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March 31 First News: New LANL Cleanup Plan Sets Mid-May Comment Deadline

As part of a new proposal to address decades of contamination at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico officials are hopeful the federal government will restore funding for environmental cleanup projects.  The U.S. Department of Energy says it's committed to cleaning up legacy waste left behind at Los Alamos National Laboratory by decades of bomb-making and related nuclear research.  A department spokesman reiterated the commitment Wednesday after New Mexico regulators unveiled a new proposal for addressing hazardous waste and contamination in and around the northern New Mexico lab.  The DOE confirmed that it has been in discussions with the state Environment Department over a revamped cleanup schedule since a previous agreement signed in 2005 has run out.  A series of public meetings will be planned over the coming weeks and the public will have through May 16 to weigh in on the proposal.

Five female inmates intend to sue over injuries they say they sustained in a February fire at the Curry County Adult Detention Center.  The Clovis News Journal reports Portales attorney Eric D. Dixon filed the tort claim against the county Tuesday. The filing says the fire was started by another inmate who had been given a lighter by a jailer.  Curry County Manager Lance Pyle said an investigation is planned.

An Albuquerque undercover officer who was shot multiple times at point blank range by his supervisor has reached a settlement in a suit against the city and the since-retired supervisor.  A federal magistrate on Wednesday filed a brief order saying she'd received notice of the case being settled. She ordered the sides to file papers to close the court case within 30 days.  The Albuquerque Journal reports the settlement is for $6.5 million.  The magistrate's order didn't disclose terms of the settlement of the suit filed by Jacob Grant against the city and former police Lt. Greg Brachle.  Brachle shot Grant in January of 2015 while Grant and another officer were undercover in a parked unmarked police car. They had just bought drugs from two suspects. Brachle recently retired.

The Albuquerque Journal is reporting the city of Albuquerque has agreed to pay a student who was injured by an officer $245-thousand in damages.  The journal says the student, Jeremy Martin, was stopped on suspicion of driving drunk in April of 2014, and that when he refused to obey former officer Pablo Padilla’s orders, Padilla kicked him in the groin.  Martin underwent surgery the next day and had to have a testicle removed. The drunk- driving charges were later dismissed.  The former officer is scheduled to stand trial on battery charges in June.  His law enforcement certification was revoked as a result of the incident.

The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a regulation that prohibits New Mexico teachers from disparaging standardized tests.  The lawsuit against the New Mexico Public Education Department was filed Wednesday in Santa Fe District Court on behalf of five public school teachers and a parent.  The ACLU says the regulation restricts free speech and violates constitutional rights to due process and a public education. The lawsuit says that teachers are permitted only to provide praise for tests and that parents are thus unable to obtain honest and accurate information about the impact of the tests on children.  The Department of Education did not comment on this Associated Press story.

The University of New Mexico has hired Mike Bradbury to take the helm of the women's basketball program.  The school made the announcement Wednesday, saying a news conference would be held Thursday afternoon.  Bradbury replaces Yvonne Sanchez, who was fired in mid-March after five seasons as head coach.  A protege of the school's most winningest coach, Don Flanagan, Sanchez joined the program in 2000. She was hired to replace the retiring Flanagan following a national search.  Bradbury has coached the women's team at Wright State in Ohio since 2010.

Despite winning more than $12.5 million at a casino, a Nevada miner plans to keep digging for gold.  Efren Aguirre tells the Elko Daily Free Press that he loves his job as rock breaker operator in a gold mine and doesn't intend to quit. The 64-year-old resident of Elko hit the jackpot on a slot machine last week.  Aguirre says he came to the U.S. from Mexico for "more money," but this wasn't what he expected.  He has worked at Newmont Mining Corp.'s Leeville mine for 16 years. He says he decided to go to the casino after a shift on March 22.

In national news:

A Southeast Texas native and wife of an Air Force lieutenant colonel was one of the people killed in the Brussels attacks.  Gail Minglana Martinez was identified Wednesday as a victim in the attacks by the office of U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold. The congressman said in a statement that he had spoken to Martinez's brother.  The 41-year-old Martinez's husband, Lieutenant Colonel Kato Martinez, was stationed in the Netherlands. Kato Martinez and the couple's four children were being treated for injuries in the attacks.

A nuclear security summit opens today in Washington, but Russia won’t be represented, after its leader, Vladimir Putin said his country wouldn’t participate.  Though nuclear terrorism and the Islamic State group top this year's agenda, concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons program are also commanding focus as the two-day summit gets underway.  President Barack Obama, the summit host, plans this morning to have a joint meeting with the presidents of Japan and South Korea, two U.S. treaty allies deeply concerned about North Korea.

Officials say the U.S. may soon allow foreign governments and banks to use U.S. dollars to do business with Iran. The officials say the Treasury Department is considering a general license that would allow offshore financial institutions to access dollars for foreign currency trades in support of legitimate business with Iran. Several restrictions would apply.

Tesla Motors plans tonight to unveil its latest electric vehicle, and the base price may be a shocker — just $35,000. That's a bargain, compared to its other two models that start around $70,000 and $80,000. The Model 3 electric car will be presented to the public at Tesla's Los Angeles design studio. The car is expected to have a range of at least 200 miles when fully charged.