- INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A handful of states are celebrating their first Indigenous Peoples' Day as part of a trend to move away from a day honoring Christopher Columbus .New Mexico is scheduled Monday to mark its statewide Indigenous Peoples' Day with an invocation by several tribal leaders in unison in their Native languages. There also will be a parade and traditional dances at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.
State offices in Maine also are scheduled to close in honor of the holiday. Maine, home to four federally recognized tribes, ditched Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous People's Day with an April bill signing by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.
Several states —from Minnesota to Vermont — have done away with Columbus Day celebrations in deference to Native Americans, though the federal Columbus holiday remains in place.
- POLICE-INVOLVED FATAL SHOOTING
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque police say a SWAT team shot and killed an armed suspect in a domestic dispute who was holed up in his apartment.The Albuquerque Journal reports that authorities confirmed the shooting at the scene Monday morning.
Police spokesman John Ross says officers received reports of a dispute around 2 a.m.
They found an armed man and called for a SWAT team.
Ross says investigators later served a search warrant and an arrest warrant on the apartment. He says the other person involved in the dispute was inside.
SWAT officers ended up firing on the suspect, who was pronounced dead.
His identity was not released.
The incident marks the third officer-involved shooting with Albuquerque police in two months.
- PECAN PRODUCTION
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is expected to lead the U.S. in pecan production this year as growers prepare for the upcoming harvest.The U.S. Agriculture Department's statistics service says production in the Southwest state is forecast at a record high 97 million pounds (nearly 44,000 metric tons). That would mark a 6% increase over 2018.
Production in Georgia is expected to hit about 76 million pounds (more than 34,470 metric tons), followed by Texas at 47 million pounds (21,318 metric tons).
Pecan production in the United States overall is expected to increase this year by more than 20%, with growers harvesting an estimated 281 million pounds (127,460 metric tons).
New Mexico agricultural officials say they've been working to build relationships with pecan buyers in other countries amid a tariff war with China.
- NUCLEAR TRANSPORTATION-TECHNOLOGY
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A fight is raging in courts and Congress over where radioactive materials should be stored and how to safely get the dangerous remnants of decades of bomb-making and power generation to a permanent resting place.Nationwide, spent fuel rods lie in temporary cooling ponds at commercial nuclear power reactors without a permanent storage destination. Plutonium also awaits processing for nuclear weapons of war.
As federal officials insist they can move tons of lethal material without disaster, critics ask how much risk is acceptable and how far technology has come to safely ship nuclear waste.
- ARSON-INSURANCE FRAUD CASE
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — Two men from San Juan County are accused of committing arson and insurance fraud while allegedly setting up another man to take the fall.County sheriff's officials say 54-year-old Patrick Roller and 46-year-old Louis Lawrence allegedly worked together to set a pickup truck on fire and collect insurance money.
Roller is accused of felony counts of false insurance application and solicitation to commit arson and a misdemeanor count of making a false police report.
A criminal complaint shows Lawrence is accused of a felony counts arson, conspiracy to commit arson and tampering with evidence plus a misdemeanor count of illegal dumping.
It's unclear if either man has a lawyer yet.
The Farmington Daily Times reports Roller waived his right to a preliminary hearing while Lawrence's preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday.
- INTERNATIONAL BALLOON FIESTA
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Hundreds of balloons have filled the sky on the final morning of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.Winds remained calm at the park Sunday morning for the Mass Ascension event and it was warmer than the almost freezing temperatures Saturday morning.
Organizers say almost 1 million guests attended this year's Balloon Fiesta.
The nine-day event draws pilots from around the world and from 41 U.S. states.
The spectacle has grown over nearly five decades and infuses millions of dollars into the economy each year.
- PONY EXPRESS TRAIL-BICYCLIST
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Jan Bennett learned a lot of lessons on her solo bicycle ride across the entire 2,220-mile (3,572-kilometer) Pony Express Trail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.She already had endured food poisoning, hail and near misses with tornado weather by the time she made it to a remote stretch of northern Nevada as part of her effort to map out a bike-packing route the historic trail.
But she told the Reno Gazette Journal recently it was a "little bit of a gut check" when she had to walk her bike up a canyon road where the water was scarce.
She remembered a piece of advice she had received about endurance riding: "If you have to cry, cry while you are moving."
Eleven days later, she pedaled into Sacramento.
- BABY SHOT IN FACE
GALLUP, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man who reportedly admitted to accidentally shooting an infant girl and tried to arrange the killing of the baby's mother and a key witness is getting a new attorney.The Gallup Independent reports two attorneys formerly involved in the Tyrell Bitsilly's baby shooting case have switched jobs, creating a conflict of interest. The case is expected to be reassigned.
The 21-year-old Bitsilly and the baby's mother, Shayanne Nelson, had told police the infant girl's 3-year-old brother found a gun left in a Gallup, New Mexico, motel room and accidentally fired the gun.
Gallup police announced last week Bitsilly is facing new charges after authorities say he tried to arrange the killings of Nelson and a retired military medic who helped saved the infant girl's life.