Regional

By KRWG News

Santa Fe – Gov. Bill Richardson is shutting down the State Film Museum as a cost-cutting move.

The museum is at the former Jean Cocteau movie theater near downtown Santa Fe and its lease is expiring.

Richardson said Friday that museum operations will be suspended effective June 30, at the end of the budget year.

The state expects to save $177,000 a year, which includes the $55,000 annual salary of museum director Sharon Maloof, a Richardson appointee. Maloof is retiring this month, according to the governor's office.

By KRWG News

Texas – Texas schoolchildren will now be required to learn that the words "separation of church and state" aren't in the Constitution.

The State Board of Education approved several new social studies curriculum standards late Friday. The votes ended months of ideological haggling that drew attention beyond Texas.

Other changes include requiring students to evaluate efforts by the United Nations and other global organizations to undermine U.S. sovereignty.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico is getting $26 million in federal unemployment insurance modernization incentive funds.

The U.S. Department of Labor says the state qualified for the money by letting certain part-time workers claim unemployment benefits and by providing dependents' allowances for unemployment insurance beneficiaries.

The state's labor department can use the money to pay unemployment benefits and to administer the unemployment insurance program.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – El Paso Sector U.S. Border Patrol Agents were busy this week in two separate instances with the arrest of a sexual offender and the confiscation of 18 bundles of cocaine and marijuana valued at over a quarter million dollars.

On Wednesday, U.S. Border Patrol Agents assigned to the Alamogordo, New Mexico traffic checkpoint on Highway 70 apprehended 58-year-old, U.S. citizen Dennis Lamonte Brown after it was discovered that the tractor trailer he was driving was loaded with narcotics.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – New Mexico State University is getting $1.8 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to strengthen undergraduate and precollege science education.

The institute says that in the past four years, more than 2,000 New Mexico high school students have done basic genetics experiments with the help of NMSU scientists and a mobile lab that goes to a different school each week.

The hands-on program was started in 2006 with the help of a grant from the institute.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – City animal control officers have started removing hundreds of large, feral rats from inside a Las Cruces rental home.

Animal shelter director Beth Vesco-Mock says the rats some sickly and displaying evidence of fighting are about the size of a four- to five-month-old kitten.

Animal control officers had taken two skinny dogs and about 170 rats to the shelter by mid-Thursday, and officers estimated there were at least that many rats still hiding in the home.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – New Mexico Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan has been ordered to serve probation after being convicted of battery and burglary stemming from a fit of jealous rage.

A state district judge sentenced Sloan on Thursday to five years and suspended the term with the condition of supervised probation. Sloan must also pay a $2,500 fine and $1,000 in court costs.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The New Mexico Department of Agriculture is cracking down on overcharges for liquefied petroleum gas what consumers are familiar with as the 5-gallon bottles used for barbecue grills.

The head of the Agricultural Department's standards and consumer services division, Joe Gomez, says inspectors found some vendors in New Mexico selling the gas by a flat rate instead of the required weight or liquid measure.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – Twelve F-22A Raptors from Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico will deploy to Kadena Air Base in Japan for four months.

Another 12 of the aircraft will be sent in late May from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

About 250 airmen will accompany the Raptors to each location.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Gusty winds and low humidity has led the National Weather Service to issue a fire danger warning for southwest and south-central New Mexico for Saturday afternoon.

Critical fire weather conditions will likely exist along the eastern slopes of higher mountain ranges and in lowland areas of southwestern New Mexico.

West-southwest winds will increase to 20 to 25 miles-an-hour with gusts to around 30 miles-an-hour Saturday afternoon.

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – State budget problems are having a significant impact on this year's primary and general elections in the state. KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports

By Vanessa Dabovich

Las Cruces, NM – Primary elections in New Mexico are soon approaching and Secretary of State Mary Herrera is urging voters to cast their ballots. KRWG's Vanessa Dabovich reports

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The decomposed body that was discovered in the Organ Mountains has been identified by Dona Ana County Sheriff investigators as a disabled Las Cruces woman who went missing in February.

The body has been identified as that of ROBIN COLTS, age 46, who was reported missing to the Sheriff's Department on February 15, 2010.

Sheriff's Investigators are continuing to investigate.

While the investigation is on-going, the Sheriff's Department will not release any other information.

By Melissa Aguilera

Las Cruces, NM – An air quality project is beginning in the border region to help the New Mexico Department of Health better understand the impact of pollution. KRWG's Melissa Aguilera reports.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – For the first time in the history of the Las Cruces Public Schools, the graduation ceremonies for the district's three largest high schools will be webcast over the Internet and televised on the City's cable access channel.