Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Latest New Mexico news, sports, business and entertainment at 5:20 p.m. MDT

  • VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A inmate who recently arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Bernalillo County said Monday in a statement that the jail learned of the positive test on Sunday, and the inmate is in isolation and receiving treatment. Staff who came in contact with the inmate are self-isolating at home for 14 days as a precaution. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pressed President Donald Trump during a call with state governors to ensure adequate resources for the Navajo Nation as its infection rate rises. Lujan Grisham is also asking the Department of Defense to install a military hospital in Albuquerque.

  • NAVAJO-MEDICAID PLAN

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Plans for a Navajo Nation entity to manage Medicaid on parts of the reservation are up in the air over disagreements among tribal leaders. A tribal corporation has been touting a plan that would incorporate traditional healing, food boxes and customer service in the Navajo language. But it hit another snag last week when tribal President Jonathan Nez vetoed a resolution that he says unconscionably tried to capitalize on the spread of the coronavirus. Nez says the resolution wasn't an emergency as written and the corporation wasn't set up to manage health care. Tribal lawmakers had approved the corporation's efforts to administer Medicaid on the New Mexico portion of the reservation. 

  • VIRUS OUTBREAK-CHACO DRILLING

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Archaeologists, historians and environmentalists are joining New Mexico's congressional delegation and a coalition of Native American tribes in asking federal land managers to grant more time for the public to comment on a contested plan that will guide oil and gas development near Chaco Culture National Historical Park. They say the federal government should wait until the coronavirus outbreak subsides to ensure the public has an adequate opportunity to participate. Despite existing protections within its boundaries, the World Heritage site has been at the center of a decades-long fight over drilling in northwestern New Mexico.

  • HOBBS NEWS-SUN

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — The Hobbs News-Sun is ending its Saturday edition and shrinking the size of the paper amid falling oil prices and the downtown caused by COVID-19. Hobbs News-Sun Publisher Daniel Russell announced Saturday the moves in response to economic pressures the newspaper faces in the heart of New Mexico's oil and gas country. Russell says the newspaper will continue to print editions Tuesday through Friday and Sunday. He also says the width of the paper will go from 25 inches across to 23 inches across to save money on cost. 

  • SHERIFF-DRUNK-OBSTRUCTION

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Attorney General's Office is reviewing a case involving a sheriff who police said showed up drunk to a SWAT standoff and tried to order officers away. Attorney General spokesman Matt Baca told The Associated Press late Friday a complaint naming Rio Arriba County Sheriff James Lujan has been referred to the office and the prosecutors are reviewing it. Española Police Chief Richard Jimenez wrote that officers reported Lujan smalled of alcohol and ignored commands to leave the "kill zone" in front of the house of the barricaded subject. Lujan told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the accusations in the criminal complaint are false. 

  • TECH STARTUP-INVESTMENT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico startup has landed $5 million in private equity from investors to accelerate the marketing of super-fast cell-screening and analysis technology. The Albuquerque Journal reports that BennuBio Inc. won the funding from New Mexico and international investments, including money from Co-Win Ventures. BennuBio President and CEO Steven Graves says Co-Win's participation could substantially boost BennuBio's marketing success because that firm has extensive experience in the cytometer industry. Flow-through cytometers are used to analyze millions rapidly, and often billions, of cells for medical diagnostics and drug discovery. But today's cytometers can process only about 10,000 cells per second because tissue samples are pushed through cytometers one at a time.

  • ELECTION 2020-NEW MEXICO

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Restrictions limiting person-to-person contact to stop the spread of COVID-19 is hindering Democratic primary challengers seeking to unseat incumbent state lawmakers in New Mexico. Challengers are barred for weeks from campaigning by knocking on doors and shaking hands at public events. Instead, many are moving to aggressive social media pushes, multiple mailers, and virtual town halls. Most Democratic voters in the state's closed primary system tend to be older, and many live in rural areas where broadband internet access and cell service is limited. But candidate Carrie Hamblen says voters are more connected online than ever before. She's seeking to oust Sen. Mary Kay Papen — one of the most powerful Democratic incumbents in the New Mexico Senate.

  • AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-VIRUS-FREE-COUNTIES

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — As the coronavirus rages through Europe, and major American cities like New York and Los Angeles, more than a third of counties across the U.S. still have not reported a positive test result for infection across what are predominantly rural areas. A data analysis by The Associated Press shows that 1,297 counties have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of 3,142 counties nationwide. Counties with zero positive tests for COVID-19 tend to have older, rural populations with lower incomes where rural health networks might be overwhelmed. The demographics hold major implications as the administration of President Donald Trump develops guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread, empowering local officials to revise social distancing orders