- IMMIGRATION-SEPARATED FAMILIES
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union says U.S. immigration authorities separated more than 1,500 children from their parents at the Mexico border early in the Trump administration, bringing the total number of children separated since July 2017 to more than 5,400.
The ACLU said Thursday the government told its attorneys that 207 of the 1,556 children separated between July 1, 2017, and June 26, 2018, were under 5.
A federal judge in San Diego has given the government until Friday to identify children separated going back to July 2017.
The government had inadequate tracking systems at the time, complicating efforts to locate children.
Volunteers working with the ACLU are searching for some of them and their parents by going door-to-door in Guatemala and Honduras.
- PUBLIC EDUCATION-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Performance evaluations have been distributed to nearly 20,000 public school teachers across New Mexico as the state places a new emphasis on classroom observations by principals and leaves out student test scores.
Deputy Public Education Secretary Gwen Perea Warniment said the teacher evaluation system is evolving as a task force designs a permanent system that should be in place by the fall of 2020. She briefed lawmakers Thursday on those efforts.
Annual evaluations recently delivered to teachers for the 2018-2019 school year do away with a five-tier ratings system that ran the gamut from "exemplary" to "ineffective."
Warniment said brief "walk-through" classroom visits by administrators of as little as seven minutes are now being used to observe educators and provide specific ideas for improvement.
- WATER TESTING FACILITY SALE
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico city officials have announced plans to sell a $150,000 property the city acquired from the federal government.
Roswell Daily Record reported Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Interior built the industrial site in 1962 or 1963 and used it as a saline water testing plant before its 1984 closure.
Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh says the city decided to sell because of maintenance issues and intentions to subject the land to property tax.
Officials say the site is leased by Wisconsin-based international manufacturer A.O. Smith for about $9,000 a year.
City Council approved a request to search for bidders Oct. 10.
Bids are due by Nov. 26.
Officials say a completed sale is expected by March if a bidder comes forward and city and state officials approve the contract.
- NEW MEXICO-QUARTERBACK
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The University of New Mexico has suspended senior quarterback Sheriron Jones indefinitely from the team amid allegations of indecent exposure.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Lobos coach Bob Davie confirmed Wednesday the suspension came after a criminal complaint.
According to the complaint, Jones exposed his genitalia to a woman on campus. He has not been arrested and no phone number was listed for him.
The suspension comes as New Mexico (2-5) seeks to try to snap a four-game skid in their homecoming game against Hawaii (4-3) on Saturday.
Jones, who started seven games last year when New Mexico went 3-9, lost the starting job in preseason camp to junior college transfer Brandt Hughes.
Jones played in the second half of the season opener after Hughes suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
- NAVAJO COAL
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana's largest coal mine has been indefinitely shuttered by its new owners from the Navajo Nation in a dispute over whether it should be immune from some environmental regulations.
The Navajo Transitional Energy Company said Thursday that the 275-worker Spring Creek Mine near Decker was being shut down while negotiations continue with state officials.
The company is owned by the Navajo Nation but operates independently. It recently bought Spring Creek and two Wyoming mines in a bankruptcy sale.
A company spokesman says state regulators last week demanded that it waive its immunity as a tribal entity.
A Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman says officials never sought a complete waiver but wouldn't release further details.
The strip mine produced almost 14 million tons (12.7 million metric tons) of coal in 2017.
- HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL-RACIST SLURS
PHOENIX (AP) — An association that oversees competition between non-traditional school groups says it is investigating a volleyball playoff halted for safety concerns when Native American players were reportedly heckled with racist gestures and slurs.
The Canyon Athletic Association says it will investigate what happened at Tuesday's game.
The game involved the girls varsity volleyball team from the Salt River High School, located in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
Salt River players were reportedly heckled by people imitating war chants and tomahawk chops during the game with the Caurus Academy charter school in Anthem, Arizona.
Caurus Academy officials did not immediately turn calls seeking comment.
Salt River High School spokeswoman Tate Walker Thursday referred queries to the athletic association and said a repeat match was set for Friday afternoon.
- FOUR CORNERS AIRPORT
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — Commercial flights may be returning to an airport in the Four Corners region.
The Farmington Daily Times reports officials said Tuesday commercial flights will likely return to the Four Corners Regional Airport by next summer.
The announcement comes after construction began at the airport in September to upgrade a runway. The upgrades will permit the airport to move to a higher classification that will allow larger planes to land and depart.
Farmington City Manager Rob Mayes says the upgrades benefit communities around Farmington and Durango, Colorado.
The airport has not hosted commercial flights since Great Lakes Aviation left in fall 2017.
Before Great Lakes Aviation left, the airline had flights from Farmington to Denver and Los Angeles.