News

The state Court of Appeals has overturned damages against Attorney General Gary King for withholding public records requested by a lawyer handling a pay discrimination case against King.

The court said Thursday a district court judge in Albuquerque failed to provide evidence to support $100-a-day damages against the attorney general.

The damages were to accrue until King's office provided records requested by Albuquerque lawyer Daniel Faber, and were estimated to be at least $20,000 in 2011.

Gov. Susana Martinez says the state education department will be able to expand pre-kindergarten education next year and fund all 40 programs across the state that applied for funding.

Martinez says that thanks to a $4.5 million increase in the budget approved by lawmakers for the 2013-2014 school year, the education department can fund 12 new PreK programs in areas including Roswell, Silver City and Taos.

Student funding for PreK this year is about $13.7 million, more than double what it was when Martinez took office.

Gov. Susana Martinez has named medical care, insurance and business officials to the governing board of New Mexico's state-run health insurance exchange, which must be quickly implemented in the new few months.

The exchange is to serve as a marketplace for the uninsured to buy medical coverage.

Martinez on Thursday announced six appointees to the exchange's board of directors. They join six members named by legislators.

The state superintendent of insurance is on the 13-member board but votes only to break ties. The board meets next week.

  Homeowners in Arroyo Hondo Land Grant are locked in a centuries-old land fight that is tying up property in a popular northern New Mexico area.

That's because a group of descendants of the Spanish land grant have filed a deed to the land and has placed hundreds of property owners in this mountainous New Mexico enclave in limbo. Owners cannot sell their property, refinance their mortgages or even get insurance policies while the courts struggle to unravel the conflict.

New Mexico health officials say seven lab-confirmed cases of Salmonella have been confirmed in six counties, and they're linking the cases to exposure to baby poultry.

Four of the cases involve infants.

The Department of Health says Salmonella infection in young children can be fatal and that families should not allow chicks or other baby birds inside homes.

According to the department, the people involved in the seven cases live in Curry, Eddy, Lea, Luna, Otero, and Taos counties.

GRANTS, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico teenager says she had a miscarriage in a high school hallway and that a teacher didn't help her because she was late to class.

But school officials say the student actually had a miscarriage a week before and had passed her placenta that day.

KOAT-TV reports (http://bit.ly/12Kf0Uk) that the Grants High School student says she miscarried outside a band class last week. The teen says after the teacher refused to let her in the class she then made her way to a bathroom and passed out.

  The Santa Fe City Council has passed a controversial resolution recognizing gay marriage as legal in New Mexico.

Wednesday night's vote for the largely symbolic measure was 5-1 with two abstentions.

Santa Fe Mayor David Coss was a sponsor of the measure.

Council members who abstained or voted "no" say the city has no authority to make law on same-sex marriage and claim the issue has divided or polarized residents.

 The executive director of the Bernalillo County GOP has been suspended indefinitely for making inappropriate social media comments about women testifying for a minimum wage hike.

During a Tuesday night county commission meeting, a Twitter comment from the account of Bernalillo County Republican Party Executive Director Steve Kush referred to a volunteer who was testifying as a "radical (expletive.)"

An independent think tank wants New Mexico's political parties to adopt rules allowing unaffiliated voters to participate in primary elections.

Think New Mexico Executive Director Fred Nathan made the request in a letter Wednesday to leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Nathan contends election turnout will increase if independent voters, who are unaffiliated with a political party, can cast ballots in 2014 primary contests.

About 18 percent of the state's registered voters are independents.

Officials have confirmed that an animal killed in January in southwestern New Mexico by a federal employee was a female Mexican gray wolf.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the announcement Wednesday, saying genetic tests confirmed it was a small, uncollared wolf.

In January, an employee with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services shot what officials described only as a "canine." The employee reported the shooting because the animal looked like a Mexican wolf after closer inspection.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Santa Fe Community College has started construction of its new higher education center, a facility being built in partnership with four other New Mexico schools.

According to the Santa Fe New Mexican (http://bit.ly/15IRlqb ), the center is expected to open in the fall of 2014, enabling students to obtain bachelor's and master's degree in Santa Fe.

Participating schools include the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands University, and the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Engineers at Sandia National Labs have developed a new fertilizer that can not be used as a chemical component in an explosive. The new fertilizer could have the potential to save lives while serving as a highly effective plant food.

Amonium Nitrate, is a compound found in most fertilizers. It’s an agricultural staple, but it’s also a commonly used ingredient in many improvised explosive devices from Oklahoma City to Afghanistan.  

  Gov. Susana Martinez says two manufacturers in southern New Mexico are expanding and expected to create 40 jobs.

The governor announced the expansion Tuesday as she visited Santa Teresa, which is along the international border with Mexico and is becoming a hub for industrial development.

The two companies each plan to add about 20 jobs.

A natural gas processing company will have to pay a civil penalty of more than $838,000 as part of a settlement with the New Mexico Environment Department.

The department announced Tuesday that it has entered into a settlement agreement with Enterprise Products Operating LLC over numerous alleged emissions violations at 31 different sites operated by the company and its subsidiaries.

The alleged violations occurred between 2008 and 2010.

The Bernalillo County Commission has approved a new minimum wage of $8.50 an hour for the county's unincorporated areas with two 50-cent increases by January.

The commission approved the measure Tuesday evening by a 3-2 vote.

Employees currently making $7.50 an hour will see a half-dollar hourly increase on July 1 and another 50-cent hike on Jan. 1 to reach a wage of $8.50 an hour.

Commissioner Art De La Cruz sponsored the measure. He says the increase in the minimum wage will boost the county's economy.

The Texas Senate has approved a bill that would allow a West Texas nuclear waste facility to import materials with greater radioactivity while encouraging the export of lower-level materials out of the state.

Amarillo Republican Sen. Kel Seliger put forward the measure on Tuesday, which he called an "omnibus low-level radioactive waste bill."

The Senate removed a provision that only Texans living in counties adjacent to Andrews County could contest the facility's permits. The closest inhabited area is in New Mexico.

The attorney for a proposed horse slaughterhouse in southeastern New Mexico says a federal inspection Tuesday went well and the plant hopes to be in business soon.

Attorney Blair Dunn says agriculture officials found no issues at Valley Meat Co. and told the owners they are recommending a grant of inspection be issued immediately.

Dunn says he expects final approval for the plant to come in a matter of days.

Valley Meat Co. has become ground zero for an emotional, national debate over a return to domestic horse slaughter.

  KUNM Call In Show Thu. 4/25 8a: Do you commute on a bicycle to work? Do you want to? Or is it just fun time on bikes for you? We'll have details on the BikeABQ Bike Swap event and take your calls about bicycles, cycling, and safety. You can email callinshow@kunm.org, post your comments online, or call in live during the show.

Guests: 

Authorities say a one-vehicle crash in Albuquerque that left two people dead and three others injured may have been caused by speeding and drag racing.

Albuquerque police say the car went onto a sidewalk before hitting some trees about 8 p.m. Sunday.

Police say 20-year-old passenger Jorge Cano was ejected and died at the scene.

They say another passenger — 18-year-old Jessica Hernandez — died at a hospital.

Police say 21-year-old driver Andres Quintana is hospitalized in critical condition and could be facing vehicular homicide and reckless driving charges.

  Members of New Mexico's congressional delegations are trying again to designate the 45,000-acre Columbine-Hondo area in Taos County as wilderness.

Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, on Monday reintroduced legislation to give the area permanent wilderness status. A companion bill is expected to be introduced in the House Tuesday by Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat who represents northern New Mexico.

Located in the Carson National Forest, the Columbine-Hondo has been managed as a "Wilderness Study Area" since 1980.

Federal agriculture officials are scheduled to visit the southeastern New Mexico town of Roswell Tuesday for an inspection of a proposed horse slaughterhouse.

Valley Meat Co. is a former cattle slaughterhouse whose kill floor has been redesigned for horses to be led in one at a time, secured in a huge metal chute, shot in the head, then processed into meat for shipment overseas.

Obama’s proposed budget for Indian Health Services is up from FY 2012 by $124 million.. The White House’s focus on increased funding to IHS programs, it’s now up to congress to make a decision on the President’s budget.

Around 25-thousand Native Americans in New Mexico will become eligible for Medicaid when the Affordable Care Act goes into effect next year.  The change translates to more money for the Indian Health Service. But as KUNM’s Poverty and Public Health Reporter Tristan Ahtone explains: in Albuquerque, Medicaid expansion will also force Native health providers to deal with something they’ve never faced before: competition from non-tribal health programs.

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An FBI investigation in which agents took documents from a Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office under a search warrant reportedly centers on a sheriff's program under which citations could be dismissed in exchange for donations to charities.

The Albuquerque Journal (http://bit.ly/117hpp9 ) reports that the charities involved in the program include a scholarship fund managed by Sheriff Tommy Rodella.

A far-reaching immigration bill is getting its first test at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where opponents of the legislation will be able to face off with its authors.

The committee includes New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and three other lawmakers who authored the bill to boost border security, fix legal immigration programs and eventually grant citizenship to some 11 million people in the U.S. illegally. The panel also includes skeptics of the legislation, including Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama.

Gov. Susana Martinez's administration plans to help public schools identify students who are at risk of dropping out of school.

The governor announced Thursday the Public Education Department will use $500,000 approved by the Legislature to implement an early warning system for potential school dropouts.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature had a better track record this year in getting bills signed into law by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

The governor signed 77 percent of the 298 bills passed by the Legislature during its 60-day session, which ended last month.

Martinez vetoed 23 percent of bills that cleared the Legislature.

In 2011, when Martinez took office and the Legislature last met in a 60-day session, the governor signed 65 percent of the 284 bills approved by lawmakers. About 35 percent were vetoed, according to Legislative Council Service records.

A Route 66 motor lodge in Albuquerque where Bill Gates and Paul Allen stayed while launching Microsoft Corp. is being redeveloped into apartments as part of a neighborhood revival project.

Officials broke ground Thursday on the redevelopment of the Sundowner Uhuru Apartment Complex.

The federally funded project will create 70 apartments for veterans, the homeless, mixed-income residents and people with special needs.

The University of New Mexico-Gallup has announced three finalists for the branch campus's new executive director.

The university system said this week that the three finalists will each speak at open forums beginning next week.

Vice President of Academic Affairs at Long Beach City College Gaither Loewenstein, former Berkeley City College president John Garmon and Missouri State University-West Plains Dean Christopher Dyer are among the finalists.

School officials say Gallup community members will have an opportunity to ask questions at forums.

New Mexico State University this weekend is hosting a grand opening for its new wine academy.

The new wine laboratory at its hospitality school is named after Bobby Lee Lawrence, known throughout the area as the "Southwest Wine Guy."

Lawrence passed away in 2010. His widow, Marion, established the Bobby Lee Lawrence wine academy with a $250,000 gift to the university.

Lawrence trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the Culinary Institute of America. He taught about wine at area festivals and had a wine blog.