- NEW MEXICO WITNESS KILLED
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Las Vegas police are investigating the shooting death in the northern New Mexico city of a man who testified against prison gang members last year.The Albuquerque Journal reports that police made no immediate arrests in the killing Monday night of 48-year-old Leroy "Smurf" Lucero in front of his home.
Police investigator Caleb Marquez said police hadn't determined a motive but there was no reason to believe anybody else was in danger.
Lucero was a former member of Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico and a key witness for the government in the trial of seven defendants in May 2018.
Lucero testified about various crimes, including a directive that led to the 2001 killings of two inmates at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility, a state prison in Las Cruces.
- CHILE IN SPACE
ESPAÑOLA, N.M. (AP) — It'll be one giant leap for chile-kind.A hybrid version of a New Mexico chile plant has been selected to be grown in space.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the Española, New Mexico-chile is tentatively scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station for testing in March 2020.
A NASA group testing how to produce food beyond the Earth's atmosphere and the chile plant was created with input from Jacob Torres — an Española native and NASA researcher.
Torres says understanding how to grow plants to supplement the astronaut's diet would be essential to any future mission to going to Mars.
The "Española Improved" chile plant is a cross between a northern New Mexico seed and the popular Sandia seed from the Hatch Valley. It will be the first fruiting plant that the U.S. will grow aboard the Space Station.
- MOTEL EXPLOSION
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An explosion at a motel injured one person while damaging one room and causing extensive structural damage to the building.Cause of the Friday night explosion was under investigation but the Albuquerque Journal reports that police told people at the scene that it was caused by a personal oxygen tank.
The American Red Cross says it sent a team to assist people displaced by the explosion at the Hiway House Motel on Central Avenue at Bryn Mawr Drive.
Air Fire Rescue provided no information about the injured person and the condition of that person.
- GUN LAWS-LAWSUIT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A conservative coalition is suing to overturn New Mexico's new gun laws requiring background checks.The Albuquerque Journal reports the New Mexico Patriots Advocacy Coalition filed a lawsuit this week challenging the constitutionality of New Mexico's new gun laws requiring background checks before the sale of firearms. It's also seeking to throw out a law prohibiting the possession of guns by domestic abusers.
The group also accused state officials of illegally blocking their right to petition for the repeal of 10 bills passed in this year's Democratic-controlled legislative session.
Supporters of the new firearms laws contend the legislation will improve public safety without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
Matt Baca, senior counsel in the state's Attorney General's Office, described the litigation as frivolous.
- ELECTION 2020-SENATE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver is pledging to release her tax returns as she competes for the Democratic nomination to an open U.S. Senate seat in 2020.In response to a request from The Associated Press, campaign spokeswoman Heather Brewer said Friday that Toulouse Oliver would release her tax returns.
Toulouse Oliver is juggling student-loan and credit card debt on a state salary of $85,000 as the single mother of two children that include a college student.
She and Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján have submitted financial disclosure forms that are required of Senate candidates.
Lone Republican candidate Gavin Clarkson has requested an extension to file his disclosures.
This item has been corrected to show that U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján has submitted required candidate financial disclosures.
- NEW MEXICO TEST SCORES
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New results show less than a third of all New Mexico students are proficient in reading and only about 1/5th are proficient in math.New Mexico education officials Friday afternoon released results from a revamp test in 2019 that show a small jump in reading from the year before but a drop in math.
The results come days after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fired Public Education Secretary Karen Trujillo, sparking questions from lawmakers and confusion among educators.
According to the results, only 32.7% of all New Mexico students tested proficient in reading. Meanwhile, just 20.3% tested proficient in math.
The results are from the test called the "New Mexico Standards-Based Transition Assessment of Math and English Language Arts" which state officials are calling a "transition test."
- DOMENICI CONFERENCE-HIATUS
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — An annual policy conference named after former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico will take a break in 2019.The Las Cruces Sun-News reports the New Mexico State University announced Friday it put the conference on hiatus this year and attempt to organize its next event in 2020.
The conference, inaugurated by the university's Domenici Institute in 2008, brought policy experts, scholars, elected officials past and present, cabinet officers, military leaders and other figures of note to Las Cruces. Attendees would engage with students and the public over two days.
Domenici, a Republican, served in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009.
- INVASIVE TREE-BEETLES
CLARKDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Tiny beetles brought to the U.S. to devour invasive tamarisk trees are now in a central Arizona riverbank.Their arrival this summer at the Verde River is no surprise.
But it's further proof the tamarisk leaf beetles are spreading faster than once anticipated and eventually could be throughout the entire Southwest United States.
Scientists say tamarisk beetles in the thousands can kill entire trees, also known as salt cedars. That raises the risk of wildfire and allows less time to replace the invasive trees with native cottonwoods and willows where an endangered songbird makes its nest.
Their numbers are low at the Verde River. The bigger concern is the beetles reaching other rivers in Arizona where more Southwestern willow flycatchers live.
As the beetles munch through tamarisk leaves, the songbird loses cover from predators.