New Mexico launches cannabis sales, within Texans' reach - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico is bringing sales of recreational marijuana to the doorstep of Texas, the largest prohibition state, as the movement toward broad legalization sweeps up even more of the American West.
As of midnight Friday in New Mexico, anyone 21 and older can purchase up to 2 ounces of marijuana — enough to roll about 60 joints or cigarettes — or comparable amounts of marijuana liquid concentrates and edible treats.
New Mexico has nurtured a medical marijuana program since 2007 under tight restrictions. Friday's changes still represent a sea change for local law enforcement, taxation officials, commercial growers and residents who thought full-blown legal access to pot would never come.
Across the state, would-be marijuana farmers are bidding for water rights and learning to raise their first cannabis crops, as experienced medical cannabis producers ramp up production and add new retail showrooms.
New Mexico is among 18 states that have legalized pot for recreational use, with implications for cannabis tourism and conservative Texas, where legalization efforts have made little headway.
In Clovis, New Mexico, a high plains town of about 40,000 residents less than 10 miles from Texas, Earl Henson and two business partners have pooled resources to convert a former gun shop and shooting range into a cannabis store and companion growing room at a Main Street address.
"I can't explain how happy I am," said Henson, a former real estate agent who says his affection for marijuana was a burden in the past. This week, he began harvesting the first crop for a cannabis store titled Earl and Tom's. "I think these cities that are near Texas, for the next two years it is going to change their economies."
In the state capital of Santa Fe, marijuana is going on sale across the street from the city's newly built visitors center on a block lined with galleries, clothing boutiques and restaurants.
LeRoy Roybal, manager of Minerva Canna's downtown cannabis store, said he hopes the stigma of cannabis use quickly fades.
"I think we're liberating a lot of hearts and souls," he said. "It's going to be like getting a cup of joe at Starbucks."
Supportive lawmakers hope that broad legalizing of marijuana will stamp out black markets, boost employment and provide stable new sources of government income.
Consumers initially will rely heavily on supplies from 35 legacy marijuana businesses that took root over the past 15 years. Cannabis regulators have issued more than 230 new marijuana business licenses so far — to growers, retailers and manufacturing facilities for extracts and edibles.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday said that broad marijuana legalization responds to popular demands and is generating small business opportunities.
"This is what consumers want," said Lujan Grisham, up for reelection in November. "We have the potential for 11,000 more workers, jobs in places where young people can work and stay, like Torrance County and Texico and Tucumcari and Raton."
Local governments can't ban cannabis businesses entirely, though they can restrict locations and hours of operation. Public consumption is prohibited under threat of a $50 fine for first-time infractions.
New business licenses for cannabis cafes or lounges haven't been requested yet — leaving people to indulge in their homes or designated hotels, casinos and cigar shops.
In southern New Mexico, Mayor Javier Perea of Sunland Park says marijuana retailers can set up anywhere across the small city flanked by the Rio Grande and fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico.
He said about 30 marijuana business have sought authorization in the city of just 17,000 residents, banking on tourism from nearby El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
Perea hopes the industry creates economic opportunity and tax income to bolster city services. Local governments will receive a minority share of the state's 12% excise tax on recreational marijuana sales, along with a share of additional sales taxes. Medical cannabis remains tax-free.
"The one thing that we are going to struggle with is we are going to run out of buildings" for new businesses, he said.
Legal experts warn that people who purchase cannabis in New Mexico and chose to return home to other states could risk criminal penalties, arrest and incarceration — most notably in Texas.
Paul Armento, deputy director of the drug policy group NORML, said Texas is among the leading states for marijuana-possession arrests, and that possession of marijuana concentrates, which are legal in New Mexico, is punishable in Texas by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Marijuana also remains illegal under federal law to possess, use or sell — a standard that applies across vast tracks of federal land and Indian Country in New Mexico.
New Mexico's cannabis industry, still reliant on cash to avoid running afoul of federal law, is gaining access to banking services through an alternative certification system for credit unions and banks supported by state attorneys general.
The state also plans to underwrite $5 million in low-interest loans to small cannabis businesses that can't access traditional credit.
Lawmakers in New Mexico have sought to reverse harm inflicted by marijuana criminalization on minority communities and poor households by automatically dismissing or erasing past cannabis convictions, encouraging social and economic diversity in employment and reducing financial barriers for startup businesses.
The state's micro-business license to cultivate up to 200 plants for a flat $1,000 fee is attracting first-time commercial growers such as recently retired U.S. Marine Kyle Masterson and wife Ivy, a Hispanic Army veteran with business consulting experience. They are raising three children and making a mid-life career shift into cannabis.
The Mastersons, residents of suburban Rio Rancho, searched more remote areas for an affordable building to cultivate high-grade marijuana under lights, settling on a vacant former movie theater in tiny Cuba, New Mexico, at the base of the Jemez Mountains.
"It felt right, it felt good and out of a vision of what we could do," said Kyle, who served in four combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. "We're used to working out of austere environments without much direction and doing our best."
Sheriff: Man killed by deputies in exchange of gunfire — Elise Kaplan and Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputies shot and killed a man in Albuquerque's south Valley this morning during an extended shootout involving SWAT.
Deputies were dispatched to a home near Isleta and Bridge for a vehicle being stripped for parts, according to the Albuquerque Journal, when their police vehicle was rammed by the man, before he drove up the road to escape.
Police caught up to him and exchanged fire before the man barricaded himself in his car, which is when deputies called SWAT.
SWAT exchanged fire with the man as well, before approaching the vehicle to find him dead.
This is the third time in less than a week that authorities have been involved in a shootout, and Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzalez said the frequency is worrisome.
US House votes to decriminalize marijuana in federal law – Jacob Fischler, Source New Mexico
On the same day New Mexico began recreational cannabis sales, the U.S. House voted to decriminalize marijuana on a federal level.
Jacob Fischler with SourceNM reports the measure passed the democrat controlled house 220-204, along a mostly party line vote, with only 2 democrats and 3 republicans broke stride with their party,
The bill still has to make it through the senate, a much less promising proposition, but if passed it would remove Marijuana from the controlled substances list and apply a 5% federal tax on recreational cannabis sales.
The bill would also expunge the records for federal marijuana crimes, which would be a big step toward racial justice and was one of the major selling points emphasized by democrats.
Family seeks review of fatal APD shooting
Police were just supposed to make sure Valente Acosta-Bustillos was okay when they went to his house in March of 2020, but the meeting ended when they shot and killed him.
Now his family wants the investigation into his death reopened, and recently talked about APD’s history of wellness checks gone wrong at a memorial for him, according to a report by Austin Fischer with Source NM.
Police say Acosta-Bustillos ran into his house and then threatened them with a shovel, before one of the officers fired three times.
Elaine Maestas, with the American Civil Liberties Union, was present at the memorial, and said that she also lost a loved one during a similar incident when APD shot her sister 21 times in front of her home.
Maestas called for those present to contact legislators, and the governor’s office because “change needs to happen.”
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the district attorney issued a statement that he had “accepted the decision” of the initial investigation.
New Mexico Film Studios breaks ground on 13 acre complex — Anna Padilla, KRQE news
New Mexico Film Studios broke ground this week on a new 13 acre complex in south Albuquerque.
KRQE news reports it’s the first such backlot to be built by an independent studio, and the company has invested $100 million into the project.
The venture is backed by several New Mexican film and television executives, who say this is just the first project of many to help meet the expanding needs of the growing film industry.
City Councilor Pat Davis said the first phase of the multi-phase project will be completed by early summer, and the rest will be rolled out throughout the year.
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US taps $420M to boost water supplies hit by climate change - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Federal officials slated millions of dollars for rural water projects in several states, with the Biden administration looking to shore up infrastructure needs made more urgent by long-term drought conditions that have been exacerbated by climate change.
The U.S. Interior Department announced Thursday that $420 million will be spent on projects in New Mexico, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. The work includes construction of water treatment plants, pipeline connections, pump systems and reservoirs to provide drinking water to rural and tribal communities.
The West is experiencing a more than 20-year megadrought. Scientists say the region has become much warmer and drier in recent decades and that climate change will continue to make weather more extreme, wildfires more frequent and destructive, and water supplies less reliable.
From Idaho and Montana south to New Mexico and Arizona, even soil moisture levels have hit record lows as major reservoirs along the Colorado River have plummeted. Earlier this month, Lake Powell hit a record low, spurring concerns about the ability to crank out more hydropower from the dam that holds it back.
Native American tribes that are finally seeing federal money after years of being underfunded are working to get at water they long had rights to but could not access without funds to build the infrastructure. On the Navajo Nation, tens of thousands of people still live without running water, while tribes in the upper Midwest are awaiting pipeline extensions that would tap into reliable sources.
In all, the infrastructure measure included $5 billion for Western water programs, with 20% of that dedicated to rural projects.
Federal officials said the allocations were based on project plans and significant goals that are projected to be reached with the funding.
The largest share — $160 million — will go toward a project decades in the making that will eventually provide water for about 70,000 people who live in communities along the New Mexico-Texas state line, where the Ogallala aquifer is being pumped at a faster rate than it's being replenished.
The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority will receive additional money from the Bureau of Reclamation and the state of New Mexico. When combined with matching money from the utility, the total for this year will be more than $228 million.
"This will take us far in the construction of this critically important project," said Michael Morris, chairman of the water authority and mayor of Clovis, a rural community in eastern New Mexico.
Other allocations include $75.5 million for the Lewis & Clark Rural Water System, which spans parts of South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. The system is designed to pipe water from the Missouri River to areas as far as 60 miles (97 kilometers) away that have less plentiful resources.
In North Dakota, $51 million will go to a section of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program.
More than $57 million will go to the Rocky Boys/North Central Montana Rural Water System, which serves the Rocky Boy's Reservation and numerous municipalities. The Fort Peck Reservation in Montana will benefit from $7 million for the water system there.
Tanya Trujillo, assistant Interior secretary for water and science, was flanked by water managers in Albuquerque when she made the announcement.
"The department is committed to bringing clean, reliable drinking water to rural communities to help strengthen resilience to climate change,"Trujillo said.
Trapping ban to take effect on public lands in New Mexico - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
It will be illegal to use wildlife traps, snares and poison on public lands across New Mexico under a ban that takes effect Friday.
New Mexico is joining a handful of Western states that have limited trapping on public lands, with supporters saying the move will help protect endangered species such as the Mexican gray wolf and prevent household pets from walking into traps amid efforts to promote outdoor recreation and tourism.
The New Mexico measure, dubbed "Roxy's Law," was approved in 2021 following several failed attempts by animal advocates over the years to rein in a practice they have described as archaic and indiscriminate.
Chris Smith with the group WildEarth Guardians was among those who lobbied for the change. He called the law a momentous win for public lands and wildlife, saying it marks a shift away from seeing native animals as a nuisance.
"Native species are critical to ecosystems and cultures alike; and we are finally protecting and respecting them accordingly," Smith said in a statement.
Trapping and snaring triggered emotionally charged debates during legislative sessions and state Game Commission meetings, with proponents and critics often being separated by a rural-urban divide.
Rural residents and wildlife conservation officers had argued that trapping was an important tool for managing wildlife and protecting livestock. They unsuccessfully pleaded with lawmakers to allow more time for rules that were adopted by state wildlife managers in 2020 to work before imposing the sweeping trapping ban.
The law allows continued use of traps on public lands for purposes of scientific research, ecosystem management and rodent control. It also exempts Native American religious observances that may involve harvesting wildlife.
The law does not affect activity on private property or apply to Native American lands.
Violating the statute can result in a misdemeanor, with each trap, snare or poison application constituting a single violation of the law.
Following the 2020-2021 trapping season, environmentalists and animal advocates had counted at least nine dogs that had been caught in privately set traps and snares on public land in northern New Mexico. In February, a dog walking with its owner was caught in a snare and leg hold trap near the community of El Rito.
California and Washington have limits on trapping, but advocates say New Mexico is joining neighboring Arizona and Colorado with more restrictive rules.
In Colorado, a constitutional amendment in 1997 prohibited trapping, snares and poison on public and private land — though 30-day exceptions are granted when landowners show that livestock or crop damage can't be prevented by sanctioned or non-lethal methods. Arizona in the 1990s banned the use of foothold traps and snares on public land with few exceptions.
EXPLAINER: What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? - By David Koenig And Cathy Bussewitz Ap Business Writers
President Joe Biden is again dipping into the nation's petroleum stockpile to try to corral rising energy prices.
The White House announced Thursday that Biden ordered the daily release of 1 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve for the next six months. Biden will also ask Congress to penalize oil and gas companies that lease public land but aren't producing energy.
The administration hopes that tapping the petroleum reserve will buy time and tamp down gasoline prices long enough until domestic producers can boost output.
Global oil prices were rising even before Russia invaded Ukraine in February. When Biden announced a ban on Russian oil imports in early March, he acknowledged it would come at a cost to American consumers.
This is the third time Biden has turned to the strategic petroleum reserve in a little over four months. Back in November, he ordered the release of 50 million barrels of oil. Then, in his state of the union speech in March, Biden announced another 30 million barrels as part of a multi-nation effort to boost the oil supply.
Tapping the reserve among the few things a president can do alone to try to control inflation, which makes Americans poorer and often creates a political liability for the party in control of the White House.
Here is a look at what's involved:
WHAT IS THE PETROLEUM RESERVE?
America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a collection of underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana that can hold more than 700 million barrels of oil, although it is not currently full. The reserve held about 568 million barrels last week, down from more than 650 million barrels in mid-2021, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
The reserve was created after the 1970s Arab oil embargo to give the United States a supply that could be used in an emergency.
WHY IS IT USED?
The U.S. now exports more oil than it imports, but the reserve remains and has been tapped for various reasons, from offsetting the impact of hurricanes and ship-channel closings to raising money for deficit reduction.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush authorized withdrawing nearly 34 million barrels during the Gulf War, although only 17 million barrels were used. In 2011, President Barack Obama approved the release of 30 million barrels to offset the disruption of supply from Libya.
HOW DO THEY GET THE OIL OUT?
Oil is lighter than water — that's why disasters like those caused by the Exxon Valdez tanker and the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig create slicks on the surface. To remove oil from the reserves, water is pumped into the salt caverns, making the crude float to the surface, where it is captured and sent through pipelines to refineries.
WHY IS BIDEN TAPPING THE RESERVE?
Supply and demand. Biden is hoping that by releasing more oil on the market, prices will fall. Prices did dip for nearly two weeks after Biden's initial announcement about tapping the reserve back in November but then resumed their steep climb. U.S. crude is up almost 40% this year and has grown even more volatile in the past month.
Whether Biden's latest move works will depend on several factors. One factor to keep in mind: Even though 1 million barrels a day is a huge amount of oil, the U.S. consumed nearly 20 million barrels a day last year, and worldwide consumption topped 97 million barrels a day.
WILL GASOLINE GET CHEAPER?
What most people want to know is what's going to happen to prices at the pump. Many factors go into the price of gasoline. Refineries buy crude oil in advance, so they could still be working with more expensive oil. States have differing tax rates that affect the price that motorists pay.
On Thursday, the national average price for a gallon of regular was more than $4.22, down about a dime from the peak earlier in March, according to auto club AAA.
The average is still under $4 a gallon in many states in the middle of the country, but it's higher in the Northeast and highest in the West. In California, it's an eye-popping $5.90 a gallon.
Even if those prices don't drop, Biden can argue that by tapping the reserve he tried to help.
WHO GETS HURT MOST?
Gasoline prices are regressive — lower-income people are more likely to spend a higher percentage of their money on gasoline than are affluent Americans — so increases hurt the most price-sensitive consumers. Kevin Book, managing director at Clearview Energy Partners, says those consumers might not show up in measures of the nation's economy, "but they show up in vote counts ... if we get down to it, that's really what this is about."
WHY DOES OIL MATTER?
The future of oil and gas in the U.S. is a political flashpoint and source of tension, especially as companies and government agencies grapple with climate change and the transition to cleaner sources of energy.
On one hand, the U.S. oil and gas industry has been praised by some political leaders for creating energy independence. Where the U.S. once relied heavily on imports, other nations now rely on the U.S. for oil. It's also a job supplier: The oil and gas industry employs more than 10 million people in the U.S. and contributes about 8% of the nation's gross domestic product, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
Companies that supply oil benefit from higher prices. But consumers don't like it when those higher prices trickle down to the pump.
The institute has previously said that any release of oil from the strategic reserve should be paired with policy measures that encourage more U.S. energy production. That collides with Biden's promise to reduce dependence on fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.
Migrants hopeful, suspicious at US reopening to asylum - By Giovanna Dell'orto Associated Press
More than a dozen migrants excitedly ran out of their dormitory at the Good Samaritan shelter here at the mere mention that the Biden administration may lift a rule that expels people at the border before they can request a chance at humanitarian protection in the United States.
They quizzed a reporter they'd overheard speak of the expected change in a rule that for the past two years has forced asylum seekers to wait at shelters in in Mexican border cities terrorized by organized crime.
At times the wait has seemed interminable. They struggle to find work, worry about debts accumulated to just reach the border and live in fear that they or their children could be snatched by drug cartels preying on the most vulnerable.
Migrants have been expelled more than 1.7 million times from the U.S. under public health powers invoked in March 2020 that are designed to prevent spread of Covid-19. The Biden administration plans to lift Title 42 authority – named for a 1944 public health law – by May 23, according to people familiar with the matter, with an official announcement expected as early as Friday. Near the height of the omicron variant in late January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had extended the order to this week.
Reaction at migrant shelters in Ciudad Juarez shows the determination of many migrants to settle in the United States as soon as possible.
Most of the 63 people staying at Good Samaritan, across the border from El Paso, Texas, were women and their children from Mexico and Central America. The Rev. Juan Fierro, the shelter's director, said the vast majority had either been expelled under Title 42 authority or were still waiting to try for asylum.
A group of women said that if Title 42 ended they would run to the bridge at the border to request asylum, because returning to their homes was not an option.
Melida Castro, a 32-year-old from Honduras, has been at the shelter for four months with her children, ages 3 and 8. "There's nothing more for us to do but wait," she said, explaining she had fled Honduras after a gang killed her uncle.
"I saw him die in my arms," she said. Her family crossed the border once and turned themselves over to Border Patrol agents, but they were flown to El Paso and pushed back to Mexico. She said the agents mentioned Title 42, but didn't explain what it meant.
While word of lifting the asylum limits provided a glimmer of hope, the possibility was also met with suspicion.
Delaying the lifting until late May, when the Biden administration has had more than a year in office to prepare, struck some as a way to buy time until the U.S. government can come up with another obstacle.
"Suddenly they're going to say, 'We're not going to lift it,'" said Victor Sanchez, who fled Honduras with his wife and her three younger siblings. They have been staying at another shelter in Ciudad Juarez for a month.
The nine-bedroom concrete Oscar Romero House shelter clusters around a small courtyard with a pomegranate tree where children play after returning from school. The parents sit on the second floor terrace, fearful to go outside, sharing care of the youngest children and looking across the dusty desert cityscape to the mountains of El Paso less than 10 miles away.
Katherine, Sanchez's wife, had a baby while in Mexico. "If we have to wait, we wait," she said. "Now that there are organizations that can help us, we'll wait for a legal way."
There have been signs that the Biden administration has been preparing for an expected surge of asylum seekers trying to make their way to the border.
Two weeks ago, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited Mexico and Costa Rica to discuss managing migration flows. Without providing details, Mayorkas said he had reached a "migration arrangement" with Costa Rica.
In his State of the Union Address this month, President Joe Biden had said, "We're securing commitments and supporting partners in South and Central America to host more refugees and secure their own borders."
Both Mexico and Costa Rica are taking in substantial numbers of asylum seekers that in many cases would otherwise try to enter the United States. They could also be critical in trying to control the flow of migrants to the U.S. border.
Last month, Costa Rica started requiring visas for Venezuelans and Cubans, a step toward slowing their migration north. Mexico already required visas of Cubans and added Venezuelans in January.
Still, large numbers of migrants have been reaching the border. The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that about 7,100 migrants were coming daily, compared with an average of about 5,900 a day in February and on pace to match or exceed highs from last year, 2019 and other peak periods.
Camilo Cruz, a spokesman with the United Nations International Organization for Migration, said this week that every U.S. move on immigration affects migration flows in the region.
"It moves people, generates hope or some kind of speculation by the traffickers," Cruz said. "That motivates people to come to try to cross the border." He said the IOM supports a network of shelters along the border and has worked in recent years to build their capacity.
Immigration advocacy groups applauded the decision, which they universally viewed as long overdue. Like the migrants, some questioned the delay until late May when the Biden administration has had months to prepare.
"A phased wind-down strategy just further proves this was never about public health," Erin Mazursky, interim director of Families Belong Together, a coalition of groups opposed to Trump-era immigration policies, said in a statement. "This policy was in place for two years too long and the reported decision to extend Title 42 until May 23rd is simply another excuse to expel more people. If the intent is to stop upending people's lives and hold true to America's commitment to asylum and due process, the expulsions must end now."
U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, a Los Angeles-area Democrat, told reporters in a conference call Thursday that administration officials visited congressional offices this week to brief lawmakers and their staffs on plans for accommodating larger numbers of migrants — up to about three times the current flow under one scenario.
The administration is "working very hard at finding a way to process migrants lawfully, humanely and efficiently," she said.