- FIRST RAINBOW COALITION
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., (AP) — A new PBS documentary is exploring a little-known movement in 1960s Chicago that brought together blacks, Latinos and poor whites from Appalachia. "The First Rainbow Coalition," scheduled to begin airing Jan. 27, on most PBS stations, shows how Black Panther Party members organized Puerto Rican radicals and Confederate flag-waving white southerners to help tackle poverty and discrimination. Filmmaker Ray Santisteban says its a project that took him 14 years to complete. In 1969, Bobby Lee as a member of the Black Panther Party, reached out to southern white migrants living in Chicago to join him in fighting poverty and police misconduct.
- TRIBAL CASINOS-WATER
PHOENIX (AP) — Republican leaders have introduced legislation to require Native American tribes in Arizona to resolve longstanding water disputes with the state before negotiating new gambling pacts. Cosponsors of the legislation, House Bill 2447, include House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, and Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott. The bill's chief sponsor, Prescott Republican Rep. Steve Pierce, told the Arizona Republic that it would help speed up the state's complex and lengthy negotiations with tribes over water rights because tribes want to retain the economic benefits of gambling casinos. Many tribes' current tribes expire in 2023.
- CROWDFUNDING A HOTEL
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — There are plans to redevelop another dilapidated hotel along the longest urban stretch of historic Route 66, but this project on the edge downtown Albuquerque will be bankrolled in a unique way. The California-based hotel and entertainment company behind the effort is partnering with an investment platform to raise $6 million through local crowdfunding to pay for part of the project. At nearly $25 million, the project calls for updating rooms at The Hotel Blue, changing the property's name and adding new food and drink offerings. The property was originally built in the mid-1960s as part of a national chain of midcentury downtown hotels.
- IMMIGRATION-WAITING IN MEXICO
YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — Illegal border crossings have plummeted after the Trump administration made more asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. The drop has been most striking on Arizona's western border, a pancake-flat desert. Border arrests there fell 94% from May to October. A Border Patrol official says traffic plunged after asylum-seekers learned they couldn't stay in the U.S. while their cases wound through court. More than 55,000 asylum-seekers were returned to Mexico to wait for hearings through November, 10 months after the policy was introduced in San Diego.
- AP-SCI-AUSTRALIA-WILDFIRES-BURNED-FOREVER
Australia's forests are burning at a rate unmatched in modern times and causing ecological changes that scientists say are likely irreversible. Amid heat waves and drought linked to climate change, some 40,000 square miles of the island continent has been charred this fire season. The blazes reached into jungles that don't normally burn and forested areas that already had burned at least once in recent years. Government officials plan a major reseeding effort. But scientists say the combination of high temperatures, drought and more frequent wildfires means even fire-adapted forests may not fully recover. New ecosystems would take their place.
- STATE-NEWSPAPER SETTLEMENT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state of New Mexico has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a weekly newspaper in Santa Fe that accused the former governor of discrimination and violating the state's public records law. The Albuquerque Journal reported Friday that last year's $360,000 settlement to The Santa Fe Reporter became public last week after a six-month confidentiality period imposed by state law expired. Officials say the agreement comes after the newspaper won a court ruling in 2017 that said Gov. Susana Martinez violated the state Inspection of Public Records Act. Martinez appealed. Officials say the state agreed to drop the appeal after reaching an agreement.
- RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico would legalize recreational marijuana sales without exceptions for dissenting cities and counties under a rebooted proposal from legislators that stresses small business opportunities and easy access to pot for 80,000 current medical cannabis patients. Legalization for the first time enjoys the full support of second-year Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The system aims to stamp out the black market and avoid a regulatory patch-quilt, while giving local jurisdictions the right to levy their own taxes on marijuana sales. Every recreational dispensary would be required to offer medical marijuana to patients who qualify under a long list of medical conditions.
- ALBUQUERQUE-INTRUDER SHOT
Albuquerque police say a person is dead after reportedly being shot by a homeowner as the person was allegedly trying to break into a home. The Police Department didn't immediately release the identity or other information about the person fatally shot late Friday night in northwest Albuquerque or additional information about the circumstances of the incident.