- New Mexico planning for COVID-19 vaccine distribution
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Top New Mexico health officials say it's too early to say whether a COVID-19 vaccine — once available — will be mandatory for certain people in the state. But Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expects there to be a population for whom the vaccine will be required, noting that health care workers, educators, nursing home residents and emergency responders could be among that population. It also will depend on availability. The comments come as pharmaceutical companies race to have a vaccine ready by early next year. New Mexico has seen its daily COVID-19 case counts improve. On Tuesday, an additional 79 cases were confirmed.
- $1B in revenue expected from New Mexico's state trust lands
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico land managers say the state is on track to have another banner year as a result of oil and gas drilling and other activities on state trust lands. The State Land Office announced Tuesday that revenue for the recent fiscal year is expected to top $1 billion. Officials say back-to-back billion-dollar years are breaking revenue records despite a decline in oil prices and economic uncertainty resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. While the agency saw a 5% decrease in oil and gas royalty payments, it reported more than $885,000 — or a 118% increase — in revenue from wind energy projects and lease payments.
- New Mexico pushes forward with emergency voting reforms
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico election regulators are moving forward with an initiative that allows voters to trace mail-in ballots with the use of an individualized bar code in cooperation with the U.S. Postal Service. Officials with the New Mexico secretary of state's office briefed state lawmakers Tuesday on new election procedures that respond to the coronavirus pandemic and a surging reliance on voting by absentee ballot. State Elections Director Mandy Vigil expressed relief at Tuesday's announcement by the U.S. postmaster general that he would halt operational changes to mail delivery that critics warned could disrupt November elections.
- Public lands chief hangs on despite nomination getting nixed
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A former oil industry attorney will continue for now calling the shots at a government agency that oversees nearly a quarter-billion public acres in the U.S. West. That's despite the White House saying over the weekend that President Donald Trump would withdraw the nomination of William Perry Pendley. A document obtained by The Associated Press shows Pendley's rein over the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management will continue under an arrangement that Pendley himself set up months ago. He signed an order in May that makes his own position the bureau's default leader while the director's post is vacant. Details of the succession plan prompted Democrats on Wednesday to renew calls for Pendley's removal.
- AHigh-altitude airships company picks New Mexico for base
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — A technology company aiming to send up high-altitude airships to monitor crops and bring broadband has chosen New Mexico for its U.S. production center. Economic Development Secretary Alicia J. Keyes announced Tuesday the Switzerland-based Sceye picked the state as its U.S. base for stratospheric flights for earth observation and communication. The company founded by global humanitarian Mikkel Vestergaard is expected to create 140 high-paying manufacturing and engineering jobs. Sceye is negotiating a deal to provide better broadband access to the Navajo Nation and other underserved areas in the state.
- Lost hiker reportedly survived 14 days in New Mexico woods
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.
- Dan Budnik, who photographed civil rights movement, dies
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Acclaimed photographer Dan Budnik has died in Arizona at age 87. He's noted for documenting the civil rights movement and Native American culture. A nephew says Budnik died last Friday of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Tucson. In 1958, Budnik photographed a youth march for integrated schools in the capital and the Selma to Montgomery March in Alabama in 1965. He's known for striking portraits of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. just moments after the "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington. By the late 1960s, Budnik began to devote much of his time to Native American causes.
- Navajo man on federal death row seeks stay of execution
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The only Native American on federal death row is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to put his execution on hold while he seeks review of a lower court decision over potential racial bias in his case. It's rare but not unheard of for the high court to grant a stay. Legal volleying in other recent federal executions has delayed the inmates' deaths by hours. Lezmond Mitchell's execution is scheduled Aug. 26 at the federal prison in Indiana where he's being held. The Navajo man was convicted in the 2001 killings of Alyce Slim and her granddaughter during a carjacking on the Navajo reservation.