AP New Mexico

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A local government board in southern New Mexico approved a message Thursday saying that abortion clinics are not welcome in politically conservative Otero County — even though state law allows most abortion procedures. The nonbinding anti-abortion resolution, approved in a 3-0 vote, said the commission

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that it has selected the Phoenix suburb of Mesa as the site where it will assemble its next class of rocket ships. Officials with the aerospace and space travel company said they have signed a long-term lease for a new final assembly manufacturing facility adjacent to the

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — COVID-19 cases are on the decline in New Mexico, but state health officials said Thursday they’re expecting an uptick later this summer as the wave hitting more populated areas around the U.S. spreads. Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase provided an update on the pandemic, noting that there have

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — A Texas man, not his 13-year-old son, was driving the pickup truck that crossed into the oncoming lane and struck a van carrying New Mexico college golfers, killing nine people, and he had methamphetamine in his system, investigators said Thursday. The National Transportation Safety Board said two

DALLAS (AP) — NTSB: Father, not 13-year-old, was driving truck in deadly Texas crash with New Mexico golf teams; had meth in system.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has cleared a former police officer of criminal charges after he was accused of killing a suspect with a chokehold more than two years ago. Defense attorneys for former Las Cruces Police Officer Christopher Smelser had argued that prosecutors failed to prove to prove he knew

By MICHAEL PHILLIS and SUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press Preston Brown knows the risk of wildfire that comes with living in the rural, chaparral-lined hills of San Diego County. He’s lived there for 21 years and evacuated twice. That’s why he fiercely opposed a plan to build more than 1,100 homes in a fire-prone area he

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — There are no environmental reasons that would prevent a New Jersey-based company from building a multibillion-dollar facility in southern New Mexico to temporarily store tons of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants around the nation, U.S. regulators said Wednesday. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. wildlife managers are being sued over their new management rule for the endangered Mexican gray wolf, with a coalition of environmentalists saying the recently adopted court-ordered changes fail to address genetic concerns and limit the predators from roaming bigger swaths of the American Southwest.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire that threatened a grove of California’s giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park was burning eastward into the Sierra National Forest on Wednesday. The Washburn Fire is one of dozens of blazes chewing through drought-parched terrain in the Western U.S. It had increased in size to more than

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico (AP) — Opaque waiting lists at the Mexico border to gain a chance at obtaining asylum in the United States have persisted under President Joe Biden, leading many migrants to give up and cross illegally or languish for months in border towns. U.S. preparations in late April

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Matt King, a co-founder of the Santa Fe-based arts collective Meow Wolf that has grown into an offbeat, interactive entertainment juggernaut, has died. He was 37. Meow Wolf spokeswoman Didi Bethurum on Tuesday confirmed King’s death. He died Saturday, but the cause and location of his death was withheld. In

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Commissioners in a northern New Mexico county urged U.S. forest managers on Tuesday to do a more comprehensive environmental review of plans to restore large swaths of forest that border the capital city, passing a resolution fueled by frustrations that have been mounting in the

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico police officer got emotional on the witness stand Tuesday at his former professional partner’s murder trial when recalling the danger that he believed he faced in trying to arrest a man who died in a 2020 struggle with officers. Las Cruces Officer Andrew Tuton said he believed

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Physicians and researchers are urging New Mexico legislators to allow the use of psychedelic mushrooms in mental health therapy aimed at overcoming depression, anxiety, psychological trauma and alcoholism. A legislative panel on Tuesday listened to advocates who hope to broaden the scope of medical treatment

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A former New Mexico police officer charged with murder in a man’s death during a 2020 struggle with officers didn’t properly use a chokehold that gradually ended the man’s life, a prosecutor told jurors Monday in opening statements at the ex-officer’s trial. Las Cruces Officer Christopher Smelser had told investigators

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — People have a right protected by the First Amendment to film police while they work, a Western U.S. appeals court ruled Monday in a decision that concurs with decisions made by six of the nation’s other 12 appeals court. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico regulators on Monday said several horses that were feared dead by animal advocates following a weekend of racing at one of the state’s premiere horse tracks are alive and well. Officials with the New Mexico Racing Commission said only one animal died after

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Latino students should be a federal funding priority after they fell behind during the coronavirus pandemic despite making notable educational gains in recent decades, leaders with the largest U.S. Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group said Monday. “There is funding there,” said Amalia Chamorro, who oversees educational

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities conducting an arson investigation at a southeast Albuquerque house fire say a 15-year-old boy whose body was found inside died from smoke inhalation. Albuquerque Fire Department officials said Sunday it might take about two weeks to complete the investigation to determine the cause of last week’s blaze. A SWAT team

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Santa Fe, not Roswell, is the place this weekend to possibly spot some aliens—or at least their stuff. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that props from the now-cancelled CW TV drama, “Roswell, New Mexico,” are being sold at an estate sale inside the site of an old Kmart in

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press ANADARKO, Okla. (AP) — Native American tribal elders who were once students at government-backed Indian boarding schools testified Saturday about the hardships they endured, including beatings, whippings, sexual assaults, forced haircuts and painful nicknames. They came from different states and different tribes, but they shared the common experience of having