- HOMICIDE CASE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police in Albuquerque say a possible suspect has been detained in a homicide case. They say officers responded to a call of a shooting about 10 a.m. Sunday. Police say when officers arrived, they found a man dead in an intersection. Homicide detectives are currently investigating the scene. Police say they have identified a suspect, but they are not releasing any details yet.
- ETHICS COMMISSION-COMPLAINT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint against a state lawmaker that accused him of violating the Governmental Conduct Act. In its ruling, the commission says the allegations of misconduct lacked factual support. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas filed the complaint in July after Rep. Daymon Ely asked the state Auditor's Office to investigate Balderas' handling of a civil case against a solar company. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the case resulted in a roughly $1.9 million settlement but didn't compensate many customers. The newspaper also says Ely criticized Balderas for his use of outside counsel and for allowing the solar company to seal records in the case. Ely is a Democrat who represents Corrales.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation on Sunday reported 18 more COVID-19 cases, but no deaths for the second time in the past three days. The latest numbers pushed the tribe's totals to 33,531 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The death toll remained at 1,429. The tribe had reported 54 more cases and two deaths Thursday, 55 cases with no deaths on Friday and 63 cases with one death on Saturday. Navajo officials are urging people to get vaccinated, wear masks while in public and minimize their travel. Officials say all Navajo Nation executive branch employees will need to be fully vaccinated against the virus by the end of September or submit to regular testing.
- DROUGHT-DRYING TRADITION
ABIQUIU, N.M. (AP) — The Rio Chama begins at the edge of the Rocky Mountains and courses through rugged basalt hillsides and the red and yellow cliffs made famous by painter Georgia O'Keeffe. Here marked the start of New Mexico's centuries-old tradition of sharing water through irrigation systems known as acequias, and it's one of many spots in the arid West facing pressure as drought stretches into another decade and climate change piles on. Despite the acequias' resilience over the last 400 years, community leaders are looking for ways to improve the earthen canals and ensure the systems have access to water as supplies dwindle. Some say it's as much about water conservation as it is the preservation of culture.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The lawyer for two women who challenged New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's order requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for certain workers is appealing a judge's denial of their request for an injunction blocking the mandate. Attorney A. Blair Dunn filed a notice of appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. That was a day after U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez upheld Lujan Grisham's authority to impose a vaccine mandate in a public health order to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Dunn told the Santa Fe New Mexican that he believes his clients may prevail on appeal.
- BORDER-MIGRANT CAMP
DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is nearing a final plan to expel many of the thousands of Haitian migrants who have suddenly crossed into a Texas border city from Mexico and to fly them back to their Caribbean homeland. Some migrants said they were undeterred and planned to remain and seek asylum. The action represents a swift response to the crisis, with the local sheriff estimating Friday that the crowd of migrants gathered at the crossing in Del Rio, Texas, had swelled to more than 14,500 people. The number of flights will depend on operational capacity and Haiti's willingness.
- INTERIOR-LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is moving the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management back to the nation's capital after two years in Colorado. Haaland is reversing a decision made by former President Donald Trump's administration. The bureau lost nearly 300 employees to retirement or resignation when its headquarters was relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 2019. The agency has broad influence in the West, managing public lands for uses ranging from fossil fuel extraction, renewable power development and grazing, to recreation and wilderness. Haaland says the agency's current space in Grand Junction will become its western headquarters.
- SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Top New Mexico leaders say they're open to almost anything that would prevent spent nuclear fuel and other high-level waste from being stored indefinitely in the state. That includes the consideration of legislation similar to a measure adopted by Texas last week to prevent the shipping and storage of such waste. The renewed criticism this week of planned storage facilities in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico comes as federal regulators just granted a license for the proposed operation in Texas. New Mexico officials already have submitted comments in opposition to both the multibillion-dollar proposal on their side of the state line and to the Texas project.