Free Republic

WASHINGTON : North Korea could agree to implement a "first tranche" of measures to end its nuclear weapons programme during the next round of six-nation talks in Bejing next week, the top US negotiator has said. "What we hope to do in this round is to implement a first tranche of measures, which will be the beginning of the full implementation of the September (2005) agreement leading to full denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters on Thursday. He said that the move "will be a substantial start" to the full denuclearisation of the...

Camper Lost in New Mexico Rescued Two Weeks After Search for Her Was Called Off January 14, 2007 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A camper who became stranded nearly five weeks ago in a national forest because she could not cross a swollen river was rescued Sunday, more than two weeks after the search for her was called off. A New Mexico National Guard crew waded across the icy Gila River to rescue a dehydrated and weak Carolyn Dorn of South Carolina, who entered the Gila National Forest alone on Dec. 6 for a two-week camping trip. Two brothers found her Friday...

SANTA FE— A freeway collision that killed five members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family claimed a sixth victim Sunday— the drunken driver who hit them head-on. A blood test drawn at the University of New Mexico hospital showed that driver Dana Papst had a blood-alcohol content of 0.32 percent, four times the state's presumed level of intoxication, Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano said. Records show Papst had been arrested for DWI at least five times in Colorado, Solano said. Papst, 44, of Tesuque, crashed into the Gonzales family's minivan shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday on I-25 just north...

WEIRD BUT TRUE By DAN KADISON, Wire Services December 4, 2006 -- An Albuquerque principal is in a hairy situation after driving a student off campus to a barbershop last week without seeking the permission of the teen's parents. Al Sanchez, of Rio Grande HS, faces disciplinary action after giving the 15-year-old boy two choices: receive a suspension or remove what he thought were gang symbols that had been shaved into the kid's head. Sanchez said he "was just trying to do a nice thing." The boy, a boxer, said the designs - the number "505" and New Mexico's Zia...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- On Monday, Republicans failed in a last-minute effort to gain access to the names of about 27,000 foreign nationals, who had been issued New Mexico driver's licenses. Judge Valerie Huling ruled that there was no need for an emergency action on the G.O.P. request, because the party's lawyers couldn not show that those driver's license holders would influence the election. This summer, the G.O.P. asked for the information but was given a highly redacted list by the New Mexico Department of Motor Vehicles. The department claims that to release such information is a violation of federal rights...

The conflicting conclusions arose Tuesday after Armijo - flanked by his parents, friends and other supporters at Bataan Park in northeast Albuquerque - said he would still run for the office despite earlier announcements of his withdrawal. "After 17 years in the military, the most important lesson I learned was to never quit," he said. "If a select few politicians are nervous, so be it." Armijo's intention runs contrary to Aug. 29 announcements from the New Mexico Democratic Party and a public relations firm in which he is quoted as saying he was leaving the race. They were released shortly...

By Associated Press Posted 12:49 p.m. A federal judge ruled today that a California investment adviser will not have to testify in the retrial of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil on public corruption charges. U.S. District Judge James Browning said he would not compel Kent Nelson to testify after Nelson invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. However, Browning said he would admit into evidence transcripts of Nelson's testimony from Vigil's first trial, which ended in a mistrial this spring. Vigil faces 24 federal extortion and racketeering counts in an alleged kickback scheme. Nelson pleaded to a single count of...

DENVER (CNS) -- A journey that began last year in Mexico and will end in Orlando, Fla., in August made Denver its latest stop May 5-7. A silver cross containing relics of six of the 25 Mexican martyrs canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000 has been traveling under the auspices of the Knights of Columbus. Each of the six -- Sts. Pedro de Jesus Maldonado, Luis Batis Sainz, Jose Maria Robles Hurtado, Mateo Correa Megallanes, Miguel del la Mora de la Mora and Rodrigo Aguilar Aleman -- was a priest and a member of the Knights of Columbus....

The New Mexico Democratic Party is calling for President Bush's removal from office— a position some party leaders are already distancing themselves from. The resolution says "the Democratic Party of New Mexico supports the impeachment of George Bush and his lawful removal from office." It was adopted as a floor amendment to the state party platform at a convention Saturday in Albuquerque. The state Democratic Party chairman, John Wertheim, said Saturday's vote at a gathering of more than 1,200 party delegates shows that many Democrats believe the Bush administration is "fraught with abuses of power and violations of the Constitution."...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 — A House Republican whose subcommittee oversees the National Security Agency broke ranks with the White House on Tuesday and called for a full Congressional inquiry into the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program. Representative Heather A. Wilson, a House chairwoman, has broken ranks with the president. The lawmaker, Representative Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, said in an interview that she had "serious concerns" about the surveillance program. By withholding information about its operations from many lawmakers,

"U.S. agents had been investigating the possibility of an elaborate drug-smuggling tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego for more than a year, but couldn't find it despite using military equipment so advanced it's classified" ~snip "“This tunnel beats them all,” said Michael Unzueta, special agent in charge of the San Diego office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, " ~snip "“People are always going to find a way around us,” he said."

SAN DIEGO -- Authorities were removing an estimated 2 tons of marijuana from a "massive" cross-border tunnel that began near the Tijuana airport and ended near an apparently vacant industrial building on the U.S. side, officials said. Authorities on Wednesday located the U.S. exit to the tunnel, which began inside a warehouse near the airport with a cement shaft about 10 feet wide and 7 feet long. The shaft dropped about 75 feet to the tunnel, which was armslength wide and high enough for an adult to stand inside. The tunnel floor was cement, and lights ran down the...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Authorities have found what they call the largest tunnel running into the United States along the U.S.-Mexican border. About 2 tons of marijuana were inside the tunnel, the Drug Enforcement Administration said, indicating that it appears to have been used to transport drugs. DEA and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents discovered the tunnel Wednesday night. It runs from Tijuana, Mexico, to Otay Mesa, California. Officials said the tunnel is about seven-tenths of a mile (1,148 meters) or more than 1,200 yards long. Initial reports said it is 5 feet high and 3.5 feet wide.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Two studies released this week say New Mexico is poised to become the hub of the commercial space industry, but state officials must still resolve many issues before that dream becomes reality. The studies, commissioned by the state Economic Development Department, were conducted by New Mexico State University's Arrowhead Center and the Futron Corp. The studies agree that a planned spaceport in southern New Mexico has the potential to create thousands of jobs and bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the state. But they both caution that there are many unanswered questions. New Mexico Economic...

TUCSON, Ariz — Federal officials will begin installing steel pole barriers this month to stop drug and migrant smugglers from driving through what have been high-traffic corridors along sections of the Mexican border in Arizona and New Mexico. The poles, which will be spaced about four feet apart, will be placed along two miles of border east of San Luis, Ariz., and along a one-mile stretch west of Columbus, N.M., in areas frequented by smugglers using cars, pickups and vans. The barriers have previously been used near San Diego. Officials say smugglers driving around the barriers will go into isolated...

PECOS, N.M. - Nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside this village in northern New Mexico, the Pecos Benedictine Monastery has long been considered cut from a different cloth from many other Roman Catholic religious communities. Its chapel is in a structure that, more than 50 years ago, was part of a dude ranch where burnt-out urbanites came to relax. The gift shop is in an old adobe building that was a stop on the Pony Express. Solar panels adorn much of the stucco complex, a well-known location for combining the study of Christian spirituality and Jungian dream analysis....

There's a health alert involving the whooping cough vaccine. The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that pre-teens be vaccinated—again—to protect against the respiratory illness. The parents of 11-month-old Jose Cano assumed his vaccinations would last a lifetime. But the pertussis vaccine for whooping cough only lasts about five years. In recent years, there's been a serious rise in whooping cough (as it's commonly known), especially among teenagers whose immunity to the disease has expired. Experts blame, in part, immigrants crossing the border from countries where vaccinations are not required. Since the vaccine was introduced in the 1940s, pertussis cases...

This morning I have authorized the filing of briefs to the U.S. District Court on behalf of the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico. As you will recall, several weeks ago members of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Las Cruces city seal. That seal depicts three crosses as part of its presentation. When translated into English, “Las Cruces” actually means “the crosses.” AU and its allies have made the determination to remove this reference to the religious heritage of New Mexico. Below is the content of a letter that I...

MONTREAL (Reuters) - While U.S. President George W. Bush refuses to accept the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions, at least 40 million Americans will find themselves bound to the international treaty to curb global warming. Since the protocol took effect last February, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has convinced 192 cities to agree to cut emissions 7 percent from 1990 levels by 2012 -- the recommended target for the United States, which emits 25 percent of the world's heat-trapping gases. The cities join an increasing number of states, including California and New York, and leading corporations choosing to follow...

Gov. Bill Richardson spoke at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, hours after rumors surfaced that he died in a Virginia plane crash. A plane did crash near Leesburg, Va., on Wednesday morning, killing the two people on board. Rumors quickly surfaced that Richardson was one of those two. Television stations along the East Coast ­joined television networks in trying to confirm the rumors, calling the governor’s office – which answered 20 calls in an hour. “We had to convince them seriously that he’s fine,” said Richardson spokesperson Pahl Shipley, who said he told them, “We just got...