Four non-profit organizations in New Mexico have been awarded a portion of $200,000 from the Walmart Foundation’s Giving Program and the Foundation is now accepting applications for the second cycle.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Los Alamos National Laboratory is letting go of some of its workers.

The Los Alamos Monitor  reports lab director Charlie McMillan said 80 contractor positions would be eliminated.

 McMillan made the announcement Wednesday in a memo sent to all employees.

The lab terminated 60 employees in April and 557 others left the lab in March as part of a voluntary separation program.

McMillan has scheduled a meeting on June 27 to discuss the lab's workforce with all employees.

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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The first witness in the state's case against a Texas-based payday lender that charges interest rates of 650 percent a year explained how she became overwhelmed by her debt.

Endowa Endwarrior told a court in Santa Fe Wednesday she took out an "installment loan" of $934 at an annual interest rate of more than 521 percent from a FastBucks office in Rio Rancho.

Because the loan was extended for nearly a year, she ended up paying $4,680 on that loan according to her complaint.

The Santa Fe New Mexican  reports the attorney general's office brought a lawsuit against FastBucks in 2009 seeking an injunction against its methods of "unconscionable" marketing and loan practices, restitution for customers who have been harmed and monetary penalties under the state's Unfair Practices Act.