Two teens break free from local detention center
(AP) - Two teens, including one charged with murder, have escaped from an Albuquerque youth detention facility that is scheduled to close this year.
Joseph Archuleta, 18, who is charged with murdering a Moriarty teen last August, and Alan Green, 19, arrested for probation violations, made it out of the Camino Nuevo detention center Monday night.
Investigators said the pair ran through a fire escape while working out with other inmates in a recreation area, and then climbed two fences with razor wire on top.
Guards had complained in recent months about inadequate staffing levels at Camino Nuevo, which means 'New Road' in Spanish.
State officials, in choosing to close the facility, had said the money could be better spent elsewhere.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
State Children, Youth and Families Department spokesman Chris Dillman said he does not believe the escape was related to the planned shutdown at Camino Nuevo. He called it "an unfortunate isolated incident."
He also warned the teens "should both be considered dangerous individuals."
Casino-operating tribes may create exclusion list
(AP) - The Responsible Gaming Association of New Mexico, an organization made up of 10 of the state's 13 casino-operating tribes, is hoping to start a standardized exclusionary list for problem gamblers.
The list could become a reality in the next several months if the tribes agree, Association President Jeff Jojola said.
"Each tribe has to agree to it. I'm hoping they will," said Jojola, who also serves as responsible gaming coordinator for Isleta Casino and Resort.
At present, tribal casinos offer their own separate programs, in which problem gamblers are allowed to voluntarily have themselves banned from the casinos.
Concurrently, the New Mexico Gaming Control Board recently directed a staff attorney to study how statewide exclusion lists work in other states.
Senate votes to increase funding for welfare kids
WASHINGTON (AP) - Over White House objections, the Senate voted Tuesday for an additional $6 billion for child care for welfare recipients and the working poor as part of a bill to renew the landmark 1996 welfare reform law.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was among 31 Republicans who supported the increase, which passed 78-20 despite the Bush administration's contention that significant reductions in welfare rolls have freed up money for child care. House Republicans did not include it in the version of the legislation that passed the House last year.
The provision would send states $20.5 billion over five years in the form of block grants for programs for children up to 13 years of age. Its authors, Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said hundreds of thousands of children could lose child care without the extra money, which in turn could force thousands of low-income parents to give up their jobs.
Bomber kills himself; wounds two policemen
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in a hallway of the Bolivian Congress Tuesday, killing himself and wounding two police, authorities said. State-run television said the two officers had died. The disgruntled miner demanding early retirement benefits made his way to a first-floor section of the building, away from the congressional chambers, Police Chief Guido Arandia said.
