The Obama administration announced that the president would travel to Mexico to discuss the escalating drug cartel violence, including the killings that are ripping apart Ciudad Juárez and the state of Chihuahua, The Las Cruces Sun News reports.

For a bit of sunshine in an otherwise bleak world, here’s a story about Rajat Singh, a Santa Fe youth who thought he had scored second in the state spelling bee for the fourth year in a row. But thanks to Rajat’s dad and his talent for research, Rajat was crowned a co-state winner and is going to compete in the national spelling bee in Washington, D.C., The Santa Fe New Mexican reports.