Taos County eligible for NM disaster relief funds
(AP) - Gov. Bill Richardson declared Taos County a disaster area Monday due to storms that saturated the region last month.
Richardson signed an executive order allowing the release of money from a $750,000 state disaster relief fund that can be used for infrastructure repairs, overtime pay for safety personnel and other emergency expenses in the county.
House passes bill allowing judges to carry handguns
SANTA FE (AP) - Judges could carry a concealed handgun in their courtrooms under a measure approved Monday by the House.
Rep. Thomas Anderson, R-Albuquerque, said judges in rural areas should have the option of carrying a firearm to provide protection when law enforcement officers can't be present in the courthouse.
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However, opponents said the legislation wasn't necessary.
Rep. Al Park, D-Albuquerque, said a judge already could carry a concealed handgun in a courthouse if given permission from the chief judge.
Rumors of suicide pact lead to school's search
CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) - Carlsbad High School was searched by law enforcement officers Monday morning after rumors surfaced of a possible suicide pact.
No explosives or weapons were found at the school, authorities said.
The start of the school day was delayed by two hours based on unverified information that "a single, yet unknown individual, had planned to end their life on campus during school hours," said Carlsbad police Capt. Kelly Lowe.
Teams of police, fire and school officials swept the campus to search for explosives or weapons that may have been stashed on school grounds.
Bush chooses Bolton as ambassador to U.N.
WASHINGTON (AP) - John R. Bolton, a tough-talking arms control official who rarely muffles his views in diplomatic niceties, was chosen Monday by President Bush to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Senate Democrats immediately assailed the nomination, arguing that it didn't make sense for the president to pick a diplomat who has sometimes been critical of the world body at a time when mending fences with the international community was imperative.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Bolton's selection sent "all the wrong signals."
U. of Colorado president retires amid scandals
DENVER (AP) - University of Colorado President Elizabeth Hoffman announced her resignation Monday amid a football recruiting scandal and an uproar over a professor who compared Sept. 11 victims to a notorious Nazi.
Hoffman said the school needs a fresh start after the many controversies that have rattled the school, especially a football scandal that produced allegations of rapes, strip-club visits and alcohol-fueled sex parties for recruits.
Accuser's brother at trial: Jackson showed us porn
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) - The brother of Michael Jackson's accuser testified at the singer's child molestation trial Monday that Jackson showed them Internet sex sites, gave them wine, slept in bed with them and appeared before them naked and sexually aroused at the pop star's Neverland ranch.
"Me and my brother were watching a movie and Michael walked up naked," the 14-year-old witness testified. "Me and my brother were grossed out. He sat on the bed and said it was natural," then left the room.
Syrian soldiers begin pullback in Lebanon
MDEIREJ, Lebanon (AP) - Syrian soldiers loaded trucks with furniture and other supplies Monday and drove east from the Lebanese mountain posts they have held for decades, the first signs of a redeployment to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley announced by the leaders of the neighboring nations.
The pullback began as more than 70,000 Lebanese shouting "Freedom! Sovereignty! Independence!" thronged Beirut in the biggest demonstration yet of anti-Syria anger that has fueled recent street protests. Washington rejected the redeployment as insufficient.
Insurgent attacks in Iraq leave 33 dead, many hurt
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi insurgents set off bombs and fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at military convoys, checkpoints and police patrols in a spate of violence Monday that killed 33 people and wounded dozens. The terror group al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for much of the bloodshed.
