- NEW MEXICO BOWL-NMSU
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State University has inked an agreement that opens the possibility of the Aggies making an appearance in the New Mexico Bowl or other postseason games owned by ESPN Events.NMSU athletics director Mario Moccia announced the six-year deal during a news conference Friday in Albuquerque. It gives officials with the New Mexico Bowl the opportunity to select the Aggies should the team be eligible for postseason play.
The New Mexico Bowl has traditionally pulled teams from the Mountain West or Conference USA. As an independent, New Mexico State had an agreement with the Arizona Bowl but that concludes at the end of this season.
Under the new agreement, NMSU also has the option to play in other bowl games if not selected for any of the ESPN bowls.
- JOB TRAINING FUNDS
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Santa Rosa-based hemp company is among those to benefit from over $2 million in state funds.The New Mexico Economic Development Department announced the latest round of job training funds this week, saying it will cover 123 workers at 10 different businesses.
New Mexico Hemp Services will receive nearly $250,000 for 17 trainees at an average wage of $19.41 an hour. The company plans to have its operation running by the end of the year. It is hiring lab technicians, extraction chemists, storage clerks and an electrician.
As part of the Job Training Incentive Program, or JTIP, the state reimburses 50% to 75% of employee wages for classroom and on-the-job training.
The economic development agency has $10 million in JTIP money to award in fiscal year 2020.
- HIGHER EDUCATION-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico education officials want to encourage more high school students to apply for federal financial aid to help pay for college.The initiative was announced Thursday, a day after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham proposed a scholarship program to bridge the gap between federal aid and state lottery-funded scholarships so more people can afford college.
If more students are awarded federal aid, that would lessen what the state would have to pick up through the proposed scholarship program.
Officials want to increase the annual statewide rate for federal financial aid applications to 80%. Currently, about 65% of New Mexico high school students apply.
New Mexico has been struggling for years to address the cost of higher education. The lottery scholarship covered full tuition for nearly two decades until demand and costs began to outpace revenues.
- NEW MEXICO UNEMPLOYMENT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August remains at 4.9%, unchanged from July.The Department of Workforce Solutions says that rate compares with 4.8 percent in August 2018 and that nonagricultural payroll employment grew by 15,500 jobs, or nearly 2%, in the past year.
Both the public and private sectors saw employment gains, with the private sector accounting for about three-quarters of the increase and including increases in both service-providing and goods-producing industries.
Mining and construction reported the largest employment increase with a gain of 5,200 jobs, or 7.2%.
- LAWMAKER-MEMORIAL SERVICE
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A memorial service for Sen. Carlos Cisneros is scheduled for Sept. 27 at the New Mexico State Capitol.The Questa Democrat died Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 71.
The memorial at the capitol will be followed by a service Sept. 28 at The Light at Mission Viejo Church in Santa Fe.
Cisneros first won election to the Senate in 1984 and went on to play a leading role in annual budget negotiations and legislation on tax policy. He was credited with drafting legislation earlier this year that will increase state investments in small businesses.
Cisneros had recently announced his bid for re-election to represent a vast district that stretches from the state line with Colorado to the outskirts of Los Alamos, including Taos, Peñasco, Truchas and Pojoaque Pueblo.
- HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Health officials say an outbreak of hepatitis A cases has spread into northern New Mexico's Rio Arriba County.The state Department of Health's announcement Friday says two cases of infections involving the contagious liver disease have been confirmed in Rio Arriba County and says both are related to an ongoing outbreak centered on the Albuquerque area in Bernalillo County.
The department says the outbreak primarily impacts homeless people and people who use injection or non-injection drugs.
The 145 cases of acute hepatitis A virus infections reported so far include 137 in Bernalillo County, six in Santa Fe County and now the two in Rio Arriba County.
The cases include two deaths.
The department says the risk of hepatitis A infection is associated with poor sanitation and hygiene.
- PRETRIAL INTERVIEW PROPOSAL
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico district attorney has announced plans to introduce a proposal removing pretrial interviews he believes could limit trauma to people who survived a violent crime.The Albuquerque Journal reported Thursday that the plan by District Attorney Raúl Torrez would eliminate mandatory interviews conducted ahead of trial between the state, defense and survived person.
District officials say the proposal would make it easier for prosecutors to introduce at trial child victims' previous statements.
Defense lawyers say the plan could violate the constitution because pretrial interviews are necessary to determine whether a defendant should take a plea or head to trial.
Torrez says the interviews could deter a witness from participating at trial, where they would be cross examined.
Others say it's better for case weaknesses to be revealed pretrial.
- GRIZZLY ATTACKS
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife officials have ended their search for the grizzly bear or bears responsible for back-to-back attacks on hunters in the same area of southwestern Montana.Fish Wildlife and Parks spokesman Morgan Jacobsen said Friday that a helicopter flight and three days of ground searches did not turn up any grizzlies in the area of Monday's attacks.
The surprise encounters happened about 11 hours apart and within a mile of each other in the Gravelly Mountains south of Ennis.
Jacobsen says a Washington state man injured in one of the attacks was due to be released from a hospital in Butte on Friday. He's expected to receive further treatment at home.
Two New Mexico hunters injured in the second attack were previously treated and released.