Regional

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Fort Bliss officials say firefighters are gaining ground on a wildfire that's blackened more than about five thousand acres of a southern New Mexico section of the Army post.

An air-and-ground attack has contained 60 percent of the wildfire.

Federal, Army and New Mexico state crews continue to fight the blaze in the rugged Organ Mountains, about 12 miles east of Las Cruces, N.M., but no structures are threatened and no one has been injured.

By KRWG News

Silver City – Three New Mexico colleges will share $375,000 in state funds for film and broadcasting training programs.

Gov. Bill Richardson on Thursday announced the funding for Western New Mexico University in Silver City, the University of New Mexico branch in Gallup and San Juan College in Farmington.

This follows Richardson's announcement on Monday of $385,000 for similar programs at Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell, New Mexico State University-Carlsbad and Luna Community College in Las Vegas.

By KRWG News

Ruidoso – New Mexico state police have identified the five people who were killed Thursday when their twin-engine airplane apparently overshot a runway while landing and crashed at a regional airport in south-central New Mexico.

The victims are Rodney and Delaine Duree, both 50; the couple's son, 11-year-old Lake Duree; 46-year-old Karl Lowell Richey and his wife, 44-year-old Keri Richey.

The Richeys' two sons, 16-year-old Alexander and his 12-year-old Christopher, were taken to a hospital in El Paso, Texas.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Four American Indian communities in New Mexico have been awarded nearly $4 million in federal grants to improve their water and wastewater systems.

The funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was provided through a grant program created by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that supports projects in Indian communities.

Bingaman's office says the senator requests funding be set aside every year to pay for basic water and wastewater systems, tribal colleges and business promotion in Indian Country.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – A report by Gov. Bill Richardson's administration says 47 percent of high school graduates who went to a New Mexico college in 2009 needed remedial courses in math or reading.

The report said that was an improvement over 2008, when half of students required remedial classes in college.

The governor's office announced the report's findings on Thursday. The Ready for College report is prepared annually by the Office of Education Accountability, the Public Education Department and the Higher Education Department.

By KRWG News

Texas – Democratic candidate for governor Bill White says his opponent, Gov. Rick Perry, is a part-time governor.

White on Thursday released copies of Perry's schedules from January through May. White said Perry worked about seven hours a week during the time period. Perry was campaigning for re-election from January until the early March primary.

By KRWG News

Ruidoso – Authorities say at least five people are dead and two others are injured after a twin-engine plane overshot a runway while landing and crashed at a regional airport in south-central New Mexico.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said he did not have information on the flight plan for the Cessna 310, but he confirmed it was registered to an owner in Granbury, Texas. The tail number shows the airplane belongs to Rod Aviation.

By KRWG News

El Paso – A congressional investigator says fixing the "virtual fence" designed to guard the southern border is like trying to redirect a moving iceberg.

The fence of cameras, sensors and other technology originally was supposed to monitor most of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico by 2011. But technical problems and glitches have delayed the project and lawmakers want to know whether to keep investing in it. The Department of Homeland Security has suspended spending on the project.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission has delayed action on a proposed water rights agreement with computer chip manufacturer Intel Corp.

The panel decided at a packed meeting Wednesday to put off making a decision on the agreement, which has raised concerns among state lawmakers and irrigators in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. Critics have asked for more time to study the proposal.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The Las Cruces Police have charged three men for their involvement in Wednesday morning's theft of beer from a Pic Quik convenience store.

Nathan Arnold, 18, and 19-year-olds William Weldon Bruce and Allen Otto each face one count of being a minor in possession of alcohol.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The circumstances surrounding the drowning death of a ten month old child in the 6300 block of MacArthur Road is under investigation by Sheriff's Investigators.

According to Investigators, the mother of the child left the room for approximately three minutes and when she returned, discovered her child face down in a five gallon paint bucket containing water and laundry detergent.

The child's mother immediately called 911, while the child's grandparents attempted to perform CPR.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The Albuquerque Journal has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gov. Bill Richardson's office violated New Mexico's open records law by withholding documents about 59 appointive state workers who lost their jobs because of budget cuts.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The New Mexico Education Trust Board will receive $67 million from OppenheimerFunds to settle an investigation into the firm's management of a college savings program.

The board and Attorney General Gary King approved the settlement on Wednesday.

The $67 million will be distributed to plan participants who invested in a bond fund that suffered big losses because of risky mortgage-backed securities. The fund had been promoted as a conservative investment.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Congressman Harry Teague announced that the Las Cruces Housing Authority has been awarded a grant for $338,895. The funding, allocated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development through the 2010 Capital Fund Program, can be put towards capital and management projects, including modernization and development of public housing.

By KRWG News

Juarez, Mexico – Gunmen slaughter 19 men at a rehab clinic. Sixteen bodies are dumped in a northern city. Twelve police officers die in an ambush. Soldiers kill 15 gunmen outside a tourist town.

All this in less than a week, yet President Felipe Calderon believes Mexico is getting a bad rap and wants to hire a public relations firm to improve its image. He might want to start with convincing his own countrymen, who are frustrated by assurances that the drug war is going well.