Regional

By KRWG News

Texas – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has officially overturned a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program it says violates the Clean Air Act, leaving some of the country's largest refineries in a state of limbo.

The move ends years of backdoor bickering, negotiations and public arguments between the EPA and Texas. The argument recently escalated from a battle over environmental issues into a heated political dispute over states' rights.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The nation's top civil liberties group has issued travel warnings for Arizona, saying the new state law cracking down on illegal immigrants could lead to racial profiling and warrantless arrests.

By KRWG News

El Paso – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wants border security to top President Barack Obama's agenda in the wake of stray gunfire from Mexico that left seven holes in El Paso's city hall.

In a letter sent to Obama Wednesday, the Republican wrote that the incident that left two dead in Ciudad Juarez and seven bullet holes in El Paso's city hall proved the need for more border security. Juarez is across the Rio Grande from El Paso.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – A 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday upheld a federal judge's decision that New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera's attempt to regulate two community action organizations was unconstitutional.

The three-judge panel affirmed a federal judge's decision in favor of the Albuquerque groups, New Mexico Youth Organized and the SouthWest Organizing Project.

The groups say the decision affirms the free speech rights of nonprofit organizations

By KRWG News

New Mexico – U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman says 72 more members of the New Mexico National Guard are being sent to the Mexico border to help Border Patrol agents.

The New Mexico Democrat says the Department of Homeland Security requested the extra troops.

Gov. Bill Richardson says it's a good first step, but what's needed is to make comprehensive immigration reform a priority.

The new Guard members are in addition to 70 others Richardson sent to the region in recent months.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Republican gubernatorial nominee Susana Martinez has disciplined a prosecutor in her district attorney's office for using a government computer to forward an e-mail that jokes about killing Mexicans and Arabs.

The e-mail, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press, describes a New Mexico girl shooting a Mexican and an Arab in a bar and then saying, "In New Mexico, we have so many illegal aliens we don't have to drink with the same ones twice."

By KRWG News

El Paso – El Paso police are investigating gunshots that struck City Hall.

A police statement says the incident happened about 5 p.m. Tuesday when a bullet zipped through a ninth-floor window and an interior wall before hitting a picture frame and stopping.

Further investigation found that another six bullets had struck the building's north and south stucco walls.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Federal officials have closed an old southern New Mexico rock quarry to the public, saying its steep dirt walls are dangerous.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management previously blocked access to the quarry, but said vandals destroyed the barriers.

The land and minerals supervisor at the Las Cruces BLM office, Edward Seum, says Monday's closure announcement in the Federal Register means people can be cited for trespassing.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – President Barack Obama's $600 million border security plan seems to have it all: More than 1,000 agents, seven gunrunner teams, five FBI task forces and more prosecutors and immigration judges.

A judiciary official tells The Associated Press that it doesn't however include $40 million to help the already overwhelmed federal courts along the U.S.-Mexico border.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – A man who allegedly struck two people with a car while they walked across a Las Cruces street Monday night was under a court order to drive with an ignition interlock device.

Las Cruces police say 26-year-old Nicholas Tomlin was booked into Dona Ana County Detention Center early Tuesday for drunken driving and causing great bodily injury by a motor vehicle.

By KRWG News

Texas – The federal government is fining Texas nearly $4 million for errors in its issuance of foods stamps.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined the state for overpaying or underpaying too often over the last two federal fiscal years.

The accusations of payment mistakes come on top of problems Texas has had with processing applications on time.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – President Barack Obama is enlisting activists and labor leaders in a push for comprehensive immigration legislation that will showcase Republican opposition and include a major speech by the president.

The strategy was discussed during a meeting Monday by a range of prominent labor leaders and activist groups. Participants say that Obama reiterated his support for immigration legislation but noted the political realities that have stalled it in Congress.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces –
Every Monday, Fred Martino speaks with Las Cruces Sun News Business Editor Brook Stockberger.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The Arizona Game and Fish Commission has approved a new agreement with New Mexico, federal agencies and others to guide wolf conservation.

The state has participated in the Mexican Wolf reintroduction program since 2003, and continued working cooperatively after it expired in 2008.

The agreement approved on Friday re-established the formal partnership between the states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Indian tribes and counties in each state. The other government agencies still need to OK the deal.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – It's the end of an era for hundreds of airmen from across the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base.

They gathered to welcome a new commander and a new wing name during a change of command ceremony on Friday.

Col. Jeff Harrigan became the last commander of the 49th Fighter Wing when he relinquished command of the newly designated 49th Wing to Col. David Krumm.