- AIRPORT BODIES-VICTIMS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Jennifer Lannon loved her children, though she lost custody of them because of her struggle with prescription drug use. Matthew Miller was especially fond of his pets and had run-ins with police as he faced an opioid addiction. Their decomposing bodies were found along with that of their equally troubled friend Jesten Mata and another man inside a truck at a New Mexico airport parking garage. The gruesome discovery this month touched off a nationwide manhunt for Lannon's ex-husband in a strange case stretching from New Mexico to New Jersey that has raised questions of possible serial killings and left grieving loved ones trying to understand what happened.
- AIRPORT BODIES
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police in Albuquerque say a man wanted for questioning in the disappearances of three people from Grants last month has been arrested on a warrant. Albuquerque police say 45-year-old Daniel Lemos was taken into custody Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Service. Grants police say they want to question Lemos in the disappearances of 39-year-old Jennifer Lannon, 40-year-old Jesten Mata and 21-year-old Matthew Miller because he knew the victims. The three were found dead March 5 in a vehicle in a parking garage at Albuquerque International Sunport along with 60-year-old Randal Apostalon in Apostalon's truck. Grants police first identified Lemos as a person of interest in late February, before the bodies were found at the airport.
- IMMIGRATION-BORDER EPICENTER
ROMA, Texas (AP) — A small border town in Texas' Rio Grande Valley has become the latest epicenter of illegal crossings, where growing numbers of families and children enter the United States to seek asylum. Within an hour of darkness Wednesday, about 100 people are ferried in rafts across the Rio Grande and into the U.S. in Roma, including many families with toddlers and children as young as 7 traveling alone. They wear numbered plastic wristbands that say "deliveries" in Spanish, apparently a mechanism for smugglers to keep track of them. U.S. authorities have reported more than 100,000 encounters on the southern border in February, the highest since a four-month streak in 2019.
- BIDEN-BORDER MIGRANTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will take steps to more quickly move hundreds of migrant children and teens out of cramped detention facilities along the Southwest border. That from President Joe Biden Thursday as he pushed back against suggestions that his administration's policies are responsible for the rising number of people seeking to cross into the country. Biden was pressed repeatedly on the situation at the border at his first news conference since taking office. He cited a series of measures such as opening space at a Texas Army base for about 5,000 unaccompanied minors, to address the issue. But he also sought to portray the rise in migrants as little different from seasonal increases in the past.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported nine new COVID-19 cases and eight additional deaths. The latest numbers pushed the tribe's numbers to 30,031 cases and 1,243 known deaths since the pandemic began. The Navajo Nation had a soft reopening last week with 25% capacity for some businesses under certain restrictions. Still, mask mandates and daily curfews remain on the vast reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
- SANDIA LABS-SOLAR
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Sandia National Laboratories has been awarded a $25 million contract to build, test and operate a new solar power test facility on its campus in New Mexico. Using a concentrated beam of sunlight to heat up sand-like particles, the system will be able to produce thermal energy for thousands of hours and will have the capacity to store six hours of energy. The contract was announced Thursday by the lab and the U.S. Energy Department. The agency's goal is to develop technology that can make concentrating solar power plants easier to build and more reliable. The New Mexico-based lab already is known for work its work on other solar and wind projects.
- METHANE FIGHT-NEW MEXICO
Associated Press (AP) — New Mexico oil and gas regulators have adopted new rules to limit most venting and flaring in the oilfield as a way to reduce methane emissions. The Oil Conservation Commission took the final vote Thursday, following a two-year process that involved testimony from environmental advocates and technical experts from the oil and gas industry. The first phase of implementation will include data collection and reporting to identify natural gas losses at every stage of the process. The rules are one part of a two-pronged approach by the state to address climate change. Still pending are rules that would target oilfield equipment that emits volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides.
- DR. DEATH TV SERIES-NEW MEXICO
The New Mexico Film Office says a new television series based on a popular true-crime podcast by the Wondery network has started production in Albuquerque and Moriarty. The UCP production "Dr. Death" stars actors Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater and is directed by Maggie Kiley, So Yong Kim and Jennifer Morrison. Film Office Director Amber Dodson said the series will be the first production to use NBCU's new studio in Albuquerque. The Film Office says "Dr. Death" is about a neurosurgeon whose operations start going wrong, prompting intervention by two fellow physicians.