AP New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Democratic lawmaker who represents an Albuquerque district in the state House is stepping down from her seat and says she needs to focus on her mental health. Rep. Brittney Barreras was halfway through her first term in the House when she abruptly announced her resignation on Friday evening. In

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller made another plea to New Mexico lawmakers to help with the city’s crime problem. He testified Friday before a House committee on legislation that would clear the way for the most violent defendants to be kept behind bars pending trial. Republican

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed more than a dozen individuals who it says falsely tried to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election. The panel is demanding information and testimony from 14 people who the panel says met and submitted

By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press / Report for America SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham now supports a $15 minimum wage for school workers around the state after proposing a lower minimum to the Legislature earlier this month. The news came from her education secretary in a legislative hearing Friday.

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge won’t rein in the roundup and capture of wild horses in eastern Nevada — rejecting advocates’ claims the federal government was needlessly and recklessly killing free-roaming mustangs in violation of U.S. law. Facing a deadline for federal land managers to complete what they

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State legislators are giving a cold reception to a package of financial incentives aimed at scaling up hydrogen production using New Mexico’s vast natural gas reserves. A state House panel voted 6-4 on Thursday to indefinitely postpone consideration of a bill that would offer grants,

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has announced the appointment of Bianca Ortiz-Wertheim as the director of infrastructure and implementation.  Ortiz-Wertheim comes into the role from the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management where she served as the cabinet secretary since May 2020. While at DHS, Ortiz-Wertheim managed the

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico had a nursing shortage even before the pandemic and advocates are now trying to convince lawmakers to boost funding to increase capacity at the state’s nursing schools. Legislative analysts have estimated that New Mexico needs more than 6,200 nurses. Supporters say $15 million

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Carol Parker is out as New Mexico State University provost two months after being placed on paid administrative leave. NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu disclosed in an email to university employees this week that Parker was no longer a university employee as of Jan. 21. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that

By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press / Report for America SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says she spent several hours on Wednesday filling in for an elementary school teacher. The lessons at Salazar Elementry School were part of a program allowing state workers to fill in as substitute teachers, part

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal labor authority has sought for a second time to strip the collective bargaining powers of a national union for U.S. immigration judges. In a ruling late last week, the Federal Labor Relations Authority determined that the country’s more than 500 immigration judges can’t belong to an employee union because they

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s most populous county is looking for help with staffing shortages at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Bernalillo County commissioners on Tuesday approved an emergency resolution outlining several potential ways to boost ranks at jail, from improving recruitment to requesting outside manpower. That might include seeking assistance from the New Mexico

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has nominated six lawyers to run U.S. attorney’s offices across the country. The nominees announced by the White House on Wednesday for the top law enforcement positions would run the federal prosecutors’ offices in Alaska, Connecticut, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Utah. They

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. government plans to capture more wild horses on federal lands this year than ever before. The Bureau of Land Management plans to permanently remove at least 19,000 horses and burros this year, about 70% more than the previous high a year ago. The plan

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Pity the poor space flight passenger: Flying up up and away from Earth could get even more expensive as New Mexico lawmakers consider taxing the tickets on Virgin Galactic. A bipartisan bill in the state Legislature would close a loophole excluding spaceflight passenger tickets from gross receipts taxes. The move

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Mothers who lost their sons to violence are telling New Mexico lawmakers that something has to be done. Prosecutors from around the state say judges need more information to determine if defendants are too dangerous to be released while waiting for their trials. The mothers

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Two New Mexico COVID-19 testing sites that were not on the list of facilities approved by state public health officials have closed indefinitely. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office said in a statement it will investigate the Illinois-based operator, Center for COVID Control.

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The nation’s only unsalaried legislature is considering whether to abandon its amateur status. A New Mexico Senate panel on Monday endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment that would enable the state’s 112 legislators to collect salaries. Approval by the New Mexico Legislature would send the measure

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats braced for disaster when state legislatures began redrawing congressional maps. Democrats feared that Republican dominance of statehouses would tilt power away from them for the next decade. But such anxiety is beginning to ease. For Democrats, the worst case scenario of