College campuses across New Mexico have had the sharpest decline in enrollment compared to other states in the past year. Citing a new study, the Albuquerque Journal reports that National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a nonprofit focused on research and education policy, has ranked New Mexico with the largest enrollment drop nationwide. The report says registration at colleges and universities plummeted more than eight-percent between spring 2014 and this past spring. Higher education enrollment in the U.S. in that same time period only dropped by nearly two-percent. In all, New Mexico saw at least 10-thousand fewer new students. Some university and college administrators say more graduates are choosing to get jobs or to move out of New Mexico.
A Portales-area farmer will be on five years' probation after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from claims that his crops were organic when they were not. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Houston Wall pleaded guilty to the federal misdemeanor of misbranding products in interstate commerce for claiming in 2010 that crops of corn were organic. Wall farms about six-thousand acres in Roosevelt County. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Wall made 300-thousand dollars by saying his crops were organic but not paying for the operation. A USDA spokeswoman says the agency learned about Wall from workers who witnessed prohibited substances, such as pesticides, being applied to crops. During his probation Wall will have to make restitution to buyers who were overcharged for the crops.
The heroin antidote Narcan is not just for police and first responders anymore. New York and a handful of other states including New Mexico are helping to make the life-saving antidote available to regular folks, hoping to increase the odds it will be there when needed in an emergency. State health officials say New York has trained 10-thousand laypeople in the last six months alone, sending them home with a rescue kit containing Narcan and a nasal atomizer used to spray it in an overdose victim's nose. The training was helped by a law change last year that allowed prescribers to issue general, rather than patient-specific, prescriptions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says New Mexico, California, Illinois and Washington have similarly changed regulations.
Authorities say a Texas man is dead after his paraglider crashed outside a northern New Mexico airport. New Mexico State Police say 46-year-old Paul Johnson was found in a field just north of the Angel Fire Airport on Saturday morning. The Office of the Medical investigator pronounced him dead at the scene. State Police say Johnson, an Austin police officer, last made contact with a friend around 8:30 a.m. According to the friend, Johnson had landed in a field and was going to attempt a lift-off and return to the airport. When he failed to show up by 10 a.m., friends began searching for him. Authorities say the cause of the crash is unknown.
A legislative report says New Mexico has no clear strategy on how to keep decreasing the number of teens giving birth, a rate that is the second-highest nationwide. The New Mexican reports that a Legislative Finance Committee report released last week says inconsistent implementation of comprehensive standards for sex education may be a contributing factor. Public schools are required to instruct students on various ways to prevent pregnancy but not all of them do. The report says New Mexico taxpayers spend 75 million dollars a year on babies born from teens. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, however, says the number of babies in New Mexico dropped in 2013 by 35 percent when compared to 1988, when the rate was at its peak.
Authorities say human remains found in the Sandia Mountains on Friday have been identified as a missing woman. Bernalillo County Sheriff's Lt. Pete Golden said Saturday that the remains are those of 24-year-old Brittany Johnson and her death appears to be accidental. The Office of the Medical Investigator has conducted an autopsy but the findings won't be released for some time. Golden says the recovery of her body from the base of a steep cliff in rugged terrain took more than six hours because of bad weather. Crews began searching Wednesday in the mountains overlooking Albuquerque after her car was found in the Sandia Crest area. Her family reported her missing a week ago. A hiker found her car keys on a trail and placed them on the parked vehicle.
Santa Fe Weather: Mostly sunny today with a 50-percent chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms after noon, the high today, 69. Tonight: Mostly cloudy and breezy with a 60-percent chance for showers and thunderstorms, the overnight low, 48. Tomorrow: Mostly sunny with the high near 65 and a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms.