News

An ex-federal informant and Mexican drug cartel member has pleaded guilty to murder as part of an agreement with prosecutors for the slaying of a fellow cartel member and fellow informant.

The El Paso Times reports that Ruben Rodriguez-Dorado has been sentenced to life in prison as part of the agreement for the 2009 shooting death of Jose Daniel Gonzalez-Galeana.

Both men, besides working for the Juarez cartel across the border from El Paso, were also informants for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A wildfire in northern New Mexico that forced about 100 Boy Scouts to relocate to another camping area has grown to more than 1,000 acres.

State Forestry officials say the Whites Peak Fire grew Saturday to 1,111 acres — more than 1.7 square miles — and is 10 percent contained.

The lightning-caused fire began Thursday morning in a remote forested area of private land about 14 miles southwest of Cimarron and 3 miles south of Philmont's border.

Hyundai of El Paso President Oscar Leeser will soon add the title Mayor Leeser to his resume.  Leeser garnered about 75 percent of the votes in Saturday's runoff election against City Council member Steve Ortega.  Leeser nearly won the El Paso mayoral race outright in May, garnering almost half of the votes cast; with city Rep. Steve Ortega a far-behind second-place finisher, managing less than a quarter.  Without breaking the necessary 50 percent threshold, the runoff election was required.

Gov. Rick Perry has vetoed 24 bills and removed some parts of the state budget approved by lawmakers.  Among them is a Texas version of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have helped ensure employers provide women statewide with equal pay for equal work.

Perry also used his line-item veto powers to cut funding for the state's Public Integrity Unit, after the district attorney who heads it was convicted of drunk driving and refused to resign.

That was the only major change he made to the budget, however.

Affordable housing projects that serve 19 American Indian communities in New Mexico will share more than $16 million.

The funding comes from a grant program run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Federal officials say the money will go toward a broad range of housing activities, from building new homes to the development of new approaches to provide more housing to working families who live on reservations or in other tribal communities.

Nationally, $563 million was awarded to programs that represent hundreds of tribes across the U.S.

The head of the New Mexico Game and Fish Department and members of the state Game Commission don't like the idea of turning over management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service.

They met with representatives from U.S. Sen. Tom Udall's office on Friday to discuss pending federal legislation concerning the 89,000-acre preserve in northern New Mexico.

Udall and retired Sen. Jeff Bingaman first proposed the transfer in 2010 in hopes of getting more consistent funding to preserve the area.

A Texas lawmaker says the state may need new laws and regulations regarding the safe handling of hazardous materials after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West highlighted the dangers.

Chairman of the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee Rep. Joe Pickett will hold on Monday the second hearing since the West Fertilizer Co. plant caught fire and blew up in April. Fifteen people were killed and hundreds injured.

  Small amounts of rain fell on the north and south side of the fire Friday, moderating fire activity.  Firefighters expect the same weather patterns this weekend, which will continue to be favorable to suppression efforts.  The fire is now at 21,789 acres.

The Northern Arizona Incident Management Team is hosting Congressman Steve Pearce, staff and his guests at the Silver Fire.  A tour and briefing are planned at the Incident Command Post in San Lorenzo, N.M.

  WASHINGTON – Today U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with Reps. Ben Ray Luján, Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Steve Pearce announced they have introduced legislation to improve tribal education and preserve Native American language in schools. Graduation rates for American Indians and Alaska Natives are less than 50 percent – lower than the graduation rates for all other ethnic groups in the United States.

  HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. – There’s no doubt that Holloman Air Force Base is home to extraordinary missions, but it's also an international training center.  People are aware of visits from the German Air Force, but who else is helping the Holloman Remotely Piloted Aircraft mission?

The Italian air force is an integral part of Holloman AFB’s RPA training mission and there is a strong collaboration between the forces.

Gov. Rick Perry has signed a law mandating drug testing for some unemployment benefits recipients.

Employers already hold insurance policies to help laid-off workers survive on weekly payments of $62 to $440. Those fired for cause, including failing an employer-sponsored drug test, don't qualify.

The changes approved by the Texas House and Senate previously and signed into law by Perry on Friday require workers who lose their jobs to fill out state questionnaires.

A federal audit confirms several schools in El Paso cheated on high-stakes accountability tests during the tenure of now-convicted superintendent Lorenzo Garcia.  The Department of Education audit released Friday says the district prevented some students from taking the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests.

During Garcia's administration, district officials encouraged low-performing students to drop out or held them back in the 9th grade so they would not take the TAKS test in the 10th grade.

The federal government is being asked to cough up more than $60 million for damages from the 2011 Las Conchas fire and subsequent flooding in northern New Mexico.

The Forest Service faces damage claims filed Thursday by the Cochiti and Jemez pueblos and four individuals who own a ranch.

The claims allege losses due to burned timber, habitat loss and erosion and flood damage from the fire. It burned nearly 244 square miles and destroyed 63 homes.

With each dry thunderstorm that moves across New Mexico, the chance of another wildfire breaking out goes up. But experts say it's the wind that will help determine whether the state has another record season.

Crews are already battling a handful of blazes in the Santa Fe National Forest, on private land near Whites Peak and in rugged territory in southern New Mexico.

The flames are being fueled by overcrowded forests, the terrain and dry conditions.

Santa Fe, NM–The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is releasing a Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) that provides a comprehensive analysis of potential environmental impacts for the proposed SunZia Southwest Transmission Line Project in New Mexico and Arizona, and identifies a preferred alternative for the project.