Settling a dispute that has run over a year, the Las Cruces City Council voted Monday to accept an offer of $603,754 from the Air Force to repair the city’s airport runway that was damaged by a USAF C-17 carrying equipment for a Presidential visit. Loaded with vehicles and equipment, the airlifter caused a half-mile of ruts on the runway, which had been softened in the desert heat, when it landed on Aug. 26, 2004. The city filed a $2.1 million claim last November against the Air Force, saying that officials with the Las Cruces airport reportedly told the White House that the runway could not handle the weight.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
