SANTA FE, N.M. — Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation yesterday repealing New Mexico's death penalty, making it the second state to ban executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Richardson, a Democrat who formerly supported capital punishment, said signing the bill was the "most difficult decision" of his political life but that "the potential for ... execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings."

Richardson said he made the decision after going to the state penitentiary, where he saw the death chamber and visited the maximum security unit where those sentenced to life without parole could be housed.

SCIENTISTS WILL INSPECT VOLCANO

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga — Scientists sailed today to inspect an undersea volcano that has been erupting for days near Tonga — shooting smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet into the sky above the South Pacific ocean.

Authorities said today the eruption does not pose any danger to islanders at this stage, and there have been no reports of fish or other animals being affected.

DROP-SIDE CRIBS MAY BE BANNED

WASHINGTON — Crib makers have proposed a ban on drop-side cribs after infant deaths, injuries and a series of recalls. The ban would require cribs to have four immovable sides.

Several more votes on the proposal before ASTM International, an organization that sets voluntary industry safety standards for everything from toys to the steel used in commercial buildings, would be necessary before the ban went into effect and approval could take months.

EX-AGENT GUILTY IN ROBBERY PLOT

A former FBI agent who planned to raid an Orange County, Calif., residence he thought was a drug house was convicted in federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., yesterday on charges related to the botched home-invasion robbery.

Vo Duong Tran 41, had conspired with a supposed accomplice to travel from New Orleans to commit armed robbery in Orange County. In reality, the accomplice turned out to be an FBI informant.