- ELECTION 2021-SANTA FE MAYOR
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Recriminations about face-mask mandates are creating new tension between Democratic candidates in the election campaign for mayor in Santa Fe. In a flier distributed by mail Friday, incumbent Mayor Alan Webber highlighted a dissenting vote by mayoral candidate and City Councilor Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler last year in the creation of a city ordinance requiring face masks. The ordinance reinforced a statewide mask mandate from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in the early months of the pandemic, before vaccines were available. Vigil Coppler says she considered the ordinance impractical but never opposed state mask requirements and called the ad a distortion.
- JON JONES ARREST-VEGAS
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former mixed martial arts champion Jon Jones was jailed in Las Vegas after an incident at Caesars Palace that police said led to his arrest on charges of domestic battery and felony damaging a vehicle. Details of Jones' arrest at the Las Vegas Strip resort were not immediately made public by Las Vegas police. Jail and court records showed the 34-year-old Jones posted $8,000 bail and was due for an initial court appearance Saturday. It wasn't immediately clear if Jones had an attorney. Jones lives in Albuquerque, but he attended a UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Park MGM hotel.
- GOVERNOR-BORDER VISIT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham visited southern New Mexico on Friday to talk with business groups about economic development and to tour a U.S. military base near the border where Afghan refugees are being housed. The Democrat's visit was not made public until late in the afternoon. After touring Fort Bliss, Lujan Grisham said New Mexico stands ready to help with the refugee resettlement process. The visit came as Lujan Grisham faces criticism for not doing more to address the concerns of residents along the U.S.-Mexico border amid the latest influx of immigrants. Republican state Sen. Crystal Diamond says she and others had been asking for months that the governor visit with ranchers and others in the region.
- COWBOYS FOR TRUMP-RECALL EFFORT
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Time is running out for a recall effort aiming to kick the founder of Cowboys for Trump out of office as a county commissioner in southern New Mexico. Supporters of the petition drive in Otero County say they still need to collect several hundred additional signatures by next Wednesday to trigger a recall election against Couy Griffin. The petition accuses Griffin of failing to attend commission meetings, using his elected position for personal gain in promoting a support group for former President Donald Trump and violating state restrictions on gifts to public officials. Griffin says a recall would only empower the state's Democratic governor and undermine local conservative values.
- GASOLINE DOUSING-ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque police say they are investigating an incident that left a person with serious burns after someone doused the victim with gasoline and started a fire. Police spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins told the Albuquerque Journal the victim was taken to the hospital Friday with "serious burns" but didn't have any information about the patient's condition. She said officers responded to reports of the fire Friday afternoon in a West Central neighborhood. She didn't provide any information about whether anyone was in custody or whether charges were expected to be filed. Atkins said additional details would be released as they became available.
- ALASKA BEARS-CHARGES
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — U.S. prosecutors have charged three men with leaving a special viewing platform and getting too close to bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve. The U.S. attorney's office filed charges this week in the August 2018 incident. A spokesperson says the office doesn't discuss the timing of cases. The remote park on the northern Alaska Peninsula protects some of the highest densities of bears in the world and requires visitors to abide by special rules. The charges allege the men entered a closed area of the park by leaving an authorized viewing area and wading into a river when bears were feeding on salmon in nearby falls.
- SLAIN SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A prosecutor said at a trial Friday that a U.S. Air Force airman charged with kidnapping a Mennonite woman in New Mexico, fatally shooting her and dumping her body in northern Arizona, had tried unsuccessfully to cover his tracks after the 2020 killing. Prosecutor Ammon Barker said Mark Gooch got his car professionally detailed, asked someone to hold onto his rifle and, two days after the killing, returned to the forest clearing outside Flagstaff, Arizona, where Sasha Krause's body had been dumped. Gooch's attorney Bruce Griffen said his client cooperated with investigators and wasn't hiding anything. Gooch maintains he didn't kidnap or kill Krause.
- BANK ROBBERY-ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — FBI agents have joined Albuquerque police in the search for a man who robbed a bank on the southwest side of the city. The FBI says the white male 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-7 with a slender to medium build was wearing white-framed sunglasses when he entered the Bank of the West Thursday afternoon on Central Avenue SW. He wore a gray mask covering his lower face, a dark sweatshirt and a dark, two-tone baseball cap with a logo on the front. The FBI said Friday he presented a demand note to a teller, who gave him an undisclosed amount of money before he left the bank.