New Mexico Gov. signs education bills, $10k teacher raise - By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America
New Mexico's governor signed law four bills into law that will increase funding for education, including major hikes to teacher salaries.
Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham held the ceremony Tuesday outdoors at an elementary school in Santa Fe, following the passage of the bills by the Legislature last month.
Flanked by schoolchildren and the national leader of a teacher's union, she signed one bill that will increase teacher and counselor salary minimums by $10,000.
"We have to pay our educators a salary that is commensurate with their incredible ... experience, education and the fact that they are working more than full time supporting their students," Lujan Grisham said.
Currently, teachers make at least $40,000 when they start out, $50,000 after additional training and experience, and $60,000 when they pass an intensive master teacher certification.
Starting teachers and counselors earning a minimum salary would benefit the most, with a 22% raise.
The teacher raise bill faced no opposition in the Legislature last month, and Lujan Grisham mentioned at least one Republican lawmaker in a long list of thank-yous.
Many school workers, from nurses to janitors to those who already earn more than the minimum won't benefit from that measure. But Lujan Grisham is expected to sign another bill that, after deducting increases in minimum salaries, will ensure all school workers at least 7% more than income than they earn now.
Lujan Grisham, who is running for reelection this year, is also set to approve a $15 minimum wage for school and state workers.
At the elementary school, Lujan Grisham also signed bills aimed at supporting teachers in training and luring retirees back to the classroom.
A teacher training program will increase to $35,000 a salary for aspiring teachers serving in classrooms during their final year of school. It also creates a stipend for teachers and principals who work with them as mentors.
A third bill she signed adds $100 million to a teacher pension fund over three years. A fourth bill makes it easier for teachers to return to the classroom after they retire, reducing the cooling-off period from one year to just three months, the length of a summer break.
One recently retired teacher, Rep. Debra Sariñana, D-Albuquerque, attended the bill signing. She said her old high school is asking her to come back, and she's weighing that against spending more time with her grandchildren.
New Mexico Supreme Court finds stream rule unconstitutional - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The New Mexico Supreme Court determined Tuesday that a rule allowing private landowners to limit public access to streams and rivers is unconstitutional and contrary to state statute.
The court announced its decision after hearing oral arguments in a case that centered on whether the public has a right to fish or float on streams and other waterways that flow through private property.
While the debate over stream access has been going on across the West for years, the New Mexico court added more clarity with its ruling on a petition filed by a coalition of anglers, rafters and conservationists that argued the public has the constitutional right to fish, boat or use any stream for recreation so long as they do not trespass across private land to get there.
In court filings, the group pointed to similar conclusions reached over the years by courts in Montana, Oregon and Utah.
The group's attorneys argued Tuesday that the issue already had been decided in New Mexico decades earlier in a previous case in which the Supreme Court found the state constitution guarantees that the public has the right to use public waters for fishing and other recreational activities and that the right applies notwithstanding private streambed ownership.
The attorneys said the New Mexico Game Commission, which oversees wildlife conservation and hunting and fishing regulations, overstepped its authority as well as the scope of state statute in crafting a rule that allowed landowners to seek certification to make off limits segments of rivers and streams running through their property.
"It is nearly impossible for most stretches of most rivers in New Mexico for the public to enjoy that public use right guaranteed in the constitution with the rule in effect," Seth Cohen, an attorney for the petitioners, told the court.
The Game Commission voted last August against several landowners who sought to restrict access to streams and rivers crossing their property. An attorney for the property owners said after the decision that his clients' rights were being violated.
Jeremy Harrison, an attorney for the landowners, argued Monday that the anglers and boaters were seeking a broad interpretation of recreational use and the rule established by the commission was meant to clarify the ownership of the land underlying the stream or river segments in question.
Advocates of private property rights have warned that if waterways are opened up, property values will decline and there will be less interest by owners to invest in conserving tracts of land along streams. Some fishing outfitters and guides have said their businesses will be adversely affected.
As part of its decision, the court said previous certificates granted to landowners by the commission would be voided.
Sherry Barrett, chair of the New Mexico Paddlers Coalition, said her group was looking forward to the removal of no trespassing signs, fencing and other dangerous barriers that have prevented paddler access to the upper Pecos and Chama rivers.
"Paddlers have enjoyed recreational use of these rivers for decades and look forward to continued exploration of New Mexico's waterways," she said.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and others have been outspoken against limiting access to what they say are public waters.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is running for reelection, has been careful to walk the line on the stream access issue. Some critics say that's because of political campaign contributions by wealthy landowners, but her office has argued that the statute and the rule that led to the fight predates Lujan Grisham's administration.
It's unclear whether there will be any pressure for the Game Commission, which is appointed by the governor, to take up the matter again and rewrite the rule in light of the Supreme Court's decision.
Aaron Wolf, an attorney for the Game Commission, acknowledged during questioning by the court that he believed the rule as it stood was unconstitutional and that the matter was of great public importance.
"I think private ownership of land that covers waterways is increasing dramatically in New Mexico," he said. "Many out-of-state people are buying up large parts of property and to me the larger issue is creating a reasonable balance between the public in New Mexico and the private ownership."
New Mexico governor asked to stand up to more nuclear waste - Associated Press
A coalition of environmentalists and nuclear watchdogs on Tuesday delivered more than 1,000 petition signatures to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asking her to take all steps necessary to stop any expansion of the federal government's nuclear repository in southeastern New Mexico.
Dozens of people gathered at the state Capitol because they are concerned about the potential for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to be a disposal site for diluted plutonium.
They said the dump was never intended for that type of radioactive waste.
The underground repository currently takes in special boxes and barrels packed with low-level waste that consists of lab coats, rubber gloves, tools and debris contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive elements.
The repository was carved out of an ancient salt formation about a half-mile below the surface, with the idea that the shifting salt would eventually entomb the radioactive waste left from decades of bomb-making and nuclear weapons research.
In the petition, the group raises concerns about diluted plutonium being shipped across the country and through New Mexico. They also point out that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the federal government's only underground repository and that New Mexico stands to serve as the nation's dumping ground without the development of other disposal sites.
The speakers at Tuesday's demonstration ran the gamut from a third-generation cattle rancher to a Santa Fe County commissioner. A group called Veterans for Peace flew a white-dove flag.
While the governor's office did not immediately comment on the plutonium petition drive, Lujan Grisham has voiced opposition to a separate proposal that calls for the temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants at a planned private multibillion-dollar facility in southern New Mexico.
In that case, the governor and members of the state's congressional delegation have written letters and submitted public comments against storing the spent fuel in the state because the federal government has yet to come up with a plan for permanent disposal of the material.
In December 2020, the U.S. Energy Department indicated that it would begin drafting an environmental impact statement as one of the first steps toward diluting and disposing of plutonium left over from the Cold War.
The notice states that processing the material would be necessary to reduce radioactivity enough for the waste to be accepted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The work would involve shipping the material from the Pantex Plant in Texas to Los Alamos National Laboratory, where it would be turned into a powder, and then to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where it would be further diluted, and then back to New Mexico for disposal.
New Mexico bill allows testing to prevent fentanyl deaths - Associated Press
New Mexico is allowing broad access to test strips that can detect the presence of the potent opiate fentanyl and potentially help avoid deadly overdoses, under legislation signed Monday by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The bill from Democratic legislators in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Alamos lifts restrictions on public access to devices that can test for drug impurities. It also gives state health health officials new authority to intervene and rein in the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis that can be transmitted through intravenous drug use.
Overdoses in New Mexico increasingly are linked to the ingestion of drugs laced with fentanyl. States including Arizona already have decriminalized test strips designed to detect fentanyl.
New Mexico routinely leads the American West in rates of opioid-related drug overdose deaths. It also has been on the forefront of strategies to reduce the toll of drug use and addiction, from the distribution of overdose antidote drugs to legal immunity provisions for people who may implicate themselves in crimes by seeking overdose treatment for themselves or others.
Separately, Lujan Grisham signed a legislation that provides new preferences on state government procurement contracts to bids by Native American-owned businesses based on tribal lands and increases the preference for in-state and military-veteran owned businesses.
Procurement preferences are reserved for small-to-moderate sized businesses with annual revenues of up to $6 million, providing an 8% advantage on bidding prices to resident and Native American-owned businesses. Businesses owned by military veterans get a 10% advantage, under the legislation from Democratic Sen. Benny Shendo of Jemez Pueblo and Rep. Harry Garcia of Grants.
It was unclear how much the preferences might contribute to additional state spending. The state's lead contracting agency has not tracked the previous 5% preference for resident-owned businesses.
Lujan Grisham also signed an increase in payments to many retired legislators from the pension fund for state and local government employees overseen by the Public Employees Retirement Association, without an increase in contributions. New Mexico legislators receive a daily stipend and mileage reimbursements when working but no formal salary.
Average annual pension benefits for retired legislators should increase from about $11,000 to $14,000.
Pressure mounts for language services at New Mexico agencies - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico welfare agencies are coming under new pressure from a federal judge and state lawmakers to expand translation and oral interpretation services to minority households that don't speak English or Spanish.
Advocacy groups for immigrants and Indigenous populations on Monday announced that a federal judge based in Las Cruces has ordered the state Human Services Department that oversees food stamp and Medicaid benefits to change its automated phone system to offer access to benefits in additional languages including Navajo, also known as Diné.
Sovereign Hager, legal director of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said enough New Mexico residents speak languages such as Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Dari and Arabic to meet population thresholds under federal law that require translation services — while the state provides written documents only in English and Spanish for many benefits.
She said that U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Gonzales, at a court hearing Friday, affirmed the obligation of state agencies to identify languages spoken by families trying to access food and medical assistance and provide oral interpretation services.
Hager said the judge also ordered the state to including information about the availability of expanded language assistance in writing on Medicaid notices.
"They just need that point of access," she said. "Then they can complete an application like anyone else."
The Human Service Department, which oversees the delivery of benefits linked to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, was awaiting a written version of the court order before commenting.
The state Legislature has approved a bill that would require major state agencies to analyze the need for additional language assistance services and report back to the governor and Legislature. A companion bill would dedicate about $110,000 to the effort.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has until April 7 to sign the legislation or let it expire.
Sachi Watase, executive director of the New Mexico Asian Family Center, said she expects to see expanded access to certified interpreters in a variety of languages.
"We're really proud and excited to see this happening now," she said. "It's also really sad that it has taken so long and so many people have fallen through the gaps."
New Mexico Supreme Court to consider stream access case - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The New Mexico Supreme Court is scheduled Tuesday to hear arguments in a case over whether the public has a right to fish or float on streams and other waterways that flow through private property.
While the debate over stream access has been ongoing across the West for years, the New Mexico court could provide more clarity once it rules on a pending petition filed by a coalition of anglers, rafters and conservationists.
The group contends the public has the constitutional right to fish, boat or use any stream for recreation so long as they do not trespass across private land to get there. In a court filing, the group points to similar conclusions reached over the years by courts in Montana, Oregon and Utah.
The New Mexico Game Commission, which oversees wildlife conservation and hunting and fishing regulations, voted last August against several landowners who sought to restrict access to streams and rivers crossing their property. An attorney for the property owners said after the decision that his clients' rights were being violated.
Advocates of private property rights have warned that if waterways are opened up, property values will decline and there will be less interest by owners to invest in conserving tracts of land along streams. Some fishing outfitters and guides have said their businesses will be adversely affected.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and others have been outspoken against limiting access to what they say are public waters.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is running for reelection, has been careful to walk the line on the stream access issue. Some critics say that's because of political campaign contributions by wealthy landowners.
Nora Meyers Sackett, a spokeswoman for the governor, has said the statute that led to the fight predates Lujan Grisham's administration and that it will be up to the court to decide its fate.
Hobbs woman accused of throwing baby away faces more charges - Associated Press
State prosecutors on Monday filed charges of attempted first-degree murder and child abuse against an 18-year-old Hobbs woman accused of throwing her newborn baby into a trash container two months ago.
The child survived the Jan. 7 incident.
Alexis Avila, a Hobbs High School student, allegedly put her baby boy in multiple plastic bags filled with trash before throwing the bag into a dumpster in freezing conditions behind a city business.
She pleaded not guilty to charges five days later and a Lea County judge ordered her to house arrest pending her trial.
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced Monday that Avila was being "bound-over on the crimes of attempted first degree murder and child abuse resulting in great bodily harm."
It was unclear Monday if Avila has a lawyer yet who can speak on her behalf.
Hobbs police have said surveillance video from a business appeared to show Avila throwing a bag into the trash container.
Hours later, three people searching the dumpster found the baby alive and notified police.
New Mexico horse racing dispute spurs ethics complaint - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
An advocacy group that represents thousands of racehorse owners has filed an ethics complaint against New Mexico's racing and gambling regulators, claiming violations of their constitutional rights and multiple state laws.
The New Mexico Horsemen's Association confirmed Monday that it filed the complaint last week against the Racing Commission and Gaming Control Board. The association claims the appointed members of the two regulatory panels are attempting to silence association members amid an ongoing battle over control of purse money and racetrack winnings.
The horse owners claim that over the past few years, New Mexico's private racetrack-casino operations have been diverting purse money for track expenses in violation of state law.
The association in December 2020 asked a state district judge to stop the use of purse money to pay liability insurance on jockeys and exercise riders. According to the horse owners, the transfer of purse money to pay track operating expenses has cost them more than $8 million.
The Racing Commission followed in May 2021 with administrative changes to clear the way for the racetrack-casino operations to collect, manage and disburse the purse money, instead of the association. The changes also meant the association would no longer receive voluntary contributions from members through a percentage of their winnings.
The court stayed the commission's action, but the association claims regulators are violating the order and that the group is owed more than $300,000 in member contributions. The group also claims current oversight of the purse money is insufficient.
Gary Mitchell, an attorney representing the horse owners, said the case has broader implications for state government.
"What we have here are two state agencies that are refusing to obey a court order and refusing to follow the recommendation of its own hearing officer," Mitchell said. "You can't have state agencies that ignore the courts just so they can diminish those they don't care for."
Officials with the regulatory panels dismissed the allegations.
"The New Mexico Horsemen's Association has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar by wrongfully taking money from purses and calling it member dues," said Izzy Trejo, the Racing Commission's executive director. "The New Mexico Racing Commission will always follow state statute, and that is exactly what we are doing."
Trejo said officials were still reviewing the complaint and he could not speak to the allegations that regulators were ignoring the court's stay related to the ongoing legal challenge.
In the complaint filed with the state Ethics Commission, the association argued that it has successfully overseen the collection and disbursement of tens of millions of dollars in purse money over the last two decades.
The group pointed to independent audits, reconciliation statements and commission documents to show that "not even a penny has ever been lost or found out of place."
As part of gambling pacts reached with Native American tribes, New Mexico legalized slot machines at racetracks in the early 1990s with the stipulation that 20% of the net revenue would go toward purses to bolster horse racing.
About $30 million a year is paid out to horse owners competing at the state's five tracks, according to the association. The group has been funded by a portion of that through voluntary contributions from members who earn purse money when their horses place.
The relationship between the Horsemen's Association and the commission has been contentious in recent years, as the advocacy group has objected to the shortening of race meets and has been vocal about conditions at the tracks.
The association also filed a federal lawsuit last summer, claiming the commission deprived racehorse owners and trainers of their civil rights as well as other related violations.
O'Keeffe Museum gets patent for high-tech transport crate - By Teya Vitu, Santa Fe New Mexican
Space age and farm age engineers have been teaming up with the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum to create a next-generation transportation crate for fine art as it travels the world.
Art is transported to places like New York, London, Cairo and Shanghai via old-school cushioned wood crates, said Dale Kronkright, the O'Keeffe Museum's head of conservation.
That's how Kronkright does it with the roughly 100 O'Keeffe works typically on the road. That's how he did it on a tour to Europe with 80 O'Keeffe works in 2011.
"When I got the show back to here, I noticed about eight paintings were developing new cracks (in the paint) or existing cracks got bigger," Kronkright told the Santa Fe New Mexican. "I was with them at every point of transport. I know none of them had been dropped or suffered a collision or had experienced temperature or humidity extremes. If they didn't get mishandled, where did the cracks come from?"
Using infrared photography and digital software, Kronkright determined that vibrations were the culprit. The art industry ships art works protected against shock but not vibration, especially vibrations in trucks, he said.
"I knew we had to do something better," Kronkright said. "Wood crates make vibrations worse. Strapping the art to the truck would be better."
Ten years and two patents later with a third patent pending, Kronkright might be within a year of having the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum art transport system ready for museum use to ship art to and from other museums — and potentially create a cottage industry.
Kronkright demonstrated the alpha model of the transport system in New York City in 2018 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., the corporate home of Walmart.
"There appears to be pretty good interest from museums around the world," he said. The royalty potentials for the O'Keeffe Museum "are substantial, in the seven digits."
Ten years ago, Kronkright was entirely focused on protecting the 3,000 O'Keeffe paintings in the museum's custody.
"I would say we could have a working beta model in 12 months," Kronkright said. "If it tests out, we will use those (crates) for our own collection."
But he is well aware that other museums may come knocking. He wants to get ready for much higher demand than the number of transport systems the O'Keeffe Museum would need.
"We would have to partner with someone for the production," he said. "We need manufacturing capacity."
The museum has produced four alpha models of the box-within-a-box concept Kronkright developed with a team of retired vibration engineers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and John Deere agriculture machinery manufacturer.
Right now, Kronkright is lab-testing a beta model. A road test will follow with inconsequential art transported on trucks and planes. This will determine if vibrations of art works are successfully dampened.
Kronkright determined paintings are most vulnerable when vibrating between 10 and 50 hertz (cycles per second), noting humans start hearing vibrations at about 200 hertz. Kronkright also determined that paintings in trucks vibrate in "double drum mode," meaning one half of a painting can vibrate at a different rate than the other half.
"Trucks vibrate at 10 to 60 hertz," he said. "It literally could not be worse for paintings. Trucks vibrate at exactly the wrong range. Airplanes vibrate at 200 to 1,000 hertz."
Kronkright's ambition for a decade has been to create a transport container that could dampen vibrations to 5 hertz.
The research has led to the museum receiving a first patent to dampen the vibration in the picture frame, and just this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a second patent for vibration damping in the transport container. A third patent is pending that deals with the vibrations in the corners that hold the painting in place.
What Kronkright has created is an 80-by-80-inch "super rigid" weatherproof outer container that is 35 inches deep, able to transport four to six paintings up to four feet in size. The art is secured in an inner box.
The inner box is fastened to the outer box with eight vibration isolators, which Kronkright describes as shock absorbers. These can be "tuned" to a desired hertz level, which Kronkright sees as 5 hertz.
Kronkright describes his day-to-day job thusly: "I try and keep things from falling apart and put them back together when they do. I study the physical and mechanical properties to understand what can damage art."
He said big museums have many artists and many artworks to choose from if individual pieces get broken. He said the O'Keeffe is limited to one artist and 3,000 works.
"The board's mission is anything you can do to prevent damage to our collection means our museum will be more successful into the future," Kronkright said. "Here's what I said to the board (11 years ago): Every object in our collection has a vibration lifetime before it starts to break apart. If we can cut the vibrations in half, we can double its life."
He said about $1 million has been spent to develop the transportation system.
Supreme Court to review Native American child adoption law - Associated Press
The Supreme Court has agreed to review a case involving a federal law that gives Native Americans preference in adoptions of Native children.
The high court said Monday it would take the case that presents the most significant legal challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act since it was passed in 1978. The law has long been championed by Native American leaders as a means of preserving their families and culture.
The law gives Native American families priority in foster care and adoption proceedings involving Native children, and it places reporting and other requirements on states. A federal appeals court in April upheld the law and Congress' authority to enact it. But the judges also found some of the law's provisions unconstitutional, including preferences for placing Native American children with Native adoptive families and in Native foster homes.
The case won't be argued until after the high court begins its new term in October.
Texas, Louisiana, Indiana and seven individuals — three non-Native couples and the biological mother of a Native American child that was adopted by a non-Native family — had sued over provisions in the law. The children are enrolled or potentially could be enrolled as Navajo or Cherokee, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.
A federal district court in Texas initially sided with the group of plaintiffs in 2018 and struck down much of the law, ruling it was unconstitutional because it was race-based and violates the Equal Protection Clause.
But in 2019, a three-judge federal appeals court panel voted 2-1 to reverse the district court and uphold the law. The full court then agreed to hear the case, and struck some provisions. It upheld the determination that the law is based on the political relationship between the 574 federally recognized tribes and the U.S. government, not race.
The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to review the case, arguing that the provisions should not have been struck.
Before the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed, between 25% and 35% of Native American children were being taken from their homes and placed with adoptive families, in foster care or in institutions. Most were placed with white families or in boarding schools in attempts to assimilate them.