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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Wading through a muddy river bed to reach shallow pools of water, wildlife biologists scooped up hundreds of minnows Friday in one of the first rescues of fish threatened by the state's worst drought in decades. The scientists collected smalleye shiners and sharpnose shiners from the Brazos River — about 2,300 on Thursday and 800 Friday. The fish, which are found only in the Brazos and nowhere else in the world,.. ... With the water drying up in the drought, the minnows don't have the 100 miles of river they need to reproduce. .. A...

...There are really two presidential campaigns going on this year. There's the battle over the epic issues of the day -- of who can better defend the nation, who can better address middle-class worries -- played out in the debates, the candidates' major addresses, the nationally publicized advertisements, and the network evening news broadcasts. Then there's the campaign percolating just beneath the surface, over a welter of narrower issues. ...Those questions matter intensely to certain groups of voters. They have extra potency because this election, like the one in 2000, could be decided by a handful of electoral votes.... These...

Friday, June 13, 2003 Appeals Court Sides With Minnow By Tania Soussan Journal Staff Writer     Water can be taken from Albuquerque, Santa Fe and middle Rio Grande farmers to help the endangered silvery minnow, the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.     As environmentalists praised the decision, Gov. Bill Richardson and Attorney General Patricia Madrid vowed to appeal the ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.     "This case involves one pivotal question: Who controls New Mexico's water — New Mexico or the federal government?" Madrid said. "To me the answer will always be New...

Tuesday, September 24, 2002 Public Enlisted in Fish Fight By Leslie LinthicumJournal Staff Writer     Formal appeals were in the works Monday, but Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez spent the weekend arguing the case of the silvery minnow vs. city water in the court of public opinion.     Chávez paid for a half-page advertisement in the Sunday Albuquerque Journal headlined "Someone's Stealing Our Water!"     Elsewhere in the newspaper the mayor wrote a column accusing U.S. District Court Chief Judge James A. Parker of ignoring "common sense and human need."     Parker's decision to force the release of stored Albuquerque water...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- There is new life for the silvery minnow. United States District Judge James Parker ruled Wednesday night water should continue to flow in the Rio Grande at 50 cubic feet per second to San Acacia, where the largest population of the minnow lives. Environmentalists had asked the judge to order water released from Heron Lake to keep the Rio Grande from going dry and possibly killing the endangered minnows. The ruling angered Mayor Martin Chavez, who said it will take drinking water away from Albuquerque residents. The mayor said the city plans to appeal.

Chávez Says City Won't Give Water for Minnows Albuquerque won't give up any more of its stored water to protect endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows, Mayor Martin Chávez said Thursday.     "It is essentially water from the mouths of our children," the mayor said in a rejection that sets the stage for a federal court showdown next week.     Without a release of some of the city water stored upstream, the Rio Grande will likely go dry as far north as Algodones later this month, federal water managers say.     That would be a disaster for the Rio Grande silvery...

Friday, September 6, 2002 Chávez Says City Won't Give Water for Minnows By Tania SoussanJournal Staff Writer     Albuquerque won't give up any more of its stored water to protect endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows, Mayor Martin Chávez said Thursday.     "It is essentially water from the mouths of our children," the mayor said in a rejection that sets the stage for a federal court showdown next week.     Without a release of some of the city water stored upstream, the Rio Grande will likely go dry as far north as Algodones later this month, federal water managers say.    ...