- NEW MEXICO-ATHLETICS SPENDING
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former University of New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs has been indicted in connection with a lavish 2015 golf trip to Scotland that was partly paid for with state funds.
Documents filed Wednesday in state district court show a grand jury indicted the 63-year-old Krebs on embezzlement, larceny, and tampering charges.
The charges are part of an investigation into questionable spending by the school's troubled athletic department.
Attorney General Hector Balderas launched an investigation in 2017 after it was discovered that the university used nearly $25,000 in public money to pay some private donor expenses on the Scotland trip.
Krebs served as New Mexico athletic director from 2006 to 2017.
Krebs' attorney Paul Kennedy says he's confident his client will be vindicated by a jury.
- VAPING-LUNG DISEASE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Department of Health is investigating possible cases of lung disease associated with vaping and recommends against using vaping cartridges containing an active ingredient of marijuana.
The department said in a statement Wednesday that a 29-year-old Albuquerque area man has been determined to have lung disease associated with vaping and that three additional cases are under investigation.
The department also says all of those people reporting using vaping cartridges and that those cartridges might have contained cannabinol , an active ingredient of marijuana.
According to the department, similar cases have been reported in at least 14 other states and federal and state agencies are investigating possible causes.
The department urged health providers to report cases of lung disease possibly associated with vaping.
- POLICE SHOOTING-ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man who allegedly waved a gun out the window while driving erratically was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot during an encounter with an Albuquerque police officer.
Police said the shooting occurred Tuesday after the man stopped his vehicle and got out of it.
The officer was not hurt.
The wounded man's identity was not released.
A man who witnessed the incident told news outlets that the man later shot by police had been driving toward oncoming traffic and sideswiped two other vehicles.
- PUBLIC EDUCATION-NEW MEXICO
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Karen Trujillo, the former New Mexico public education secretary who was fired just six months into her job, has been chosen to lead Las Cruces Public Schools.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports the Las Cruces Public School board voted Tuesday to name Trujillo the district's interim superintendent after Superintendent Greg Ewing resigned last week.
Last month, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham abruptly fired Trujillo as leader of state's Public Education Department, raising eyebrows from some state lawmakers and criticism for some in southern New Mexico.
Lujan Grisham said the firing came after some of her "expectations were not met."
Trujillo is a former Doña Ana County Commissioner. The Las Cruces resident was most recently interim associate dean for research in New Mexico State University's College of Education.
- PAID LEAVE-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico county will require businesses with at least two employees to offer their workers paid leave.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the Bernalillo County Commission voted 3-2 Tuesday for the measure requiring businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county to give employees at least one hour of paid time off for every 32 hours worked.
The law calls for the amount of leave that workers can accrue to increase in phases.
During the law's first year, workers cannot accrue more than 24 hours of leave. It increases to 40 hours in the second year and 56 hours in the third year.
The law takes effect July 2020.
Business advocacy groups had argued the measure would be costly and disproportionately affect small businesses.
- PENCE-TRADE WAR CAMPAIGN
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is renewing efforts to promote the Trump administration's trade deal with Mexico and Canada as he travels to the border state of New Mexico and then Salt Lake City.
The Office of the Vice President announced that Pence will talk about the trade pact Wednesday while visiting an Artesia-based service company for oil and natural gas production in the Permian basin that straddles New Mexico and Texas.
The trip provides Pence with an additional forum for the administration's efforts to ease federal environmental regulations and boost employment prospects in a critical location for U.S. oil and exploration.
Congressional Democrats have signaled that the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico needs stronger protections for workers and the environment before it can be ratified.
- MURDER-CRIME OF VIOLENCE
PHOENIX (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a man's second-degree murder conviction but threw out another conviction based on the first while ruling that the murder isn't always a crime of violence under federal law.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel's 2-1 ruling Monday said Randly Begay couldn't be convicted of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence because second-degree murder can be committed recklessly and therefore isn't legally considered a "crime of violence."
Begay was convicted of second-degree murder in a 2013 killing in Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation's reservation.
Roderick Ben was shot in the head as he, Begay and two other people sat in a van outside a home.
Begay had been complaining about claims his girlfriend was cheating on him with Ben.
- SCHOOL-GUNSHOT-NEW MEXICO
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Parents of a 16-year-old boy accused of firing a gun in a New Mexico high school have been indicted.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the couple was indicted Thursday by a grand jury after authorities say they failed to secure their gun despite warning signs.
Police say he reported hearing voices telling him to "shoot up the school."
Authorities say the teen on the anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, shooting tried to shoot at three fellow V. Sue Cleveland High School students in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, before firing into the air and fleeing.
Police say he reported hearing voices telling him to "shoot up the school" 11 months before.
The Associated Press is not naming the student because of his age. He is facing charges of attempting to commit murder.