Albuquerque First Edition for MetroSource

***EDITORS: PLEASE EMBARGO UNTIL 12:01 A-M***

(Albuquerque, NM) -- A man in a wheelchair didn't make it across the street Monday evening. The 67-year-old man was trying to cross near Zuni and Tennessee when he was hit by a pickup truck. The driver of the truck said he couldn't stop in time. He was not cited.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- The bullets were flying Monday night near Coors and Rio Bravo. A man was shot in the back in what police have called a drive-by shooting. Witnesses say they heard several shots and saw a car leave the scene. No suspects are in custody. The victim is expected to survive.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- Air-rage suspect Julio Calero can go home now that he was freed on five-thousand-dollars bond. But he can't fly home. In fact he can't fly at all. Calero has been told he may return to his home in Florida, but he has to find alternative transportation to get there, such as the bus. Calero is accused of assault for throwing a beer can and cup of ice at a flight attendant on an America West flight between Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada. His attorney says it was the flight attendants, not Calero, who were out of control.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- At least one city councilor wants to keep area teens on a shorter leash. Greg Payne proposed a teen curfew at Monday's City Council meeting. He says when teenagers are out at two in the morning, the situation creates an opportunity for mischief. The American Civil Liberties Union is buying it and says such a law would give police too much power to stop anyone who looks young. A curfew for teens was proposed three years ago, but shot down by the state Supreme Court. This curfew would hold parents responsible if teens were out too late. Payne says the bill will go in front of the full Council December 18th.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- The Albuquerque City Council is following in the footsteps of Santa Fe. Monday night the Duke City councilors decided area restaurants should not serve water as a matter of course. Instead, customers must ask for it. The plan would require the approval of the mayor. It would also require hotels and motels to give their customers the option of not having their sheets washed during short stays.

(Santa Fe, NM) -- "Playboy" magazine is flying off the newsstands in New Mexico. This time it really is for the articles. Even women who normally don't purchase the men's publication, are buying the January 2001 issue. That's because it features a ten-page interview with Governor Gary Johnson. Johnson says that despite disapproval from other members of the Republican Party, he feels honored to have been asked to do the interview and believes he is reaching more people with his message about drug legalization by using the pages of the national magazine.

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Renée Blake FL) NV)

Albuquerque AM Extra

(Clovis, NM) -- A man suspected of costing the City of Clovis millions of dollars is now being sought. The Houston man skipped arraignment in Clovis Monday on securities fraud charges. A judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- A city landmark could be gone next year. Bernalillo County officials are considering tearing down the Bernalillo County Detention Center. They wouldn't do it until next fall when a two-thousand-bed facility is scheduled to open near I-40 and Paseo del Volcan. B-C-D-C was built some 30 years ago with additions in the early 1980's. It is expensive to operate. Albuquerque Police Chief Gerry Galvin thinks the center should be used as a booking facility. But there is concern over the 12-mile-round-trip between the downtown building and the new jail.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- Overcrowding at B-C-D-C could have inmates headed out of Bernalillo County. Electronic monitoring freed up enough space to keep the Bernalillo County Detention Center out of trouble with the federal government. Still, some people think having former inmates walking around with bracelets puts the community at risk. A proposal made at Monday's City Council meeting would have Bernalillo County purchasing jail beds from surrounding counties. The price tag for taxpayers would range from 40 to 65-dollars a day. Originally, a multi-million dollar interim facility was proposed.

(Carson National Forest, NM) -- A prescribed burn was started in New Mexico Monday. It was a 50-acre burn in the Carson National Forest that was set to burn dry fuel that has been building up over the past couple of years. More planned burns are scheduled for the future. Prescribed burns were once a matter of course. They are no longer taken for granted since one became the Cerro Grande Fire that caused the evacuation of Los Alamos.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- Although not all the members of the City Council were happy about it, two Albuquerque developers stand to make a profit from their failure. GSL Properties of Portland, Oregon says Amar Tesch and Armstrong Brothers Inc. will receive 150-thousand-dollars plus expenses even after they failed to secure financing for a 160-unit Downtown apartment complex. A bill that could stall the Villa San Felipe project came up before the Council Monday night.

(Carlsbad, NM) -- The National Transportation Safety Board is inspecting the scorched pipe from August's explosion near Carlsbad. Inspectors have one-thousand pounds of the scorched pipe that was hauled to Washington, D. C. from New Mexico. Currently the focus is on a link between pipe corrosion and the worst U-S pipeline blast in the past quarter century. They hope findings from the probe will prompt Congress to pass tougher safety standards for the pipeline industry.

(Albuquerque, NM) -- A man walking his dog found what appears to be an illegal dump between Unser Boulevard and 98th Street. Lee Terry called the state Environment Department about some leaking 55-gallon drums he came across on top of a hill in the West Mesa. When he got no action, he contacted Channel 13. The Environment Department says it will visit the site today (Tuesday) to take samples from the drums before planning a clean up.

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Renée Blake TX) OR) WDC)