TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Heather Wilson as Secretary of Defense?

Outgoing Congresswoman Heather Wilson was once queried by President George W. Bush about whether she would be interested in serving as Secretary of Defense, according to a story on KOB-TV, Channel 4. They quote a Wilson insider for providing the information.

Wilson, who has served the Albuquerque area for 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, conceded the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to Steve Pearce Wednesday. During that concession, she was asked about future plans, and said she wasn’t too concerned.

“I was once asked to join the president’s cabinet, although that was never publicly known,” Wilson said by way of explanation.

Although Wilson was unavailable to elaborate on her comment, Eyewitness News 4 did reach a Wilson insider who said that Bush asked Wilson if she would consider heading the Department of Defense shortly after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal erupted.  The source said that Wilson declined, unaware that then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had offered to resign.

The Albuquerque Journal will be following a story they have today on the court appearance Friday of a prominent figure in the early days of the charter school movement in Albuquerque who is facing charges that he and family members looted more than $1 million from the schools he ran.

Danny Moon, founder of the Albuquerque Charter Vocational High School and sister school Charter Vo-Tech Center, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Albuquerque on 64 charges of racketeering, fraud, embezzlement and making or permitting false public vouchers between July 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2005. Moon's wife, Lillian Moon, 57, and their daughter, Kristine Peck, 29, are also scheduled to be arraigned Friday, each on single counts of fraud and conspiracy.

 Seven Doña Ana County residents have fallen ill after eating tomatoes tainted with Salmonella, reports the Las Cruces Sun News. The number of county residents sickened was reported by Chris Minnick, the Las Cruces spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Health. Statewide, 40 people from 10 New Mexico counties, including Doña Ana County, fell ill after May 6. The outbreak is believed to be the result of eating uncooked tomatoes.

Now, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control are adding their voices to the call for caution when eating tomatoes. Specific varieties linked to the salmonella outbreak are red plum, red Roma and round red tomatoes.

The Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting that the U.S. Geological Survey says a small earthquake rattled portions of northern New Mexico Wednesday.

The agency says the magnitude 3.7 temblor occurred Wednesday, 3.1 miles below the surface and 29 miles south-southeast of Chama. A quake of a magnitude 2.5 to 3 is the smallest generally felt by people.

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