Highway rebuilding detours start Monday

Starting Monday and continuing for about six months, southbound traffic on U.S. 84/285 in the Arroyo Seco area, south of Española, will be detoured to a newly built west frontage road.

The state Department of Transportation said the two-lane detour will start immediately south of the junction with N.M. 399 and extend south for about two miles.

Northbound drivers who need access to west-side driveways or businesses will need to U-turn at the N.M. 399 traffic signal, the announcement said. Southbound travelers needing access to the northbound U.S. 84/285 lanes will need to U-turn at Camino Arroyo Seco or County Road 88.

The speed limit will be reduced to 35 mph through the two-mile stretch while crews rebuild the main line of U.S. 84/285 as part of reconstruction of the Pojoaque-to-Española highway corridor.

Work on various aspects of $42 million worth of projects in that area is expected to extend into early 2011.

Police plan Neighborhood Watch meeting

Revitalizing existing Neighborhood Watch programs and establishing new ones in Santa Fe will be the focus of a meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the Santa Fe City Council Chambers, 200 Lincoln Ave.

The session is the second monthly Neighborhood Watch Block Captain meeting hosted by the city Police Department's Crime Prevention Unit.

Representatives will be on hand to answer questions and will have area burglary and vandalism statistics available for review, an announcement said.

"We hope that Neighborhood Watch groups from throughout the city will attend to share success stories," the statement said.

BLM purchases land for lesser prairie-chicken

New Mexico's lesser prairie-chickens have 7,440 more protected acres to thrive on now. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has purchased the land near Roswell to protect key habitat for the birds.

The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit organization, negotiated the purchase with the private landowner and then sold the land to the BLM. Funding for the purchase came from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The land is within a 58,000-acre Area of Critical Environmental Concern established in 2008 for the species in Chaves County.

The lesser prairie-chicken is a candidate for listing as "threatened" or "endangered" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Free dinner and a movie for teens

The Boys & Girls Clubs and the City of Santa Fe are sponsoring a free dinner and movie night Wednesday for local teens.

Teen Night is at the Santa Fe Stadium 14 theater on Cerrillos and Zafarano roads from 6 to 10 p.m. Teens will pick which of the age-appropriate movies they want to see.

Tickets are distributed on a first come, first served basis. Youths will also receive coupons for meals at a local restaurant.

Farmington changes background check policy

FARMINGTON — Farmington city officials are changing administrative policy on criminal background checks after an employee's drunken-driving arrest revealed a lengthy criminal history.

Municipal Court services coordinator Christos Derizotis was arrested Feb. 21 and charged with a seventh DWI. He was fired three days later.

According to court records, his criminal history check also turned up charges that included aggravated battery, false imprisonment, criminal damage to property and impersonating a police officer.

City personnel manager Donna Brooks says the disclosure has led city officials to run criminal background checks on probation employees. Previously, she said, the city only ran checks on employees who handle money or those working in information technology.