- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Some New Mexico counties have seen visitor spending collapse while others have seen revenues in the construction and agriculture industries grow in recent months. The state Economic Development Department released data Friday for the third quarter of the fiscal year. That period between January and March includes the first weeks of the coronavirus health emergency when businesses were ordered to close or curtail operations. State police say they have issued a total of 175 cease-and-desist orders to violators of the order. New Mexico is now preparing to ease some of the restrictions beginning next week as the number of infections tops 7,360.
- MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEATH-ALBUQUERQUE PROTEST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police in Albuquerque said officers were forced to use tear gas and a helicopter against demonstrators after a protest against the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis turned violent. Albuquerque Police Deputy Chief Harold Medina said four people were taken into custody following reports of 33 gunshots near a peaceful protest Thursday along the city's historic Route 66. Medina says protesters surrounded a female sergeant's patrol car and broke the vehicle's windows before she escaped. He says some protesters also tried to drag motorists out of their cars and then attacked other police vehicles with baseball bats. No injuries were reported.
- ELECTION 2020-LEGISLATURE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's primary election is testing the political fortitude of several influential Democratic legislators who have resisted progressive initiatives ranging from recreational marijuana legalization to shoring up abortion rights and greater spending from a state education trust. Candidates backed by a coalition of liberal advocacy groups are challenging Democrats in key Senate leaderships posts, including chamber President Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces and Senate finance committee leader John Arthur Smith of Deming. Liberal groups say Senate leaders are neglecting social safety-net services. One senator is shifting course about state savings and spending in response to the coronavirus.
- AP-US-ENDANGERED-WOLVES-FOSTERING-PUPS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A record number of captive-born wolf pups has been placed into the wild as part of an effort by federal and state wildlife managers to boost the genetic diversity among Mexican gray wolves in the Southwestern U.S. The interagency team announced the results of this season's cross-fostering program Thursday. They say the work of integrating the 20 pups into wild wolf packs took place in April and May. A dozen pups were fostered into four packs in eastern Arizona. Eight were spread among three packs in New Mexico. The most recent survey shows there are more than 160 wolves in the wild in the two states.
- SNAKE INTERRUPTS ZOOM CLASS
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico elementary school teacher on Zoom with students had a lesson interrupted thanks to an uninvited guest: a bullsnake. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports the desert animal surprised Sunrise Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Annette Otero Nuñez during a class May 12 via Zoom from her backyard in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The students _ at home on their computers or mobile devices _ saw Nuñez getting rattled. Nuñez called Las Cruces Animal Control and an officer responded while class was still in session. Animal control officer Juan Valles then gave students a quick lesson on identifying desert snakes. The bullsnake, prevalent in the American Southwest, is not venomous.
- DRY NEW MEXICO-PATROLS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Firefighters have started patrolling open space areas around New Mexico's largest metropolitan area as dry conditions intensify and fire danger increases. The patrols by crews with Albuquerque Fire Rescue cover more than 53 square miles that span parts of the mesa west of the city, the foothills on the east side and the Rio Grande Valley. Officials say the patrols will increase later this summer. The latest drought map shows close to 70% of the state is dealing with some form drought, from abnormally dry conditions to extreme drought along the New Mexico-Colorado border.
- NAVAJO TECHNICAL-BROADBAND
CROWNPOINT, N.M. (AP) — A survey conducted by Navajo Technical University found that around 26% of its students lack access to either the Internet or a computer. The Gallup Independent reports the survey comes as the Crownpoint, New Mexico, school works on expanding its broadband infrastructure. The Federal Communications Commission recently granted temporary access and use of "an unassigned spectrum" to provide more broadband service on the Navajo Nation. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez granted Navajo Technical University special temporary authority on April 17, to test and provide Internet connectivity for 60 days.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico will allow dine-in restaurants, shopping malls and salons to reopen at limited capacity starting on Monday, June 1, as state health regulators relax restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the changes under a new 30-day public health order, speaking Thursday at an online news conference from the Statehouse. The changes apply to the entire state, including the northwest of the state that accounts for the majority of infections statewide. State health officials reported 108 new confirmed COVID-19 infections and six related deaths. That brings total confirmed infections to 7,364 and 335 known coronavirus deaths.