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Nov. 18 First News: Former S.F. County Sheriff's Deputy Arraigned On Murder Charge (Listen)

The former Santa Fe County deputy accused of killing a fellow deputy did not appear in court Monday for his scheduled arraignment. Tai Chan's attorney, Santa Fe lawyer John Day, waived his arraignment in Las Cruces District Court and entered a not guilty plea on his client's behalf. Chan’s bond remains at 600-thousand dollars. Chan is charged with 1st-degree murder in the shooting death of 29-year-old Jeremy Martin. Late last month the deputies stopped in Las Cruces for the night after extraditing a prisoner to Arizona. Las Cruces police said the pair consumed alcohol and got into a heated argument, resulting in Chan allegedly firing several shots at Martin while he fled the hotel room. It's still not clear what the deputies were fighting about before the shooting.

 The New Mexico Department of Veteran’s Services will under new leadership soon. Secretary Tim Hale a retired Air Force Colonel, will be succeeded as Veteran’s Affairs Secretary by Retired Brigadier General Jack Fox of the New Mexico National Guard. Hale spent his last day on the job on Monday and said building community partnerships for New Mexico’s veterans ranks among his top accomplishments. *****111814-Hale-1 :26***** Hale has served as DVS cabinet secretary since 2011.

New Mexico Congressman Ben Ray Lujan has a new Democratic Party leadership role today. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has selected Lujan to head the party's campaign committee. Lujan, who was elected in 2008, will succeed New York Representative Steve Israel as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Lujan led the committee's Latino Council this past election cycle. Pelosi made the announcement through Twitter, saying Lujan's vision, energy and leadership will mean victory for Democrats in 2016. Democrats lost at least a dozen seats in the midterm elections as Republicans romped.

Some marijuana consumers cited by Santa Fe police since September for possessing a small amount of pot are getting off the hook. The New Mexican reports that's because a Santa Fe's city judge is dismissing citations following adoption of a new ordinance that decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Santa Fe councilors passed the ordinance in August but police continued to issue criminal citations after the new law went into effect on September 10th. Lt. Andrea Dobyns says the city still hadn't printed up new forms for charging violators with a civil infraction instead of a criminal violation. She also says some officers might not have been aware of the change.

A Bernalillo middle school teacher is accused of threatening a student with a knife for talking during a pop quiz. A criminal complaint says 63-year-old Benjamin Nagurski threatened a student with the knife and told him to stop talking. Nagurski was jailed on a 10-thousand dollars bond.

Wildlife advocates have sued the federal government after it declined to designate some areas in the West as critical habitat for the imperiled Canada lynx. Two coalitions of advocacy groups filed separate lawsuits over lynx on Monday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana. They assert the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service improperly excluded the southern Rocky Mountains of New Mexico and Colorado as protected habitat for the elusive, forest-dwelling wild cat. The plaintiffs also say the agency left out important habitat in portions of Washington state, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. The lawsuit asks the court to strike down the September finding and send the issue back to federal wildlife officials for reconsideration. Lynx first gained federal protections in 2000. There is no reliable population estimate for the animals.

Spirits are high at New Mexico's ski resorts after a storm brought more than two feet of snow to some spots, and forecasts call for more snow this weekend. Freezing temperatures are also allowing crews to crank up snow-making machines from the slopes of New Mexico to northern Arizona. Following a string of lackluster years and negative perceptions spurred by the realities of drought, ski resorts in the Southwest are looking to make a comeback. The director of the group Ski New Mexico, George Brooks, says resorts in the state want to meet the million-skier mark this season. The number of annual skier visits hasn't topped that in at least a decade. Brooks and others point to national weather forecasts that call for above-average chances for snow through the winter.

Santa Fe Weather: Sunny today with the high 38. It’ll be mostly clear tonight with the overnight low down to 18. Tomorrow: Mostly sunny and a bit warmer with the high 46.