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Latest New Mexico news, sports, business and entertainment at 3:20 a.m. MDT

  • DEMOCRATIC PARTY-CHAIRWOMAN

New Mexico Democrats re-elect Marg Elliston as chairwomanRIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Democrats have re-elected its chairwoman who ushered in a Democratic sweep of statewide offices and strengthened its House majority last year.
The party said Marg Elliston of Corrales was re-elected with 85% of the vote Sunday during the semi-annual Democratic Party of New Mexico State Central Committee meeting. She will serve a 2-year term.
The body also elected Marcus Porter of Albuquerque to serve as Democratic Party of New Mexico vice chair at large.
Elliston first became party chair in April 2018 to fill out the term left vacant by Richard Ellenberg's resignation. Ellenberg stepped down after defending a prominent figure in the state's film industry who had been facing sexual misconduct allegations.
Elliston is the wife of former Democratic U.S. Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma.

  • BAN ON HOODIES

New Mexico school to parents: No student hoodies allowedCHAPARRAL, N.M. (AP) — Officials at a southern New Mexico elementary school are facing criticism after sending a letter to parents about a ban on students wearing hoodies.
KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas, reports parents last week received a letter from Sunrise Elementary in Chaparral, New Mexico, with a warning not to send students to school in "hoodies coats or other non-weather appropriate clothing."
The letter says students will have hoodies taken away if they bring them to school.
Parents say they are confused about the letter and want school officials to clarify if hoodie sweaters are allowed.
The Gadsden Independent School District said in a statement that the new policy does allow students to wear that clothing in the morning hours, which normally has chilly temperatures.

  • HEMP PRODUCTION-FUTURE

New Mexico investors see future in state's hemp industryALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The move to legalize the production of hemp has investors in New Mexico racing to get a piece of what could be a multibillion-dollar industry.
The Albuquerque Journal reports New Mexican business leaders are hurrying to capture part of what cannabis market research firm New Frontier Data estimated will become a $2.6 billion industry nationwide by 2022.
Hemp, also known as industrial hemp, belongs to the cannabis species of plants like marijuana. The plants can appear nearly identical, but hemp varieties contain only trace amounts of psychoactive components and do not cause a high.
Hemp was legalized nationally in December with Congress' passage of the Farm Bill.
New Mexico House Bill 581, passed during the recent legislative session, authorizes several agencies to regulate the industry here.

  • CARLSBAD BRINE WELL

Officials: Monitors to give 'warning' on Carlsbad well(Information from: Carlsbad Current-Argus, http://www.currentargus.com/)
CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico officials say updated monitoring devices will be able to provide advanced warning if a defunct brine well on the edge of Carlsbad begins to collapse.
The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports equipment was included in initial spending that was earmarked for remediation of the potentially hazardous site.
Jim Griswold, environmental bureau chief with the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, says 10 percent of $45 million went to the final design of the project and upgrades to monitoring equipment at the site.
Griswold says officials hope the monitoring devices will help give early warnings and save lives in the event of a collapse.
Formerly owned by now-defunct company I&W, the brine well was decommissioned in 2008 when the land was deemed unstable.
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  • FATAL CRASH-ARREST

Texas man arrested after fatal wrong-way crash in New MexicoLAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Authorities say a Texas man has been arrested after a wrong-way fatal crash on Interstate 25 in Las Cruces.
New Mexico State Police say 41-year-old Daniel Medina of El Paso is jailed in Dona Ana County on suspicion of homicide by vehicle, driving under the influence or alcohol or drugs, driving on the wrong side of the road and not having a driver's license or insurance.
They say Medina was driving south in the northbound lane of I-25 when he collided head-on with another car Saturday.
A motorcycle driven by 21-year-old Austin Wagner of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico crashed into Medina's vehicle.
Police say Wagner was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 26-year-old man who drove the other vehicle is hospitalized with undisclosed injuries.

  • GUN CONTROL-NEW MEXICO

Governor, sheriffs discuss handling of gun control issuesSANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and many New Mexico county sheriffs were at odds over a gun-control bill she signed into law. But a recent meeting between them reportedly had a conciliatory tone.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Lujan Grisham met with at least five sheriff and several New Mexico Association of Counties officials, with Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicke later saying "there was much more agreement than disagreement."
Numerous sheriffs had said they didn't plan to enforce a new law on background checks for gun sales. That stance drew criticism from the governor.
Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace said there was agreement during the meeting on a need for better communication and that he's optimistic that sheriffs will be more involved in negotiations over firearm legislation in the coming year.

  • FACEBOOK-TRANSMISSION LINE

Utility to request reconsideration of line for Facebook siteSANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico electric utility wants state regulators to reconsider their rejection of the utility's proposal to have ratepayers pay half of the cost for installing a new transmission line to serve a Facebook data center and to instead have Facebook pay $39 million.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that Public Service Co. of New Mexico on Monday will refile its request with the Public Regulation Commission.
The 45-mile (72-kilometer) line between a switching station at Clines Corners and a new station in Sandoval County would supply electricity from renewable sources to the Facebook facility being built near Los Lunas.
An executive with a Facebook subsidiary has said the commission's decision raised serious concerns that could affect Facebook's commitments for the project.

  • TV-KOREA-THE NEVER-ENDING WAR

PBS film 'KOREA' eyes social, political tolls of Korean WarALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The PBS documentary "KOREA: The Never-Ending War" examines the lasting social and political costs of the Korean War — a conflict largely forgotten in the U.S.
The film scheduled to air on most PBS stations Monday tells the story of a war that redefined the region from the perspective of families, U.S. veterans and journalists. It also explains why tensions between North and South Korea remain nearly 70 years after a series of diplomatic blunders and violent massacres.
Filmmaker John Maggio says he wanted to create something that wasn't focused on solely on views of ambassadors and historians but real people affected by the war.
Among those included are Mexican American U.S. Army veteran Homer Garza and former CIA analyst Sue Mi Terry.
Garza discusses the atrocities he saw and Terry talks about how the war split up her family.