- AP-US-BIDEN-OIL-MORATORIUM
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration has suspended new oil and gas leasing and drilling permits on U.S. lands and waters for 60 days as part a review of programs at the U.S. Department of Interior. The move follows campaign pledges by President Joe Biden to halt new drilling on U.S. lands and end the leasing of publicly owned energy reserves as part of his plan to address climate change. The suspension went into effect immediately under an order signed Wednesday by Acting Interior Secretary Scott de la Vega and drew a quick backlash from the oil industry. The order also suspends the approval of new mining plans, land sales or exchanges and the hiring of senior-level staff.
- HIGHER EDUCATION-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Officials at New Mexico's two largest universities say freshman enrollment is holding steady if not increasing despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic. However, University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes acknowledged that enrollment overall has decreased and officials are concerned about the negative trend. Stokes on Thursday delivered her annual state of the university address as colleges and universities across the country grapple with shrinking enrollments. At New Mexico State University, President John Floros expects spring enrollment to hold steady. He said the challenges going forward will be finding more ways to make higher education accessible to more people.
- BIDEN-BORDER WALL
SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden has ordered a "pause" on all border wall construction within a week, one of 17 executive orders he issued on his first day in office. The move Wednesday leaves projects throughout the border unfinished but still under contract after his predecessor, Donald Trump, worked feverishly to successfully to build 450 miles. In Arizona, crews have been blasting dynamite in remote mountains to complete work. In Texas, construction equipment lay idle Thursday. In San Diego, work continued at an iconic cross-border park overlooking the Pacific Ocean, which then-first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated in 1971 as symbol of international friendship.
- PAY EQUITY-PROCUREMENT PREFERENCE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The city of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County and their joint water authority say they will promote gender pay equality by giving a 5% contract preference to businesses that pay men and women equitably. A statement released Thursday said the preference being offered by the city, the county and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority means that a company's bid amount will be considered 5% lower if equal pay is verified within the company. According to the statement, agencies in the three governments will implement the change starting Monday and that a company's pay equity reporting from is valid for one year.
- ENDANGERED WOLVES-MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico zoo has sent a pair of endangered Mexican gray wolves and their seven pups to Mexico as part of conservation efforts in that country. Officials at the zoo in Albuquerque said Tuesday that the pack of predators was sent south last week and will eventually be released into the wild after they learn to hunt and survive on their own. The zoo has partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for decades on Mexican gray wolf recovery efforts. Several wolves born at the zoo have been released into the wild over the years, but officials say this marks its first international pack release.
- COWBOYS FOR TRUMP-FINANCES
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the jailed founder of New Mexico political group Cowboys for Trump. The lawsuit dismissed Wednesday was filed in June 2020 to block or avoid possible financial disclosure requirements for the group. Couy Griffin and Cowboys for Trump had sued in response to mounting pressure on the group to register as a political committee in New Mexico. Griffin, an elected county commissioner in southern New Mexico, remains jailed following his arrest Sunday in Washington on charges of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6 siege by an angry mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico health officials say they don't expect to run out of coronaviruis vaccine. Health Department spokesman Matt Bieber said Wednesday that the state orders the maximum number of doses it can and its orders are typically filled. The state continues to have one of the fastest distribution times in the U.S. It has administered nearly 153,000 shots so far. More than 471,000 New Mexicans have registered for the vaccine. While health care workers were given first priority, officials with some of the state's largest hospitals say between 20% and 30% of their medical staff have declined a shot and may be waiting to see how it affects people.
- EDUCATION FUNDING-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Education accounts for about half of New Mexico's $7 billion general fund — the money that legislators can spend. This year the agenda ranges from emergency efforts to mitigate learning loss caused by the pandemic and reopen schools, to long-term funding changes that require a constitutional amendment. Most students have been learning remotely since March because of the pandemic. That has laid bare longstanding inequalities in education funding that have been dogging the state for years. Lawsuits are attacking existing funding, and lack of internet access is making legislators rethink in-person learning and the state's antiquated rural internet infrastructure.