- PECOS RIVER FIGHT
CARLSBAD, N.M (AP) — Ranchers in a southeastern New Mexico community are claiming victory in a legal battle with a potash company over water rights connected to the Pecos River. The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports a state district judge ruled last week to call on the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer to show cause for issuing the company seven "preliminary authorizations" to shift its water rights. Ken Dugan, attorney for the Carlsbad Irrigation District, said this meant the Office of the State Engineer must stop the Denver-based Intrepid Potash from pumping water from the Pecos River. Intrepid Senior Vice President Robert Baldridge declined to comment. Potash is an ore extracted and used in a variety of household products, including makeup.
- VIRTUAL MUSEUMS-HIGHLANDS STUDENTS
LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Highlands University students are working with state officials to bring online visitors to museums later this spring. The university announced this week students in the school's Media Arts and Technology Department are offering a free month of emergency cultural services to help create virtual tours, podcasts, websites and online collections. Cultural Technology Internship program director Lauren Addario says the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Museum of International Folk Art, and the National Hispanic Cultural Center are among the cultural institutions that have shown interest in working with Highlands media arts and technology students.
- RABBIT DEATHS
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico wildlife managers say recent deaths in both wild jackrabbit and cottontail populations were the result of a hemorrhagic disease known as RHDV-2. The state Game and Fish Department and the New Mexico Livestock Board reported Tuesday that the disease is highly contagious among rabbits, including domestic rabbits, but it's not known to be transmittable to humans or other pets. The game department collected carcasses for testing after reports of dead wild rabbits in early March. Officials say deaths in wild populations have been reported in southern and eastern New Mexico.
- 2020 CENSUS
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — If you're a census slacker and haven't yet filled out the form for the 2020 head count, the federal government is trying another way to get in touch with you. Starting Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau is mailing out millions of paper forms to homes whose residents haven't yet answered the once-a-decade questionnaire. About a month into the start of the 2020 census for most U.S. residents, the self-response rate is approaching half of all households. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are setting the pace with response rates over 50%. Alaska, West Virginia and New Mexico are lagging with response rates ranging between a quarter and a third of households.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Coronavirus cases have surged in central and northwestern New Mexico as the illness took a stronger hold on two Native American pueblo communities and a retirement home. The New Mexico Department of Health on Tuesday reported one new death related to COVID-19 involving a man in his 30s with underlying health problems. The state has nearly 800 infections. Cases climbed to at least 52 in San Felipe Pueblo, a community of 2,200 people. At Zia Pueblo, there were at least 31 cases. The State Investment Council approved the creation of a $100 million loan fund to help New Mexico businesses affected by the outbreak.
- BORDER WALL-CAMP
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Immigrant advocates, some residents of a southern New Mexico village and others are raising concerns about an influx of workers as part of the effort to build the border wall. They've asked the state's top elected officials to step in after the federal contractor working on the project began erecting portable housing in a community west of El Paso, Texas. The request reflects growing worries on both the northern and southern U.S. borders over construction workers bringing the virus to areas with sparse health care services. In New Mexico, state officials have issued public health orders to stay at home.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-ART MARKETS
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The International Folk Art Market in New Mexico that helps sustain highly skilled artisans and affiliated cooperatives from India to Cuba by connecting them with U.S. collectors is canceling its annual open-air market. Market CEO Stuart Ashman announced Tuesday the suspension of this year's June market in Santa Fe that typically brings together about 160 artists from about 50 countries for a three-day brokered sale of textiles, paintings and other items. The coronavirus has derailed all three major summer arts markets in Santa Fe that are engines of the local economy and support a vast cottage industry in the American Southwest and internationally.
- AP-US-ELECTION-2020-VOTING
Both major political parties are preparing for a state-by-state legal battle over how Americans can vote during the coronavirus outbreak. The dynamic played out in Wisconsin this week when judges initially held up Tuesday's election, changed its rules and then put it back on shortly before polls opened. Democrats argue that states need to make voting easier and provide more opportunities to vote by mail during the pandemic to prevent the virus from spreading. They say they're ready to sue to force that. Republicans say Democrats just want to loosen rules to help them win elections.