ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation are pushing to ensure a federal oversight panel will have the resources it needs to continue monitoring operations at national laboratories and other nuclear sites around the country.

Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich have proposed as part of a major defense spending bill that the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report to Congress each year on what additional resources are needed to ensure that operations at Sandia and Los Alamos labs are safe.

Commentary: WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall is defending public lands – in particular, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – from provisions in the Republicans’ proposed Fiscal Year 2018 budget resolution that would open these special places to development. A provision snuck in the budget proposal, which is being debated on the Senate floor now, would allow 1.5 million acres of the Arctic refuge’s pristine coastal plain to be auctioned off to the highest bidder to sell oil and pay for a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires. 

Commentary: WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 19, 2017) - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced an amendment to strip language (Title II Section 2001) in the Fiscal Year 2018 Republican budget resolution that provides fast-track authority to sell off America’s public lands. The budget resolution is currently being considered on the Senate floor.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As wildfires rage across California and the West, a bipartisan group of senators is seeking to help rural communities better prepare for and prevent catastrophic wildfires.

A bill sponsored by senators from three Northwestern states would authorize hundreds of millions in new spending to help at-risk communities prevent wildfires and create a pilot program to cut down trees in the most fire-prone areas.

Las Cruces police are investigating the discovery of a body found Thursday morning near the 300 block of north Valley Drive.

Sometime before 10 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19, a person working in the area discovered the body in an undeveloped lot near Fire Station 3 and Branigan Park. Investigators are trying to determine the identity, cause of death and how long the body has been there.