Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 125
LAS CRUCES — Farmers in southern New Mexico are bracing for what could be another dry year. There’s not much water in Elephant Butte and other key reservoirs upstream, meaning any new water would have to come from snowmelt runoff next spring in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, The Las Cruces Sun-News reported. Snowmelt isn’t looking promising either, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts warm weather and low precipitation over the next 90 days in those areas. “It’s v...
PECOS — More than 900 firefighters were racing against increasing winds and dropping humidity levels Monday as they fought to contain two wildfires raging in the northern New Mexico mountains. In the Santa Fe National Forest, the Tres Lagunas blaze had burned more than 12 1/2 square miles by midday Monday, and firefighters were working to protect a group of homes in the Holy Ghost Canyon and prevent the fire from spreading east where it could endanger a river watershed that supplies the city of Las Vegas. Some 140 homes, m...
ALBUQUERQUE — A judge agreed Thursday to allow an eastern New Mexico rancher to sell his herd of allegedly emaciated cattle to a Texas buyer after a state agency seized livestock from his drought-stricken ranch. A Tucumcari district attorney told the Albuquerque Journal Thursday that District Judge Albert Mitchell agreed to allow Double V Ranch owner Richard Evans to sell the herd to a buyer in Pampa, Texas. The move clears the way for the cattle to be trucked out of state, starting Monday, said 10th Judicial District A...
WASHINGTON — A new round of military base closings is going nowhere in Congress. The House Armed Services readiness subcommittee passed a bill Thursday rejecting the Obama administration's request for more domestic base closings. Military leaders are cutting the number of troops and argue the drawdown will leave them with more installations than they need. The money saved by closing unused facilities can be spent on training and other essential operations. But military installations are often the economic lifeblood of the c...
WASHINGTON — A new round of military base closings is going nowhere in Congress. The House Armed Services readiness subcommittee passed a bill Thursday rejecting the Obama administration's request for more domestic base closings. Military leaders are cutting the number of troops and argue the drawdown will leave them with more installations than they need. The money saved by closing unused facilities can be spent on training and other essential operations. But military installations are often the economic lifeblood of the c...
SANTA FE — Irrigators, municipalities and industry in parts of drought-stricken eastern New Mexico will be required to install meters on their underground wells to measure water use under a plan by the state's top water manager. State Engineer Scott Verhines said meters must be installed by January in the Fort Sumner Underground Water Basin, which is within a larger area that relies on surface water from the Pecos River. No meters will be necessary for household wells or small wells supplying water for livestock. The m...
ALBUQUERQUE — Environmentalists are criticizing federal wildlife officials for their plan to revamp proposed protections for a prairie grouse found in several western states. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday that it will reopen the comment period on the proposal to list the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species. At issue is a special rule that would take effect if the grouse is listed. It would give landowners in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and other states more flexibility by allowing prairie c...
BOSTON — Federal officials denied a suspect was under arrest Wednesday in the Boston Marathon bombings. A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press earlier in the day that a suspect was in custody. The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Boston said that no arrests had been made. The official who spoke to the AP did so on condition of anonymity and stood by the information even after it was disputed. The official, who was not authorized to divulge details of the investigation, had s...
BOSTON — Two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 140 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs that raised alarms that terrorists might have struck again in the U.S. A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism. President Barack Obama vowed that those responsible will "feel the full w...
PORTALES - A high-speed chase that began in Texas ended in eastern New Mexico after tire deflation devices were used to stop the speeding sedan. Authorities say driver Christopher Sharp refused to stop early Sunday morning after being clocked by police in the Texas city of Canyon with driving the vehicle at 120 mph. The New Mexico Department of Public Safety says the sedan entered New Mexico on State Road 202 in northeastern Roosevelt County. Officials say the car driven by Sharp was stopped by using tire deflation devices...
WASHINGTON— The Defense Department will delay furlough notices for its civilian employees for about two weeks while officials analyze the impact of a new spending bill on planned budget cuts, the Pentagon said Thursday. The delay comes as defense officials continue to wrangle over how many civilians should be exempt from the unpaid leave requirement, including how much of the U.S. intelligence community should be excluded. A senior defense official said Thursday that as much as 10 percent of the department's 800,000 civilian...
VATICAN CITY — Argentine Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope Wednesday and chose the papal name Francis, becoming first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. A stunned-looking Bergoglio shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter's Square, marveling that the cardinals had had to look to "the end of the earth" to find a bishop of Rome. He asked for prayers for himself, and for retired Pope Benedict XVI, whose stunning resignation paved the w...
SANTA FE — In a case that tests anti-discrimination protection for gays, a religious rights group told the New Mexico Supreme Court on Monday that a photographer who declined to shoot the commitment ceremony of a lesbian couple was exercising her rights to free speech and artistic freedom. The First Amendment should exempt Elaine Huguenin and her Albuquerque business, Elane Photography, from state laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defending Freedom told the high court....
SANTA FE — A House committee approved a proposal Friday that could protect legislators' email from being publicly disclosed through requests made under a New Mexico open government law. The proposed change in legislative rules unanimously endorsed by the Rules and Order of Business Committee will establish a policy for how the Legislature will handle requests under the Inspection of Public Records Act. Some lawmakers use email only through personal accounts rather than a legislative email system. House Republican Leader Donal...
SANTA FE — Allies of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez narrowly failed Wednesday in trying to revive legislation that would stop New Mexico from issuing driver's licenses to most illegal immigrants. A Martinez-backed license proposal has been bottled up in committee by majority Democrats, which dooms the bill as time runs out in the legislative session. Lawmakers will adjourn in 10 days and similar license legislation is stalled in the Senate. Republicans — aided by a handful of Democrats — tried a rarely successful proce...
AMARILLO — Some roadways in the Texas Panhandle are reopening Tuesday as sunny conditions begin to thaw ice and snow-packed surfaces slickened by a massive blizzard that blanketed the region. Interstate 27 has reopened between snow-hammered Amarillo and Lubbock, about 120 miles to the south. Units with the Texas National Guard have worked to clear Interstate 40 from the Oklahoma border to the New Mexico state line. The highway reopened Tuesday afternoon. U.S. 287 has reopened in both directions, as have U.S. 385, U.S. 60 a...
ST. LOUIS — The blanket of snow covering much of the Great Plains after two big storms in less than a week may provide some relief for parched areas, but it's no "drought-buster," experts said Tuesday. States such as Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma have been among the hardest hit by the drought that at one point covered two-thirds of the nation. Now, they're buried under snow from two storms just days apart that dumped nearly 20 inches on Wichita, Kan., and more than a foot in parts of Oklahoma, Nebraska and other Plains s...
BRUSSELS — A former Cannon Air Force Base group commander is the likely choice to become commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, a senior NATO official said Thursday. Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, who served as 27th Operations Group from July 1997 to June 1999, is the top U.S. Air Force commander in Europe. The job opened up this week when President Obama's first choice, Marine Gen. John Allen, announced he would retire after 19 months commanding allied forces in Afghanistan to attend to his wife's health issues. The N...
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the nomination of former GOP senator Chuck Hagel as the nation's next defense secretary over unrelated questions about President Barack Obama's actions in the aftermath of the deadly raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. Obama accused Republicans of playing politics with national security during wartime, and Democrats vowed to revive the nomination after Congress' weeklong break. By 58-40, with one abstention, the Senate fell short of the 60-vote threshold r...
BIG BEAR, Calif. — The extraordinary manhunt for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of three murders converged Tuesday on a mountain cabin where he was believed to have barricaded himself inside, engaged in a shootout that killed a deputy and then never emerged as the home went up in flames. A single gunshot was heard from within, and a charred body was found inside. If the man inside proves to be Christopher Dorner, the search for the most wanted man in A...
The text of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, released by the White House as prepared for delivery: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, fellow citizens: Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this chamber that "the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress. ... It is my task," he said, "to report the state of the Union - to improve it is the task of us all." Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination...
WASHINGTON — Uncompromising and politically emboldened, President Barack Obama urged a deeply divided Congress Tuesday night to embrace his plans to use government money to create jobs and strengthen the nation's middle class. He declared Republican ideas for reducing the deficit "even worse" than the unpalatable deals Washington had to stomach during his first term. In his first State of the Union address since winning re-election, Obama conceded economic revival is an "unfin...
AUSTIN, Texas — The system Texas uses to fund public schools violates the state's constitution by not providing enough money to school districts and failing to distribute the money in a fair way, a judge ruled Monday. The landmark decision could force the Legislature to overhaul the way it pays for education. Shortly after listening to closing arguments, Judge John Dietz ruled the funding mechanism does not meet the constitutional requirement for a fair and efficient system that provides a general diffusion of knowledge. "...
CLOVIS — A Clovis man has been convicted in a sexual assault case and sentenced to five years in prison. A Curry County jury Friday found 27-year-old Mario Alberto Pinela-Marquez guilty of second-degree criminal sexual penetration and concealing identity. Pinela-Marquez was accused of entering a room where a 19-year-old female was sleeping and sexually assaulted her while holding her down by her throat on May 4, 2011. The victim reported the assault to her sister and Clovis police were notified. Pinela-Marquez was arrested t...
ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico teenager accused of gunning down five family members over the weekend ambushed his father as he returned home from an overnight shift at a rescue mission, then reloaded his rifles and planned to go to a Wal-Mart and randomly shoot people, authorities said Tuesday. Instead, 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego texted a picture of his dead mother to his 12-year-old girlfriend, then spent much of Saturday with the girl and her family, authorities said. That evening, he went to the church where Griego's f...
