SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah man with several drunk driving convictions has been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for running over and killing a 4-year-old boy while driving drunk.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Police in Salt Lake City say a driver has been arrested on suspicion of automobile homicide and DUI after a car accident killed a 5-year-old boy.

The widow of a man who killed himself in a rural Mississippi jail has filed suit, blaming officials for holding the man 54 days when he was supposed to have been jailed for two days.

The heirs of a man who died by suicide in a rural Mississippi jail are suing, blaming officials for holding the man 54 days when he was supposed to be jailed for two days.

ESTANCIA, N.M. (AP) — Officials are considering reopening a private prison in New Mexico to hold immigrants being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Torrance County commissioners are expected to formalize a plan this week that may reopen an Estancia prison in order to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency...

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Latest on a clash in New Mexico between the departing Republican state auditor and leading Democrats (all times local):

3:40 p.m.

Departing Republican New Mexico State Auditor Wayne Johnson says his elected successor is interfering with an inquiry into whether the state attorney general's office followed proper bidding procedures for a public contract awarded to a private law firm.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Democrat elected as New Mexico state auditor is threatening to investigate the departing Republican state auditor once the transfer of power takes place Jan. 1.

Auditor-elect Brian Colon announced Wednesday in a news release that he will launch an investigation and internal review of conduct by departing State Auditor Wayne Johnson.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Office of the State Auditor in New Mexico has served as a springboard for aspiring politicians and has made headlines for some of its special investigations.

The candidates vying for the seat both have said they aim to continue using its power to hold local and state government accountable.

Republican Wayne Johnson was appointed to the office last year and is running for a full term. He's being challenged by Brian Colon, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A state audit has found that a contractor improperly spent about $118,000 in taxpayer dollars that were meant for senior services.

The Albuquerque Journal reports the state audit released Thursday shows that the Non-Metro Area Agency on Aging spent the taxpayer dollars on fancy meals, alcohol, hotels and employee bonuses over a 2 1/2 period.

State Auditor Wayne Johnson said in a statement that the money was intended to feed and help low-income seniors.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Audits of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission for the past three years cannot be completed due to an ongoing investigation by state prosecutors.

State Auditor Wayne Johnson on Friday released the audit for the 2014 fiscal year but included a disclaimer because there wasn't enough information to render an opinion.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico auditor is planning to launch a review of Albuquerque-area criminal justice agencies to examine their internal processes.

The Albuquerque Journal reports State Auditor Wayne Johnson announced plans Wednesday to audit seven agencies to identify the issues that cause the system to sometimes fail.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A lawsuit claims a Tennessee private prison inmate was beaten and died because of inadequate staffing, training, supervision and medical care.

The federal lawsuit filed in Jackson says Earl Wayne Johnson died in November 2017 while incarcerated at Hardeman County Correctional Center run by CoreCivic.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — The former executive director of a troubled agency of New Mexico municipalities surrounding Los Alamos National Laboratory says she won't return to lead the coalition.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The state auditor's office says it will look into the spending habits of an agency of New Mexico municipalities surrounding Los Alamos National Laboratory.

New Mexico State Auditor Wayne Johnson said Monday he has designated the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities for a special audit following reports that its executive director spent public money on baseball tickets and fancy dinners in Washington.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state auditor says a review of a New Mexico town's finances found a former employee fraudulently used a city-issued credit card.

State Auditor Wayne Johnson said in a statement Monday that he worked with Silver City officials and an independent accountant to launch the investigation into irregularities in the former employee's credit card purchases that were first noticed in 2016.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The state auditor says he's launching a special audit of the planning and funding behind a new Historic Route 66 rapid transit route in Albuquerque.

State Auditor Wayne Johnson's announcement came Thursday, a day after Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller's office confirmed the city's inspector general also had placed the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project under review.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State Auditor Wayne Johnson says he is resigning as a member of the Bernalillo County Commission to focus on serving as auditor.

Gov. Susana Martinez appointed Johnson to the state watchdog position on Dec. 1 to fill a vacancy created when then-incumbent Auditor Tim Keller stepped down after being elected Albuquerque mayor in November.

Martinez will appoint Johnson's replacement on the county commission.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former New Mexico Democratic Party chairman Brian Colon is running for state auditor.

Colon announced his bid in a statement late Sunday.

Colon says he is running because he is "fed up" and wants to ensure taxpayer money goes to the right places. He says his background in finance and law make him the right candidate.

Colon earned an undergraduate degree in finance from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and graduated from law school at the University of New Mexico.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez has appointed Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson as the new state auditor.

Her office made the announcement Friday after calling earlier this month for applications to fill the remainder of the term vacated by Democrat Tim Keller, who was elected mayor of Albuquerque. Johnson, a Republican, was unsuccessful in his mayoral bid.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals is upholding the cases of two men sentenced to death.

The justices ruled Friday that Bart Wayne Johnson's death sentence for killing a Pelham police officer in Shelby County in 2009 can stand. The U.S. Supreme Court had ordered the state court to look at the case.

The high court ordered the review because of its decision that threw out Florida's system of letting judges override jury recommendations of life without parole.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A supporter of an Albuquerque mayoral candidate has filed a complaint against another candidate over donations.

Bernalillo County resident Terry Brunner filed on Monday an ethics complaint against Albuquerque mayoral hopeful and Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson. The complaint alleges that Johnson's mayoral campaign has accepted around $40,000 in donations from donors who have ongoing county business.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The new head of metro Albuquerque's jail facility says he'll follow Bernalillo County's direction on detained immigrants.

Former county Undersheriff Greg Rees was introduced Thursday as the Metropolitan Detention Center's chief.

Earlier this week, an attempt by county Commissioner Wayne Johnson to rescind the county's declaration as an "immigrant-friendly community" was rejected by a 4-1 vote.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico commissioners have decided to keep a policy declaring Bernalillo County an immigrant-friendly community despite threats from U.S. Justice Department to defund so-called sanctuary cities.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Bernalillo County officials have ordered more GPS monitors for released defendants in response to new pretrial and detention rules handed down by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico officials have given $3 million in funding to eight private and nonprofit organizations in hopes of curbing child abuse and neglect in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.

The funding boost announced Tuesday is in response to the murder of 10-year-old Victoria Martens last year, the Albuquerque Journal reported (http://bit.ly/2shO5EB). The girl's mother, the mother's boyfriend and his cousin are accused of raping and killing her.

BRENT, Ala. (AP) — Officials say an inmate who was thought to have escaped was found hiding inside an Alabama prison.

The Alabama Department of Corrections put out a notice Monday saying 32-year-old Timothy Wayne Johnson had escaped from the Bibb County prison in Brent.

But the agency says Johnson was found hiding in an unauthorized area of the prison hours later. They say he cooperated with officers and was detained without incident.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Metropolitan Police have identified a pedestrian who was struck and killed last month on New York Avenue in Northeast.

The department said in a news release Wednesday that 62-year-old Alonzo Wayne Johnson died at the scene of the crash on Oct. 26. Officers say Johnson had no fixed address.

Police say Johnson was walking in the travel lane of New York Avenue when he was hit by a U-Haul.

PEMBROKE, Ga. (AP) — The Latest on a fiery interstate crash in Georgia that killed five nursing students last year (all times local):

(10 a.m.)

A Louisiana truck driver has pleaded guilty to nine criminal charges stemming from a fiery interstate crash that killed five nursing students last year in southeast Georgia.

Fifty-six-year-old John Wayne Johnson entered the pleas Thursday in a Bryan County courtroom 30 miles west of Savannah.

PEMBROKE, Ga. (AP) — A Louisiana truck driver charged in a fiery interstate crash in Georgia that killed five nursing students last year is set to appear in court.

A hearing for John Wayne Johnson was scheduled for Thursday morning in Bryan County Superior Court. The 56-year-old truck driver from Shreveport, Louisiana, was indicted last month by a grand jury on criminal charges including five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia prosecutor says he's dropped the criminal case against a trucking company charged in a deadly interstate crash last year that killed five nursing students.

Tom Durden is district attorney for southeast Georgia's Atlantic Judicial Circuit. He said Wednesday that he agreed to waive an indictment charging Total Transportation of Mississippi with vehicular homicide and other crimes. Durden says the company in turn is spending $200,000 to...