Chaves County deputies involved in fatal shooting at dairy — Associated Press
An investigation is underway after a disorderly conduct call at a dairy in Chaves County ended with a man fatally shot.
KOB-TV in reports Sheriff Mike Herrington issued a video statement regarding the Sunday night shooting.
Herrington confirmed two deputies were involved.
The deputies tried to detain a suspect by first using tasers on him several times. He was then shot and killed.
Authorities have not released any further details.
Investigators from Chaves County Sheriff's Office, Roswell Police and New Mexico State Police are all looking at the shooting.
EXPLAINER: What's ahead for recreational pot in New Mexico - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Marijuana aficionados and entrepreneurs across New Mexico are bracing for the April 1 start of state-regulated retail marijuana.
New Mexico joins 17 other states that have legalized recreational marijuana without significant legal challenges.
The start date for sales ushers in a new era for cannabis as big business with implications for law enforcement, scarce water resources, economic opportunity and cannabis tourism along the state line with Texas. Here are a few things to know.
OPENING DAY
Starting at midnight on April 1, all adults 21 and up will be allowed to buy up to 2 ounces (57 grams) of marijuana at retail outlets throughout the state. It's enough pot to stuff a sandwich bag or roll about 60 joints or cigarettes.
The changes take effect 15 years after the state first began offering medical marijuana to help people endure afflictions including cancer, and a portion of future supplies are being reserved for cannabis patients.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and allied lawmakers hope that broad legalization of marijuana will stamp out black markets, boost employment and provide a stable new source of government income.
Growing pains are guaranteed as retailers stock new shelves and cannabis cultivators scale up production to meet uncertain demands that include tourists from Texas, which still mostly prohibits marijuana.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
So far, the state has licensed more than 500 business premises — outdoor farms, greenhouses, retail outlets and manufacturing facilities for extracts and edibles.
The new "cannabis control" office also licenses marijuana consumption lounges and a private network of testing laboratories to ensure products are free of contaminants and to verify drug potency as listed on labels.
Already, there are 225 licensed retail outlets — though not all will open on Day 1.
"We're going to have some nice balloons and we might get some catering," said Logan McIlroy, a director at Hobb-based Bryan's Green Care, a family-owned cannabis business that began business in 2015 with CBD sales.
The business spent months negotiating access to city water supplies as it prepares to stock its own cannabis stores in Hobbs, Roswell, Ruidoso and soon in Santa Teresa — a short drive from El Paso, Texas, and the U.S. border with Mexico.
Josh McCurdy, a contract grower and consultant for upstart marijuana producers, has warned wannabe pot entrepreneurs in New Mexico to be conscious of the financial risks and competitive pressures. He says he witnessed novice pot farmers going bankrupt in Oklahoma.
"They think it's a weed, but technically its a flowering herb," said McCurdy, owner of Knarly LLC that manages cannabis cultivation for fledgling marijuana operations including Sunland Park Cannabis Farms. "It's not as easy as it looks to grow high-quality cannabis. It is a lot of work."
SOCIAL JUSTICE
New Mexico's legalization laws seek to reverse some of the harm inflicted disproportionately on minority communities and poor households.
Emily Kaltenbach, a senior director at the Drug Policy Alliance that supports decriminalization of drugs, said the state hopes to help those communities gain a foothold in the industry with easy access to licensing, state subsidized loans and even product-certification logos that steer consumers toward cannabis from minority-owned businesses.
The New Mexico Finance Authority is preparing a $5 million line of credit for entrepreneurs that found cannabis micro-businesses along the lines of craft breweries, with average loan size of about $100,000.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
In a sea change for law enforcement, police can no longer cite the smell of marijuana as a cause for searching vehicles or private property.
Efforts are underway to expunge cannabis infractions from criminal records that can hurt people's prospects for employment or standing in society.
The state Department of Public Safety has identified about 155,000 instances or arrests or convictions that are eligible for automatic expungement and dismissal. Prison terms may be shortened in some instances.
Prosecutors have until July 1, 2022, to raise objections to deleting records and dismissing sanctions. Individuals can accelerate the process without paying standard court fees.
TAXATION
The state will levy a 12% excise tax on the sale of marijuana that eventually increases to 18%. That's before standard taxes on sales of 5-9%.
Medical marijuana will remain tax-free for patients with qualifying medical conditions that include post-traumatic stress. More than 6% of the state population participates in the medical cannabis program.
By conservative estimates, state and local tax income from recreational cannabis will surpass $45 million annually within three years. A two-thirds share goes to the state general fund, with one-third for local governments.
Lawmakers haven't decided yet how to spend the money.
CONSUMPTION
Indoor and outdoor venues for consuming cannabis are being licensed might resemble bars or lounges. Those "cannabis consumption areas" will be licensed by the state for a fee.
Pot consumption also will be allowed in designated hotel rooms, casinos, cigar bars and tobacco stores. In other public places, marijuana consumption will be treated much like alcohol or cigarettes.
At home, hobbyists also have the right to grow up to six cannabis plants for personal consumption and 12 per household.
Ukrainian students overseas fret about relatives, the future - By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America
At a boarding school in the Rocky Mountains, a group of Eastern European teenagers made crepes to raise money for the millions of people whose lives have been uprooted by Russia's war on Ukraine.
The students, studying at a pine-dotted campus in northern New Mexico, worry from a world away about their relatives in the war-torn region.
Masha Novikova, a 19-year-old student from central Ukraine, spent the night before on the phone with NGOs trying to get her mother and three younger siblings to Germany, and arguing with her mother about which would be more dangerous: staying put or hitting the road.
Novikova said she was dealing with a lot of tasks "teenagers do not usually face," as she grapples with the reality that her family's home might not exist in the way it once did.
"It ruins you from the inside," she said.
At the United World College campus, teenagers from 95 countries study as part of a network of schools dedicated to fostering understanding between cultures. The Russian-speaking students, including some from overseas as well as the sons and daughters of immigrants, have been united in horror over the invasion of Ukraine.
On a recent Saturday, a half-dozen of them gathered in a dormitory kitchen to make blini — the Eastern European-style crepes — to sell to fellow students.
"It's so hard to focus on (school) with exams approaching. We're still high school students. We're still trying to live our lives and we have a bunch of high school level issues and suddenly, like, war intervenes," said Alexandra Maria Gomberg Shkolnikova, 18, of Mexico City, whose family is from Russia and Ukraine.
United World College officials are exploring options for students from Russia and Ukraine to stay on campus or with alumni families if it's not safe to travel after graduation, said Victoria Mora, president of UWC in the U.S.
Students at the school are selected in part on their interest in world affairs, desire to share their cultures and empathy for others. UWC operates 18 schools across four continents, including the one in the U.S. Novikova learned about the program while on a volunteer trip in Irpin, Ukraine, where she met a student from the United World College of India.
The morning after her night on the phone, Novikova's eyes were heavy as she walked to the dorm from a cafeteria building known as "the castle" — once a Gilded Age hotel. Along the way she met one of her closest friends, a student from Russia.
The Russian student declined to be interviewed, citing censorship laws implemented by her country at the war's start.
"My Russian friend, she understands my mentality and she understands how I feel," said Novikova, adding that the war has brought them closer. "Of course, there are many conversations we hold these days about politics and about the future of our countries."
The pair joined their fellow Russian speakers in the kitchen of the female dorm where they snacked, helped cook, and bantered in between texting with their parents and checking the news. Some boys from other dorms trickled in, an Italian and a Spaniard. Girls from Texas and France also lined up for the snacks as the cooking continued in a mix of Russian and English.
By late afternoon, dozens of students had bought blini, with toppings like jam and chocolate spread. A plastic container of cash piled up to more than $300, a humble contribution to humanitarian relief to be split between three hospitals in Ukraine, including the one where Novikova's father works as a surgeon.
Novikova was afraid of her family being bombed or shelled if they stayed in the country, where her father has been operating on soldiers wounded on the eastern front of the war. Her mother was worried about the family getting shot on the road to Poland if they left.
The blini session is hardly an escape for Novikova, whose phone kept buzzing with messages. But for a few hours she was stressed out with her friends, instead of being stressed out alone in her room.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," said Sophia Pavlenko, a 19-year-old Russian citizen, as she led the blini cooking.
"What doesn't kill you gives you trauma," Novikova said.
Accountant gets 24-year term for embezzling from foundation - Associated Press
An Alamogordo accountant faces 24 years in prison for embezzling approximately $1.8 million from a foundation that provided scholarships to high school graduates and for tax fraud.
A state District Court judge on Thursday sentenced Marion Ledford, 68, after he pleaded no contest to one count of embezzlement and three of tax fraud.
Ledford will serve the bulk of his 24-year state sentence after he completes a concurrent 18-month sentence he received in February after previously pleading guilty to tax evasion in a related federal case, the District Attorney's Office for the 12th Judicial District said in a statement.
Ledford formerly was CFO of the Robert W. Hamilton Foundation in Alamogordo.
District Attorney Scot D. Key said Ledford wrote dozens of foundation checks to himself and admitted "to controlling the finances of the foundation with no oversight and was able to carry on this pattern for at least five years, from 2011 to 2016."
Ledford pleaded guilty in November 2019 in the federal case arising out of the embezzlement and was sentenced in February.
In the federal case, Ledford was ordered to pay $2.4 million of restitution, including $1,75,300 to the foundation and nearly $629,300 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Suspect in Albuquerque murder jailed after hospital release - Associated Press
A suspect in an Albuquerque murder case now is in jail after being released from a hospital, according to authorities.
Bernalillo County Sheriff's officials said an arrest warrant was issued for 20-year-old Christopher Byers last month, but he had to spend weeks in a hospital recovering from being shot in a different incident in January.
Byers had a court appearance Saturday. Prosecutors want him to remain in jail until his trial in connection with the death of a 16-year-old boy.
Authorities said the teen's body was found in an open field in the South Valley last month.
Sheriff's officials Byers is being held on suspicion of an open count of murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and tampering with evidence.
It was unclear Sunday if Byers has a lawyer yet who can speak on his behalf.
Authorities said another suspect in the case died in January and a third possible suspect is still being sought.
Warily, tribes prepare for cannabis ventures in New Mexico - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Two tribal communities have been reassured they'll be able to take part in New Mexico's marijuana market opening in April without the threat of federal law enforcement interference on tribal land, according to agreements with state cannabis regulators signed on Friday.
The agreements outline plans for cooperative oversight of cannabis production and sales in the Picuris and Pojoaque pueblos, laying the groundwork for opening the industry in Indian Country in a state with 23 federally recognized Native American tribes. It's not clear how many other tribes may get involved amid mixed feelings about legalization.
There has been uncertainty about U.S. drug enforcement priorities after enforcement actions on reservations. Officials raided a household marijuana garden at Picuris Pueblo in northern New Mexico in September 2021, months after legalization went into effect.
Across the U.S., tribal enterprises have taken a variety of approaches as they straddle state and federal law, and jurisdictional issues, to gain a foothold in the cannabis industry.
In Washington, the Suquamish Tribe forged a pioneering role under a 2015 compact with the state to open a retail marijuana outlet across Puget Sound from Seattle on the Port Madison reservation. It sells cannabis from dozens of independent producers.
Several Nevada tribes operate their own enforcement division to help ensure compliance with state- and tribal-authorized marijuana programs, including a registry for home-grown medical marijuana. Taxes collected at tribal dispensaries there stay with tribes and go toward community improvement programs.
In New Mexico, widespread sales for recreational marijuana are set to begin April 1 to adults 21 and older under legislation signed a year ago by Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Lawmakers hope to spur new employment and reverse harm inflicted disproportionally on racial and ethnic minorities by past drug criminalization.
In a statement, Picuris Gov. Craig Cuanchello described Friday's agreement with the state as a "collaborative effort to maintain a robust regulatory environment for cannabis," also describing "an exciting new opportunity to diversify our economic development."
"Revenues from a Pueblo cannabis enterprise will support tribal governmental programs and the surrounding community," he said in the statement.
Arrangements for excise taxes on cannabis sales on tribal land were unclear and may be addressed in separate agreements. New Mexico plans to levy an initial 12% tax on recreational cannabis sales in addition to standard taxes on sales.
The new pact acknowledges that the U.S. Controlled Substances Act continues to criminalize marijuana, while outlining a commitment to a local regulatory system that prevents access to marijuana by young people, impaired driving, financial support for criminal networks, adverse health effects or interstate cannabis trafficking.
Tribes will maintain their own cannabis regulations in close consultation with the state — though state rules apply to cannabis testing, packaging and labeling.
In 2018, federal law enforcement authorities uprooted about 35 cannabis plants grown by the Picuris Pueblo in a foray into medical marijuana cultivation. New Mexico authorized medical marijuana sales starting in 2007.
Tribal enterprises at Picuris Pueblo, a remote community of fewer than 300 residents, include a newly opened fuel station and mini-grocery. Pojoque Pueblo by comparison has robust business holdings that include a golf course and major hotel and convention center, which doubled as a pandemic isolation unit for Indian Country during the onset of COVID-19.
The marijuana raid by the Bureau of Indian Affairs last year confiscated nine cannabis plants from a home garden at Picuris Pueblo that was tended by Charles Farden, a resident since childhood, who is not Native American.
The 54-year-old is enrolled in the state's medical marijuana program to ease post-traumatic stress and anxiety and New Mexico allows up to a dozen home-grown marijuana plants per household for personal use.
Contacted Friday, Farden said the raid still aggravates his anxiety and depression, and also makes it harder to afford medical cannabis.
"I haven't even really slept a full night since it happened," he said.
Officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its parent agency, the Interior Department, have repeatedly declined to comment on the raid and its implications.
In late 2020, a combination of state, federal and tribal law enforcement cooperated in a raid on sprawling marijuana farms with makeshift greenhouses in northwestern New Mexico, with the consent of the Navajo Nation president. Authorities seized more than 200,000 plants.
At the time, New Mexico limited marijuana cultivation to 1,750 plants per licensed medical cannabis producer. The limit is now 25,000 plants.
Man convicted in death of 6-year-old girl in New Mexico - Associated Press
A 24-year-old man has been convicted in the 2018 rape and strangulation killing of a 6-year-old girl who lived with her mother in a New Mexico home shared with at last seven other people.
Six hours of jury deliberations ended Friday evening with the conviction of Leland Hust for criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13 and child abuse resulting in death.
Another jury acquitted Hust in 2021 of first-degree murder in the death of Ariana Jade Romero but deadlocked on the other two charges.
Hust faces mandatory sentences of 30 years and 18 years on the two counts. A sentencing date was not immediately set.
The trial was moved from Sandoval County to Valencia County because of concerns that news coverage of the case could bias the jury against Hust.
US agency extends comment period on Chaco proposal - Associated Press
Land managers have scheduled two more public meetings and extended the comment period on a proposal that would prohibit oil and gas development on federal land surrounding a national park in New Mexico that Native American tribes consider culturally significant.
The Bureau of Land Management made the announcement Friday, saying the deadline for comments has been pushed back to May 6 to allow more time for people to comment.
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland traveled to northwest New Mexico in November to announce the plan. She cited the significance of the area to many tribes from the Southwest that trace their roots to the high desert outpost.
A World Heritage site, Chaco is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization.
Officials with the New Mexico pueblos and Arizona tribes that are connected to Chaco have said they believe Haaland's actions represent more meaningful steps by the federal government to permanently protect cultural resources in northwestern New Mexico.
The Navajo Nation is among the Native American tribes that support increased protections, but top tribal officials have called for a smaller area around Chaco to be set aside as a way to limit the economic impact on families who rely on revenues from oil and gas leasing.
Many who attended the first public meetings in February had asked that federal officials provide translators and materials in Native languages to ensure those who will be affected by the decision have access to information about the proposal.
Federal officials confirmed Friday that a Navajo translator would be available at the upcoming meetings. One will be April 27 in Farmington and the other is scheduled for April 29 in Albuquerque.