Friday’s Top Stories

Friday’s Five Facts

[1] NMSU basketball player will not be charged in UNM shooting – Security cameras show NMSU basketball player Mike Peake with a gun, shooting back at UNM student Brandon Travis. Peake was wounded and Travis was killed. Despite a zero tolerance policy for guns on campus, Bernalillo District Attorney Sam Bregman announced Peake would not face any charges. He said previous D.A. Raul Torrez made that decision. Torrez said the decision to not charge Peake was to help gain his cooperation in charging the three other people who are accused of setting up the ambush against Peake that night.

[2] Albuquerque Public School Board approves record $2.16 billion budget – Despite declining enrollment Albuquerque Public Schools will have a record budget in the coming year topping $2B which is a 12% budget increase. The district chalks a lot of it up to rising salaries and more classroom time. The almost $2.2B budget got the green light from the APS board on Wednesday. $990M of that goes toward the district’s operational funding. That includes 6% salary increases for public school employees, which will cost APS $40.2M and another $13.2M for expanding the time students are in school. 

[3] Severe storms Friday through Memorial Day weekend – A higher risk for severe weather is expected across the east today. Storms will develop in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and along a dryline during the mid-afternoon. Storms will move eastward, and several will become severe. We will see a similar pattern across the state for Memorial Day Weekend. Western NM and the Rio Grande Valley will stay dry and mostly to partly sunny. Meanwhile, we will see more storms daily in eastern New Mexico.

[4] ‘They’re flying all over my face’: Miller moths invade Albuquerque – Experts say we are seeing a major emergence of what are known as Miller Moths this year. They say there are many factors that effect how severe a moth emergence will be, but the temperate winter and spring are probably why there are so many. They say the moths should be moving on in the next couple of weeks.

[5] Albuquerque P.E. teacher retires from teaching after 50 years of service – Coach Barbara Anderson, better known as ‘Coach Andy’ started her career in 1972. She started as a P.E. teacher at Taylor Middle School, then went to Lincoln Middle School, and from there to Cibola High School. In 1991, Lyndon Baines Johnson Middle School was built, and she helped open the school. Anderson spearheaded the launch of middle school sports teams in APS in 2003. Later in 2005, LBJ named its newly built gym in her honor. Anderson says she plans to spend her summer in Alaska helping kids in the youth sports parks rec program.