New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Faulting inaction in Washington, governors and state lawmakers are racing to get pandemic relief to small-business owners, the unemployed, renters and others whose livelihoods have been upended by the widening coronavirus outbreak.

CUBA, N.M. (AP) — The midday arrival of a school bus at Cyliss Castillo’s home on the remote edge of a mesa breaks up the long days of boredom and isolation for the high school senior.

The driver hands over food in white plastic bags, collects Castillo’s school assignments and offers some welcome conversation before setting out for another home.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court isn’t the nation’s only judicial battleground.

The high courts in a number of states are on the ballot Tuesday in races that will determine whether Republicans or Democrats have a majority, and the stakes are high for both sides. This year alone, state supreme courts have been thrust into the spotlight to decide politically charged cases over voting rights, race and governors’ coronavirus orders.

Next year, it could be abortion, health care and redistricting.

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Forty-year-old Antonio Valenzuela’s death didn’t spark widespread protests like George Floyd’s. In fact, the police killing of Valenzuela drew little attention outside the American Southwestern city just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Transported in the backseat of a blacked-out Plymouth sedan was the culmination of years of feverish work — a hefty plutonium core that would soon be used to trigger the world’s first atomic explosion.

Within days of being taken in 1945 from a top secret installation in the mountains of northern New Mexico to a desert outpost more than 200 miles away, the core and other components were assembled for what was code-named the Trinity test.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A man was shot Monday night as protesters in New Mexico’s largest city tried to tear down a bronze statue of a Spanish conquistador outside the Albuquerque Museum, prompting the city to announce that the statue would be removed until officials determine the next steps.

The man was taken to a hospital but his condition was not immediately unknown, said Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government’s efforts to clean up Cold War-era waste from nuclear research and bomb making at federal sites around the country has lumbered along for decades, often at a pace that watchdogs and other critics say threatens public health and the environment.

Now, fallout from the global coronavirus pandemic is resulting in more challenges as the nation’s only underground repository for nuclear waste finished ramping down operations Wednesday to keep workers safe.

THE EDGE OF THE GILA WILDERNESS, N.M. (AP) — A voice interrupted the crackle of the radio at basecamp: “Starting pursuit.”

The rest of the team on the ground was anxious to hear those words after the low-flying helicopter crew had been working all morning to get close to one of the Mexican gray wolves that had been targeted as part of an annual survey of the endangered predators.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man convicted of killing his parents and three younger siblings when he was 15 apologized to the rest of his family Tuesday as he asked a judge for an opportunity at rehabilitation and redemption.

Nehemiah Griego, now 22, was the last person to address the court during an emotional daylong sentencing hearing. He expressed remorse for the 2013 killings, saying he was a different person at the time.

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — President Donald Trump made a pocketbook appeal for reelection in the Democratic-leaning state of New Mexico on Monday, telling voters that his energy policies have made the state wealthier and warning that the gains could disappear if the proposal knows as the Green New Deal takes effect.