- JEFFREY EPSTEIN-VICTIM COMPENSATION
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for the estate of Jeffrey Epstein want to set up a fund to compensate women who have accused him of sexual abuse.The estate filed papers Thursday in the U.S. Virgin Islands asking a court there to approve the voluntary claims program.
They say that it would be managed by Kenneth Feinberg, a mediator known for administering payouts in other high-profile civil cases.
The 66-year-old Epstein killed himself in his New York City prison cell in August after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The wealthy financier had pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
Feinberg said that if the fund is approved, the accusers could begin receiving payments early next year.
- OIL BOOM-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal forecasters say drilling in the United States is expected to drive global crude oil production through 2020.The U.S. Energy Information Administration offered some details on the forecast Wednesday. Industry officials are expecting New Mexico to close 2019 as a record-setting year.
The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association’s Robert McEntyre said producers are poised to top 300 million barrels for the year and daily production levels could reach 1 million barrels before 2020.
The U.S. agency says most of the world’s production growth will come from outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. That includes the Permian Basin that straddles parts of New Mexico and West Texas.
The agency has increased the forecast for U.S. production in 2020 to an average of 13.3 million barrels per day.
- CLEAN ENERGY AWARDS
PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy is recognizing nine women for their achievements and leadership in clean energy and one of them is from Arizona.Dr. Suzanne Singer is a member of the Navajo (Diné) tribe and chief engineer for Native Renewables in Flagstaff.
She co-founded the nonprofit organization in 2016 to solve energy access challenges for 15,000 families on the Navajo Nation who live without electricity.
Singer develops programs that promote tribal energy independence, offer affordable off-grid solar energy solutions, and provide training and education to empower families.
She previously was a staff engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Singer and the eight other winners of this year’s awards will be honored Thursday at the U.S. C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium in Washington, D.C.
- MASS SHOOTING-TEXAS-WALMART-THE LATEST
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Customers have returned to a Walmart in Texas that had been closed since a gunman fatally shot 22 people there in August.About 50 shoppers lined up early Thursday to enter the renovated Walmart in the border city of El Paso. They streamed past dozens of sheriff's deputies, security guards and store employees.
Walmart didn’t have a guard in the store on the day of the mass shooting. Since then, the retail giant has quietly hired off-duty officers to work at all of its area stores.
The move comes amid ongoing lawsuits over store safety.
A suburban Dallas man, Patrick Crusius, has pleaded not guilty to carrying out the attack. Authorities say he confessed to the shooting and that he targeted Mexicans.
- BORDER MIGRANT CAMP
MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — A humanitarian crisis is worsening at a refugee camp a short walk from the U.S.-Mexico border.As many as 2,000 immigrants are waiting for U.S. court dates as medical and sanitary conditions deteriorate at the camp across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the Mexican city of Matamoros.
A smoke-filled stench lingers from ever-burning fires and piles of human waste. Drinking water is scarce. Families live in a sea of tents and tarps, some patched together with trash bags.
They’re among those sent south of the border to wait and pursue their asylum cases under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.
The conditions show the health risks associated with the policy and how nonprofits are struggling to provide basic services without more support from the U.S. or Mexican governments.
- FOREST HEALTH-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Federal and state officials have reached an agreement they say will strengthen their relationship as they work to improve forest conditions in New Mexico.Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen will be signing the so-called shared stewardship agreement during a gathering Thursday in Santa Fe.
The agreement has been a work in progress over years and will address issues such as wildfires, drought and invasive species.
Officials say the challenges faced by land managers transcend boundaries and affect people beyond the jurisdiction of any single organization, so they have to find new ways of working together and doing business at a greater pace and scale.
Under the agreement, the state and national forests plan to evaluate opportunities, threats and alternatives for risk management.
- DOLORES HUERTA-ROAD
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Commissioners in New Mexico’s most populous county have named a portion of a busy road after one of the United States’ most recognizable Latina activists.Bernalillo County Commissioners voted this week to rename part of Bridge Boulevard in Albuquerque’s South Valley as Avenida Dolores Huerta.
A native New Mexican, Huerta moved to California and later helped form the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. She has been an advocate for women and immigrants.
Avenida Dolores Huerta will run from the county boundary at the Rio Grande west to Isleta Boulevard. A park along the road was renamed for Huerta in 2017.
A portion of Bridge Boulevard from the river east to 4th Street falls within Albuquerque’s jurisdiction. The city plans to vote on a similar measure.
- VAPING ILLNESSES-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State health officials say three more cases of severe lung injury related to the use of e-cigarettes for vaping have been confirmed, bringing the total number of cases in New Mexico to 20.The state Health Department announced the additional cases Wednesday.
In all, more than 2,000 Americans who vape have gotten sick since March, many of them teenagers and young adults, and at least 40 people have died.
Thirteen of New Mexico’s patients have required hospitalization in intensive care units.
Of the patients interviewed by the state health department, more than three-quarters reported the use of THC, the high-inducing part of marijuana. Three patients reported only nicotine use.
New Mexico officials are discouraging the vaping of THC products and the vaping of any products containing Vitamin E acetate.