- NUCLEAR AGENCY BUILDING-NAME
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The federal agency that oversees the nation's nuclear weapons cache and key deterrence initiatives around the globe will name its new facility in Albuquerque after a retired Air Force general who was the agency's first administrator. The National Nuclear Security Administration's leader announced Friday the facility under construction will be named after Gen. John A Gordon, who died April 19. NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty said the agency builds upon the "strong foundation" that Gordon set during his tenure from 2000 to mid 2002. The new facility is scheduled to be occupied in late 2021 by 1,200 NNSA staff members currently working in 25 separate buildings and facilities.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is reporting an additional 150 COVID-19 cases, bringing the state's total to nearly 24,100 since the pandemic began. The latest cases were announced Friday. An additional five deaths also were confirmed, including two people from Bernalillo County, two from neighboring Sandoval County and one from McKinley County. State health officials have been touting New Mexico's recent decline in average daily case totals as well as decreases in the rate of spread and hospitalizations. Testing and contact tracing efforts also are meeting targets. The benchmarks are among the factors state officials consider as they weigh whether to update the public health order.
- RACIAL INJUSTICE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An effort to reform qualified immunity provisions that protect police officers from lawsuits against misconduct is underway in New Mexico. The state's newly appointed civil rights commission is scheduled to meet Friday for the first time to arrange assistance from the legal affairs office of the Legislature and state procurement officials. The Democrat-led Legislature and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham approved policing reforms during a special session in June that include the mandatory use of police body cameras. Protests over racial injustice and police brutality have prompted several states to pass significant policing reforms at a quick pace, often with bipartisan support.
- AP-US-WILD-HORSES-ROUNDUPS
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The federal Bureau of Land Management has approved construction of three corrals to hold more than 8,000 wild horses captured on federal rangeland. The pens are the next step in plans announced last year by the administration of President Donald Trump to speed up the capture of 130,000 wild horses over 10 years at an estimated cost of $1 billion. The new corrals are aimed at accelerating wild horse roundups that have been slowed down for lack of space in existing pens. The bureau issued final decisions on environmental assessments for corrals in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah that are opposed by wild horse advocates.
- NEW MEXICO ENERGY FUTURE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Standing amid an array of solar panels, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told a national audience this week that she's proud of instituting aggressive renewable energy mandates in her state. She also touted the move toward solar, wind and battery storage in a tweet the next day. It comes as New Mexico's largest electric provider is asking people to cut back on air conditioning to reduce strain on the grid as temperatures rise. The reason? The utility is worried about clouds affecting the ability of solar panels to generate electricity. Similar supply and demand pressures are popping up around the West.
- ALBUQUERQUE CRASH-TWO KILLED
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque police say a head-on crash on Interstate 25 resulted in two deaths, including the driver of a wrong-way pickup that went off the elevated freeway and onto a street below where it caught fire. Police say the pickup driver was trapped in the vehicle and died at the scene, while a person in a SUV involved in the head-on died at a hospital. Police said the pickup was southbound in northbound lanes of I-25 near Gibson Boulevard when the head-on crash occured early Friday morning. A second person in the SUV was injured and it was unclear whick person in that vehicle was the driver. No identities were released.
- VIRUS OUTBREAK
As many as 215,000 more people than usual died in the U.S. during the first seven months of 2020, suggesting that the number of lives lost to the coronavirus is significantly higher than the official toll. And half the dead were people of color — Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans. That's according to an analysis of government data by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization.
- BOUNDARY WATERS-DEATH
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Investigators say human remains discovered at a bloody Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness campsite last year are those of a missing New Mexico man. The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office released a statement Friday that the remains are those of 29-year-old Jordan Grider. The statement said Grider had been camping in the area since 2018 but when Border Patrol agents checked on him in April 2019 they found only his campsite smeared with blood. Several weeks later searchers discovered the remains. The cause of death remains unknown but the statement says foul play isn't suspected.