Tell us about your holiday gift-giving plans

What are you buying this year for your favorite techie, sports fan, gear head, environmentalist, fashion maven or other? Do you plan to spend more than last year, or less? Any really special gift you've been saving up for? Where do you plan to shop on Black Friday, or will you wait until after the weekend to shop?

We'd like to know! Write to reporter Staci Matlock at smatlock@sfnewmexican.com or call her at 986-3055.

And contact Matlock if you wouldn't mind her coming along with you during a Black Friday shopping trip and writing about it.

Obama signs state disaster declaration

President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration covering state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by flooding in August.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday federal funding is available to state, tribal and eligible local governments.

The money covers emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by flooding in Cibola and Sandoval counties and in the pueblos of Acoma and Santa Clara.

FEMA officials say additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

NMSU begins investigation of suspected fraud

LAS CRUCES — New Mexico State University has launched an investigation of an employee who they accuse of defrauding the university of more than $25,000 in false reimbursements.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports the school's chief auditor gave campus police eight reimbursement vouchers submitted between June and August by an international programs employee, who he said appeared to be charging the department for fraudulent travel expenses.

A police report says after the worker submitted the reimbursement voucher and was paid, the employee allegedly altered the end-of-month balance sheet on the university's computer system to show the funding going to "bookstore charges."

Police say they seized the employee's computers to prevent her from altering the files.

The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

Racial tensions postpone assembly at school

ALBUQUERQUE — Racial tensions on campus led to cancellation of an assembly meant to celebrate cultural diversity at Albuquerque's Highland High School. The cultural celebration was scheduled to happen Nov. 29 at Highland.

KOB-TV says so far no fights have been reported, only rumors.

Albuquerque Public Schools said the unrest is limited to a fraction of the students and the district confirmed that racial tensions did lead to postponement of the assembly.

Rumors of a big rumble have kept the Albuquerque Police Department gang unit on campus this week.

The district said the multicultural assembly is planned for sometime after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Banned cartoon in student paper sparks debate

BERNALILLO — An unpublished school newspaper cartoon is sparking a First Amendment debate at Bernalillo High School.

KOB-TV reports that the controversy started after Principal Keith Cowen refused to allow a cartoon to run in the school's publication called The Basement. Student Alejandro Teran drew a cartoon of two females watching a football player getting tackled and one female says to the other, "So when does basketball season start?"

Cowen said he didn't think the paper's purpose was to downgrade other students or put students against each other. He also said the school provides most of the funds for the paper and high school journalists aren't protected like professional journalists.

Teran said he meant no harm to the football team and is friends with some of the players.

Holiday closings

Hours of operation at various offices and institutions will be affected by Thursday's observance of the Thanksgiving holiday:

• All city of Santa Fe administrative offices, Municipal Court, the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, Fort Marcy Recreation Complex, Salvador Perez Pool, and all three branches of the Santa Fe Public Library will be closed Thursday and Friday.

• State and Santa Fe County government offices, including courts, will be closed on Thursday and Friday.

• Federal government offices will be closed on Thursday.

• There will be no regular mail delivery or retail services at post offices on Thursday.

• Most banks and other financial institutions will be closed on Thursday.

• Trash and recycling will be picked up by city crews on the regular Thursday and Friday schedules.

• There will be no Santa Fe Trails and Santa Fe Ride service on Thursday. Santa Fe Trails and Santa Fe Ride will operate on the Saturday schedule, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., on Friday.

• Rail Runner Express passenger trains will not operate on Thursday or Friday.

• The four state museums in Santa Fe will be closed Thursday but will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

• The state's unemployment insurance call center will be closed from Thursday to Sunday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The New Mexico Workforce Solutions Department said the unemployment claims system website (www.dws.state.nm.us), which is available from 3 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, will be in operation, as will be the unemployment insurance toll-free phone option (877-664-6984), which is available 24 hours a day for normal self-service functions.