- SEXUAL MISCONDUCT-EPSTEIN-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico ranch owned by Jeffrey Epstein has become tied to an investigation by the state attorney general's office into the financier.New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas' office has confirmed that it has interviewed possible victims of Epstein who visited the sprawling Zorro Ranch south of Santa Fe, where Epstein built a home in the 1990s.
Epstein, who pleaded not guilty this week to federal sex trafficking charges in New York, has not faced criminal charges in New Mexico.
But the scandal surrounding him has still sent a jolt through the state as it comes under scrutiny for laws that allowed him to avoid registering as a sex offender following a guilty plea a decade ago in Florida.
Balderas says his office planned to forward findings to federal authorities.
- FATAL CRASH-NEW MEXICO-THE LATEST
JAL, New Mexico (AP) — Authorities say all five people killed in a fiery crash in southeastern New Mexico's oil country were from Texas.New Mexico State Police say the crash happened Thursday morning on a state road east of Jal when the driver of a pickup truck crossed the center line into eastbound traffic and collided head-on with a tractor-trailer rig.
Officer Ray Wilson said Friday it's unclear what caused the driver, identified as 22-year-old Arturo Barboza of Odessa, to cross the center line.
Barboza's passengers 19-year-old Alonso Hernandez and 58-year-old Enrique Leon, both of Odessa, and 25-year-old Justin Brown of Montgomery were also killed.
Police identified the semi driver as 27-year-old Rayshawnda Riley of Arlington.
Both vehicles caught fire after the collision.
Local leaders and some state lawmakers have voiced concerns about safety as traffic has increased on rural roads throughout the region because of the oil boom in the Permian Basin.
This item has been corrected based on new information from police to show that Alonso Hernandez is 19, not 28, and that Riley's first name is spelled Rayshawnda, not Rayshawda.
- ANTI-CORRUPTION LAW-APPEAL
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A court has asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to review an anti-corruption law under which the state attorney general had charged four public officials.KRQE-TV reported Thursday that state Attorney General Hector Balderas has appealed or filed notice to appeal four cases involving wrongdoing by state and county officials in which district courts dismissed charges linked to the state Governmental Conduct Act.
A section of the law prohibits public employees from using their offices for their benefit.
District judges have said the law is too vague or is not intended for criminal charges.
The state Court of Appeals has deferred the matter the higher court, which has not announced if it will accept the case.
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- BORDER WALL-LAWSUIT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let it use Pentagon money to build sections of a border wall with Mexico after two lower courts blocked it from doing so while a lawsuit over the money continues.The Trump administration filed the request with the Supreme Court on Friday. Last week, a divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against the administration. It kept in place a lower court's freeze preventing the government from tapping Defense Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of wall in Arizona, California and New Mexico.
At stake is billions of dollars that would allow President Donald Trump to make progress on a major 2016 campaign promise heading into his race for a second term.
- EDUCATION-ONE QUESTION
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is asking its high school students to take up the gauntlet as part of an academic challenge that aims to answer one question: How will you use science and technology to help with national security?Los Alamos National Laboratory came up with the question and will be partnering with teachers and businesses as the students use what they learn in the classroom next semester to formulate their answers.
At stake are stipends for teachers, extra state funding and cash awards and academic letters for students who make the cut for the special science teams.
Bill McCamley, head of the state labor department, announced the challenge Friday while in Albuquerque. He says it comes as the state begins working with new science standards that focus more on real-world problem-solving.
- INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART MARKET
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Artists and craftspeople from around the globe are descending upon New Mexico's capital city this weekend for what organizers bill as the world's largest folk art festival.The annual International Folk Art Market kicks off Friday evening with a party and wraps up Sunday on Santa Fe's Museum Hill.
More than 150 artists are representing 50 countries. Their wares include jewelry, ceramics, beadwork, metal work, textiles and basketry.
The artists are selected after experts review their work.
The market drew about 21,000 visitors last year and has generated more than $31 million in artist earnings since its inception in 2004.
Organizers say the market has a ripple effect in communities around the world and more than 1 million lives have been touched as a result over the last 15 years.
- SANTA FE-FATAL SHOOTING
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Santa Fe police say two people found fatally shot in a car between two state buildings were a state employee who was a popular local singer and her husband.Police identified the couple found dead Thursday afternoon as 32-year-old Ernestine Saucedo and 34-year-old Jessie Saucedo. Ernestine Saucedo performed Tejano-style music under her maiden name of Ernestine Romero.
Police said their investigation continued but there wasn't a suspect at large and that police recovered at least one firearm from inside the vehicle parked outside the building housing the state Public Education Department.
That could mean the deaths resulted from a murder-suicide or double suicide.
Ernestine Saucedo executive budget analyst supervisor for the department.
- NEW MEXICO CRIMES-COLORADO SUSPECTS
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A Colorado man has pleaded guilty to carjacking resulting in death and other offenses stemming from a series of crimes committed in 2017 in New Mexico.Federal prosecutors say 35-year-old Daniel Allen Lowell of Pueblo made his plea Thursday and faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced.
Lowell and 32-year-old Trista Marie Schlaefli of Colorado Springs allegedly fled from a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint west of Las Cruces in a stolen pickup truck in November 2017.
The couple allegedly carjacked an SUV from a family at gunpoint and a subsequent collision killed a retired Las Cruces police officer on a motorcycle.
They then attempted to carjack two other vehicles before being arrested by New Mexico State Police.
Prosecutors say Schlaefli pleaded guilty to multiple charges last November and is awaiting sentencing.