- LOST HIKER-TWO WEEKS
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities say a hiker has survived after being stranded in a forest near Santa Fe for 14 days. KRQE-TV reports the lost hiker was rescued Sunday after he called out to another hiker on the Windsor Trail. Santa Fe firefighters arrived within the hour armed with the exact GPS location of the hiker on Saturday but he wasn't located until the next day. Santa Fe Fire Department Captain Nathan Garcia says the lost hiker is in his 50s and suffers from chronic back pain and hurt it again while out hiking. His name was not released.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico has marked another day of declining COVID-19 case counts. State health officials on Monday reported an additional 95 confirmed cases, bringing the state's total to 23,500 since the pandemic began earlier this year. The latest cases include 29 from Bernalillo County and 11 from Dona Ana County, which make up two of New Mexico's most populated areas. Officials also reported an additional four deaths related to the virus, bringing that tally to 718. State officials have been pressing for residents to stay home and avoid gatherings in order to keep the numbers low.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NAVAJO NATION
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Nation has rescinded its stay-at-home order, but is encouraging residents to leave their homes only for emergencies or essential activities and errands. The order was rescinded Sunday, when 24 additional coronavirus cases and zero deaths were reported. The tribe reported 12 new COVID-19 cases Monday but zero deaths again. The numbers are a vast change from earlier this year, when the tribe had one of the highest per-capita rates of infection in the U.S. The tribe has started a gradual reopening. Much of the Navajo Nation has been closed since March as the coronavirus swept through the reservation that extends into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.
- AP-US-RACIAL-INJUSTICE-LATINOS-POLICE
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Latino activists are joining the multiracial Black Lives Matter protests while trying to draw attention to their history of deadly police encounters. Advocates and families of those killed by police say they aren't trying to pull the focus away from Black lives, but want to illustrate their own pain and suffering from systemic racism. Activists say cases from Phoenix to Springfield, Massachusetts, point to patterns of violent interactions by police against Latinos similar to those that Black residents face. Antonio Valenzuela, a 40-year-old Hispanic man, was choked to death by a Hispanic Las Cruces, New Mexico, police officer in February just like George Floyd.
- BROADBAND NEEDS-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico legislative researchers and others say efforts to expand high-speed internet in the rural state are being hobbled by a lack of oversight. Aside from already limited funds, officials say New Mexico has missed out on federal money because it doesn't have a central broadband authority. Some emergency measures have been put in place to get internet devices and Wi-Fi connections to students as classes online-only classes resume. It's unclear how many have been connected since March, when half of public school students failed to attend online classes. State legislators are considering bills for the next session to fund long-term internet infrastructure projects.
- AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-UNEMPLOYMENT-STATES
Most states have not committed to accepting President Donald Trump's offer of a stripped-down boost in unemployment benefits for millions of Americans amid the coronavirus outbreak. The Associated Press surveyed state governments and found concerns about the details of Trump's plan and whether states can afford to chip in. A federally funded $600 weekly unemployment bonus expired at the end of July. Trump's plan would increase unemployment checks by $300 or $400. States are required to chip in $100 per claimant to be able to send out the higher amount, something few have agreed to do. In the meantime, unemployed Americans are trying to make do with thinner benefits.
- FEDERAL EXECUTION-NATIVE AMERICAN
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Attorneys for the only Native American man on federal death row are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision from a lower court regarding potential racial bias in his case. Lezmond Mitchell is scheduled to be put to death Aug. 26 at a federal prison in Indiana where he's being held. He lost a bid in the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to interview jurors. The court said Mitchell failed to show any discrimination occurred among the jury and pointed out several safeguards were in place. Mitchell appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court late last week.
- HANTAVIRUS-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A northern New Mexico man in his 50s is in the hospital after contracting hantavirus. The New Mexico Health Department says the Taos County man reported that he had cleaned a rodent-infested shed about three weeks before he began to feel sick. Hantavirus is a severe and sometimes fatal respiratory disease that is transmitted by infected rodents through exposure to their urine, droppings or saliva. Early symptoms may look and feel like the flu or a stomach bug and include fever and muscle aches, possibly with chills, headache, nausea, vomiting. Two of the three people who became infected in New Mexico last year died.