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Local News

  • Merrick acquires another firm

    Merrick & Company, an international engineering, architecture, design-build, surveying, and geospatial solutions firm which has an office in Los Alamos, has acquired the established firm K.M. Ng & Associates, Inc. (K.M. Ng), of San Antonio.
    K.M. Ng has served the engineering industry, guiding clients and business partners to create environments for more than 40 years in Texas. Merrick and K.M. Ng have worked together on projects for two decades. This acquisition provides Merrick with added talent in the realm of nearly all facets of engineering including structural, civil, and mechanical/electrical and will extend the firm’s reach throughout Texas and the southwestern U.S. on private, government, sustainable infrastructure, and water projects.
    “I’m excited to announce that K.M. Ng is now a part of Merrick & Company,” CEO and President David Huelskamp said. “With this team of experts, Merrick will enhance its capabilities in engineering and continue to offer outstanding, comprehensive design solutions.”

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  • Feds add bigger planes to wildfire fleet

    GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — As the wildfire season ramps up across the West, the U.S. Forest Service is adding bigger, faster planes to its fleet to fight the fires.
    The forest service announced Monday that it has selected contractors to provide seven air tankers that fly faster and drop a larger payload of fire retardant than other planes in its firefighting fleet.
    The agency will spend nearly $160 million over five years for access to several models of aircraft, including a converted DC-10 jumbo jet, which can carry about five times as much flame-resistant liquid as any aircraft in regular use. The cost is about double the amount spent in past years, but the planes are expected to provide better service, said forest service fire and aviation director Tom Harbour. They also require less maintenance.
    Each of the planes can carry more than 3,000 gallons of slurry and fly faster than 350 mph, the Forest Service says. The DC-10 can hold as much as 11,600 gallons. The newer planes are set to join the aging fleet of eight large tankers, mostly Korean War-era submarine chasers, known as P2Vs, which can fly about 165 mph and hold about 2,000 gallons of fire retardant. Several such planes have been involved in fatal crashes recently, reducing the size of the fleet.

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  • Photo deadline is Friday for LA Pets 2013

    Imagine your best buddy on the cover of LA Pets, a special section being produced by the Los Alamos Monitor set to publish June 12!

    We’re looking for a cover model and that means we’re seeking your photos... LA Pets is an annual publication that gives pet owners the latest news and information on a range of topics devoted to helping keep the special companions in our lives happy, healthy and spoiled rotten. Pets run the gamut from dogs and cats, to reptiles, rodents and birds... But we’re seeking pictures that capture the true personality and beauty of the animal.

    To be considered for inclusion in LA Pets, photos should be sharp, well-composed, high resolution digital photo files. You must own the original file, weblinks and prints will not be accepted. Include a brief description of the photograph along with your name and contact information along with your daytime telephone number.

    Should your picture be selected for LA Pets, you will receive a photo credit (byline) in the publication, and in exchange you agree to give the Los Alamos Monitor the right to publish your photograph in LA Pets and potentially use the photo for promotional purposes. Depending on space available, runners-up photos may be featured inside LA Pets.

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  • Update 05-07-13

    Ribbon cutting

    Comfort Keepers will host an open house at 4 p.m. today at the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Center, 109 Central Park Square.

    Have a news tip?

    Send press releases, photos and videos to laeditor@lamonitor.com or contact the newsroom at 662-4185.

    County Council

    Los Alamos County Council will meet at noon Friday in council chambers.

    Farmers Market

    The Los Alamos Farmers Market will be outside of the Mesa Library from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

    Mars talk

    Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Roger Wiens talks about the NASA Mars Curiosity rover at 7 p.m. today at Duane Smith Auditorium.

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  • Visitors rescued at Bandelier

    Bandelier National Monument staff, supported by county resources including the Los Alamos Police and Fire Departments, were involved in two rescues in the last two weeks — one of a couple on Saturday and the other of a group last Friday.
    In both cases, the lost parties were rescued safely. Around midnight on Saturday, the Los Alamos Police Department’s dispatch received a call from a couple in Bandelier’s backcountry.
    The couple had planned to hike the 15 mile loop from Ponderosa campground to Yapashi Pueblo and back to Frijoles Canyon where they had parked a second car. They hiked through the Alamo and Lummis Canyons before sunset but as it got dark the couple realized they could not find their way without flashlights and called 911.
    After the call was received, police officers contacted the monument’s Chief Ranger and crews gathered in Frijoles Canyon to begin the search. Before hiking to the couple, police were able to get in touch with them on their cell phone. They were in good condition with food and water but were getting cold. Searchers were able to deduce that the couple was on the trail between Lummis and Frijoles Canyon. Around 1:15 am, two Los Alamos County police officers hiked into the backcountry and made contact with the couple at 2:28 am.

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  • Lawsuit: Intel worker subjected to 'Kick Me' prank

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Intel workers secretly taped a "Kick Me" sign to the back of a co-worker as a prank, then kicked the confused man a number of times as employees at the Rio Rancho Intel plant laughed hysterically at the episode, according to a federal lawsuit.

    The Intel employee, Harvey Palacio, said in the complaint recently filed in Albuquerque that once he suspected something was taped on his back during the August prank, he went to senior staffer Randy Lehman to ask if something was there.

    "Lehman said turn around and as Palacio did he saw and heard (another employee) yell out 'Don't read it, just do it'," the lawsuit said.

    Lehman then kicked Palacio three times in his buttocks, according court documents.

    Another employee, Chris Zeltinger, who the lawsuit said exchanged Christmas gifts with Palacio, kicked him twice as he was seeking help to remove the sign.

    "Palacio decided that this could not continue and walked back in front of the group to ask someone else to remove it," the lawsuit said. "Palacio felt demoralized and assaulted and he began to cry during the drive home. He could not tell his wife because he was so embarrassed and ashamed."

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  • Today in History May 7
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  • 3 Women, Missing for Years, Found Alive in Ohio--Video Extras

    CLEVELAND (AP) — Three women who went missing about a decade ago, when they were in their teens or early 20s, were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown, and a man was arrested.

    Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street near the home where police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were found earlier in the day.

    Police didn't immediately provide any details of how the women were found but said they appeared to be in good health and had been taken to a hospital for evaluation.

    Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.

    Police said Knight was 20 when she went missing around 2000.

    Police said a 52-year-old man was arrested. There was no immediate word on charges.

    Loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing the women again. Among them was Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of DeJesus.

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  • Bashful? Pfizer set to sell little blue pill online

    TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill.

    In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website.

    Men still will need a prescription to buy the blue, diamond-shaped pill on viagra.com, but they no longer have to face a pharmacist to get it filled. And for those who are bothered by Viagra's steep $25-a-pill price, Pfizer is offering three free pills with the first order and 30 percent off the second one.

    Pfizer's bold move blows up the drug industry's distribution model. Drugmakers don't sell medicines directly to patients. Instead, they sell in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute the drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors' offices.

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  • Call for entries: LA pet photos wanted

    Imagine your best buddy on the cover of LA Pets, a special section being produced by the Los Alamos Monitor set to publish June 12!

    We're looking for a cover model and that means we're seeking your photos... LA Pets is an annual publication that gives pet owners the latest news and information on a range of topics devoted to helping keep the special companions in our lives happy, healthy and spoiled rotten. Pets run the gamut from dogs and cats, to reptiles, rodents and birds... But we're seeking pictures that capture the true personality and beauty of the animal.

    To be considered for inclusion in LA Pets, photos should be sharp, well-composed, high resolution digital photo files. You must own the original file, weblinks and prints will not be accepted. Include a brief description of the photograph along with your name and contact information along with your daytime telephone number.

    Should your picture be selected for LA Pets, you will receive a photo credit (byline) in the publication, and in exchange you agree to give the Los Alamos Monitor the right to publish your photograph in LA Pets and potentially use the photo for promotional purposes. Depending on space available, runners-up photos may be featured inside LA Pets.

    Click here to read more...