- FARMINGTON FRAUD CASES-SUSPECT
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A woman who allegedly defrauded a Farmington business of more than $11,500 is facing new charges.
Police say Brittany Lanier was arrested this week on suspicion of filing more than $21,000 in false insurance claims on an apartment fire and stolen laptop.
She's accused of filing false insurance claims for $20,000 and about $1,300 and defrauding a Farmington insurance office of nearly $1,600.
The Farmington Daily Times reports Lanier now has a total of 15 felony charges pending involving five cases.
She has a lawyer for two of her pending cases, but it's unclear who is representing Lanier for the three new cases.
Lanier has a status hearing scheduled for Oct. 31 in Farmington Magistrate Court.
- FORMER SHERIFF-CHARGES DROPPED
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A judge has dismissed embezzlement charges filed against a former New Mexico sheriff-turned-judge accused of using taxpayer dollars to buy personal items.
Ex-Torrance County Sheriff Heath White was facing a list of charges including embezzlement and fraud.
State prosecutors say they plan to appeal Judge Charles Brown's decision.
In a 16-page order, Brown says there were omissions in the search warrant as well as some misleading information and evidence from the search allegedly was suppressed.
The Attorney General's Office says investigators with New Mexico State Police found several sheriff's office-owned items on White's property during a raid in April including guns, surveillance equipment and tools.
White has been suspended from the Magistrate Court bench in Moriarty since May. It's unclear if White is planning ti return to that job now.
- WILDFIRES-PICKING PINE CONES
ALONG THE BURNT MESA TRAIL, N.M. (AP) — Conservationists and forestry experts are scouring the American Southwest, hoping to gather as many ponderosa pine cones as possible to give nature a hand in restoring fire-scarred landscapes.
The goal: One million seeds.
It might sound lofty, but those helping with the project are looking to take advantage of a rare bumper crop this fall that has resulted from back-to-back summer and winter seasons of much needed rain and snow.
It takes time to find the patches of trees that will yield the most seeds. One spot is a mesa in northern New Mexico that overlooks vast expanses of rugged terrain that has seen its share of fire over the last two decades.
With drought and the severity of wildfires on the rise, scientists say seed collection and reforestation are becoming more important across the West.
- WILD HORSES-CONGRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Congressional Democrats are demanding the Interior Department produce an overdue report on plans to manage wild horses roaming federal lands in the West.
That's after the head of its Bureau of Land Management told reporters it'll take $5 billion and 15 years to get overpopulated herds under control.
Acting Bureau Director William Perry Pendley says he's increasingly optimistic his agency eventually will be able to reduce herd sizes through stepped up roundups and increased use of fertility control drugs on the range.
Those ideas were among options the department outlined in a report in April 2018.
Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse and six other Democrats said in a letter to Interior Secretary Dave Bernhardt an update the department promised by July is three months late and the current approach isn't working.
- PLANNED SEX ASSAULT-SENTENCING
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A Safford man has been sentenced to 35 years in a federal prison for taking a minor across state lines with intent to assault her.
Prosecutors say 36-year-old Lawrence Halamek was convicted of one count each of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
They say Halamek took the 12-year-old girl from a bus stop in Safford to a remote area of New Mexico in December 2016 with intent to sexually assault her.
Authorities found the girl with Halamek when the two were stopped while walking along a highway.
Halemek also was sentenced Oct. 15 to lifetime probation.
Tucson TV station KOLD says the judge noted Halamek had taken advantage of multiple vulnerable victims before.
- METHANE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration is going on record against federal proposals to revoke Obama-era regulations on climate-changing methane leaks from many oil facilities.
The state Environment Department said Friday it submitted formal comments Thursday opposing the proposal that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in August would remove unnecessary and duplicative burdens from the oil and gas industry.
Lujan Grisham called the Trump administration's proposal unconscionable and part of an "ongoing assault on the environment."
The governor said New Mexico and other states "will lead the transition to a renewable energy economy and take aggressive steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
- POLICE SHOOTING-ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque police say officers fatally shot a man who confronted them during a traffic stop after a carjacking attempt.
Police say the man shot Friday night was a passenger in the vehicle stopped by police and that the driver was in police custody.
According to police, the shooting occurred when the passenger got out of a vehicle stopped several blocks from where the carjacking attempt was reported.
Police said a gun was found next to the man who was shot but that other information on circumstances of the shooting and the carjacking attempt weren't immediately available.
No identities were released.