State
N.M. uses fire protection funds on general budget
ALBQUERQUE (AP) - Nearly half the state's fire departments miss or barely meet the minimum insurance industry standard for fire protection, yet state lawmakers divert funds from the departments every year, according to officials and industry ratings.
Over the past five years, $97.8 million collected for fire protection has gone to help pay for general fund budget items like education, prisons and Medicaid, records from the state Fire Marshal's Office show.
A tax on property and vehicle insurance premiums has yielded nearly $193 million, of which less than half -$95.1 million - was spent on fire departments and fire-related expenses.
Town gives former POW a welcome home parade
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) - Grinning ear to ear in his Army dress uniform, former prisoner of war Spc. Joseph Hudson waved from the back of a red convertible Saturday as his hometown celebrated his return with a parade. Later, two stealth fighters cut the blue sky for a rare flyover as Hudson ascended the stairs of a stage before addressing the crowd.
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Hudson thanked God, his wife and all the people who supported him, then asked for their continued help.
"I ask that everybody here continue to pray because we still have soldiers, we still have airmen, we still have Marines and we still have U.S. Navy out there fighting," Hudson said.
Lacy first Navajo to win Miss Indian World title
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Onawa Lynn Lacy wasn't raised on the Navajo Nation or taught as a child to speak Navajo. But her study of the Navajo culture as an adult paid off last week when she became the first Navajo to be crowned Miss Indian World.
Lacy, a 20-year-old University of New Mexico prelaw major studying English, grew up in Gallup and Raton.
After two days of public speaking, traditional dancing and traditional talent competitions, Lacy was chosen last weekend from 34 young Indian women from around the country at the annual Gathering of Nations Powwow in Albuquerque.
International
Cosmonauts recovered after missing target
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) - A Russian capsule safely returned two astronauts and a cosmonaut from the international space station on Sunday, but the landing, nearly 300 miles off target, triggered a nerve-racking two-hour search in the steppes of central Asia. The three men were finally spotted in the vast, brown, barren stretch of Kazakhstan by a recovery plane and waved to show they were fine. Helicopters arrived for them an hour or two later.
Low-ranking Iraqi officers unveil banned weapons
WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday the United States will have to rely on low-ranking Iraqi officials from Saddam Hussein's government to disclose the existence of banned weapons. He said there is little chance that the weapons - whose alleged existence provided the main basis for war - will be found independently, or that top officials will provide useful information.
Research shows feces may be SARS carrier
HONG KONG, China (AP) - New scientific findings indicate that feces may be a more important method of spreading the SARS virus than originally thought, the World Health Organization said Sunday.
Although coughing and sneezing remain the chief means of spreading the infection, government scientists in Hong Kong have found that the virus can stay alive for at least four days in diarrhea.
The research adds weight to the theory that leaky sewage pipes were the source of infection in a particularly severe outbreak at a Hong Kong apartment complex, where more than 300 people became ill.
