- PRETRIAL DETENTION -NEW MEXICO
DA wants changes to New Mexico's pretrial detention systemALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The top prosecutor in New Mexico's busiest court district is calling for another constitutional amendment that would further change how judges decide who remains jailed before trial.
Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez said Tuesday that the current system under a 2016 voter-approved amendment has been successful in ensuring fewer petty and low-level criminals are jailed. But it needs fixing to better safeguard against violent defendants being released from jail before trial.
The current system requires prosecutors to present evidence showing defendants are a danger in order for them to remain held.
Torrez says he would like to see a system in which judges presume defendants charged with a limited range of crimes should remain jailed — unless defendants make a successful case for their release.
Legislators approve constitutional amendments before they go before voters.
- COAL ASH-NEW MEXICO-THE LATEST
The Latest: PNM shareholders reject coal ash resolutionALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A resolution that would have required New Mexico's largest electric utility to prepare a report on how it plans to deal with coal ash waste from the San Juan Generating Station has failed.
The group PNM Shareholders for a Responsible Future worked to get the measure on the agenda for Tuesday's shareholders meeting. The group said it received enough support to allow the measure to be refiled next year.
Public Service Co. of New Mexico has argued that a separate report is unnecessary since it addresses coal ash in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
While the utility contends it's not responsible for the waste once it's transported from the San Juan plant, some shareholders and environmentalists have concerns about future liabilities since decommissioning costs will be passed on to customers after the plant closes in 2022.
- FILM INDUSTRY-NEW MEXICO
Tom Hanks meets with governor who boosted film incentivesSANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Actor Tom Hanks met with New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as the state seeks out more business from the film industry.
A newly published copy of the governor's weekly schedule on Tuesday showed a "meet and greet" May 9 with the star of "Forrest Gump," ''Apollo 13" and other blockbusters. Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Sackett says the Democratic governor and former congresswoman "just met and kind of chatted about New Mexico" during the encounter in Albuquerque.
Hanks has popped up in Albuquerque during the filming of the science fiction survivor tale "BIOS" and posted twitter photos of lost gloves in the dessert.
Lujan Grisham signed legislation this year that more than doubles annual tax-credit payouts to in-state film productions to $110 million.
- TWO DEAD-DONA ANA COUNTY
Dona Ana Sheriff's Office IDs 2 shot in double homicideDONA ANA, N.M. (AP) — Authorities in southern New Mexico have identified two people fatally shot in the village of Dona Ana on the outskirts of Las Cruces.
Dona Ana County Sheriff's officials say the victims of the double homicide early Tuesday are 21-year-old Syerra Benavidez and 21-year-old Justin Barela.
The shooter has been detained for questioning.
Sheriff's deputies say Benavidez called the unidentified man to pick her up so they could hang out.
The man met Benavidez who was accompanied by Barela.
The three were driving to Dona Ana when Benavidez allegedly pulled out a knife and demanded the man turn over his cellphone, keys to the car and his wallet and said Barela had a gun.
The man says he feared for his life, pulled out a gun and shot Benavidez and Barela.
- IMMIGRATION-NEW MEXICO-THE LATEST
The Latest: New Mexico offers grants for immigrant aidSANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says the state is creating a grant program to reimburse local government agencies that provide humanitarian aid to migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.
The first-year Democratic governor announced the grant application process in a letter to Republic lawmakers who have criticized her response to an influx of migrants.
Lujan Grisham says it's her role to arrange support for aid groups while she seeks assistance from the federal government.
Municipalities including Las Cruces and Deming say they are struggling to keep up with the needs of immigrants seeking temporary shelter and necessities. The U.S. Border Patrol is dropping off hundreds of asylum seekers daily in southern New Mexico.
- IMMIGRATION-MIGRANT DEATHS-CENTER CLOSES
US closes facility that detained migrant who later diedHOUSTON (AP) — U.S. border agents have temporarily closed their primary facility for processing migrants in South Texas one day after authorities say a 16-year-old died after being diagnosed with the flu at the facility.
In a statement released late Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would stop detaining migrants at its processing center in McAllen, Texas. CBP says "a large number" of people in custody were found Tuesday to have high fevers.
The processing center is a converted warehouse that holds hundreds of parents and children at a time in large, fenced-in pens.
CBP said Monday that a 16-year-old from Guatemala died after being detained at the facility for six days, twice as long as generally allowed by U.S. law. After being diagnosed with the flu on Sunday, Carlos Hernandez Vasquez was transferred to a smaller Border Patrol station, where he was found unresponsive Monday.
Carlos was the fifth minor since December to die after being apprehended by border agents.
- REMOVING REACTORS
Risks, rewards accompany speedier cleanup of closed nukesPLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Federal regulators are reviewing plans to sell retiring nuclear reactors to a nuclear waste management company for accelerated decommissioning.
Holtec International says it could finish cleanup and demolition of the plants in eight years, rather than 60-year plans offered by their current owners.
Entergy Corp.'s Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is scheduled to close next week. The other facilities in Michigan, New Jersey and New York have either closed or are expected to in the next few years.
State officials, environmental groups and nuclear watchdogs say they support faster decommissioning but have raised concerns whether Holtec has the financial resources and experience to pull off the jobs.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must approve the proposed sales. Those decisions are expected in the coming weeks and months.
- TSA-BORDER PROTECTION
Congress joins debate over sending TSA employees to borderWASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are clashing over the Trump administration's move to send hundreds of Transportation Security Administration employees to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The TSA is asking federal air marshals, airport screeners and others to volunteer to support a buildup of federal agents along the border who are dealing with waves of migrants.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, an Arizona Republican, says that tapping TSA workers shows there's a crisis on the border.
But the Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said the administration is using TSA to manufacture a crisis.
Travel industry groups have expressed concern that the shift could leave airports understaffed during the peak summer season.
TSA says it can handle the job and will move fewer than 1% of its 60,000 employees to the border.