Regional

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The New Mexico Human Services Department is asking poor homeowners who need help their energy bills this winter to apply to a state assistance program.

The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps families pay for natural gas, electricity and bulk fuels, like propane, firewood and wood pellets.

The department says nearly 70,000 New Mexico households participated in the program last year.

The one-time benefit this year is expected to average $150.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Former Rep. Heather Wilson says she will not run for governor of New Mexico in 2010.

Wilson says in a statement Thursday that the governor's post has no significant national security role, which is an issue that is important to her.

She says New Mexicans have encouraged her to run for the last 10 months but her work in the private sector is satisfying.

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – This week New Mexico U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman outlined four steps congress can take to help create jobs in the current economic climate. KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – New Mexico U.S. Senator Tom Udall says even though nuclear energy provisions haven't been mentioned publicly in the new climate bill they do play a big role in the legislation. KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – Members of the New Mexico congressional delegation confirmed that the Holloman Air Force Base is being looked at as a possible home for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Air Force has informed the delegation that it will conduct environmental impact analyses on three bases, one of which will be selected to house a F-35 training mission. In addition to Holloman, the Air Force is looking at Luke (Arizona) and Eglin (Florida) Air Force bases.

By KRWG News

El Paso – An El Paso company has been chosen for a major federal stimulus project in New Mexico.

Licon Engineering Company of El Paso has been selected for Middle Rio Grande Flood Protection project.

The one million dollar contract using federal stimulus dollars .was granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico health officials say five more people have died from swine flu in the past week.

The deaths include a 52-year-old Sandoval County man, a 51-year-old San Juan County woman, a 69-year-old Bernalillo County man, a 73-year-old Socorro County man and a 49-year-old man whose residence wasn't immediately determined.

All five victims had chronic medical conditions that placed them at higher risk.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – A New Mexico court says drug sellers must know they are in drug-free school zones in order to face the more serious penalties for trafficking in those areas.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg says the Court of Appeals ruling issued last week effectively guts the law on drug-free school zones. But she says it will affect only a small number of cases.

Her office handled more than 30,000 cases last year and the school zone drug enhancement applied in only about 15.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The Motor Vehicle Division will allow domestic violence and sexual assault victims to obtain a driver's license with a confidential mailing address.

MVD Director Michael Sandoval said Wednesday the agency is implementing a confidential address program authorized in a 2007 law to reduce the risk that abusers will track down their victims.

By KRWG News

El Paso – A federal judge in El Paso has thrown out bribery charges against a lawyer and a district clerk in a public corruption investigation.

Attorney and former El Paso County Judge Luther Jones and District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez are accused in an alleged scheme to award a contract.

U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo, in an opinion released Wednesday, dismissed both bribery charges, as well as one count of mail fraud.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico national security initiatives in Los Alamos, Albuquerque and Socorro will receive $43 million in federal funding.

Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall say the money was contained in the 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations bill that was signed into law Wednesday.

The funding includes $23 million for New Mexico Tech's National Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center in Socorro.

By KRWG News

Shiprock, NM – Investigators are looking into the discovery of two bodies found this week on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, but FBI agents say the deaths are not believed to be related.

One body was recovered from an irrigation ditch near Fruitland and the other at the base of a 150-foot cliff northeast of Shiprock.

Tribal employees found the body of 22-year-old Jeremy Johnson Bee of Lower Fruitland in the ditch. Investigators say Bee's family had been searching for him since Tuesday.

By KRWG News

Truth or Consequences – For the second time, New Mexico Environment Department officials have rejected a discharge permit for a proposed dairy near Truth or Consequences.

Environment Secretary Ron Curry issued the decision after the state Water Quality Control Commission remanded the permit issue back to the department.

The decision affects the Parasol Dairy, located about 5 miles southwest of Caballo.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Las Cruces Police have arrested a couple believed to be responsible for a number of thefts over the past three months from vehicles parked at area home improvement stores.

Guadalupe Atwell, 26, of the 5300 block of Sunny Acres Drive, and Cindie Pauline Carter-Mitchell, 43, of the 2300 block of Saturn Drive, were arrested Wednesday after an intensive investigation by LCPD detectives and officers from patrol, the Targeting Neighborhood Threats unit and the street crimes unit.

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – The senate has voted to move forward with legislation to extend unemployment benefits. As KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports thousands of New Mexicans could benefit from an extension.