- OIL BOOM-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal forecasters say drilling in the United States is expected to drive global crude oil production through 2020.The U.S. Energy Information Administration offered some details on the forecast Wednesday. Industry officials are expecting New Mexico to close 2019 as a record-setting year.
The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association’s Robert McEntyre said producers are poised to top 300 million barrels for the year and daily production levels could reach 1 million barrels before 2020.
The U.S. agency says most of the world’s production growth will come from outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. That includes the Permian Basin that straddles parts of New Mexico and West Texas.
The agency has increased the forecast for U.S. production in 2020 to an average of 13.3 million barrels per day.
- CLEAN ENERGY AWARDS
PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy is recognizing nine women for their achievements and leadership in clean energy and one of them is from Arizona.Dr. Suzanne Singer is a member of the Navajo (Diné) tribe and chief engineer for Native Renewables in Flagstaff.
She co-founded the nonprofit organization in 2016 to solve energy access challenges for 15,000 families on the Navajo Nation who live without electricity.
Singer develops programs that promote tribal energy independence, offer affordable off-grid solar energy solutions, and provide training and education to empower families.
She previously was a staff engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Singer and the eight other winners of this year’s awards will be honored Thursday at the U.S. C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium in Washington, D.C.
- FOREST HEALTH-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Federal and state officials have reached an agreement they say will strengthen their relationship as they work to improve forest conditions in New Mexico.Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen will be signing the so-called shared stewardship agreement during a gathering Thursday in Santa Fe.
The agreement has been a work in progress over years and will address issues such as wildfires, drought and invasive species.
Officials say the challenges faced by land managers transcend boundaries and affect people beyond the jurisdiction of any single organization, so they have to find new ways of working together and doing business at a greater pace and scale.
Under the agreement, the state and national forests plan to evaluate opportunities, threats and alternatives for risk management.
- DOLORES HUERTA-ROAD
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Commissioners in New Mexico’s most populous county have named a portion of a busy road after one of the United States’ most recognizable Latina activists.Bernalillo County Commissioners voted this week to rename part of Bridge Boulevard in Albuquerque’s South Valley as Avenida Dolores Huerta.
A native New Mexican, Huerta moved to California and later helped form the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. She has been an advocate for women and immigrants.
Avenida Dolores Huerta will run from the county boundary at the Rio Grande west to Isleta Boulevard. A park along the road was renamed for Huerta in 2017.
A portion of Bridge Boulevard from the river east to 4th Street falls within Albuquerque’s jurisdiction. The city plans to vote on a similar measure.
- VAPING ILLNESSES-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State health officials say three more cases of severe lung injury related to the use of e-cigarettes for vaping have been confirmed, bringing the total number of cases in New Mexico to 20.The state Health Department announced the additional cases Wednesday.
In all, more than 2,000 Americans who vape have gotten sick since March, many of them teenagers and young adults, and at least 40 people have died.
Thirteen of New Mexico’s patients have required hospitalization in intensive care units.
Of the patients interviewed by the state health department, more than three-quarters reported the use of THC, the high-inducing part of marijuana. Three patients reported only nicotine use.
New Mexico officials are discouraging the vaping of THC products and the vaping of any products containing Vitamin E acetate.
- ASYLUM-SEEKERS-WORK PERMITS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is proposing to make it tougher for asylum-seekers to obtain permission to work in the United States while their immigration cases are pending.U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Wednesday that a proposed rule would double the time asylum-seekers must wait for a work permit to a year and bar those who crossed a border illegally from applying for the permits at all.
The agency says the rule aims to discourage immigrants who don’t qualify for asylum from seeking it.
The public can comment on the proposed rule until Jan. 13.
It is the latest in a series of proposals by the Trump administration aimed at deterring immigrants from seeking asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border.
- NEW MEXICO BROADBAND
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Broadband workshops are planned in New Mexico as the rural state looks to boost high-speed online access.The U.S. Agriculture Department's rural development division is working with the state and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to host meetings this week in Truth or Consequences and Albuquerque.
Census figures show almost 30% of New Mexico residents have no internet subscription of any type while 55% of residents have a subscription such as fiber, cable or DSL at home.
Officials say that means nearly half the homes in New Mexico don't currently benefit from a high-speed broadband connection.
A recent report by legislative analysts found that state and federal investments totaling over $300 million have succeeded in connecting schools, hospitals and other institutions, but many rural areas remain unserved.
- TEXAS DAD-MURDER ARREST
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Texas man faces murder charges in the death of his 17-year-old daughter, whose body was found in the Rio Grande River by a fisherman.Police say Carissa Ingraham’s body was found Sunday near the three-way intersection of Mexico, Texas and New Mexico. Charges were filed Wednesday against the girl’s father, Ghari Ingraham.
Drownings are not uncommon in this stretch of the Rio Grande, where migrants crossing the border are sometimes swept away by the fast currents in the river and a parallel canal.
But police say that Ghari Ingraham, 39, killed his daughter at their home in El Paso and dumped her body in the water. He later reported her missing.
Ingraham is being held on $750,000 bond. He has a bond hearing scheduled for Friday, according to court