Sen. Luján suffers stroke, expected to make 'full recovery' - By Farnoush Amiri Associated Press
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a stroke and being hospitalized last week, when he began to experience dizziness and fatigue, according to his chief of staff.
The 49-year-old Democrat checked himself into a hospital in Santa Fe on Thursday. His chief of staff, Carlos Sanchez, said the senator was then transferred to a hospital in Albuquerque for further evaluation.
"Senator Luján was found to have suffered a stroke in the cerebellum, affecting his balance," the statement released Tuesday said. "As part of his treatment plan, he subsequently underwent decompressive surgery to ease swelling."
His office added that Luján is still in the hospital but is expected to make a full recovery.
It was initially unclear when Lujan would return to the Senate and what impact his absence would have.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters he was anticipating Lujan's "quick return to the Senate," adding, "I believe the Senate will be able to carry forward with its business."
But in Lujan's absence, Democrats would have just 49 votes compared to Republicans' 50, assuming all other senators are healthy. There might be instances in which Democrats would lack the votes needed to approve legislation or nominations over unanimous GOP opposition.
Democrats will retain majority control of the chamber because its membership is divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast tie-breaking votes.
New Mexico's other senator, Democrat Martin Heinrich, sent his regards to Luján. "I know that all of my fellow Senators and our constituents in New Mexico join me in sending our best wishes to him, his family, and his staff," he wrote in a tweet.
The surgery Luján underwent is a decompressive craniectomy, which temporarily removes a piece of the skull to allow a swelling brain room to expand.
Luján won the Senate seat in 2020 after serving six terms in the House, where he was a trusted ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As one of the highest-ranking Latinos in Congress, Luján led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party's arm that supports House candidates, in the 2016 and 2018 elections.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated how many terms Luján served in the House. It was six, not five.
Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.
New Mexico state spending plan advances toward House vote - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
A proposal to increase annual state general fund spending by $1 billion — or 14% — advanced toward a House floor vote Tuesday with the backing of Democrats in the legislative majority and some Republicans.
The lead House budget-writing committee endorsed the budget bill on a 15-3 vote, with three Republican legislators in opposition to the $8.5 billion spending plan that also sets aside $400 million for a variety of possible tax cuts.
The plan would channel a windfall of state income linked to federal pandemic relief and surging oil production in an effort to shore up public education, health care, policing and infrastructure spending.
In a state with high rates of poverty, the proposal extends free college tuition to most New Mexico youths pursuing two- and four-year degrees, and fully funds home-based care for thousands of people contending with severe disabilities since childhood.
"That is a major opportunity for the state of New Mexico," said Democratic state Rep. Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup, chairwoman of the House budget committee. "I think people will be very pleased."
In all, the bill calls for general fund spending of $8.47 billion for the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2022 — a nearly 14% increase from current annual spending of $7.45 billion.
That still should leave the state with an unspent general fund balance of $2.6 billion — equal to 30% of annual spending obligations. The spending bill incorporates many recommendations from Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Republican state Rep. Randal Crowder of Clovis expressed unease about the state's growing reliance on U.S. government spending and cast a vote against the bill in committee.
"I'm blown away by the budget. It seems to meet every need of everybody," Crowder said. "This is clearly a record high tide."
The budget proposal would establish new state offices to help address climate change and prevent gun-violence.
Rep. Candy Ezzell of Roswell said the $300,000 allocation to the Health Department for preventing gun violence should go toward law enforcement initiatives.
Salaries would increase by at least 7% for public employees in state government and public education. Minimum salaries for teachers and principals, at various career stages, would rise to between $50,000 and $70,000.
Even larger pay hikes are slated for state police. And new taxpayer contributions are proposed for public-school pensions and health care plans for state employees.
The budget sets a $15 minimum wage for public employees at schools and across state government, at a cost of nearly $12 million.
In all, state general fund spending on public schools would increase by $425 million to $3.87 billion, a 12% boost.
Legislators are redoubling efforts to extend classroom learning time at K-12 schools, with funding for programs that offer longer academic calendars and school days.
Teachers that engage in the programs can earn an additional 3% salary raise for a combined 10% increase. That's not including additional pay that comes with expanded school hours or additional days.
The state would devote $1.3 billion to Medicaid spending as it bracing for the expiration of pandemic-era emergency spending by the federal government on the health care program for the poor.
Legislators want to extend pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage to mothers for a year after births, up from two months, by spending $14 million. A majority of births in New Mexico are covered by Medicaid.
Lujan Grisham is backing a separate bill that would combine and increase state scholarship funding to cover all tuition and fees for in-state college students who maintain a C-plus grade point average. It would apply to part- or full-time attendance at any New Mexico public college, university or tribal college.
Legislators are considering a slight reduction in state taxes on retail sales and business services along with several proposals to limit or eliminate state taxes on Social Security income. Additional proposals are possible during a 30-day legislative session that ends on Feb. 17.
New Mexico debates bill to block spent nuclear fuel storage - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and members of New Mexico's congressional delegation already have voiced strong opposition to building a multibillion-dollar facility along the state's border with Texas that would store tons of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants around the U.S.
Now, the New Mexico Legislature is considering a bill that supporters say would keep the state from becoming the nation's de facto permanent dumping ground for nuclear waste.
Top New Mexico officials contend the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hasn't done enough to vet plans by Holtec International to build a facility to store thousands of tons of spent uranium in the state. They argue that without a plan by the federal government to deal with spent fuel, the material would remain in New Mexico indefinitely.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also expressed his opposition to a similar storage facility in his state. Both states have sued the federal government over the issue.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces, who is sponsoring the New Mexico legislation, said the federal government needs to address the problem and establish a policy for dealing with the spent fuel piling up at the nation's nuclear power plants.
"New Mexico, with less than one half of 1% of the nation's population, should not continue to be the sacrifice zone because we can be exploited," he told fellow lawmakers, noting that many communities have passed resolutions opposed to bringing high-level nuclear waste to the state.
Some southeastern New Mexico residents testified during a legislative committee meeting Tuesday that Holtec International's proposal would be safe and create jobs.
In New Mexico, the planned facility initially would store up to 8,680 metric tons of used uranium fuel. Future expansion could make room for as many as 10,000 canisters of spent fuel over six decades.
Federal regulators in September granted a license for an interim storage facility across the border in Andrews County, Texas. That facility is licensed to take up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants and more than 231 tons of other radioactive waste. Possible expansion could increase the total capacity to 40,000 metric tons of fuel, but additional regulatory approval would be needed.
After regulators approved that site, Abbott, the Republican Texas governor, tweeted: "Texas will not become America's nuclear waste dumping ground."
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nuclear reactors across the country produce more than 2,000 metric tons of radioactive waste a year, with most of it remaining on-site because there's nowhere else to put it.
The federal government is paying to house the fuel, and the cost is expected to stretch into the tens of billions over the next decade, according to a review by independent government auditors.
The fuel is sitting at temporary storage sites in nearly three dozen states, either enclosed in steel-lined concrete pools of water or in steel and concrete containers known as casks.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has talked about revisiting recommendations made a decade ago by a blue ribbon commission on America's nuclear future. In November, her agency issued a request seeking inputon a consent-based siting process to identify locations to store commercial spent nuclear fuel.
Despite opposition from environmentalists, the Biden administration has pointed to nuclear power as essential to achieving its goals to create a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035.
Opponents of the New Mexico legislation testified Tuesday that banning interim storage would take the state out of the national conversation and that could result in missed opportunities to address climate change.
State Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, a retired law professor from Albuquerque, said federal law requires consent and that New Mexico has numerous concerns beyond the safety of an interim storage facility. She pointed to potential impacts on oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, which is one of the most productive regions in the world, and to environmental justice concerns for minority populations.
Sedillo Lopez said the legislation still will need to stand up to any legal challenges.
"This is a very, very serious issue," she said. "It's something that the state should take a long hard look at and exercise its authority in the areas where we have authority to do so."
New Mexico congresswomen, governor await challengers - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico's 2022 election landscape is coming into focus as registration day arrives for primary contestants to pursue major-party nominations.
The election includes seats in Congress, the governor's office and other statewide offices including attorney general, auditor, treasure and land commissioner overseeing New Mexico's vast underground oil and natural gas reserves. The secretary of state's office collects signature petitions on Tuesday in Santa Fe for contenders seeking the nomination of a major party, including the Libertarian Party.
First-term congresswomen will be defending sets in all three New Mexico congressional districts under newly drawn political boundaries that divvy up the state's conservative oil-producing region in the southeast of the state.
Las Cruces city councilor Gabe Vasquez is among contenders seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, in a district that recently annexed heavily Hispanic neighborhoods of Albuquerque. Democratic U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez and Melanie Stansbury are defending seats long held by Democrats.
Democrats control every statewide elected office, as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham seeks a second term. She led the state through the coronavirus outbreak with aggressive emergency health mandates and vaccination programs, and is proposing tax cuts and tougher criminal penalties and bail provisions in response to surging crime rates in Albuquerque.
Several contenders have indicated they'll seek the Republican Party nomination to challenge Lujan Grisham, including former television weatherman Mark Ronchetti and state Rep. Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences.
Candidates will vie in open races to serve as the state's top public prosecutor with the departure next year of Democratic Attorney General Hector Balderas. Contenders for the Democratic nomination include Raúl Torrez, district attorney to the Albuquerque region, and Brian Colón, who is stepping down as state auditor.
NMSU suspends concession sales to increase mask compliance - Associated Press
New Mexico State University is suspending food and beverage sales during indoor spotting events because of what the university says is inconsistent compliance with the state's indoor mask mandate.
The suspension of concession sales will remain in effect until New Mexico's mask mandate is lifted statewide, the university said in a statement Monday.
Event staff and law enforcement personnel will enforce mask-wearing and fans unwilling to comply will be asked to leave the event, Chancellor Dan Arvizu said.
"Unfortunately, we are seeing less and less compliance with our state's indoor mask mandate during our home games, and fan behavior at Saturday's game was cause for grave concern for us and among our public health experts," Arvizu said in a memo to the campus community .
Many of the 12,307 people attending the men's basketball game Saturday between NMSU and Grand Canyon University were photographed without masks, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
Arvizu also indicated the university is prepared to restrict fan access to indoor athletic events until the mandate is lifted.
He said the university wants to avoid restricting fan access. "However, we must do what we can to create a safer environment for our Aggie community."
New Mexico lawmakers advance Native American education bills - By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America
The New Mexico Legislature is considering three bills aimed at improving education for Native American students that would increase funding to tribal education departments and libraries and allow more tribal control over how funds are spent.
Members of the House Education Committee approved the three measures Monday, largely along party lines with Democratic majorities ensuring the bills' passage.
The tribal school funding bill would grant greater authority to tribal governments over how to spend money already allocated by state officials to support Native American education. Instead of flowing through grants from the New Mexico Public Education Department, most of the money would go directly to tribal education departments.
Supporters of the funding measures have said the state is late in taking aggressive efforts to address Indigenous education that were highlighted in an unresolved 2018 state court ruling.
Tribal leaders representing the vast majority of the nearly two dozen Native American tribes in the state spoke in support of all three measures.
Critics of the measure to give tribal education officials more clout in allocating money raised questions about how the success of the educational spending would be tracked.
But the sponsor of the bills, Democratic Rep. Derrick Lente, said that mutual agreements between individual tribes and state officials would specify those metrics, not the Legislature.
The school funding bill passed the committee 9-3, and the library bill passed 10-2.
The third bill heard by the committee Monday would add around $30 million in funding to teacher training programs to address the severe underrepresentation of Native Americans in the teaching profession. The education committee approved the measure in an 8-4 vote.
All three bills head to the House Appropriation and Finance Committee for further consideration.
*This story has been corrected to show the school funding bill passed 9-3 and the library bill passed 10-2.
Driver arrested in hit-and-run that killed Albuquerque boy -Associated Press
A driver suspected in a December hit-and-run that left a 7-year-old boy dead in Albuquerque has been arrested, authorities said Monday.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced that 27-year-old Sergio Almanza surrendered to authorities in southwest New Mexico.
Albuquerque police said Almanza is facing charges of homicide by vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident-causing death and tampering with evidence.
It was unclear if Almanza has a lawyer yet who can speak on his behalf about the case.
Pronoy Bhattacharya was with his family on Dec. 12 as they walked across a street after attending the River of Lights show at the ABQ BioPark, according to authorities.
Police said Almanza was driving an illegal off-road vehicle and allegedly ran a red light before hitting the boy and then fleeing the scene.
Tips from the public enabled investigators to identify Almanza as the suspected driver and police served an arrest warrant at his home in Belen but he wasn't there.
Police said Almanza was considered a fugitive for the past six weeks until he turned himself in.
'Rust' death sparks New Mexico gun safety bill for actors - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
A Republican New Mexico legislator wants movie actors and other film-set professionals to undergo state-sponsored gun-safety training after a cinematographer was fatally shot last year by Alec Baldwin with a weapon he says he thought was not loaded with live ammunition.
State Sen. Cliff Pirtle of Roswell on Monday introduced a bill that would require all acting and film production personnel where firearms are present to complete a safety course offered by the New Mexico Game and Fish Department that is designed primarily for hunters.
Production companies that don't comply would risk their eligibility for state film tax rebates. New Mexico offers a rebate of between 25% and 35% of in-state spending for video production that helps filmmakers large and small underwrite their work.
It was unclear whether the Democrat-led Legislature will bring the bill up for debate and a possible vote during a 30-day legislative session that ends Feb. 17. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had not yet read the bill Monday and declined to say whether she supports the initiative, according to an email from spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett.
Pirtle is a partner in a farming business and an ardent supporter of gun rights. He has handled firearms on film sets while acting in minor roles for Western movies, such as "Deadman Standing" in 2018 and "Death Alley" in 2021.
The senator said in a statement that he was heartbroken to learn of the death of Halyna Hutchins in October 2021 on the set of "Rust."
"Unfortunately, to the Hollywood elite, the talk around guns is all too abstract," Pirtle said. "This is a simple bill to bring some gravity back to the use of firearms on film sets."
Baldwin has said he didn't know the gun he was holding contained a live round when it went off while pointed at Hutchins.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office that is leading an investigation into the cause of the death has said it is too soon to determine whether charges will be filed.
Investigators have described "some complacency" in how weapons were handled on set at a movie-set ranch near Santa Fe, as they trace the source of ammunition from the set including live and dummy rounds.
Pirtle says his 10-year-old son has undergone standard firearms training by the state Game and Fish Department to instill an understanding that guns are not only household tools but also can be deadly.
Sackett said workplace safety regulators at the Environment Department have been investigating the death on the "Rust" set and are researching film-industry standards for the safe handling of firearms.
New Mexico enforces general workplace safety requirements on film sets and defers in some instances to gun-safety standards that are developed by the film industry.
Santa Fe airport poised to get long overdue expansion -Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
The Santa Fe Regional Airport is set to embark on the first phase of a long-planned expansion.
The Albuquerque Journal reported Monday that Bradbury Stamm Construction of Albuquerque will officially break ground after the results of a utility survey, which is currently in the process. Construction is anticipated to take 12-14 months.
The expansion, with a $21.5 million price tag, will include doubling the terminal size to 14,000 square feet (1,300 square meters) and creating a bigger parking lot. There will also be an expanded baggage claim and a new cafe and gift shop.
Airport officials say this is not cosmetics. The airport has seen its passenger traffic nearly double from 93,000 in 2017 to 175,000 in 2019.
With both American and United airlines providing service there, the narrow terminal and lobby can get packed.
The airport was originally designed by Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem. Officials say they will be "keeping the quaintness" of his design.
Embarrassed burglar leaves $200, flees home with his AR-15 - Associated Press
The owners of a New Mexico home were doubly surprised over the weekend to find a burglar in their house with an AR-15, and then to have him apologize, give them money and leave embarrassed.
The man had slept, bathed, dined and had some beer at the home on the outskirts of Santa Fe before the owners returned and discovered him, according to a Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office police report cited by the Albuquerque Journal.
He had an AR-15 scoped rifle but didn't threaten them, or take any of their jewelry or other belongings.
Instead, he gave the homeowners $200 as "reimbursement for the window he broke," the report said.
The suspect — about 6 feet tall and in his late 20s — also shared a bit of his story, telling the owners he was running from someone and that his family had been killed in east Texas, according to the report. He said his car had broken down outside Santa Fe.
The homeowners told authorities the man was "extremely embarrassed and apologetic about the situation," the report states.
The suspect left the home with his duffel bag and gun, walking down a ditch. His alleged larcenies totaled $15, the report said.
Sheriff's deputies came to the home and searched the ditch but didn't find anyone.