Regional

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The debate over whether New Mexico should adopt new regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions is continuing in Santa Fe, and questions remain about whether the regulators considering the matter are too closely aligned with environmental interests.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Every Monday, Fred Martino speaks with Las Cruces Sun News Business Editor Brook Stockberger.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The Census Bureau reports that New Mexico ranks fifth nationally for the percentage of children living in poverty.

The agency's American Community Survey found that slightly more than 25 percent of children under 18 in New Mexico were below the federal poverty level in 2009.

That's an increase of about 1 percent from 2008.

Three states and the District of Columbia had higher rates of child poverty than New Mexico. Mississippi was the highest at 31 percent.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – If you're looking for work and don't mind taking a temporary job, the holiday season presents an opportunity.

Many companies in the Las Cruces area are bringing on extra help before Christmas shopping. With the holiday season seeming to start sooner and sooner each year, many businesses have already started the process or soon will.

By KRWG News

Texas – The state of Texas has given more than $16 million to high-tech startups whose investors are big donors to Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

The Dallas Morning News reports companies with ties to at least eight big donors have received awards from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund administered by Perry's office.

Perry says the donations played no role in the awards and he often doesn't know who has invested in the companies.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – There's more than candidates on the Nov. 2 ballot. New Mexico voters also have to decide on five constitutional amendments and four bond issues.

The constitutional amendments include one to offer free tuition to war veterans from New Mexico.

The program would cover veterans who lived in New Mexico when they entered the service or who have lived in the state for 10 years.

Another constitutional amendment would let county officials seek three consecutive terms instead of the current two.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – City officials are ready to consider awarding a contract for design and construction of the new Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Science.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on the contract with ASA Architects of Las Cruces during Monday's meeting. The contract is worth more than $400,000.

By KRWG News

Monterrey, Mexico – An explosion at a plaza in a Monterrey suburb in northeastern Mexico injured 15 people.

Authorities blamed the Saturday night attack Sunday on drug cartels targeting the civilian population to cause chaos.

Police believe the attackers threw a grenade at the main square in the town of Guadalupe. But Adrian de la Garza. director of the Nuevo Leon state investigations agency, says investigators are still trying to confirm the type of explosive involved.

By KRWG News

Texas – As repeated efforts to regulate local jails across Texas fail, inmates in more than 370 city and town jails go unsupervised despite ongoing reports of inmate suicides, unsafe conditions, according to a published report.

Suspects in some local lockups are left handcuffed to benches for hours with little or no supervision, and a woman in one small-town jail was left with nothing more than a cell phone to use if she needed help, the Austin American-Statesman reported in Sunday's editions.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – The crews and pilots of 12 F-22A Raptors have returned to Holloman Air Force Base after a four-month deployment to Japan.

The 7th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron returned Friday. Members from the 49th Maintenance Group, 49th Operations Group, 49th Mission Support Group and the 44th Fighter Group left May 27 for the first deployment of the F-22 to the Pacific Region in Holloman history.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Eight New Mexico men have been arrested and more arrests are expected as part of a child pornography crackdown by law enforcement officials.

State and federal agents assigned to the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force have served 22 search warrants in the past two weeks across the state. Arrests were made in Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Lovington, Cimarron, Rio Rancho and Cedar Crest.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – Two men accused of kidnapping and raping a 24-year-old mother of three have been acquitted by a jury in Alamogordo.

Mark Jackson and James T. Manning were facing up to 70 years in prison if the Otero County jury had not exonerated them on Friday.

The Alamogordo Daily News reported that the men were charged with eight felonies each for the alleged April 2009 incident. Jackson is 39 and Manning is 25 years old.

By KRWG News

Carlsbad – A 33-year-old Carlsbad woman accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student has been sentenced to 17 months in state prison on a lesser charge.

Melinda Beth Bridges and the then 16-year-old boy fled New Mexico the day after police questioned them in May 2009 about the alleged affair. They were found in Louisiana five days later.

Bridges was a substitute teacher at Jefferson Montessori Academy and the boy was a student. The school principal reported the alleged affair to police.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The budget for United States nuclear weapons programs has received a 10 percent boost over funding levels for the 2010 budget year, an increase hailed by Sen. Jeff Bingaman but assailed by the leader of an anti-nuclear group.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans agreed this week, in a continuing budget resolution that funds government for the next two months, to support a $624 million increase for weapons work by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Attorney General Gary King backs a decision by the secretary of state to allow a write-in candidate for governor without a running mate.

King's office said that Secretary of State Mary Herrera "has not done anything illegal" in permitting Kenneth A. Gomez of Bloomfield as a write-in candidate.

Herrera has come under criticism from her Republican opponent, Dianna Duran, and several county clerks.