Meteorologists issue warnings for more than 13 million people in north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Arizona
Millions of Americans are under flood warnings after heavy rain this weekend in a large portion of the south and south-western US.
Government meteorologists issued flood warnings for more than 13 million people after torrent rainfall created life-threatening conditions in a region including north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico.
Continue reading...Albuquerque’s police chief says officers ‘tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved’ in slayings over last nine months
Albuquerque police have detained a man as the primary suspect in the killings of four Muslim men in New Mexico’s largest city.
The city’s police chief on Tuesday announced the update on Twitter. Chief Harold Medina said officers had found the vehicle that investigators believe was involved in the killings over the last nine months.
Continue reading...Police in New Mexico have warned that deaths of local Muslim men, including one last year, may be linked
Three Muslim men have been killed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a span of just 10 days, stoking fear in one of America’s smallest Muslim communities as police have warned the deaths may be linked.
The killings also followed the November 2021 killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, another Muslim man, which local advocates and law enforcement officials believe could also be linked to the more recent attacks.
Continue reading...Vehicle drove against direction of parade in Gallup, to celebrate the town’s 100th annual inter-tribal ceremony
Police have arrested several people who were in a large SUV that drove through a Native American celebration in New Mexico, causing multiple injuries along a parade route crowded with families. Two local police officers were among those hurt.
The Navajo Nation president, Jonathan Nez, and his family were among those almost hit as a large car drove barreled through.
Continue reading...Consulate accepts a dozen small artworks amid worldwide movement to repatriate Indigenous items
Small, ancient sculptures that have been gathering dust in an Albuquerque storage box are returning home to Mexico, where they are intertwined with the identity of Indigenous communities.
The Albuquerque Museum Foundation celebrated the repatriation of a dozen sculptures in a ceremony on Wednesday. The local consulate of Mexico accepted Olmec greenstone sculptures, a figure from the city of Zacatecas, bowls that were buried with tombs and other clay figurines that date back thousands of years.
Continue reading...NTSB report corrects initial statement that son, 13, was driving truck that hit van, leaving six golfers and their coach dead
Seven members of a New Mexico college golf team were killed when a pickup truck driver with methamphetamine in his bloodstream hit their van head-on in Texas earlier this year, a preliminary report from federal investigators revealed on Thursday.
The report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also corrected its initial statement that the driver’s 13-year-old son was driving the truck at the time of the fiery 15 March collision that left a total of nine people dead.
Continue reading...In an 80-page review, the agency states missteps by its employees in setting prescribed burns led to explosive wildfire
Employees with the US Forest Service made multiple miscalculations, used inaccurate models and underestimated how dry conditions were in the south-west, causing a planned burn to reduce the threat of wildfires to explode into the largest blaze in New Mexico’s recorded history, the agency said on Tuesday.
The agency quietly posted an 80-page review that details the planning missteps and the conditions on the ground as crews ignited the prescribed fire in early April. The report states officials who planned the operation underestimated the amount of timber and vegetation that was available to fuel the flames, the exceptional dry conditions and the rural villages and water supplies that would be threatened if things went awry.
Continue reading...President visits state beset by Hermits Peak Calif Canyon fire, result of two accidental fires that merged
Joe Biden landed in New Mexico on Saturday amid anger and frustration from wildfire survivors as he visited the state to review efforts to fight its biggest blaze in recorded history – which was started by federal officials.
Driven by drought and wind, the fire has destroyed hundreds of homes in mountains north-east of Santa Fe since two controlled burns by the US Forest Service went out of control in April.
Continue reading...Predicted wind gusts could cause fire to jump containment lines as crews in New Mexico try to stop growth of US’s biggest wildfire
Warnings of critical fire conditions are peppered across much of the US south-west this weekend, as crews in northern New Mexico worked to stop the growth of the nation’s largest active wildfire.
Two fires that merged to create the largest wildfire in New Mexico history have both been traced to planned burns set by federal forest managers as preventative measures, federal investigators have announced.
Continue reading...High winds have hampered operations as crews fight blazes in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico
More than 5,000 firefighters have battled multiple wildland blazes in dry, windy weather across the south-west, including a fire that has destroyed dozens of structures in west Texas and another picking up steam again in New Mexico.
Evacuation orders remained in place on Thursday for residents near the wildfires in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. High winds prevented officials from sending aircraft to drop retardant or water in many places.
Continue reading...Wind-driven flames tearing through dry vegetation exacerbated by the climate crisis in California and New Mexico
Extreme conditions have fueled an explosive start to what’s expected to be yet another intense season of big blazes, with months to go before wildfire threats typically peak across the west.
Wildfires have charred close to 1.3m acres nationwide this year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), outpacing the 10-year average for this time of year by more than 71%. Predictions for the rest of the spring do not bode well for the west, with the drought and warmer weather brought on by the climate crisis worsening wildfire danger.
Continue reading...Challenging weather hampers firefighting in New Mexico, while in California, wealthy coastal enclave goes up in flames
Extreme fire conditions are continuing to fuel a massive wildfire in northern New Mexico, making it difficult for crews to contain the largest blaze in the US, which grew to nearly 260,000 acres acres on Thursday.
The continued destruction came as a smaller fire broke out in California, destroying more than 20 homes, many of them multimillion-dollar mansions, in the coastal community of Laguna Niguel.
Continue reading...Two more days of high winds and very dry conditions expected as fire warnings issued across much of the western US
Many houses near America’s largest wildfire survived the latest barrage of howling winds and erratic flames but New Mexico’s governor said on Tuesday the risk of more destruction is high and that the long-term costs of recovering from the huge blaze will soar.
Two more days of strong winds and dangerously bone-dry conditions are in the forecast before some relief is expected on Friday.
Continue reading...Planes and helicopters used as hundreds work feverishly to contain largest fire burning in US
Extreme wind conditions described as potentially historic were forecast for New Mexico on Saturday and for the next several days as hundreds of firefighters and a fleet of airplanes and helicopters worked feverishly to bolster lines around the largest fire burning in the US.
Many families already have been left homeless and thousands of residents have evacuated due to flames that have charred large swaths of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in north-eastern New Mexico.
Continue reading...Fossil fuel interest groups are telling New Mexicans: let us keep drilling or the state’s education system will collapse
The oil and gas industry wants to play a word-and-picture association game with you. Think of four images: a brightly-colored backpack stuffed with pencils, a smiling teacher with a tablet tucked under her arm, a pair of glasses resting on a stack of pastel notebooks, and a gleaming school bus welcoming a young student aboard.
“What do all of these have in common?” an April 6 Facebook post by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA), asked. “They are powered by oil and natural gas!”
Continue reading...Strong winds pushed blaze across containment lines, threatening the small town of Las Vegas
More than 1,000 firefighters backed by bulldozers and aircraft battled the largest active wildfire in the US on Saturday after strong winds pushed it across some containment lines and closer to a town in northern New Mexico.
Preliminary overnight mapping imagery indicated that the fire that has burned at least 166 homes grew in size from 103 square miles on Friday to 152 square miles by early Saturday, officials said.
Continue reading...Five counties under state of emergency as high winds fan ferocious flames across US south-west
Wind-driven wildfires destroyed hundreds of structures in northern New Mexico and forced thousands to flee mountain villages as blazes burned unusually early in the year in the parched US south-west.
Two wildfires merged north-west of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and raced through 15 miles (24km) of forest driven by winds over 75mph (121km/h), destroying more than 200 buildings, state authorities said.
Continue reading...State officials deliver highest level of rebuke and say production demonstrated ‘plain indifference’ to employee safety
The state of New Mexico on Wednesday issued its maximum citation against the producers of the western movie Rust for safety lapses before what the authorities called the “avoidable” shooting death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming last autumn.
An investigation into Hutchins’ death found the company, Rust Movie Productions, knew firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated “plain indifference” to employee safety, the New Mexico environment department said in a statement.
Continue reading...Actor’s phone is turned over to authorities investigating fatal shooting on New Mexico film set in October
Alec Baldwin has handed over his cellphone to investigators who are looking into the fatal shooting on the New Mexico set of the film Rust in October, his attorney and a law enforcement official said.
A search warrant for Baldwin’s iPhone was issued in December. The Santa Fe County, New Mexico, sheriff’s office had said earlier this week that it was still trying to obtain the device from the 30 Rock actor.
Continue reading...Staff from a tram company and a restaurant were stranded overnight on a tramway near Albuquerque in the US on New Year's Eve after a storm caused rapid buildup of ice on the cables, making it unsafe to travel to the base of the mountain. Rescuers brought the 21 passengers to safety, with no injuries, according to local reports
Continue reading...