ALBUQUERQUE – Almundo Cruz Singer, 28, was sentenced this afternoon in federal court in Albuquerque to 75 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his involuntary manslaughter conviction.

Singer, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Tseyatoh, NM, was arrested on Dec. 16, on a criminal complaint charging him with involuntary manslaughter. He subsequently was indicted on Jan. 8, and charged with killing a man on Dec. 9 while driving under the influence of alcohol on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County.

According to court filings, Singer killed a 36-year-old Navajo man who was walking across State Road 118 in Church Rock, by...

As a report from the New Mexico State Auditor’s Office reaffirmed, New Mexico has had serious problems with funding special education in recent years.

But the state’s ongoing struggles with special education go deeper than the audit, which found the state underfunded the program by $110 million from 2010-2012.

Throughout the years, state lawmakers have clashed with Gov. Susana Martinez on how to fix the problem.

The issue goes back to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act, a landmark federal law passed in the 1970s that mandated public education access to special-needs students. Part of the law requires that every state increase special education money each year, or keep...

Alfredo Delgarito, 31, Gallup, NM

Sept. 7, 11:25 pm

3rd DWI

Cindy Joe had luck on her side when she stopped in time to avoid a collision with a white Chevy Malibu, parked in the middle of State Highway 602, near Mile Marker 24. When McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnson Lee approached Degarito, he had to wake him. He reeked of booze, had bloodshot eyes and couldn’t pass the field sobriety tests. The dead giveaway was the open bottle of Miller Light Ultra and open can of Bud Light. He blew a 0.22 and 0.21 during his two breath tests.

Candice Brown, 36, Thoreau, NM

Sept 12, 11:31 pm

Aggravated DWI

Brown reportedly roughed up a waitress at the Denny’s adjacent to...

Alcohol and high speed combined likely contributed to a rollover accident in Fort Wingate Sept. 12.

It’s unclear the extent of injuries that driver Denise Jewel Bedonie, 22, and the passengers riding in her Chevrolet Impala sustained when she flipped it in Fort Wingate.

According to the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Nacona Clark’s report, Bedonie was traveling southbound on State Highway 400 “at high rate of speed” when she approached a bend and careened between an electric pole and a tree, landing on the vehicle’s roof.

Bedonie’s boyfriend Donovan Charley, who was visiting from Phoenix, was unresponsive at the scene and flown to a hospital in Albuquerque for...