New Mexico terror trial in limbo years after compound raid — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A federal judge on Thursday started evaluating the mental health of a woman charged with kidnapping, firearms and terrorism-related counts — nearly four years after authorities arrested her and four other adults from an extended family at a squalid New Mexico compound and recovered the remains of a 3-year-old boy.
Courtroom deliberations about Haitian national Jany Leveille's mental health were taking place in Albuquerque at a hearing closed from public view, on the request of her lawyers, to consider whether she understand the criminal charges against her, which she has denied,
An FBI agent previously testified in a preliminary hearing that Leveille's two teenage sons told authorities they were trained on how to use firearms and defensive tactics by adult relatives at the compound near the tiny community of Amalia not far from the Colorado state line.
The teens also reportedly said the training was taking place in preparation to launch attacks, linked to a future religious resurrection, against government institutions including federal law enforcement and schools, the agent testified.
A grand jury indictment alleges Leveille and her partner instructed people at the compound to be prepared to engage in jihad and die as martyrs, and that one more relative was invited to bring money and firearms.
Defense attorneys have said their clients would not be facing terrorism-related charges if they were not Muslim.
The deliberations about Leveille's mental competency took place more than three years after sheriff's officials and state agents raided the ramshackle encampment in the remote desert surrounded by berms of used tires with an adjacent firing range. They were searching for a sickly 3-year-old who had been reported missing by his mother in Georgia.
Sheriff's deputies and state agents initially found 11 hungry children and a small arsenal of ammunition and guns. After days of searching, they recovered the decomposed remains of the 3-year-old in an underground tunnel.
Mental health concerns about Leveille and three other defendants have contributed to the delay in preparations for her trial, along with disruptions caused by the coronavirus epidemic.
Her lawyer, Aric Elsenheimer, declined comment on Thursday. But the lawyer for Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, Leveille's partner and the father of the deceased child, said her client's right to a speedy trial has been violated because he has been incarcerated since his arrest in August 2018,
"Our client is innocent of the charges that have been filed against him and the law presumes his innocence," said the lawyer, Erlinda Johnson. "We are looking for to our day in court and the day that we actually proceed to trial."
Prosecutors for the case at the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on recent developments, though they opposed the motion to prevent members of the public from attending Leveille's competency hearing.
She has been described in court documents as a leader of the group of extended family members who settled at the compound in late 2017, including her six children. Leveille has resided in the U.S. for more than 20 years after overstaying her nonimmigrant visitor visa, authorities have said.
Albuquerque council votes to rein in mayor's crisis powers — Associated Press
The Albuquerque City Council has narrowly voted to reverse its 2020 action at the start of the pandemic to expand the mayor's emergency powers during a public health crisis.
The council on Monday voted 5-4 to revoke Mayor Tim Keller's power under the city's emergency powers ordinance to do such things as ordering closures of streets or places of mass gatherings, canceling city events and reallocating up to $1 million in the city budget.
Instead, the mayor could only issue "advisories and recommendations" during a public health crisis, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Keller spokesperson Ava Montoya said Thursday the council's action is subject to a potential veto by the mayor. "We're carefully considering the legislation," she said in an email.
Councilor Dan Lewis proposed the change, saying that Keller had hardly invoked his powers and mostly deferred to orders issued by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration.
A high-ranking Keller appointee, Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Rael, opposed the change, saying the administration had used the newly revoked procurement flexibility and needed the ability to move quickly.
Lewis said the spending could have been accomplished "in a variety of ways, including (getting) support from the council."
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The year of the previous council action has been corrected to 2020.
She was arrested with four other adult defendants in the raid, days before the child's body was recovered. All except the deceased boy's father are charged in the child's kidnapping. U.S. law generally does not allow authorities to charge parents with kidnapping their own children, except in international cases.
Authorities said the deceased child, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, suffered from untreated disabilities as Leveille and Siraj Ibn Wahhaj performed daily prayer rituals over him — even as he cried and foamed at the mouth.
Authorities also said Leveille believed medication suppressed the group's Muslim beliefs. Forensic specialists determined the child died several months prior to the recovery of his body.
The FBI agent who interviewed Leveille's two teenage sons also testified that Leveille expected Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj to be resurrected and provide instruction to get rid of institutions that involve teachers, law enforcement and banks.
Leveille is charged with possessing a firearm while living in the country illegally, while the other suspects have been accused of conspiring to provide her with firearms and ammunition.
A brother of Leveille, living in Haiti, has said the group sought to retreat from mainstream U.S. society and that its use of firearms has been misconstrued.
All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and providing material support to each other as potential terrorists by crossing state lines with firearms and training at the New Mexico compound.
The defendants have denied all charges.
Albuquerque-based Chief U.S. District Court Judge William Johnson on Wednesday approved a request Leveille's lawyer to close public access to the mental competency hearing for Leveille, saying it involves details of medical treatment and sensitive personal and psychological matters.
"The defendant's interest in keeping these medical and personal matters private and confidential outweigh the public's interest" in having an open hearing, the judge wrote.
Johnson initially ordered Leveille hospitalized in October 2019 for mental health treatment for up to four months in response to concerns about mental illness.
New Mexico regulators consider more oil and gas rules — Susan Montoya Brown, Associated Press
New Mexico regulators started deliberations Thursday on another set of rules proposed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration to crack down on pollution across the oil and natural gas sector.
Their discussions came amid a rekindled national debate over domestic production as concerns grow over instability in the global energy market.
The proposal before the state Environmental Improvement Board is the second piece of the Democratic governor's plan for tackling pollution blamed for exacerbating climate change. State oil and gas regulators adopted separate rules earlier this year to limit venting and flaring as a way to reduce methane pollution.
Board members acknowledged the complexity of the proposal that has been two years in the making and the subject of many hours of testimony by environmentalists, industry leaders and other experts.
Board members talked about the several counties that will fall under the rules as well as word changes that the petroleum industry has proposed for some sections of the proposal.
"You have dozens of decisions to make. Some of them are profoundly significant," hearing officer Felicia Orth told the board.
The board has until April 25 to take a final vote.
This latest effort, led by the state Environment Department, focuses on oilfield equipment that emits smog-causing pollution. Environment Secretary James Kenney touted the rules as the most comprehensive in the U.S.
"New Mexicans can breathe easier knowing nationally-leading rules are imminent and the Environment Department will enforce them," he told The Associated Press in a statement ahead of the board's deliberations.
New Mexico is home to part of the Permian Basin — one of the world's most productive oilfields. Initial concerns focused on how New Mexico's proposed rules could affect the industry and cut into state revenues. Those concerns shifted this week due to instability in the global energy market and the renewed debate over domestic production.
State House Minority Leader Jim Townsend pointed to skyrocketing gasoline prices and described the governor's effort to limit oil and gas operations as "tone-deaf."
"Our state is uniquely positioned to provide energy independence for our country and whether the progressives like that or not, we all need to do our part to ensure New Mexico and the United States of America are energy independent," the Artesia Republican said. "New Mexicans across the board are feeling the burden of regressive political tactics that Lujan Grisham continues to force on each of us."
Lujan Grisham earlier this week did join other governors in asking congressional leadership to support legislation that would suspend the federal gas tax until the end of the year.
The emissions proposal includes minimum requirements for operators to calculate their emissions and have them certificated by an engineer and to find and fix leaks on a regular basis. The rule would apply to compressors, turbines, heaters and other pneumatic devices.
If companies violate the rule, they could be hit with notices of violation, orders to comply and possibly civil penalties.
As the proposal was being finalized over the last year, environmentalists pressured the state not to allow any exceptions, pointing to elevated levels of emissions in New Mexico's oilfields.
New Mexico officials have said that once adopted, the rule could lead to reductions in ozone-causing pollution that would equal taking 8 million cars off the road every year. Methane emissions also would be reduced as a result.
Governor nixes junior bill, stripping funding from new language access mandate - Source NM, Shaun Griswold
Hundreds of projects statewide had their funding cut by a veto from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Wednesday was the last day for the governor to act on legislation that passed during this year’s 30-day legislative session that ended on Feb. 17.
Senate Bill 48 was vetoed. The spending bill appropriated $50.4 million to cover everything from measures addressing food insecurity in Bernalillo County, youth recreation programs in Doña Ana County and lights for a library in Cibola County.
The measure, commonly referred to as the junior bill in the Roundhouse, was considered by the governor to be fiscally irresponsible.
In her veto message, Lujan Grisham wrote that SB 48 “circumvents the important budget and capital outlay process that forms the basis for other larger appropriations bills.
The governor did sign the general appropriations bill and the capital outlay bill.
“Many of the projects listed in SB 48 are not fully funded — leaving open the possibility that money will be wasted on projects that will never be completed,” the governor wrote.
The bill also included money for legislation passed during the session that was signed into law by the governor, leaving advocates wondering how the state will pay for their new legal obligation.
Sachi Watase from the New Mexico Asian Families Center was part of the coalition that passed requirements for state agencies to offer greater language access services — translators and interpreters — to people who do not speak English.
“It is a little bit complicated because the bill has passed and has been signed into law but there is now no funding associated with it,” Watase said. “And so it could be challenging for these agencies to then be able to create these plans and do what the bill requires them to do without having a dedicated person who this funding could have potentially hired or supported. They may struggle to be able to follow through on those plans.”
The legislation originally asked for money out of the general fund, but that was taken out during a committee. Pulling $110,000 in recurring funds from the junior bill instead, it passed both chambers.
The measure was signed by the governor last week. She did not respond to a request for comment asking for further explanation of the veto for the initiative’s funding.
Watase is unsure about other projects in the bill but said she is confident the services required under HB 22, including an analysis of languages used by people who access state services for food and health care, are ready to go and will be completed if funded.
“I don’t actually know which way it’s going to go or what that means at this point, but it could mean that each of these agencies are required to just figure it out on their own and just with the funding they already have,” she said.
The Department of Health was supposed to get $1.3 million from the junior bill to pay for projects such as a statewide dance program for low-income students, and an expansion of STD and HIV testing and prevention services.
More than $2.6 million was slated for Public Education Department services — programs such as media literacy, youth film training, an activity bus in Animas and agricultural equipment for outdoor classrooms in Hobbs.
A full list of the projects denied funding by the veto can be viewed here.
Governor signs $1B spending boost, vetoes small projects - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a $1 billion annual budget expansion for state government into law on Wednesday to shore up spending on public education, health care and infrastructure while boosting salaries for bureaucrats, state police and public school educators.
The $8.5 billion general fund budget boosts spending by 14% for the fiscal year starting July 1, with pay increases ranging from a $15 minimum hourly wage for public employees in state government and schools to 16% salary hikes for state police.
The bill funds a 7% raise for all school workers and employees at most state agencies, and many school teachers and counselors will get higher raises because of increased minimum salaries at various career stages.
At the same time, the governor vetoed a separate $50 million wish-list from legislators for small projects, ranging from a hay bailer to money for a youth symphony and debate programs, arguing that the bill circumvented a standard vetting process and could lead to waste. She declined to sign without comment a pay increase for high court justices and state district court judges, in addition to judicial pay increases authorized in the budget.
Under the budget plan, annual spending on K-12 public education would increase by roughly $425 million, or 12%, to nearly $3.9 billion. Annual Medicaid spending would increase by roughly $240 million to $1.3 billion, extending post-partum care for a year, as the federal government winds down pandemic-related subsidies to the program that gives free health care to the impoverished.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat running for reelection in November, highlighted state investments that boost teacher salaries, provide tuition-free college and teaching degrees, boost spending on pay for law enforcement and underwrite construction of a retirement home for military veterans in Truth or Consequences.
"This budget makes transformative investments exactly where they're needed: from historic raises for New Mexico educators and growing the country's most expansive tuition-free college program to creating a new fund to hire public safety officers," Lujan Grisham said in a news release. "We are taking full advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to strategically and meaningfully build upon our progress to lift up every New Mexico family."
The annual state spending plan from a Democratic-led Legislature relies on a windfall in state government income linked to surging oil production and prices, along with federal pandemic relief. The state would still end the fiscal year in June 2023 with more than $2.3 billion in estimated general fund reserves — a financial cushion that is likely to grow amid record setting market prices for U.S. crude oil amid a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports.
On Tuesday, the governor signed a tax relief package worth $530 million in its first year, including $250 rebates.
Confronting a deadline at noon Wednesday to approve legislation, the governor signed a criminal justice bill that expands the ranks of state district judges, boosts retention pay for municipal police and sheriff's deputies, and bestows million-dollar death benefits for relatives of police killed in the line of duty.
Legislators assembled the bill amid outrage over a record-setting spate of homicides in Albuquerque, while balking at proposals from the governor and prosecutors to ban pretrial release for people accused of certain violent and sexual crimes.
Instead the bill expands surveillance of criminal defendants as they await trial with 24-hour monitoring of ankle-bracelet tracking devices. And it sets out requirements for crime reduction grants that pursue alternatives to traditional prosecution and incarceration and expands intervention programs to rein in gun violence.
State senators including Republican minority leader Greg Baca of Belen and unaffiliated former Democrat Jacob Candelaria of Albuquerque denounced the veto of $50 million in community projects as irresponsible and vindictive, and urged colleagues to help convoke an extraordinary legislative session to push the spending through without the governor's signature in a rarely used procedural maneuver.
Baca said the vetoed bill contained funding for law enforcement, senior centers, courts and other critical needs.
Native Americans fret as report card released on 2020 census - By Felicia Fonseca And Mike Schneider Associated Press
Plans for the 2020 census were set well in advance to ensure Native Americans living on reservations were counted more accurately than during the 2010 census, when almost 5% of the population was missed.
COVID-19, politics and an ever-changing deadline that cut the decennial count short weren't in those plans.
Instead of canvassing neighborhoods and setting up at huge events like the Gathering of Nations in New Mexico, advocates turned to phone banking, dropped off promotional material at entrances to tribal lands that were closed to visitors and tried to entice people to fill out the census with sacks of flour and potatoes at roadside stands.
Despite a well-financed campaign, Native Americans expect those living on about 300 reservations across the U.S. to be undercounted again. They'll find out Thursday just how good a job the Census Bureau believes it did in counting every U.S. resident during the 2020 census when the statistical agency releases two reports assessing the national count based on race, Hispanic origin, sex and age.
"At the end of the day when you have your whole religious calendar that has been discontinued, when you are looking at 'How do I support this huge health risk in my community,' it really wasn't at the forefront of everyone's minds," said Ahtza Chavez, executive director of NAVA Education Project, which led the New Mexico Native Census Coalition.
The 2020 census figures showed there are now 9.7 million people who are American Indian and Alaska Native either alone or in combination with another race — a significant increase from the 5.2 million in 2010.
The numbers don't line up with tribes' own enrollment figures, in part because the census allows people to self-identify. Tribes have stricter criteria for enrollment that can include calculating one's percentage of ancestry or tracing lineage to a list of names.
Still, evidence that people were missed can be startlingly obvious. For example, census data showed the Havasupai Tribe in northern Arizona had no one who self-responded to the census.
Tribal members were encouraged to fill out the census online and by mail, and to respond to a census taker, said tribal Chairman Thomas Siyuja Sr. They might have been reluctant to open the door, though, because of the coronavirus, he said. The tribe's reservation deep in a gorge off the Grand Canyon largely has been closed to outsiders during the pandemic.
"It is uncertain how our census count is zero because obviously we as a tribe do exist, and we do have tribal members and other residents who live in Supai," Siyuja said in an email Tuesday.
Up until the 20th century, Native Americans weren't regularly counted in the once-a-decade census. They first were counted on reservations and in the general population in 1900, decades before the U.S. considered them citizens.
More recent changes allow Native Americans, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous peoples to write in their ties to specific tribes or communities.
The numbers matter because they are used to distribute $1.5 trillion in federal funding each year and to determine congressional representation. Montana gained a congressional seat after the latest census, but Arizona fell short of the numbers needed to add one.
The tribal self-response rate among Arizona tribes, not including the Navajo Nation, was less than 27%. Tribes in Montana and the Dakotas didn't fare much better. Washington state had the highest self-response rate for tribes at around 60%.
Even before Thursday's results are released, tribal leaders worried the coronavirus pandemic would contribute to an undercount. Tribes across the country shut down their reservations, making follow-up interviews with unresponsive households almost impossible for door-knocking census takers and forcing advocates to get creative.
In New Mexico, tribal advocates campaigned on social media, the radio and through videos produced in eight Indigenous languages. They passed out coloring books with census messaging, deployed Wi-Fi hot spots to help communities struggling with internet access and printed flyers to let people know head start centers, health care and housing are funded through census data, Chavez said.
"We went above and beyond, like miracle workers," she said.
The Klamath Tribes, based in Chiloquin, Oregon, did raffles and drive-thru dinner events to help people fill out the census and drew attention in a video to inaccurate figures for tribal housing in the 2010 census. Tribal Councilwoman Willa Powless said the data showed 38 homes on the tribe's land, but the tribe had more than 80.
"That really motivated people to want to participate," she said. "It was a shock for tribal members to see how severely undercounted we were."
During the last census in 2010, there was a 4.8% net undercount of Native American and Alaskan Natives living on reservations, the highest of any race. Black people were undercounted by more than 2%, Hispanics were undercounted by 1.5%, and Asians were undercounted by 0.08%. Non-Hispanic whites were overcounted by 0.8%.
Chavez thinks the undercount will be higher for Native Americans this time around. While a handful of pueblos saw high self-response rates because of previous investments in broadband, others didn't, she said.
Many tribal lands were still closed when census field operations ended in mid-October 2020. By then plans had already gotten complicated.
The Census Bureau initially planned for up to 1,000 census takers to spread out across the Navajo Nation — the largest Native American reservation in the U.S., spanning 27,000 square miles (69,000 square kilometers) in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. It ended up with less than 300 at the peak, said James Tucker, an attorney with the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights who chairs a Census Bureau advisory committee.
North Dakota state Rep. Marvin Nelson, whose district includes the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa reservation, is worried about a severe undercount in his district since census operations were interrupted by the pandemic. He said his county was pegged at having 12,000 residents in the 2020 census, while federal numbers put the tribal population alone at 17,500 people.
"The way the census was conducted was really problematic," Nelson said last week. "Almost no one got a census mailing, and then due to COVID, there was no home-to-home" door-knocking by census takers.
Calls to suspend gas taxes across U.S. grow as prices surge - By David A. Lieb Associated Press
With gas prices at record highs across the U.S., an increasing number of governors and state lawmakers are calling for the suspension of gas taxes to provide relief to motorists who are facing the prospect of even higher pump prices as the country cuts off Russian oil imports.
Proposals for a "gas tax holiday" to counter inflation had been moving slowly in Congress and state capitols before Russia invaded Ukraine, but they have gained momentum this week amid surging prices that averaged $4.25 a gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA.
Republican legislative leaders in Michigan and Pennsylvania announced proposals Wednesday to suspend or reduce state gas taxes. That came after the Republican governor of Georgia and Democratic governor of California both called for relief from state gas taxes Tuesday, when President Joe Biden ordered a ban on Russian oil imports.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin sent a joint letter to congressional leaders urging them to support legislation suspending the federal government's 18.4-cent-a-gallon gas tax through 2022.
Critics of the proposals say there is no guarantee the savings would get passed on to consumers and worry that suspending gas taxes could hurt funding for road projects. Even so, the eye-popping prices at the pump are prompting lawmakers to act.
"In the past several days, we have seen gas prices skyrocket to historic levels," Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, a Republican running for governor, said in a memo seeking co-sponsors for the legislation. "We must do all that we can to address this now at the state government level and offer our support to hard-working families."
Pennsylvania's 57.6-cent-a-gallon gas tax is the highest in the nation, just ahead of California's. Corman said he is introducing legislation for a roughly one-third reduction through the rest of the year. The lost gas tax revenue would be offset by directing $500 million of federal COVID-19 relief aid to state police and issuing $650 million in bonds to ensure infrastructure projects remain funded.
Legislation pending in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate also would offset lost revenue from a gas tax suspension by transferring an equal amount of general fund dollars to the accounts that fund state highway and public transit programs. The legislation is opposed by groups that advocate for road and bridge funding. They fear a tax suspension would set a poor precedent and become politically difficult to restore, if politicians are cast as supporting a tax hike when it kicks back in.
The potential for lost infrastructure funding has been one of the biggest obstacles to those seeking to suspend or reduce gas taxes, but some state officials say they can afford the financial hit. Many states ended their 2021 fiscal years with record cash balances due to an influx of federal pandemic aid and a resurgent economy that yielded greater income and sales tax revenue than expected.
Suspending Michigan's 27.2-cent-a-gallon fuel tax from April through September would cost about $725 million. The bill passed the GOP-controlled House on Wednesday and now goes to the state Senate, also controlled by Republicans. The office of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said it could hamper road repairs.
"Michigan has billions of dollars in surplus revenue available," House Speaker Jason Wentworth said in a statement Wednesday. "The solution here isn't complicated. Republicans are going to take action today and put a real plan on the governor's desk to actually lower the cost at the pump."
Though average gas prices are at record levels, they are not yet the highest that Americans have paid when adjusted for inflation. The previous record high of $4.10 a gallon in July 2008 would be equal to about $5.24 in today's dollars.
Proposals to suspend gas taxes are based on an assumption that the savings would be passed on to consumers.
"Money saved at the pump translates into dollars back in consumers' pockets for groceries, childcare, rent, and more," the six Democratic governors wrote in their letter Tuesday to Democratic and Republican congressional leaders.
But transportation advocates say that because of other factors affecting gas prices, the full amount of tax cuts may not be reflected at the pump.
On average, only about one-third of the value of previous gas tax cuts or tax increases were passed on to consumers, according to a 2020 report from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association that analyzed 113 state gas tax changes enacted over several years. That's because retail gas prices are influenced by complex factors, including the price of crude oil and supply-and-demand pressures.
"The real problem with this approach at both the federal and the state level is that there's no way to ensure that the people will see this savings when they go to the gas pump to fill up their cars, their SUVs and trucks," said Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Last year, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp suspended state motor fuel taxes for several days to offset increasing prices after a computer hack led to the shutdown of a key pipeline that carries fuel to much of Georgia.
Kemp on Tuesday said he again wants to suspend the state's 29.1-cent-a-gallon gas tax because of rising prices, though details remain to be worked out in legislation introduced in the General Assembly.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also renewed a call to provide relief from rising gas prices during his State of the State address Tuesday, after a previous proposal gained little traction in the Democratic-led legislature. The average price for a gallon of gas in California reached $5.57 on Wednesday — the highest nationally, according to AAA.
After Newsom's speech, California Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon issued a joint statement saying they plan to pursue tax relief from the general fund instead of "a small cut to the gas tax that might not get passed on to consumers."
Virginia lawmakers also were negotiating this week whether to suspend a recent gas-tax hike for one year. The proposal was a key campaign pledge of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican elected last November. The Republican-controlled House included the temporary 5-cent gasoline tax cut in its budget proposal, but the Democrat-controlled Senate did not.
Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida had proposed a five-month pause on the state's gas tax this summer as part of a broader package of tax relief. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois also had proposed to halt an automatic 2.2-cent increase in the state's motor fuel tax as part of a broader tax-cut plan.
Lawmakers in other states — including Maryland, Minnesota, New York and Ohio — also have proposed to suspend or roll back gas taxes. A day after Russia invaded Ukraine, Missouri state Rep. Andrew Schwadron, a Republican, filed legislation to suspend the state's motor fuel taxes for six months, citing an emergency to protect consumers from rising prices.
"The quickest way that we could provide that relief would be by temporarily suspending that gas tax," he said.
New Mexico inmate stabs officer at state prison in Grants — Associated Press
An officer with the New Mexico Corrections Department is recovering after being stabbed by an inmate at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants, officials said.
It happened Tuesday night while the officer was locking down a housing unit, Albuquerque television station KOB-TV reported.
Authorities are still investigating how it happened.
Court documents show that nearly a year ago, the inmate — identified by authorities as Jesus Alberto Robles — had attacked an officer at the Chaves County Detention Center in Roswell in eastern New Mexico with a screwdriver while he was waiting to be sentenced for his girlfriend's murder. A judge sentenced him to 20 years for that killing.
Robles was recently moved to the prison in Grants to serve the sentence.
Police: Man killed after chase tied to slaying of spa worker – Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
Albuquerque police say a man who police shot and killed after a Feb. 25 police chase has been identified as the person who killed a spa worker 10 days earlier.
According to Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina, evidence from fingerprints, surveillance video and a reported admission by Raphael Marquez to another person tied Marquez to the killing at the Canna Spa Massage.
The victim's identity hasn't been released.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Marquez was killed by a State Police officer and two Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies. The shooting happened near Belen following a pursuit on Interstate 25 as investigators sought him in connection with a crime spree.
A police statement said Marquez also was a person of interest in a Dec. 24 homicide and that evidence connects him to that killing.
A timeline released by police said Marquez also was sought in several other incidents, including a break-in at a business and home burglaries.
Indian Health Service head nominated amid tough challenges - By Felicia Fonseca Associated Press
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he is nominating veteran health administrator Roselyn Tso to oversee the federal agency that delivers health care to more than 2.5 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
The selection of Tso to lead the Indian Health Services comes amid a push from tribal health advocates for stability in the agency. Acting directors have filled the role for years at the agency that's chronically underfunded and struggles to meet the needs of Indian Country.
Tso, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, most recently served as director of the agency's Navajo region, which stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. She began her career with the Indian Health Service in 1984 and held various roles in the agency's Portland, Oregon, area and at its headquarters in Maryland, the White House said.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said Tso is "exceptionally qualified" to lead the agency and pointed specifically to her work during the coronavirus pandemic, when the Navajo Nation had one of the highest per capita infection rates in the U.S.
"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, her leadership, expertise and compassion have helped to reduce the spread of this modern-day monster and save lives," Nez said in a statement.
Tso's nomination is subject to confirmation from the U.S. Senate. She holds a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies from Marylhurst University in Oregon and a master's degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix.
The Indian Health Service repeatedly has been the focus of congressional hearings and scathing government reports that seek reform. The agency runs two dozen hospitals and about 90 other health care facilities around the country, most of which are small and on or near Native American reservations.
Other hospitals and health care facilities are run by tribes or tribal organizations under contract with the agency.
The National Indian Health Board wrote to Biden last November, saying it was disappointed he had not made the nomination of an Indian Health Service director a higher priority, particularly because the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately sickened and killed Native Americans.
Tribal members also have been hit hard as COVID-19 fueled America's drug crisis, and have some of the worst health disparities among other groups in the U.S.
The health board didn't specifically weigh in on Tso's nomination but recently outlined expectations for a new director. Among them are advocating for full and mandatory funding of the Indian Health Service, consulting with tribes in a meaningful way, investing long-term in public health infrastructure and keeping tribes up to date on agency actions and funding decisions.
Mexican wildlife managers release 2 pairs of wolves - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Wildlife managers in the United States say their counterparts in Mexico have released two pairs of endangered Mexican gray wolves south of the U.S. border as part of an ongoing reintroduction effort.
The wolves came from the Ladder Ranch in southern New Mexico and were placed in two areas in the state of Chihuahua, officials with the Arizona Game and Fish Department announced Tuesday.
The wolf population in Mexico now numbers around 45, with 14 litters being born since 2014, officials said.
"Through international cooperation, recovery efforts are moving forward in Mexico and contradict the contention of some critics that recovery can't occur in that country," Jim deVos, Mexican wolf coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said in a statement.
The U.S. reintroduction program has been operating in New Mexico and Arizona for more than two decades. The most recent count in early 2021 showed at least 186 wolves in the wild in the two states, marking a 14% increase over the previous year and a doubling of the population over the last five years.
The results of a new survey of the U.S. population are due soon.
Agencies in the U.S. and Mexico's National Commission of Natural Protected Areas have been working for years to help the species recover.
The Mexican gray wolf is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America and was listed as endangered in the U.S. in 1976.
The wolf was once common throughout portions of the southwestern U.S. and throughout Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental regions, but had been all but eliminated from the wild by the 1970s due to extensive predator control initiatives.
Officials said the Mexican commission along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state wildlife managers are in final negotiations for a letter of intent aimed at strengthening the program. It will include efforts focused on conflicts with livestock where the predators are reintroduced.
Ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico have been critical of reintroduction efforts because the wolves have been known to kill livestock, but environmentalists have been pushing for the release of more captive wolves into the wild.