Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 1/7/13

Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Commissioner wants to expand ABQ min wage hike
Doctor in medical marijuana lawsuit
Police to release First Gentlemen's trip records
Police to stop direct monitoring of nuclear waste transports 

Newsbreak New Mexico 5pm Webcast 1/7/13

Commissioner wants to expand ABQ min. wage increase

Bernalillo County Commissioner Art De La Cruz wants to expand Albuquerque’s new minimum-wage law beyond the city limits. 

He plans to introduce a proposal later this month to boost the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour in unincorporated parts of the county, matching the minimum now in effect inside Albuquerque.

 In November, Albuquerque voters overwhelmingly supported an ordinance raising the minimum from $7.50 to $8.50 an hour. The minimum wage will increase in future years, too, based on changes in the Consumer Price Index, and there are new provisions for tipped employees. 

De La Cruz’s proposal would expand it to other municipalities, such as Tijeras and Los Ranchos.

Commissioner wants to expand ABQ min. wage increase

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 1/7/13

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

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Police to release record of First Gentlemen's trips
NM legislator proposes background checks for private gun sales 
Ben Ray Lujan appointed chief deputy whip
Former DA Orlando lands new job

Newsbreak New Mexico 12pm Webcast 1/7/13

First Gentlemen's trip records to be released

Chuck Franco

New Mexico State Police will release records of work and vacation schedules of officers who accompanied Gov. Susana Martinez's husband on an out-of-state trip. 

The department previously refused to release the records related to a 2011 hunting trip to Louisiana, saying protection of the governor and her family allowed the records to be withheld. 

The Albuquerque Journal says two officers accompanied Martinez's husband Chuck Franco on the trip. 

DPS spokesman Tony Lynn said the records will be released as a result of a directive from Attorney General Gary King. King says a state Supreme Court ruling last June no longer allows records to be withheld for so-called "countervailing public policy."

First Gentlemen's trip records to be released

NM Legislator proposes private gun sale background checks

Rep. Miguel Garcia

A Democratic legislator from Albuquerque proposes to require background checks on people who buy firearms from private gun owners, including at gun shows. 

Rep. Miguel Garcia said Friday the checks would prevent sales of guns to people convicted of crimes and those with a history of mental illness.

 He will introduce the bill when the Legislature convenes next week. Federal law requires background checks for sales by licensed dealers in stores or at gun shows but it doesn't cover firearm sales between private individuals, whether at a gun show or someone's home. 

Garcia acknowledged at a news conference that it will be difficult to win approval of his proposal, but said there may be more support for the measure because of last month's mass shooting at a Connecticut school.

NM Legislator proposes private gun sale background checks

For DA Orlando lands new job

Amy Orlando

Former Dona Ana County District Attorney Amy Orlando, who was ousted from office in November, has landed a new position.  

Orlando began this week as the associate deputy director for Juvenile Justice Services of Southern New Mexico. It's a state position with the Children, Youth and Families Department. 

Orlando worked in the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office for nearly two decades. Much of that time, Orlando served as a deputy under Gov. Susana Martinez, the former longtime DA who appointed Orlando in that position in 2010. 

Orlando was defeated in November by Democrat Mark D'Antonio, former FBI special agent.

For DA Orlando lands new job

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 1/7/13

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Newscast with Vanessa Dabovich

                                      Listen here:

Ben Ray Lujan appointed chief deputy whip
Amy Orlando lands job
Dona Ana County Commission to support Pegasus site
Gary Smith allegedly slashed tires in Texas

Newsbreak New Mexico 8am Webcast 1/7/13

Dona Ana County Commission to vote in support of Pegasus site

The Dona Ana County Commission is scheduled Tuesday to consider a proposal supporting a private firm's plans to build a $1 billion scientific ghost town.  

Pegasus Global Holdings picked a location south of Interstate 10 between Deming and Las Cruces in early December for the site of its project. T

he project would be located mainly in Luna County, but a private access road could be in located in Dona Ana County. 

The project's plans called for an uninhabited replica of a mid-size American city to help researchers test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets.

Dona Ana County Commission to vote in support of Pegasus site

Smith tire slashing allegedly extends to Texas

Gary Smith

A Texas man says a former New Mexico congressional candidate accused of stalking and slashing the tires on an opponent's vehicles also slashed his tires when he was his neighbor in El Paso. 

Kenneth Propps told The Associated Press on Friday that Gary Smith slashed the tires of a number of family vehicles following a dispute over damage from a 2007 wind storm. 

Propps said Smith unsuccessfully sued him twice after a piece of his air conditioning unit tore off and damaged Smith's skylight. 

Smith appeared in court Friday for violating conditions of release in the tire slashing case in Albuquerque. The judge ordered that he be held on $225,000 cash-only bond.

Smith tire slashing allegedly extends to Texas