Crews make gains against New Mexico wildfire, largest in US - By Paul Davenport Associated Press
Crews were making progress in stopping the nation's largest active wildfire from spreading on Monday, the fourth straight day of warnings of extreme fire conditions in northern New Mexico.
The nearly 8-week-old fire was surrounded by containment lines cut and scraped around half of of its perimeter, enclosing 493 square miles of forested mountains and foothills east of Santa Fe.
Nearly 3,000 firefighters and other personnel were assigned to the blaze, the largest in New Mexico's recorded history.
Red flag warnings were issued for Saturday through Monday because of high winds and low humidity, but crews backed by bulldozers and aircraft dropping water by midday Monday were able to jump on hot spots and allow only minimal growth, officials said.
With forecasts calling for improved weather conditions beginning Tuesday, fire officials said they were reducing the frequency of livestreamed evening "community meeting" briefings from daily to three times a week.
"This change is a direct result of the positive progress firefighters have made in containing this fire and limiting fire growth," officials said in a statement.
In another reflection of gains made to check the fire's growth, San Miguel County on Saturday lifted evacuation orders for several areas on the fire's western flank and downgraded pre-evacuation warnings in others.
Thunderstorms could develop in the area during a period beginning Wednesday night and ending Friday, said incident meteorologist Bruno Rodriguez. However, "we're not expecting widespread, wetting rain with it."
Initial estimates say the fire has destroyed at least 330 homes but state officials expect the number of homes and other structures that have burned to rise to more than 1,000 as more assessments are done.
The fire started in early April as a result of prescribed burns that either got out of control or smoldered for months before bursting into flames with drier and warmer weather.
Most of the large fires so far this spring have been in Arizona and New Mexico in a region where many fire managers have described forests as "ripe and ready to burn" due to a megadrought that has spanned decades and warm and windy conditions brought on by climate change.
State launches infant formula website and crowdsourcing campaign – By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico As the United States continues to experience a shortage of infant formula, New Mexico officials on Friday launched a new website where parents and caregivers of infants can find infant formula supplies.
NMformula.com is meant to provide medically reliable information for families with questions about how to ensure their children receive proper nutrition, acting Department of Health Secretary David Scrase said in a news release.
“We are committed to assist families in New Mexico during this national formula shortage until it is resolved and want to remind anyone caring for an infant to understand the necessity of assuring formula is used in ways that are both accurate and safe for the child,” Scrase said.
The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told a Senate committee on Thursday the U.S. government should consider creating a stockpile of infant formula to avoid the possibility of future shortages.
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in about two months, he expects manufacturers to start to produce a surplus of infant formula, and when they do, the federal government will need to decide if it wants to “maintain that surplus as a government activity for the foreseeable future.”
The New Mexico website first asks parents and caregivers to contact their local Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Office, and provides an interactive map of WIC offices throughout the state.
If they can’t find formula that way, the state site instructs them to call their baby’s pediatrician or provider to see if they have in-office samples or any similar formula that may be more readily available in stores and is nutritionally similar to their infant’s typical formula, and to check smaller stores and drug stores that have formula when larger stores do not.
The website says parents and caregivers should not: give toddler formula to infants, nor dilute formula to make it last longer, nor make their own formula.
The site also links to the NM Infant Formula Support Network, a Facebook group created by the Early Childhood Department, where people spread info about where specific formula brands and types are in stock, and share surplus formula they may have, along with other resources.
NMformula.com also links to the Human Milk Repository of New Mexico, a nonprofit accredited milk bank that sells human breast milk for $4.50 per ounce, before taxes.
For parents and caregivers able to afford child care, the state also uses federal funding to pay for the Child and Adult Food Program, which provides infant formula for both home-based child care and child care centers.
The state’s efforts to crowdfund infant formula come two weeks after a mother in Massachusetts launched the Free Formula Exchange, a national mutual aid network aimed at connecting people who need formula with people who have formula to donate.
Governor's mansion used state funds for party costs - By Daniel J. Chacón Santa Fe New Mexican
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office tapped into a taxpayer-funded expense account to pay for a political event at the governor's mansion in October, prompting her reelection campaign to quietly reimburse the state two months later.
Documents obtained under a public records request show New Mexicans for Michelle, the governor's campaign committee, issued the state a $1,837 check in December to pay for expenses stemming from a Democratic Governors Association party hosted by Lujan Grisham in Santa Fe.
At the time, Lujan Grisham was serving as chairwoman of the association, a Washington, D.C.-based political organization dedicated to electing Democratic governors and other candidates.
The reimbursement appeared in the governor's campaign finance reports as a "campaign event."
"The campaign transparently and expeditiously reimbursed the state for an event hosted by the Governor as chair of the Democratic Governors Association," campaign spokeswoman Kendall Witmer said in a statement Wednesday.
Witmer did not provide any other comment or information about the event, and the Democratic Governors Association did not return messages seeking comment.
While the campaign reimbursed the state for purchases related to the event, "the contingency fund does allow for use (of the expense account) to host dignitaries and other guests from any political party," Maddy Hayden, a spokeswoman for the governor, wrote in an email.
Expenses reimbursed by the campaign include an $890 purchase from Colorado Party Rentals for 100 12-inch ivory-gold chargers, 100 10-inch ivory-gold dinner plates and stainless steel forks, knives and teaspoons.
Lujan Grisham's contingency fund spending has been a source of controversy in the past, and it's given the governor's critics, particularly Republicans hoping to win back control of the Governor's Office in November, ammunition to use against her as she runs for a second term.
A review of expenditures last year found spending on alcohol, dry cleaning and thousands of dollars worth of groceries for the governor's mansion, including Wagyu beef, a purchase that has generated stinging criticism against Lujan Grisham.
Complaints about the governor's spending initiated a "risk review" by the State Auditor's Office, which found the contingency fund has broad parameters.
"Statutory authority remains ambiguous without definitions (within the law) concerning what constitutes 'expenses directly connected with obligations of the elected office of governor,' which could be broadly interpreted, or what could be considered 'perquisites or allowances for state employees,' " according to a report the office issued last year.
"As a result, the New Mexico state Legislature may wish to review the matter and consider whether further statutory clarification is necessary with respect to the fund," the report stated.
Since the controversy with Lujan Grisham erupted, The New Mexican has been requesting invoices and receipts related to the contingency fund on a regular basis. On April 21, the newspaper made another request for invoices, receipts and expense reports from September to April.
The New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration called the public records request "excessively broad and burdensome" and said it needed additional time to gather the documents, first on May 4 and then again May 6. The department fulfilled the request Friday.
The latest batch of receipts and invoices since September turned up at least eight purchases of alcohol, including liquor, wine and beer.
"The expenses are directly connected with obligations and requirements of the elected office of governor — exactly what the contingency fund is intended to be used for," Hayden wrote.
Hayden did not respond to numerous questions about the contingency fund spending, including whether the purchase of alcohol is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.
"I noticed you refer to 'the governor's contingency fund,' " Hayden wrote. "I just want to make sure you are aware that this fund has been available and utilized by many past governors and is budgeted by the state legislature. Governor Lujan Grisham is the first governor to disclose detailed information about the use of the fund to taxpayers and continues to use it in a fiscally responsible manner."
According to Hayden, less than 19 percent of the total budgeted contingency fund for the year has been spent, leaving around $78,000 unspent.
"During the (administration of former Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican), for the six-month period from July 1 to December 31, 2017, we estimate that average monthly contingency spending was around $5,000 a month, based on records (as there were no reporting requirements at that time). For comparison, the spending you are inquiring about averages to around $2,200 a month," Hayden wrote.
The fund created headaches for Martinez, too.
Martinez tapped into the fund to pay for what turned out to be a raucous holiday party at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa. The party drew calls to police following reports of bottles being thrown from a balcony — an incident some say may have ended Martinez's hopes for national office.
At a little over $5,200, spending for the month of September was the highest for Lujan Grisham in the most recent review of invoices and receipts.
Included in the September spending was a $1,551 invoice from Cowgirl BBQ in Santa Fe.
The invoice showed an Aug. 30 delivery to the governor's mansion of "mesquite smoked BBQ beef brisket" and other dishes for 45 guests.
"This was an evening gathering that honored state employees for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic," Hayden wrote.
The event isn't listed in the governor's official schedule, which is posted online.
New Mexico wildfire scar burn has forest officials worried - Associated Press
As more than 3,000 firefighters in northern New Mexico continued to battle the nation's largest active wildfire Sunday, federal forest officials worried about future flash floods, landslides and destructive ash from the burn scar.
The 7-week-old fire, the largest in New Mexico history, remained 50% contained after charring 492 square miles in rugged terrain east of Santa Fe.
Two planned burns merged to form the massive blaze at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains in the Sangre de Cristo range.
One of the fires was previously traced to April 6, when a planned burn set by U.S. Forest Service firefighters to clear out small trees and brush was declared out of control.
On Friday, investigators said they tracked the source of the second fire to the remnants of a planned January burn that lay dormant through several snowstorms only to flare up again last month.
Firefighting costs already surpass $132 million, climbing by $5 million a day, according to authorities.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham already has asked President Joe Biden to direct the Federal Emergency Management Administration to pay for all costs related to a broad range of recovery efforts.
A Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response team has started publishing data from its post-fire assessments.
Micah Kiesow, team leader and a soil and watershed program manager with the Santa Fe National Forest, said steep mountain slopes had acted like a sponge before the fire.
"Post-fire in some of these areas, especially the high soil burn severity areas and the moderate, we're looking at now a steep slope that's more like a parking lot," Kiesow told the Santa Fe New Mexican.
He said that could signal an "extreme change in watershed response" during monsoon season.
Flooding presents another problem for communities near burn scars with ash flowing into rivers and streams, according to Kiesow.
Many water treatment facilities aren't equipped for the expensive, time-intensive process of filtering ash. Experts say ash and debris can harm water quality with high levels of nitrates and phosphorus.
A hazard assessment from the Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey shows that some burned areas on the New Mexico fire could see heavy debris flows if they receive about .25 inches of rain in 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, firefighters were hoping to make continued progress on the fire before the possible return of drier and warmer weather with stronger winds through Monday.
"This fire has a lot of potential left in it," said Carl Schwope, incident commander for the southwest fire management team that has been fighting the wildfire for the past 52 days.
Initial estimates show the fire has destroyed at least 330 homes, but state officials expect the number of homes and other structures that have burned to rise to more than 1,000 as more assessments are done.
Elsewhere, 150 firefighters continued to battle a wind-driven fire that has burned more than 8 ½ square miles of grass, brush and salt cedar at the Arizona-California border.
The fire began Thursday on the Colorado River Indian Reservation 14 miles southwest of Parker, Arizona.
Wind gusts of up to 30 mph forced the evacuations of 15 homes on both sides of the river Saturday and pushed the 44% containment figure back to 34%.
However, fire officials said the evacuees likely would be allowed to return home by Sunday evening. The cause of the wildfire remained under investigation.
In Colorado, air tankers and helicopters were helping fight a new wildfire burning in the southern part of the state Sunday, the U.S. Forest Service said.
The fire, 18 miles west of Antonito, was reported Saturday in a small subdivision along the Conejos River and forced the evacuation of under 100 people north of Colorado 17, said Gregg Goodland, a spokesperson for the Forest Service's Rio Grande National Forest.
The fire was estimated to have spread to 197 acres by Saturday evening and did not grow significantly overnight, he said.
People spending Memorial Day weekend at a campground near the fire were told to be prepared to evacuate, he said.
The fire started on private property but was mainly burning on Forest Service land in a steep canyon in a variety of conifer trees along with brush and aspen north of the highway, he said. The cause is under investigation.
Fire can't extinguish Mora educator's passion for teaching - By Robert Nott Santa Fe New Mexican
Alyssa Sanchez's home was destroyed and her professional life uprooted by the massive Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon wildfire.
But the 29-year-old Sanchez, a Mora teacher, refused to let the fire extinguish her love of educating kids.
She's been staying at the Querque Hotel off Interstate 25 in Albuquerque, where the families of many Mora students also have been housed since they were forced to evacuate their homes. In an effort to return their lives to some sense of normality, Sanchez set up a makeshift classroom in a small dining room near the lobby.
Officials say the northward progress of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon blaze can be halted with continued favorable conditions.
"After two years of COVID, we got back to a 'normal-ish' school year, and then this fire broke out," Sanchez said just before 9 a.m. Tuesday as she waited for her students. "I said, 'I have to do something to help.' "
The idea occurred to her shortly after she moved into the hotel in mid-May. She ran into Denise Duran, the mother of one of her students, sixth grader Jazzlyn, in a hotel hallway. Duran said her daughter needed help with her studies or she would fall behind.
Sanchez went to work, offering morning classes to about 15 Mora students living in the hotel at the time.
Only a handful were still there this week, as the school year comes to a close, and just a few, including Jazzlyn, showed up for classes Tuesday.
"Her positivity has been amazing," Duran said of Sanchez as her daughter sat at the teacher's table. "She didn't let what happened back home faze her."
All four of Duran's children who attend Mora schools have lost valuable learning time because of the coronavirus pandemic and the fire, she said. Knowing Sanchez is there to help them makes her feel "it'll be OK."
Sanchez has offered students of all ages lessons in whatever they need — math, reading, history or just a check-in on their emotional or mental well-being.
"I think COVID has stolen these kids' education," Sanchez said. Noting the pandemic basically shut down the end of the school year in 2020 and disrupted learning in much of 2021, she said Jazzlyn has "not had a normal school year since the third grade. For her, going into the seventh grade, that's a long time to not have a normal school year."
Sanchez, who was born and raised in Mora, said she had planned to enter the field of dentistry. But after looking at "a few too many mouths" in dental college classes, she decided that wasn't for her.
She waited on tables — and still does as a side job — until she decided to study to be a teacher at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M. She was inspired by her mother, Evelyn Sanchez, a nearly 30-year veteran of the profession.
Evelyn Sanchez, who also is staying in the Querque Hotel as she awaits approval to return to her home in Mora, said her daughter told her she wanted to be anything but a teacher when she was younger.
"She told me I was stupid to be a teacher," Alyssa Sanchez recalled with a laugh. "Never say never, right?"
Alyssa Sanchez has taught math and reading to special education students in the Mora school district for several years. She considers it a gift and said her favorite part of the job is watching her students "graduate from Day One to the last day of school" as they learn along the way.
She was one of those people who thought the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, which has grown to more than 311,000 acres, would not reach her mobile home. New Mexico State Police knocked on her door and told her to evacuate one day in late April, and her home burned 10 days later.
The fire destroyed the trailer in about five minutes, she said.
She and her boyfriend, Chase Perez, got out with their dog, Scooter, two bearded dragons, a couple of pictures and enough clothes to last them a few days. They thought they eventually would go back for the rest, but now there is nothing to go back to.
She still hasn't returned to see the scorched remains of her home.
Sanchez said the one item she regrets not taking with her is a purse her late grandmother gave her shortly before she died.
Despite her losses, Sanchez does not bear any sense of sadness or anger. "What is the worst that could happen?" she said. "It happened. I have nothing."
At the same time, she said, she has everything: a job she loves and students she knows and cares for.
The hotel, in some ways, briefly became a small version of Mora — a tightknit community where everyone knows everyone else. Parents of Sanchez's students have called her to ask if she needs a place to live after her home went up in flames.
She and her boyfriend will move into her mother's house until they can find a new place of their own and start over, she said, adding, "We're going to go back, and we're going to rebuild."
The principal of Sanchez's school, Lefonso Castillo, said Tuesday many Mora teachers are still giving lessons virtually but Sanchez may be the only one who has been doing it in person since the district shut down. He said she is a strong advocate for special education students who "really bonds with the kids."
Sanchez said she has never regretted choosing the life of a teacher.
"I never knew my heart could hold so many kids," said Sanchez, who doesn't have any children of her own.
After Texas shooting, schools around US boost security - By Terry Tang Associated Press
In the aftermath of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, schools around the U.S. have brought in additional security staff and restricted visitors as they deal with a new rash of copycat threats.
For some families and educators it all has added to uneasiness in the wake of the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Jake Green, 34, of Los Alamos, New Mexico, was jolted when he saw a plainclothes police officer for the first time while walking his 7-year-old daughter into school Friday morning. He grew up in Colorado, not far from where two Columbine High School students shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher in 1999. Green remembers attending memorials and candlelight vigils as a fifth-grader, but he's torn about whether having police at his daughter's school is best.
"In a way, I don't really feel any safer with police around," Green said. "Seeing the police there, it really made it seem like the worst possibility was even more possible today."
In El Paso, Texas, where a gunman killed 23 people in a racist 2019 attack that targeted Hispanics at a Walmart, schools are on edge. The El Paso Independent School District has already encountered some reported threats that turned out to be false. They were either "students joking or overly-sensitive parents," said Gustavo Reveles Acosta, a district spokesperson.
"Our community is still raw from that incident," Acosta said. "It hits us in a pretty emotional way."
The district, which has its own police department, has also stepped up patrolling at all 85 campuses. Officers have been pulled from monitoring traffic or other duties. Schools already have updated camera surveillance systems. Visitors are required to ring a doorbell and show identification before they can enter.
The district is making a point to look out for teachers' and students' mental health. A counseling team has been visiting every school to speak about the shooting in Uvalde. They are also urging people to talk in private about any distress.
Mia Baucom, a 15-year-old student at a Forth Worth, Texas, high school said it was surreal to think the Uvalde killings happened in her home state. It also stirred memories of a lockdown at her school two months ago that was prompted by a shooting.
"I'm a little more stressed out about it because just the fear of what if that happened at my school?" said Baucom, whose last day of school was Thursday. "Let's say we get more police officers. Most likely that's not going to stop people from going crazy and just shooting up schools."
Schools have ramped up police presence in a host of states, including Connecticut, Michigan and New York, after the shooting Tuesday that left 19 students and two teachers dead.
In Buffalo, New York, where a white gunman fatally shot 10 people in a racist attack in a supermarket on May 14, the largest school district announced new security rules effective immediately. Any visitors — parents, siblings, vendors — have to call ahead for approval. No exceptions will be made. They may be subjected to a search by a wand detector. Doors will be locked at all times.
In Jacksonville, Florida, the Duval County Public Schools' chief of school police banned backpacks or large handbags at any school through Friday, the last day of school. Small purses were allowed but could be searched.
A discredited threat against a middle school prompted a Texas school district 200 miles southeast of Uvalde to end the school year a week early. The Kingsville Independent School District announced Friday would be the last day of school. But students should not see any penalty for the premature end to the year.
"In light of the tragedy in Uvalde, there has been an enormous amount of stress and trauma. Unfortunately, more stress and trauma are added with 'copy-cat threats' that start circulating such as the one that was sent today for Gillett (Middle School)," Superintendent Dr. Cissy Reynolds-Perez wrote in a statement on the district's website.
It's clear staff and students nationwide are on edge as several reports of firearm sightings on campuses have popped up in the past few days.
Two Seattle-area schools went into lockdown Friday morning and police eventually recovered an airsoft gun. The Everett, Washington, schools then had their lockdowns lifted.
Two people were arrested Thursday after a Denver high school locked down its campus. Police found a paintball gun but no other firearms. Classes were canceled anyway.
Critical fire condition warnings issued across US Southwest - By Paul Davenport Associated Press
Warnings of critical fire conditions blanketed much of the U.S. Southwest on Saturday, as crews in northern New Mexico worked to stop the growth of the nation's largest active wildfire.
The 7-week-old fire, the largest in New Mexico history, has burned 491 square miles of forest in rugged terrain east of Santa Fe since being started in April by two planned burns.
Crews were patrolling partially burned areas and clearing and cutting containment lines, including primary ones near the fire as bulldozers scraped backup lines farther away.
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings of critical fire conditions for parts of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. Those conditions are a combination of strong wind, low relative humidity and dry vegetation.
The return of drier and warmer weather with stronger winds posed a threat of increased fire activity over the Memorial Day weekend, prompting officials to urge the public to secure vehicle chains and to be careful with possible fire sources.
"The last thing we need right now is another ignition," said Jayson Coil, an operations section chief.
Forecasts called for wind gusts up to 50 mph , with critical fire conditions continuing into Monday, followed by more favorable weather later in the coming week, said Bruno Rodriguez, the fire management team's meteorologist.
The strong winds could fan flames and cause the fire to jump containment lines and race forward, said John Chest, a fire operations manager.
"Imagine traveling in your car and the fire can outpace you. That's the kind of extreme fire behavior that we're talking about," Chester said.
Nearly 3,000 firefighters and other personnel were assigned to the fire, which was contained around 48% of its perimeter.
Initial estimates say the fire has destroyed at least 330 homes but state officials expect the number of homes and other structures that have burned to rise to more than 1,000 as more assessments are done.
Elsewhere, 150 firefighters battled a wind-driven fire that burned 9 square miles of grass, brush and salt cedar about 14 miles southwest of Parker, Arizona. Winds up to 30 mph forced the California blaze to jump the Colorado River into Arizona on Saturday afternoon.
The fire forced the evacuation of a recreational vehicle park after starting Thursday and was 44% contained, officials said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Navajo sign water rights settlement with Utah and feds - Associated Press
Federal officials signed an agreement with leaders of the Navajo Nation on Friday that provides funding for clean drinking water infrastructure for reservation residents and resolves questions about longstanding Navajo claims to water rights in the drought-stricken U.S. West.
The signing formalizes the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement, which became law in 2020 as part of President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill. As part of the agreement, the federal government will pay the Navajo Nation $210 million for drinking water infrastructure in San Juan County — the part of the 27,00-square-mile reservation that lies in Utah.
Many Navajo homes lack running water. Residents often fill containers at public taps or rely on water deliveries from volunteer organizations.
"As we seek to strengthen Indigenous communities and support tribal self-governance, today's action and all of these investments will help provide the Navajo Nation with autonomy and flexibility to design and build appropriate water projects that will address current and future water needs," U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said at a signing ceremony on the Navajo Nation.
Utah, which was also party to the agreement, will pay the Navajo $8 million as part of the settlement.
"We had two real problems in our state. One was the Navajo Nation had claims to the Colorado (River) that would impair Utah's water rights," U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney told The Salt Lake Tribune. "The other concern we had was about half the Navajo Nation residents (in Utah) didn't have running water."
The settlement also quantifies the Navajo Nation's water rights, quelling Utah's anxieties about its long-standing claims to a share of water, including from the Colorado River.
A 1908 court decision said tribes had rights to as much water as was needed to establish permanent homelands. Though they possess senior rights, the Navajo were left out when seven western states divided up shares as part of the Colorado River Compact a century ago.
The subsequent uncertainty and potential legal battles have emerged as an urgent issue as the region reckons with a hotter, drier future with less Colorado River water to be shared.
The settlement recognizes the Navajo's right to 81,500 acre-feet of Utah water and allows them to draw the water from aquifers, rivers or Lake Powell, if they choose. The agreement also allows the Navajo to lease unused water to entities off the reservation and guarantees they won't lose water rights not put to use.
It's one of 16 tribal water rights settlements that the Biden administration is devoting $1.7 billion to fund from the recently enacted federal infrastructure bill.
"The hard work, however, must continue until all homes across the Navajo Nation have clean water running in faucets for all Navajo families," Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez told the newspaper.