Regional

By KRWG News

Santa Teresa, NM – At 4:30am Monday morning, deputies with the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Department were dispatched to the 320 block of Avenida Mirador in reference to a robbery.

When deputies arrived, they learned the residence is inside a gated community in the Santa Teresa Country Club area.

During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the four suspects forced entry into the home and threatened the victims with firearms. The suspects then tied the victims up with plastic ties and demanded money.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – The state of New Mexico has spent more than a half-million dollars investigating and monitoring a giant cavern in southeastern New Mexico, and now it wants the company responsible for the property to pay up.

State officials say the extraction of millions of barrels of brine from a salt layer deep underground has resulted in the cavern in Carlsbad.

By KRWG News

Texas – A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders is attracting just the sort of customer who places a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.

Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the U.S. Nine out of 10 do so without their cargo inspected.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – Every Monday on Morning Edition at 7:51, Fred Martino speaks with Brook Stockberger, Business Editor at the Las Cruces Sun News.

By KRWG News

Santa Fe – A World War II veteran whose body went unclaimed has been buried by fellow veterans in the National Cemetery in Santa Fe.

The veterans made sure John Quincy Lott who spent 25 years in the military received an honor guard, a folded American flag, prayers and a rifle salute.

Lott, who was born in 1917, died Oct. 12 at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Albuquerque.

His only child, a daughter living in Massachusetts, didn't have the money to come claim the body, and he had no other relatives.

By KRWG News

Texas – The Army psychiatrist charged in one of the worst mass shootings on a U.S. military base has been placed in pretrial confinement but will remain in a military hospital.

A military magistrate made that decision Saturday during a hearing in Maj. Nidal Hasan's hospital room at a San Antonio military hospital. It's where Hasan's been recovering since the Nov. 5 shooting at Fort Hood that killed 13 and wounded more than two dozen. Hasan was shot by civilian members of Fort Hood's police force.

By KRWG News

Taos – A judge who warned people in a courtroom gallery to remain quiet during a hearing for a convicted rapist jailed nearly 30 people for contempt of court when he said they became unruly and defiant.

District Judge Sam Sanchez charged the crowd with contempt of court Thursday and sent them to jail, where they remained until being released Friday.

The state Supreme Court granted an emergency writ to release them after a petition from the public defender's office.

The office argued they weren't given individual hearings.

By KRWG News

Moriarty, NM – Former president Bill Clinton joined more than 2,000 mourners at a funeral for former Gov. Bruce King, New Mexico's longest serving governor.

Clinton delivered a eulogy Saturday, recalling King as an astute politician with a sharp sense of humor and a common touch.

Clinton called King "my generation's Will Rogers" because of his wit.

King was a farmer and rancher who served three terms as governor over three decades.

He died last week at age 85.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – An environmental group is threatening to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its failure to respond to a petition involving the Mexican gray wolf.

The Center for Biological Diversity had filed a petition asking the agency to list the wolf on the endangered species list separate from other gray wolves in North America or as a distinct population.

The group says wolf recovery in New Mexico and Arizona has fallen off the tracks partly because of the legal limbo the animal faces as a subspecies of the gray wolf.

By KRWG News

New Mexico – Gov. Bill Richardson says he's concerned about a proposed land swap in northeast New Mexico that would result in a net loss to the state of almost 4,000 acres of alpine meadows and pristine forest.

Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons has said the proposed trade in the White Peak area would reduce conflicts among landowners, sportsmen and the state by better consolidating state trust land.

Sportsmen argue the deal would only benefit private landowners and eliminate public access to hunting and recreational areas.

By KRWG News

Texas – A Democratic senator says there may be additional e-mails that could have tipped off law enforcement or military officials to the Fort Hood shooter before he went on his rampage.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Friday after a briefing from Pentagon and Army officials that his committee will investigate whether those and other e-mails involving the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, were handled properly.

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – A Mesilla couple has pleaded no contest to more than 100 counts of animal cruelty.

Lester Boyse and Carol Boyse were indicted last year on 55 felony counts of extreme cruelty to animals and 52 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals. They entered their pleas in early November.

Prosecutors say the couple face at least five years' probation or a maximum of 106 years in jail. Sentencing has not been scheduled.

By KRWG News

Texas – Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison have agreed to a debate before their hotly contested Republican gubernatorial primary next spring.

Officials at Dallas public television station KERA said Friday both candidates accepted a Jan. 14 debate in northern Texas. The primary is March 2.

The station says Hutchison might ask for the debate to be rescheduled if it conflicts with a Senate vote on health care reform.

By KRWG News

El Paso – A U.S. Customs and Border Protection technician is accused of conspiring to smuggle marijuana and illegal immigrants into the U.S.

Federal investigators said Martha Alicia Garnica, a 43-year-old CBP technician, was indicted and arrested Wednesday. She is charged with conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants, conspiracy to import marijuana, importation of a controlled substance and bribery of a public official. Carlos Francisco Ramirez, 40, and 23-year-old Edgar Ely Meraz were also indicted and arrested.

By KRWG News

Alamogordo – The U.S. Department of Transportation is renewing New Mexico Airlines' contract to provide commercial air service to Alamogordo.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman made the announcement Thursday. The New Mexico Democrat says the service is important to the area's economy and is an asset to nearby Holloman Air Force Base.

Under the contract, the airline will provide two round trips each weekday and three round trips over each weekend to Albuquerque's international airport for an annual subsidy rate of more than $1 million.