MARTIN HEINRICH

More than 30 Chinese officials have been fired or received other punishments over accusations they failed to respond properly to the latest coronavirus surge in the country.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited her home state Saturday to celebrate what marks the largest wilderness land donation in the agency’s history and another addition to the nation's landholdings as the Biden administration aims to conserve nearly one-third of America’s lands and waters by 2030. The 15-square-mile (40-square-kilometer) donation from the Trust for Public Land increases the size of the Sabinoso Wilderness Area in northeastern New Mexico by nearly 50%. Haaland, who joined other officials at a remote site in San Miguel County, acknowledged that the area makes up part of the ancestral homelands of the Jicarilla Apache and northern pueblos of New Mexico.

FBI: Some QAnon adherents no longer 'trust the plan' or Q's prophesies, may turn to violence

A new federal intelligence report warns that adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement’s false prophecies increasingly don’t come true.

A new federal intelligence report warns that adherents of QAnon, the conspiracy theory embraced by some in the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement's false prophecies increasingly fail to come true. Many QAnon followers believe former President Donald Trump was fighting enemies within the so-called deep state to expose a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex trafficking ring. Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden disillusioned some believers in “The Storm,” a supposed reckoning in which Trump’s enemies would be tried and executed.

Democrat Melanie Stansbury has won election to Congress for New Mexico to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

A special congressional election is testing the pulse of politics in the Albuquerque metro area and a few outlying rural communities at a turning point in the pandemic and economic recovery.

The expanded Child Tax Credit payments start flowing from the federal government in July to roughly 39 million American households.

The check won't arrive until mid-July, but Katrina Peters already knows what she’ll do with her Child Tax Credit payments. The 20-year-old mother of three has applied to work as a driver with a food delivery app and the extra cash is earmarked for repairing, registering and insuring her car. “I just need to make sure it's 100% and then I can start working and get an income,” Peters said, cradling her 3-week-old son, Armani.

The measure is now expected to move to the House for a vote, which would then send it to Biden's desk upon passage. A vote in that chamber has not yet been scheduled.

Congressional Democrats are moving to reinstate regulations designed to limit potent greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas fields.

FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2021, file photo Interior Secretary nominee Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., speaks during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. On March 15, the Senate confirmed her as Interior Secretary. Haaland was confirmed by a 51-40 vote, the narrowest margin yet for a Cabinet nomination by President Joe Biden. Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo and a 35th-generation resident of New Mexico, thanked hundreds of supporters at a virtual party hosted by Native American organizations. Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, called Haaland’s confirmation “an unprecedented and monumental day for all first people of this country.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, file photo, Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., listens during the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on her nomination to be Interior secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Watson/Pool Photo via AP, File)WASHINGTON – A key Senate committee on Thursday approved the nomination of New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to be interior secretary, clearing the way for a Senate vote that is likely to make her the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Haaland's nomination, 11-9, sending it to the Senate floor. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the lone Republican to support Haaland, who won unanimous backing from committee Democrats. The committee vote follows an announcement Wednesday by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that she will support Haaland in the full Senate.

Its supporters argue that the federal government doesn't treat Puerto Rican citizens equally, something statehood would help rectify. A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez told CBS News the congresswoman does not back the statehood bill and continues to support a "process of self-determination for Puerto Rico." In November, Puerto Rico residents voted 52 to 48% in favor of immediate statehood on a ballot referendum. But the congressional passage of Puerto Rico statehood is far from guaranteed. "This is an issue of the rights of American citizens living in Puerto Rico that need to be heard."

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) leaves the Senate chamber on Thursday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks with reporters in the Capitol on Thursday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) speaks with reporters in the Capitol on Thursday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)A New York National Guardsman shows a loved one around the Capitol Rotunda via a video call Thursday. (Samuel Corum / Getty Images)David Schoen, center, lawyer for former President Trump, talks to reporters as he departs the U.S. Capitol.

Udall is retiring from the Senate, but has emerged as a leading contender to be Interior secretary under President-elect Joe Biden. He has urged a shift in land and ocean management away from world-beating oil and gas production to tackling climate change and preserving wilderness. Oil and gas produced from public lands accounts for as much as one-fourth of U.S. carbon emissions. Udall says the Biden plan would make public lands “carbon neutral” by 2030, meaning the lands would absorb as much carbon dioxide as they emit from energy production. As the effects of climate change continue to worsen, “Congress will increasingly feel pressure from the public to get things done,'' Udall said.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON President Donald Trump announced he will send federal agents to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to help combat rising crime, expanding the administrations intervention into local enforcement as he runs for reelection under a law and order mantle. Sending federal agents to help localities is not uncommon; Attorney General William Barr announced a similar surge effort in December for seven cities with spiking violence. Indeed, civil unrest escalated after federal agents were accused of whisking people away in unmarked cars without probable cause. The campaign believes the push can help Trump by drumming up support from suburban and older voters who may be rattled by violent images, which have been broadcast often by conservative media outlets. In New Mexico, Democratic elected officials had cautioned Trump against sending in federal agents, with U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich calling on Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales to resign for attending the White House event.

Supporters say the measure, known as the Great American Outdoors Act, would be the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly 50 years. Supporters say the measure, known as the Great American Outdoors Act, would be the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century. Supporters say the bill will create at least 100,000 jobs, while restoring national parks and repairing trails and forest systems. Gardner and Daines are among the Senates most vulnerable incumbents, and each represents a state where the outdoor economy and tourism at sites such as Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone national parks play an outsize role. Visitors cannot enjoy national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite if the bathrooms dont work, if the trails and campgrounds arent open, or if the roads are in disrepair, Heinrich said.

The bill would spend about $2.8 billion per year on conservation, outdoor recreation and park maintenance. "Americas hundreds of millions of acres of public lands are the result of hundreds of years of exploration and conservation,'' said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnnell, R-Ky. Those measures are especially needed now, when communities surrounded by public lands have high unemployment rates because of shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Gardner said. Trump has tweeted in favor of the lands bill, saying it "will be HISTORIC for our beautiful public lands.'' Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., credited a new coalition of lawmakers from both parties who support conservation and public lands.