- DOLORES HUERTA-ROAD
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — City councilors in New Mexico's largest city are set to vote on renaming a portion of a busy road after one of the United States' most recognizable Mexican American activists. The Albuquerque City Council is scheduled Monday to take up a proposed to rename part of Bridge Boulevard in the city's South Valley as Avenida Dolores Huerta. Born in New Mexico, Huerta moved to California and later helped form the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. She has been an advocate for women and immigrants. Avenida Dolores Huerta will run from the county boundary at the Rio Grande west to Isleta Boulevard. A park along the road was renamed for Huerta in 2017.
- RELIGIOUS SECT-CHILD ABUSE
GRANTS, N.M. (AP) — A leader in a rural New Mexico paramilitary religious sect with anti-Semitic leanings and who facing child sex abuse charges has been released on house arrest. The Gallup Independent reports Peter Green, also known as Mike Brandon, was released last week by State Judicial District Judge Amanda Sanchez Villalobos despite protests from state prosecutors and sheriff deputies. Authorities say he was a lieutenant colonel in the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps near Grants, New Mexico. Peter Green was arrested in the 2017 raid of the religious compound by the Cibola County Sheriff's Office and charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. He has pleaded not guilty.
- HOUSE FIRE-BABY DIES
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico house fire killed an infant and led two other young children to be taken to a hospital, firefighters said Sunday. Roswell Fire Department spokesman Todd Wildermuth said the cause of the fire is under investigation but it broke out at a home in the southeast New Mexican city around 11 a.m. Emergency responders took the infant to a hospital, where the child was pronounced dead. A 3-year-old and a 4-year-old were also taken to a hospital for evaluation.
- EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION SECRETARY
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico now has its first-ever state secretary of Early Childhood Education and Care Department. The New Mexico Senate on Friday unanimously confirmed education official Elizabeth Groginsky to the job, leading a new government department created last year. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Groginsky to the cabinet post in November. The 53-year-old Groginsky is a former Washington, D.C.-based education official who has been working full time on early child care since 2003, when she was a county administrator of the Head Start early childhood program in Colorado.
- CLOVIS SHOOTING
CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) — Police are investigating after three people were injured in an early Sunday morning shooting in a neighborhood in Clovis, New Mexico. The Clovis Police Department said in a statement that officers found two 21-year-old men and a 19-year-old man who had been shot just after 3 a.m. Two of the men were taken to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas for their injuries. The third was taken to a Clovis hospital. Officers are asking anyone with more information to contact police.
- NEW MEXICO-CALDWELL CHARGED
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A misdemeanor criminal complaint filed by Albuquerque police accuses suspended New Mexico basketball player J.J. Caldwell of battery against a household member involving a December encounter with his ex-girlfriend. The Albuquerque Journal reports that police filed the complaint on Jan. 24, after the ex-girlfriend reported Dec. 16 that Caldwell two days earlier struck her and put his hands around her neck at his apartment. Caldwell attorney Paul Kennedy says the filing of the complaint was questionable because prosecutors still had the matter under review. Kennedy and another attorney represent Caldwell in the criminal matter and in a civil rights lawsuit in which Caldwell alleges the university and others are violating his civil rights.
- NEW MEXICO PRISON RIOT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Forty years after inmates seized control of the New Mexico State Penitentiary, the costs related to the uprising are still being tallied. The Albuquerque Journal reports the cost _ in money and how lives were changed forever _ continues to this day. On Feb. 2, 1980, New Mexico residents and people across the country woke that Saturday morning to the news that inmates had seized the state penitentiary south of Santa Fe and were holding 12 corrections officers hostage. The cleanup effort and costs were staggering as legislators scrambled to approve a $38 million emergency appropriation. Hundreds of prisoners were shipped out of state.
- MEDICAL POT TAX DEDUCTION
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Court of Appeals in New Mexico has unanimously ruled that state medical marijuana producers can claim a tax deduction for prescription medication, a move that could affect prices for thousands of enrolled patients. Albuquerque Journal reported that the ruling means lawmakers must soon set aside funding to cover the tax claims, which could carry a multimillion-dollar price tag for the state Taxation and Revenue Department. Tax department officials say the agency has reviewed the ruling and is weighing legal options. The department has until Feb. 27 to appeal the ruling. Court officials say medical marijuana meets the definition of a prescription drug under the state's tax code.