Regional

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico state police say a four-county operation to crack down on liquor sales to minors ended with 13 stores cited.

The Department of Public Safety says it sent minors trying to buy alcohol into 94 licensed liquor stores or restaurants in Dona Ana, Luna, Grant, and Otero counties on Friday evening.

Agents also tried to get adults to buy them alcohol. Two people in Deming agreed and were arrested on felony charges.

Another operation was planned on Saturday night.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The Southwest Environmental Center is demanding that New Mexico Department of Transportation immediately cease cutting down cottonwoods and other native trees along I-10, some of them 50 years old or more, and plant new trees to replace the ones already removed. NMDOT has temporarily stopped cutting down the trees.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The Downtown Las Cruces Partnership has hired Elmo Baca as Interim Executive Director effective Monday, June 28. Baca replaces Cindi Fargo, who resigned earlier this month to assume a position in El Cajon, California.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Police in Las Cruces say they've tracked down and arrested a 21-year-old man who left his young nephew behind after crashing his sedan while fleeing from police.

Leroy J. Gonzalez was allegedly one of two men who stole two cases of beer from a convenience store on June 14. Authorities say a police officer spotted the fleeing Nissan and gave chase.

The car crashed into two curbs and was disabled.

By KRWG News

El Paso – Arrests of illegal immigrants in West Texas and New Mexico are down substantially this month compared to previous years.

The U.S. Border Patrol says agents assigned to the El Paso sector made 8,000 arrests between June 1 and June 23. Last year, agents arrested 15,000 suspected illegal immigrants and in 2007, 75,000 were caught.

Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier says illegal immigrants are either going to other areas to try to cross into the U.S. from Mexico or not coming at all.

By KRWG News

Anthony, NM – A 5-year-old Anthony girl has died from injuries that authorities believe were inflicted by her mother.

The child had bruises across her body, bleeding on her brain, and at least one broken rib when she arrived unconscious at Providence Hospital in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday.

District Attorney Susana Martinez says the girl also had more than a dozen puncture wounds, what appeared to be a human bite mark on her ankle and scratch marks on her chest.

By KRWG News

El Paso – U.S. officials have discovered a smuggling tunnel running under the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States, the first such underground passage found in the region.

U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said a sensor technician and border agent discovered Friday the crude 2-by-2-foot tunnel, which connects to a drainage tunnel at the border in El Paso.

By KRWG News

El Paso – A 15-year-old Mexican boy shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents was among El Paso's most wanted juvenile smugglers.

According to federal arrest records reviewed by The Associated Press, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka had been arrested at least four times since 2008 and twice in the same week in February 2009.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The state Court of Appeals has ruled that Gov. Bill Richardson's administration acted properly in redacting information from public records sought by the state Republican Party about illegal immigrants who got driver's licenses in New Mexico.

The court on Friday concluded the state Motor Vehicle Division and Taxation and Revenue Department properly blacked out personal information, such as names and addresses of drivers, from documents provided to the GOP.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The state Supreme Court has removed Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan from office because of her felony convictions.

The court issued its order on Wednesday.

Attorney General Gary King asked the justices to oust Sloan, but her lawyer contended it should be left to the Legislature to remove an elective official through impeachment.

Sloan was convicted in April of battery and burglary for attacking another woman, Brenda Yazzie. Sloan alleged the woman was having an affair with her husband.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The fire, dubbed the Long Canyon Fire, had burned 2600 acres.

Officials ramped up the response to the blaze when it moved to about a mile from the nearest home.

No evacuations were ordered.

The fire came closest to homes on small hills near Pena Blanca Loop, a dirt road south of Soledad Canyon Day Use Area near Las Cruces.

The blaze began Sunday southwest of a fire that burned on Fort Bliss land in New Mexico last week.

Cause: Human-Caused

Fuels: Light, flashy fuels with brush component

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – New Mexico State University president Barbara Couture has approved an administrative budget reduction plan that trims about $5.2 million for the coming fiscal year, resulting in the elimination of 68 jobs.

A proposal submitted by the university's budget advisory panel had called for another $156,000 in cuts and the elimination of 69 positions.

After a June 15 hearing, officials decided to restore one position under the Vice President of Student Success and change operating funds for the provost's office.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Autopsy results show a 17-year-old Mesquite boy who was shot to death during a March 30 altercation with a Dona Ana County Sheriff's deputy had a blood-alcohol content of .234 percent.

New Mexico's legal level of presumed intoxication is .08 percent.

Toxicology results released Tuesday also showed THC, the major psychoactive constituent of marijuana, in Nick Dominguez's system.

By KRWG News

El Paso – The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the expansion of unmanned drone aircraft flights to patrol the entire Texas-Mexico border.

In a prepared statement, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced the Wednesday decision expanding the flights long sought by Texas officials.

According to the statement, U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement will be allowed to begin the flights along the entire length of the Texas-Mexico border on Sept. 1.

By KRWG News

Las Vegas, NM – Actor Val Kilmer has apologized to his northern New Mexico neighbors after he was quoted making disparaging comments about the community.

San Miguel County commissioners invited Kilmer to a meeting Wednesday to explain comments published years ago in Rolling Stone and Esquire magazines.

Kilmer says he shares residents' concerns "when you hear negative things about a place you love."