Hundreds pack New Mexico congressman's town hall meeting

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A Republican congressman's town hall meeting in southern New Mexico attracted a standing-room-only crowd of 500 people. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/2nDvwYV ) that hundreds of people packed a room at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces to participate in the Saturday discussion with Rep. Steve Pearce. Pearce was asked to address a multitude of topics in the 2 1/2 hour meeting. He was often interrupted by people asking for explanations or disagreeing with his comments, and some crowd members shouted, jeered and chanted. Security officers privately asked some attendees to restrain themselves and escorted several people from the room. The in-person meeting comes after Pearce received backlash for holding a telephone meeting that excluded constituents. That decision was met with a demonstration outside of his Las Cruces office.