Gov. Richardson has declared Otero County a disaster area after 60 mph winds tore through the area earlier this week, reports the Alamogordo Daily News. Also, Mora County has been placed on the disaster-area list due to storm conditions northeast of Santa Fe. Now, federal assistance will come to the residents in these areas.

Hurricane-force winds caused $2-$million in damage at White Sands Missile Range, The Las Cruces Sun-News reports. Winds up to 80 mph downed power lines, ripped a roof from a building, uprooted trees, and caused minor damage to cars and other buildings. WSMR officials suggests they will work with the Dept. of the Army to fix the damages.

A potential sinkhole is threatening Carlsbad, and it has nothing to do with the naturally-occurring caverns, according to the Daily Lobo. Salt mining has created a cavity beneath a large intersection that, if collapsed into a sinkhole, could potentially disrupt two highways, railroad tracks and an irrigation canal. Two similar area mines have recently collapsed.

The Farmington Daily Times has a story about of the opening of a new $7.5 million student center at Navajo Prep in Farmington. The center will assist the school’s 200 students who hope to attend college; the school has a 98-percent college acceptance rate. Despite the many new services and amenities the center will provide, the building is also eco-friendly (and sounds awesome).

A former corrections officer at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque has been indicted on charges of conducting a sexual relationship with an inmate. Reyna Lujan faces three counts of criminal sexual penetration, with each carrying a potential sentence of nine years in prison, the AP reports.

And a family from Mount Vernon, Ken. will be traveling through New Mexico on a transcontinental trip to Alaska, reports the Clovis News Journal. “We want to show our children America before it is gone because it is changing rapidly,” the father says. You’re right, Pop. The whole thing could be swallowed up by a sinkhole any day now. Carpe diem!