Regional

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Dona Ana County Sheriff's investigators are looking into the death of a 10- month-old boy who drowned while at his residence on the East Mesa Tuesday evening.

Authorities said the 19-year-old mother found the child and called 911 while her parents attempted to perform CPR.

The child died while being airlifted to University Medical Center in El Paso from Mountain View Hospital in Las Cruces.

The child's body was sent to the Office of the Medical Investigator in El Paso for an autopsy.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Helena Chemical will hold public meetings this summer to explain why the company is appealing a New Mexico Environment Department decision that denied the firm's effort to operate without a state air quality permit.

The meetings will be July 6 in Santa Fe and July 21 in Mesquite.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Wildfires burning around New Mexico have prompted state officials to issue a statewide smoke advisory as well as health advisories for some areas of the state.

The Health Department recommends that sensitive groups, such as the elderly or people with respiratory or heart problems, leave the area where smoke levels are within the unhealthy range until the smoke dissipates or stay inside as much as possible.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Officials say a fire that began during a training exercise at Fort Bliss has consumed 1,500 acres and is likely to grow as firefighters wait for it to move past areas of unexploded ordnance.

The fire began Monday on the northwest corner of the Dona Ana Range. Officials haven't said exactly what sparked the blaze, which is not threatening any structures.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – A fire in a remote area of the Organ Mountains caused by a military training exercise on Army property has burned an estimated one thousand acres. Smoke could be seen over the Organ Mountains all day Tuesday and by nightfall, the heavy smell of smoke was in the air in Las Cruces.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Businesses in New Mexico will pay higher taxes starting in January to shore up the program that provides jobless benefits, but a top state official warns that another tax increase probably will be needed next year to keep the unemployment program solvent.

Workforce Solutions Secretary Ken Ortiz said Monday the agency expects the unemployment fund will run out of money in late 2011 if the economy remains weak and there's little change in the number of jobless New Mexicans.

By KRWG News

Texas – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has now told two companies to deal directly with the federal government for their operating permits, bypassing the state.

The latest development in the battle between Texas and the federal government over clean-air permits for petrochemical companies involves the ChevronPhillips Cedar Bayou plant and Garland Power & Light, a utility in north Texas.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The New Mexico Spaceport Authority has a new executive director, and he's no stranger to the job.

The spaceport board met Tuesday in Truth or Consequences and voted unanimously to hire Rick Homans. He will take over as permanent director on July 1 after stepping down from his position as head of the state Taxation and Revenue Department.

Homans served as the first chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority from 2005 to 2007 and was briefly its executive director in 2007.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Three men who attempted to elude police after stealing beer from an area convenience store abandoned their vehicle and the 5-year-old boy who was in the car with them.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Instructors at New Mexico State University and Do a Ana Community College are seeking volunteers to participate in a Community Adobe Education Day at the historic Phillips Chapel CME church on Saturday, June 19.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The Dona Ana County/City of Las Cruces Office of Emergency Management is aware of the wildfire burning in/near the Soledad Canyon area of the Organ Mountain Range. Dona Ana County OEM has been in contact with White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) emergency personnel, who advise that both WSMR and Ft. Bliss Fire personnel are attempting to gain access to the fire, which is burning in a remote location of the mountain range.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Las Cruces Police have arrested the suspect wanted for a sexual assault that occurred in February 2009 at an apartment complex on the 1900 block of Wyoming Avenue.

Luis Anthony Cobarrubia, 35, is charged with three second-degree felony counts including criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon. Cobarrubia is being held at the Dona Ana County Detention Center with bond set at $500,000.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Some southern New Mexico business owners say now is not the time to hike the sales tax.

Dona Ana County commissioners are weighing their options for presenting voters with a plan to hike the sales tax.

County Commission Chairman Oscar Vasquez-Butler said he realizes new taxes are unpopular. But he said the commission also faces plenty of criticism from the public when it considers cutting medical services, senior meals, 4-H and other programs.

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – New Mexico State University's Sustainable Science Center at Alcalde is beginning several research trials for growing lavender in the area. KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Las Cruces Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect who stabbed a woman last Thursday on the campus of New Mexico State University.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Ismael Zambrano Chavira, 38, who is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. A $30,000 cash-only bond has been set and New Mexico State University police are considering additional charges again Chavira.