, the incident started when a sheriff's sergeant tried to pull over a pickup that then drove off, prompting the pursuit. The statement said Barron was shot after he pulled into a bank's parking lot, got out and started to run.No officers were injured.
- JILL BIDEN-SOUTHWEST VISIT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — First lady Jill Biden's office announced Saturday that she will visit the U.S. Southwest in the coming week, with stops planned in New Mexico's most populous city and the Navajo Nation's capitol in Arizona. The announcement said Biden will travel to Albuquerque on Wednesday and visit Window Rock, Arizona, on Thursday and Friday. The announcement did not elaborate on the scheduled visit but it said additional information will be forthcoming.
- POLICE SHOOTING-ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Albuquerque Police Department says an officer fatally shot a man who had earlier fired a gun during an altercation stemming from a domestic dispute Friday night. Officers responding to the reported gunshot tried for about an hour to get the man to surrender peacefully before an officer fired at least one shot, killing the man, That's according to a brief statement released by Sgt. Tanner Tixier, a department spokesman. No identities were released and no additional information was immediately available on the circumstances of the incident, including what prompted the officer to fire. The statement said a multi-agency task force is investigating the incident.
- TRIBES-VIRUS RELIEF FUNDING
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday in a case that will determine who is eligible for more than $530 million in federal virus relief funding set aside for tribes last year. More than a dozen Native American tribes sued the U.S. Treasury Department to limit the funding to tribes that have a political relationship with the U.S. The Treasury Department says corporations that provide services to Alaska Natives should be eligible, too. Lower courts have split on the question. The case could have broader impacts on who qualifies as a tribe for federal contracting and compacts.
- CONGRESS-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Republican nominee for a vacant congressional seat in New Mexico is bringing an unusual perspective to the national discourse over pandemic restrictions and federal relief. Mark Moores is a state senator from Albuquerque and the co-owner with his wife of a Roswell-based medical testing business that has been on the front lines tracing the spread of the coronavirus. The business received roughly $1.8 million in federal aid to avoid layoffs. Moores is criticizing the state's gradual approach to reopening the economy and says that businesses don't want handouts. It's still unclear whether his company, Pathology Consultants, will repay the federal loan.