- HEALTH CARE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Native Americans in New Mexico go without medical insurance at a much higher rate than other state residents and the nation as a whole. A state-commissioned study by the Urban Institute explores gaps in medical insurance by ethnicity, age, education and location. About 16 percent of Native Americans statewide go without medical insurance. Health insurance coverage also is relatively scarce in the northwest area of the state that is home to the Navajo Nation. New Mexico's expansion of federally subsidized Medicaid health care gave coverage in 2014 to more people on the cusp of poverty. That cut in half the number of people without insurance.
- MEXICO-MIGRANT SMUGGLING
HERMOSILLO, Mexico (AP) — The business of smuggling migrants to the U.S. southern border is adapting to a year of changes on both sides of the frontier. Smugglers and migrants along routes that thread their way north from Central America say the costs are up, but for migrants willing to pay the steep price there's still a way. Mexico has deployed thousands of National Guard troops along migration routes. The U.S. government has reached bilateral agreements with Central American nations to make it more difficult for those hoping to seek asylum in the U.S. Smugglers and governments say the number of people migrating is dropping, but those who profit assure the money continues to flow.
- FACE-PLANTED ROBBERY-DNA
Police say a suspected robber who face-planted into a Pizza Hut door before fleeing has been arrested thanks to the DNA evidence he left behind. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports Markell Deshaun Barnes was taken into custody last week in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after a forensic laboratory matched his DNA. Police had swabbed the door for possible DNA evidence from the June 2019 robbery of a Pizza Hut in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Investigators took the DNA after reviewing surveillance images and seeing the 19-year-old face-planting into a locked door. He is facing attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges.
- AP-FBC-NEW-MEXICO-QUARTERBACK
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The case against a New Mexico college football quarterback charged with indecent exposure has been tossed out. The Albuquerque Journal reports charges against 23-year-old Sheriron Jones were dismissed Tuesday after witnesses failed to show up for a trial. Jones was accused of showing his genitalia to a woman in a university parking structure in October. Jones started seven games last year when New Mexico went 3-9. He 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.
- 2017 DEATH-SENTENCE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a New Mexico man to 15 years in prison for the death of a man during an armed robbery. A district judge has sentenced 32-year-old Matthew Joe on Wednesday in the death of 36-year-old Jaime Dimas in July 2017. Authorities say Joe pleaded guilty in October to murder, attempted armed robbery and shooting at a dwelling or occupied building. Authorities say Joe was attempting to rob a man on a bicycle who escaped into a nearby restaurant before he opened fire. Authorities say Joe fatally shot Dimas when he tried to intervene by throwing rocks.
- PECAN KILLING BUG
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico agriculture officials are reminding the public that a quarantine is still in place around an invasive bug threatening the pecan industry. The state's Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that the so-called pecan weevil quarantine rule affects the movement of in-shell pecans in quarantined areas. Those areas include Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties. Under the rules, in-shell pecans cannot be transported out of quarantined areas unless they have undergone storage requirements. In late 2016 and January 2018, the weevil was found in pecan orchards in multiple southeastern New Mexico counties.
- PUBLIC EDUCATION-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says she wants sustained pay increases for public school employees after a recent round of salary hikes. Teachers flocked Wednesday night to a town-hall style forum in Albuquerque where Lujan Grisham and three Cabinet secretaries answered questions about public education. Lujan Grisham said state-funded salary increases this year of at least 6% for public school employees were not enough and that pay for educators "cannot be stagnant."
- TEEN SNOWBOARDERS RESCUED
SANTA FE, N.M., (AP) — Two young snowboarders who went off the path at a ski area in mountains near Santa Fe are safe after being rescued by emergency crews early Thursday. KOAT-TV reports that the two 15-year-old boys got stuck in the Ski Santa Fe basin Wednesday evening, prompting a call to police for help. Crews hindered by darkness and rough terrain searched for the boys before locating them and taking them down from the mountain just after midnight. The boys were released to their parents after being examined by medical personnel.