5% Teacher Salary Hike Heads To New Mexico House For Vote – By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A panel of House legislators has endorsed a $7.6 billion general fund spending bill that increases teacher pay by 5% and salaries for state workers by 3%.
The bill won endorsement from the House appropriations and finance committee with Democratic support on a 11-5, party-line vote. Full House approval would move the bill to the Senate. An approved budget bill is due on the governor's desk by Feb. 20.
Republicans in the legislative minority say the increases may be unsustainable and result in government downsizing. Democrats say new investments in education, infrastructure and health care are urgently needed.
Lawmakers are working with an estimated $800 million annual surplus because of record-setting oil production. The budget proposal maintains roughly $2 billion in financial reserves.
Democratic Rep. Patty Lundstrom of Gallup, chairwoman of the House finance and appropriations committee, said the budget addresses critical state needs for public school teachers, Medicaid services, and efforts to attract new industry to the site of the Escalante coal-fired power near Thoreau as the facility shuts down.
She also said it increases spending on early childhood education and well-being programs overseen by a new state agency.
Overall spending on public education would increase by 7.2% to $3.4 billion.
Last year, lawmakers increased state spending by 12%, with major investments in school salaries, efforts to extend the school year and programming for at-risk youth.
Advocates for parents and school districts say much of the money earmarked for extended classroom time is not being spent.
Republican legislators described the cumulative spending increases as irresponsible and unsustainable should oil income decline.
The governor has line-item veto authority to overrule any budget provision.
Democrat Outraises GOP Foes In Key House Race In New Mexico - By Russell Contreras, Associated Press
Records show Democratic U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small outraised all her GOP opponents in the last months of 2019 as she seeks re-election.
Federal election records show she raised $648,636.52 from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. She has around $2.3 million cash-on-hand as she enters an election year two years after she flipped the historic Republican leaning seat along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Claire Chase, an oil executive from Roswell, New Mexico, raised $261,417 during the same period. Former state lawmaker Yvette Herrell reported raising $188,005 during the last months of 2019.
Chase and Herrell have been throwing charges at each other than each is a stronger supporter of Trump than the other.
Torres Small defeated Herrell in 2018 by fewer than 3,000 votes.
Torres Small, a granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, rarely mentioned Trump in the 2018 campaign and promised to uphold the region's "rural values." In Congress, Torres Small has attempted to portray herself as a moderate on issues around immigration and spending.
Republicans have challenged Torres Small over her voting record despite the fact that she has voted with Republicans on some issues like minimum wage and trade. She has clashed with some of the more liberal members of Congress.
The sprawling district is home to a lucrative oil region but also has some of the most impoverished communities in the U.S. The district houses the highest percentage of Hispanic voters in the state with the highest percentage of Hispanic residents.
Window Opens For Tribes To Seek Licenses For Internet Access - By Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press
The Federal Communications Commission opened a window Monday for federally recognized tribes to apply for licenses that could help establish or expand internet access on their lands.
The licenses are for a mid-band of spectrum, or channels of electromagnetic waves, that largely is unassigned across the western United States. Tribes had pushed to be first in line for the licenses that once were reserved for educational institutions.
The FCC has estimated that about one-third of people living on tribal lands don't have access to high-speed internet. Others say the figure is twice as high.
The tribal priority window closes Aug. 3.
Some organizations see limits to the licensing rules that they are challenging with the FCC.
One of the largest organizations representing tribes, the National Congress of American Indians, is asking the FCC to reconsider eligibility requirements, particularly when it comes to the definition of tribal land and the inclusion of "rural."
The organization said tribes that don't have reservations or that don't have contiguous parcels of trust land would be left out.
The FCC defined rural tribal lands as being outside urbanized areas and with a population of less than 50,000 people. The National Congress of American Indians said that could exclude tribes with land near Seattle or Phoenix, for example.
Federally recognized tribes and tribally owned entities, including colleges and universities, are eligible to apply for the licenses under the tribal priority.
Flags On Navajo Nation Lowered To Honor Deceased Code Talker – Associated Press
Flags on the Navajo Nation will be lowered Monday to honor a revered Navajo Code Talker who died in New Mexico last week.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a statement that all flags will fly at half-staff as a tribute to Joe Vandever, Sr. through Thursday.
Vandever died Friday of health complications in Haystack, according to his family. He was 96.
Vandever was among hundreds of Navajos who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, transmitting messages using a code based on the Navajo language. The code developed by an original group of 29 Navajos was used to confound Japanese forces. It was never broken.
Vandever enlisted in the Marines in Santa Fe in March 1943 and was honorably discharged in January 1946. He worked multiple jobs after the war, including for an oil company and as a mining prospector, and stressed the importance of the Navajo language. He also was a medicine man.
Vandever's death leaves less than a handful of Navajo Code Talkers still alive.
A funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday but a location is still being determined. He will be buried Thursday at the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
New Mexico Gets First Early Childhood Education Secretary - Santa Fe New Mexican, Associated Press
New Mexico now has its first-ever state secretary of Early Childhood Education and Care.
The New Mexico Senate on Friday unanimously confirmed education official Elizabeth Groginsky to the job, leading a new government department created last year.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Groginsky to the cabinet post in November.
The 53-year-old Groginsky is a former Washington, D.C.-based education official. She has been working full time on early child care since 2003, when she was a county administrator of the Head Start early childhood program in Colorado. She later analyzed the statewide program.
Her new department will consolidate early childhood initiatives that range from prenatal programs to services for children from birth to age 5.
She said New Mexico and the entire country have a fragmented system and limited funding for children.
"It's a patchwork quilt, and it's got some holes," she said.
New Mexico Court Allows Medical Marijuana Tax Deduction – Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
Medical marijuana producers in New Mexico can claim a tax deduction for prescription medication, a move that could affect prices for thousands of enrolled patients, according to a state Court of Appeals ruling.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the 11-page ruling means lawmakers must soon set aside funding to cover the tax claims, which could carry a multimillion-dollar price tag for the state Taxation and Revenue Department.
The agency has reviewed the ruling and is weighing legal options, tax department officials said. The department has until Feb. 27 to appeal the ruling.
Medical marijuana providers paid about $24 million in gross receipt taxes during a recent almost three-year period, officials said. Those taxes are paid by providers but usually passed on to patients, who could see a drop in prices for medical cannabis products because of the ruling, department officials said.
Tax claims could range from several hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars depending on the producer, officials said.
In the ruling, the Court of Appeals has determined medical marijuana meets the definition of a prescription drug under the state's tax code, because physicians are required to certify that patients have a qualifying condition before they can enroll in the program.
Albuquerque To Vote On Renaming Road After Dolores Huerta - Associated Press
City councilors in New Mexico's largest city are set to vote on renaming a portion of a busy road after one of the United States' most recognizable Mexican American activists.
The Albuquerque City Council is scheduled Monday to take up a proposal to rename part of Bridge Boulevard in the city's South Valley as Avenida Dolores Huerta.
Born in New Mexico, Huerta moved to California as a child and later helped form the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. She has been an advocate for women and immigrants.
Avenida Dolores Huerta will run from the county boundary at the Rio Grande river west to Isleta Boulevard. A park along the road was renamed for Huerta in 2017.
The Bernalillo County Commission voted in October to rename a portion of Bridge Boulevard that fell within its jurisdiction.
Project Seeks To Convert Dairy Farm Manure To Natural Gas - By Theresa Davis The Albuquerque Journal
Harmful emissions from the agriculture sector are increasingly scrutinized as the climate changes. Now, energy companies want to help dairy farmers reduce emissions.
Virginia-based Dominion Energy and Vanguard Renewables Ag of Massachusetts have announced a $200 million partnership to convert methane from cow manure into renewable natural gas.
The money will fund projects at dairy farms in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Georgia.
Agriculture produced 11% of New Mexico's greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the state's climate change task force report released in November.
As manure breaks down, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas with a greater warming potential than carbon dioxide.
Final locations of the farm projects haven't been announced, but Chase did say southeast New Mexico is ideal for methane capture.
Nearly 40 regional dairies supply milk to the Southwest Cheese Plant in Clovis, New Mexico.
Police File Battery Complaint Against Lobos' Caldwell - Associated Press
A misdemeanor criminal complaint filed by Albuquerque police accuses suspended New Mexico basketball player J.J. Caldwell of battery against a household member during a December encounter with his ex-girlfriend.
Police filed the complaint on Jan. 24, after the ex-girlfriend reported Dec. 16 that Caldwell two days earlier struck her and put his hands around her neck at his apartment, the Albuquerque Journal reported Saturday.
Caldwell’s attorney Paul Kennedy said the filing of the complaint was questionable because prosecutors still had the matter under review.
Kennedy and another attorney represent Caldwell in the criminal matter and in a civil rights lawsuit in which Caldwell alleges the university and others are violating his civil rights.
Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez said he didn't know about the criminal complaint until the Journal asked him about it.
The university has not said why Caldwell was being withheld from team activities.
Caldwell, the Lobos' starting point guard for the season's first 13 games, has been suspended since Dec. 22 after the university was informed of his ex-girlfriend's complaint.
Kennedy said Caldwell has not been arrested in the case. A summons was issued for him to appear in court for a Feb. 19 arraignment.
New Mexico Sect Leader Facing Sex Abuse Charges Released - Gallup Independent, Associated Press
A leader in a rural New Mexico paramilitary religious sect with anti-Semitic leanings and who facing child sex abuse charges has been released on house arrest.
The Gallup Independent reports Peter Green, also known as Mike Brandon, was released last week by State Judicial District Judge Amanda Sanchez Villalobos despite protests from state prosecutors and sheriff deputies.
Authorities say he was a lieutenant colonel in the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps near Grants, New Mexico.
Peter Green was arrested in the 2017 raid of the religious compound by the Cibola County Sheriff's Office and charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Former sect members said the abuse dated back years, while Cibola County Undersheriff Michael Munk said the former members described leaders treating followers like slaves and physically beating children.
Two other leaders are serving prison sentences.
Cuban Writer Honored For 'Queen Of Bones' Murder Mystery - By Dorothy N. Fowler Hobbs News-Sun
When Teresa Dovalpage learned that her murder mystery "Queen of Bones" had been chosen by NBC News as one of the top "10 books from 2019 by and about Latinos," she was surprised.
"Nobody asked me and nobody from NBC contacted me," she said in her heavily accented but grammatically perfect English. "A friend sent me a link on Facebook and that's how I found out. It was a wonderful surprise and a great way to end the year."
"Queen of Bones" is the second book of a trilogy that will morph into a series of four with the publication of "Death of a Second Star" in June and the completion of "Death Under the Preseids" later in the year.
These books, all written in English, join 10 novels and three collections of short stories, all written in by the Havana, Cuba-born Dovalpage in Spanish. Two of those books were nominated for prestigious awards. One of them, "The Late Fidel," won the Rincon de la Victoria Award in Spain in 2011.
"Queen of Bones" begins in Albuquerque when a Cuban construction worker, Juan Chiong, decides to return to Havana for the first time in 20 years. He travels with his American wife, Sharon, and hopes to reunite with some old friends and perhaps a former girlfriend.
Before moving to Hobbs, Dovalpage taught Spanish at University of New Mexico-Taos. For ten years, she was a columnist for the Taos News, where she covered the food scene, business and education.