Regional

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (AP) — A former freelance journalist for a Spanish-language El Paso newspaper is wanted in connection to a topless dancer extortion case in a troubled New Mexico border city.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A resurgent Rick Santorum swept primaries in Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday night, upending the race for the Republican presidential nomination yet again and nudging Newt Gingrich toward the sidelines.

Mitt Romney finished third in both states, but he salvaged a win in the Hawaii caucuses and won the support of all nine delegates at GOP caucuses in American Samoa.

Investigators with the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Department have made an arrest in the 2010 murder of a homeless man.

Arnold Hofeldt, 52, was located Tuesday morning in El Paso County, Colorado. According to investigators, Hofeldt was a person of interest in the murder of Kermit E. Feazelle, whose body was found Nov. 16, 2010, in a desert area east of I-25 near the Doña Ana exit.

Hofeldt voluntarily agreed to speak with investigators regarding Feazelle’s disappearance on Jan. 4, 2011, but failed to show for a polygraph test the following day.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman has announced that the New Mexico Department of Public Safety has been awarded a $1.13 million grant to ensure that commercial vehicles crossing into the United States from Mexico meet regulations and safety standards.         Funding was awarded through the U.S.

KRWG-TV:  Saturday at 10pm

This is a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of legends — all original performers singing their greatest jammin’ hits. Soul diva Patti LaBelle hosts the historic reunion of classic recording artists of the decade, including the Commodores, original lead Eugene Record reuniting with the Chi-Lites, the Stylistics, Yvonne Elliman, Heatwave, Earl Young’s Trammps, the Emotions and the Manhattans.

KRWG-TV:  Friday at 9pm

New Mexico’s Third Judicial District Court has issued a nationwide warrant for the arrest of a Mexican national who Doña Ana County Sheriff’s investigators say is wanted for sexual assault against a child.

On Friday, March 9, a warrant was issued for Ernesto Gonzalez, 26, after he was indicted by a grand jury in connection with an assault that occurred on Nov. 24, 2011.

Gonzalez is wanted on charges of first-degree criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13 and bribery of a witness.

Every Monday at 7:51am on Morning Edition, Fred Martino covers the week's top local business stories with Las Cruces Sun News Business Editor Brook Stockberger.  Subscribe to our podcast on the right side of this page so you never miss a segment.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Beginning next month, pharmacists and other practitioners who dispense controlled substances in New Mexico will have to report prescription and patient information much more frequently.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/AuAMWy) that the state Board of Pharmacy believes that the new requirements that take effect in April will be a powerful tool in preventing substance abuse.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A new report by a utility on Albuquerque's daily water usage shows that the city has already met a state regulatory goal of such usage 13 years early.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/wcqFj1) that Albuquerque's daily water usage dropped below 150 gallons per person in 2011.

Per capita usage is down 40 percent from 1994 when metro area's water utility launched a major water conservation effort after experts realized Albuquerque was draining the groundwater reservoir that serves the city.