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

  • Primaries become test run for campaigning during coronavirus

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Tuesday's primary elections in eight states are both significant elections and big tests of campaigning during the age of coronavirus. Both major political parties have been revamping their operations to adjust to politics during lockdowns. Some campaigns have gotten volunteers to hand-write letters to try to turn out supporters. Others are shifting money into television budgets, figuring an electorate largely stuck at home is binge-watching. Many have shifted their resources to back an ad hoc tech support model, assembling seasoned advisers who can talk nervous voters step-by-step through the process of requesting absentee ballots.

  • Legendary DJs use shows to ease virus exile among Latinos

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Two legendary DJs are using their shows that are popular among Latinos to help bridge the isolation felt with the coronavirus and anxieties around national unrest. Art Laboe of Southern California and José Massó in Boston allow listeners to send dedications and messages to family across the country and in prison amid the separation caused by COVID-19. The 94-old-year Laboe is staying insulated in his Palm Springs, California home while still hosting his syndicated oldies show where loved ones of inmates call and dedicate songs. The 69-year-old Massó and hosted of WBUR's "Con Salsa" ilive-streams a version of his show on Facebook and is asking fans across the globe to communicate with each other.

  • Hundreds protest Floyd killing on Route 66 in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Hundreds of people on Sunday marched down historic Route 66 into downtown Albuquerque, protesting the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Protesters in New Mexico's largest city held signs, wore masks and chanted "Say his name: George Floyd" and "Hands up, don't shoot." When the crowd arrived on the western edge of downtown Albuquerque, they stopped and held a moment of silence for Floyd that was followed by cheers. Some protesters marched back to where they started and others dispersed. Police kept their distance and kept the streets clear in what appears to be a peaceful event

  • Advocates question investigations used to target wolves

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — An ongoing analysis by an environmental group is raising questions about investigations into livestock kills by Mexican gray wolves. The results of the investigations are used to compensate ranchers and target problem wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. The Idaho-based group Western Watersheds Project has documented significant oddities, errors or conflicting details in more than two-thirds of the 117 investigations it reviewed from 2019. The group's deputy director tells the Arizona Daily Star that numerous cases were confirmed wolf kills based just on "logical leaps" and what she described as a stunning lack of evidence.

  • Fire at Albuquerque assisted living facility displaces 13

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Albuquerque fire department says 13 residents of an assisted living facility were displaced by a fire in one apartment Saturday morning. The department says firefighters were able to put out the fire without it extending into other areas of La Vida Llena. According to the department, one person was transported for injuries related to possible smoke inhalation and no firefighters were injured. No additional information was released.

  • University of the Southwest waives cost for grad programs

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — A southeastern New Mexico college has announced it will allow all of the school's recent undergraduate to begin master's degree programs tuition-free. The Hobbs News-Sun reports the University of the Southwest said last month the tuition-free experiment will start this summer. University President Quint Thurman says he and other administrators made the decision after exploring what the school could do to assist recent graduates when the job market is challenging. Eligible students must have completed their bachelor's degrees in 2020 at the private Christian university. 

  • New Mexico's populous county sees jump in Illegal dumping

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Officials in New Mexico's most populous county are reporting a rise in illegal dumping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. KRQE-TV reports that Bernalillo County officials believe the uptick in illegal dumping is a result of people cleaning out their homes during the stay-at-home order and failing to make trips to authorized dump sites. County officials say they have received double the number of calls for service connected to dumping from this time last year. The county reports having to pick up tires, mattresses, home appliances, cars and other big items.

  • Visitors packing Southwest's national forests pose problems

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The Memorial Day weekend saw crowds heading into the woods of northern Arizona's Coconino National Forest. But that was also typical of other May weekends this year, as were the trash and numerous  abandoned campfires that visitors left behind and that officials say presented health and safety hazards. And the same was true in northern New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest where volunteers cleaning up one picnic area found paper plates, dirty diapers and even buckets of human waste. The trash aside, officials say the potential for human-caused wildfires is particularly worrisome when so many people are in forests and might have to be evacuated.