News

     Fire investigators with the Doña Ana County Fire and Emergency Services Department have determined a fire last week that destroyed a mobile home and displaced the owner and several dogs on the property was caused by an electrical accident.

   According to Deputy Fire Marshal Eric Crespin, the homeowner left for a doctor’s appointment Thursday, June 13, and plugged in a fan using an extension cord to keep her pets cool inside the home on the 9100 block of Berry Patch Lane in Butterfield. The extension cord malfunctioned and caught fire, said Crespin.

There are 16 fertilizer plants in Texas like the one that exploded in West, but authorities say they aren't clear if any are near schools or residential centers.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told lawmakers Monday that he wasn't aware if the state had looked at other fertilizer plants for proximity to things like schools.

The April 17 explosion killed 15 people in West, a rural farming community. A school, nursing home and apartment complex nearby were all damaged.

The Texas House of Representatives is back in Austin, and Democrats are angry about Gov. Rick Perry vetoing key ethics legislation.

Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner of Houston took to the House floor on Monday and questioned what will happen to 400 ethics investigations the Public Integrity Unit is currently working on.

The governor used his line item veto to cut $7.5 million for the unit on Friday. He said no taxpayer money should go to it because Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg refused to resign following a drunk driving conviction.

More than 30,000 state and local government workers face a 15 percent increase for their health care insurance starting next month, but it could be only the beginning of higher costs as New Mexico's self-insurance program digs out of a financial hole.

There have been no premium increases for workers for the past five years when government budgets were squeezed. Yet, the fund covering health benefits was projected to be almost $70 million in the red in the upcoming budget year if the state did nothing to the insurance program to deal with rising health care costs.

A former campaign manager for New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has pleaded not guilty on federal charges of hacking her campaign's email system and obtaining correspondence by the governor, her staff and supporters.

Jamie Estrada, of Los Lunas, entered his plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque and was released on his own recognizance.

Estrada briefly served as campaign manager in 2009 but was fired by Martinez as she was starting her bid for governor.

Santa Fe city councilors are set to consider a proposal that would impose strict regulations on the number of bullets in gun magazines allowed in the city limits.

Councilors are scheduled next week to vote on a plan that would prohibit possession and sales of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition and other gun accessories in Santa Fe.

But a city attorney believes the proposed ordinance might put the local government at risk of lawsuits.

City of Las Cruces Water Utilities will be putting Well 28 back on line on Wed., June 19 beginning at 10 p.m.  The action could create discolored water for residents in the areas from Triviz Dr. and Solano Dr. and N. Main St. and Griggs Ave.  Based on this well going on line the discolored water might extend into Thursday and Friday. 

This 1949 Plymouth Super Deluxe was recently donated to KRWG.  Now, the proceeds from its sale help us continue to bring you the region's best programming.

When you are ready to donate a vehicle or RV to KRWG...please click here:

http://krwg.org/donate-your-car

  The weather is transitioning from a mild moist air mass that has been over the area for several days to hot dry air, strong winds and low humidity.  Sunday's favorable weather conditions allowed firefighters to make progress on construction of 3 miles of containment line.  The 23,200 acre fire remains at five percent contained.

A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team is scheduled to arrive Tuesday.  BAER teams are staffed by specially trained professionals and scientists who rapidly evaluate the burned area and prescribe emergency stabilization treatments.

The mayor of Las Cruces is seeking help from former Los Angeles and Albuquerque mayors to erase outstanding debt from his re-election campaign two years ago.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that Mayor Ken Miyagishima is working to convince former Los Angeles mayor Anthony Villaragosa and former Albuquerque mayor Martin Chavez to participate in an upcoming fundraiser.

Miyagishima says Villaragosa is working on his schedule and Chavez may join, too.

The mayor of southern New Mexico's largest city says his campaign still around $25,000 in debt.

Officials say crews have contained the majority of the 94 square miles of wildfires raging throughout the New Mexico.

The Thompson Ridge Fire, the state's largest blaze at 37 square miles, is now 80 percent contained as of Monday. On the other side of the Santa Fe National Forest, the nearly 16-square mile Tres Lagunas fire north of Pecos was 90 percent contained.

Hunters still have a chance to get a license to hunt deer or javelina in New Mexico in the 2013-2014 season.

The state Game and Fish Department is holding an online sale later this month of more 2,500 deer hunting licenses and nearly 900 javelina licenses.

The licenses were left over after the department's annual drawing for hunting permits.

The sale is open first to New Mexicans, starting at 10 a.m. on June 26 on the department's web site. Licenses become available for purchase by anyone, including out-of-state residents, on June 27 at 10 a.m.

New Mexico's congressional delegation has introduced a bill aimed at improving tribal education and preserving Native American language in schools.

The state's two senators and three representatives all signed on to the proposal, which they say would remove barriers that tribal leaders often encounter in teaching Native languages at school, improve on existing programs and partnerships and create new incentives and scholarship programs to encourage educational success throughout Indian Country.

Crews were focusing Sunday on protecting homes in a historic southwest New Mexico mining town from a 35-square mile wildfire that had prompted the evacuation of 26 people from their houses.

Fire information officer Kevin Bailey said crews fighting the Silver Fire planned on Sunday to strengthen fire protection lines that have already been built around the community of Kingston.

The fire hasn't burned into the community. The distance between the lightning-caused blaze and the closest homes was unknown.