New Mexico school trust feels pressure; voters weigh changes – Associated Press
State investments are being buffeted by turbulent financial markets as New Mexico voters consider whether to divert more money each year toward early childhood education programs.
A report Thursday from the Legislature's budget and accountability office shows that the state's four major public pension and permanent funds shrank by about $825 million during the first three months of the year amid a federal interest-rate hike, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a wave of COVID-19 infections.
The losses are a tiny share of the funds’ $66.3 billion valuation that grew by 40% over the past five years — a $19 billion surge.
A statewide referendum in November will decide whether to increase annual distributions slightly from the state's nearly $26 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund. That fund is sustained by investment returns along with oil extraction and other natural resource development on state trust lands.
Currently 5% of the fund balance each year goes mainly toward public schools and universities. The referendum would increase the rate to 6.25% to provide roughly an additional $200 million to public education.
The increased withdrawals would go toward public school funding for at-risk students and early childhood education programs.
Advocates for the increase want to expand programs such as pre-K, child care assistance and voluntary home-visits to new parents. Critics worry the changes undermine the growth and sustainability of trust.
The referendum would amend to the state’s constitution and also requires authorization from Congress.
Scramble as last Mississippi abortion clinic shuts its doors, moves to New Mexico - By Emily Wagster Pettus Associated Press
Mississippi's only abortion clinic has been buzzing with activity in the chaotic days since the U.S. Supreme Court upended abortion rights nationwide — a case that originated in this conservative Deep South state, with this bright-pink medical facility that is closing its doors Wednesday.
Physicians at Jackson Women's Health Organization have been trying to see as many patients as possible before Thursday, when, barring an unlikely intervention by the state's conservative Supreme Court, Mississippi will enact a law to ban most abortions.
Amid stifling summer heat and humidity, clashes intensified Wednesday between anti-abortion protesters and volunteers escorting patients into the clinic, best known as the Pink House.
When Dr. Cheryl Hamlin, who has traveled from Boston for five years to perform abortions, walked outside the Pink House, an abortion opponent used a bullhorn to yell at her. "Repent! Repent!" shouted Doug Lane.
His words were drowned out by abortion rights supporter Beau Black, who repeatedly screamed at Lane: "Hypocrites and Pharisees! Hypocrites and Pharisees!"
Abortion access has become increasingly limited across wide swaths of the U.S. as conservative states enact restrictions or bans that took effect when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
The court, reshaped by three conservative justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, issued the ruling June 24. But the Mississippi clinic has been inundated with patients since September, when Texas enacted a ban on abortion early in pregnancy.
Cars with license plates from Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas have been driving through Jackson's Fondren neighborhood to bring women and girls— some of whom appeared to be teenagers — to the Pink House. Drivers parked on side streets near the clinic in the shade of pink and purple crepe myrtles, their car air-conditioners blasting as they waited.
Diane Derzis, who has owned the Mississippi clinic since 2010, drove to Jackson to speak at the Pink House hours after the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
"It's been such an honor and a privilege to be in Mississippi. I've come to love this state and the people in it," Derzis told those gathered in the sweltering heat.
The Supreme Court ruling was in a case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — the clinic's challenge of a 2018 Mississippi law to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. The Pink House had been doing abortions through 16 weeks, but under previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings, abortion was allowed to the point of fetal viability at about 24 weeks.
Mississippi's top public health official, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, was named in the lawsuit, but has not taken a public position about the case. The state's Republican attorney general urged justices to use the case to overturn Roe v. Wade and give states more power to regulate or ban abortion.
Derzis told The Associated Press after the ruling that she didn't regret filing the lawsuit that eventually undercut nearly five decades of abortion case law.
"We didn't have a choice. And if it hadn't been this lawsuit, it would have been another one," said Derzis, who also owns abortion clinics in Georgia and Virginia, and lives in Alabama.
The Mississippi clinic uses out-of-state physicians like Dr. Hamlin because no in-state doctors will work there.
As the Pink House prepared to close, Dr. Hamlin said she worries about women living in deep poverty in parts of the state with little access to health care.
"People say, 'Oh, what am I supposed to do?'" she said. "And I'm like, 'Vote.'"
Shannon Brewer, the Pink House director, agrees low-income women will be most affected by being unable to get abortions in-state.
Brewer told the AP the anti-abortion protesters know her by name and yell at her but she tunes them out.
"They don't say a lot to me anymore other than, you know, 'You're coming to work to kill babies,'" Brewer said. "I've been here for 20-something years. So, it's like when I get out of the car I don't really hear it because it's like the same thing over and over and over again."
Some staffers were expected to be in the Pink House on Thursday for paperwork ahead of its closure, but no procedures.
With the Mississippi clinic closing, Derzis and Brewer will soon open an abortion clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, about an hour's drive from El Paso, Texas, — calling it Pink House West. Hamlin said she is getting licensed in New Mexico so she can work there.
Mississippi and New Mexico are two of the poorest states in the U.S., but have vastly different positions on abortion politics and access.
Home to a Democratic-led legislature and governor, New Mexico recently took an extra step to protect providers and patients from out-of-state prosecutions. It's likely to continue to see a steady influx of people seeking abortions from neighboring states with more restrictive abortion laws.
One of the largest abortion providers in Texas, Whole Woman's Health, announced Wednesday that it is also planning to reopen in New Mexico in a city near the state line, to provide first- and second-trimester abortions. It began winding down operations in Texas after a ruling Friday by the state Supreme Court that forced an end to abortions at its four clinics.
Standing outside the Mississippi clinic on June 24, Derzis was pragmatic about the future of the building she had painted bright pink several years ago.
"This building will be sold and maybe someone will knock it down and make a parking lot here," Derzis said. "And that will be sad, but she served her purpose and many women had their abortions here."
States move to protect abortion from prosecutions elsewhere - By Jennifer Mcdermott, Geoff Mulvihill And Hannah Schoenbaum Associated Press
Democratic governors in states where abortion will remain legal are looking for ways to protect any patients who travel there for the procedure — along with the providers who help them — from being prosecuted by their home states.
The Democratic governors of Colorado and North Carolina on Wednesday issued executive orders to protect abortion providers and patients from extradition to states that have banned the practice.
Abortions are legal in North Carolina until fetal viability or in certain medical emergencies, making the state an outlier in the Southeast.
"This order will help protect North Carolina doctors and nurses and their patients from cruel right-wing criminal laws passed by other states," Gov. Roy Cooper said in announcing the order.
The governors of Rhode Island and Maine also signed executive orders late Tuesday, stating that they will not cooperate with other states' investigations into people who seek abortions or health care providers that perform them.
Rhode Island Democratic Gov. Dan McKee said women should be trusted with their own health care decisions, and Democratic Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos said Rhode Island must do all it can to protect access to reproductive health care as "other states attack the fundamental right to choose."
Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she will "stand in the way of any effort to undermine, rollback, or outright eliminate the right to safe and legal abortion in Maine."
Their offices confirmed Wednesday that they are preemptive, protective moves, and that neither state has received a request to investigate, prosecute or extradite a provider or patient.
Their attempts to protect abortion rights come as tighter restrictions and bans are going into effect in conservative states after last month's Dobbs v. Jackson ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned the nearly half-century-old holding from Roe v. Wade that found that the right to abortion was protected by the U.S. Constitution. The issue reverts to the states, many of which have taken steps to curtail or ban abortions.
Several states have put new restrictions already in place since the Supreme Court ruling and more are pressing to do so. In Louisiana on Wednesday, the state Supreme Court rejected the attorney general's request to allow immediate enforcement of laws against most abortions saying it was declining to get involved "at this preliminary stage." Enforcement was blocked by another court last week. Attorney General Jeff Landry tweeted that Wednesday's decision "is delaying the inevitable. Our Legislature fulfilled their constitutional duties, and now the Judiciary must. It is disappointing that time is not immediate."
The specific fears of Democratic officials are rooted in a Texas law adopted last year to ban abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected. The law lets any person other than a government official or employee sue anyone who performs an abortion or "knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets" obtaining one.
The person filing the claim would be entitled to $10,000 for every abortion the subject was involved with — plus legal costs.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear challenges to the Texas law so far.
Bernadette Meyler, a professor at Stanford Law School, said it's not clear whether judgments against out-of-state abortion providers would hold up in courts, especially if they are not advertising their services in states with bans.
But she also said it's not clear that the liberal states are on firm legal ground to protect their residents from any out-of-state litigation.
"Probably, they assume that some of the laws that they're passing won't be upheld or may not be upheld, and they're trying to come up with as much as possible in order to resist the effects of the Dobbs decision," Meyler said.
The resistance to cooperating with abortion-related investigations could hold up, though, she said. Places that declared themselves "sanctuary cities" and refused to cooperate with federal immigration investigations during former President Donald Trump's presidency were able to carry out similar policies.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson said her group and other advocates for abortion access are pushing for the protections. "Everywhere we can push the imagination of what a free and equal world looks like," she said, "we are working with those governors."
Connecticut was the first state to pass a law to protect abortion providers, patients and others from legal action taken by other states. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont signed it in May, before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
"In accordance with Connecticut law, we will resist any attempt by another state to criminalize or intrude on a woman's private and lawful healthcare decisions," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement last week.
The Democratic governors of Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, California and Washington and the moderate Republican governor in liberal Massachusetts all signed executive orders within days of the ruling to prohibit cooperation with other states that might interfere with abortion access.
"Residents seeking access will be protected, providers will be protected, and abortion is and will continue to be legal, safe and accessible, period," said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has described the order as a preventative measure.
One of the largest abortion providers in Texas announced Wednesday that it's planning to move its operations to bordering New Mexico. Whole Woman's Health announced Wednesday that it is looking to establish a new clinic in a New Mexico city near the state line to provide first- and second-trimester abortions.
The Democratic-controlled Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a bill that aims to protect abortion providers and people seeking abortions from actions taken by other states. Delaware's Democratic governor signed legislation expanding abortion access, with various legal protections for abortion providers and patients, including out-of-state residents receiving abortions in Delaware.
New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed two bills Friday that moved swiftly in the Democratic-led Legislature following the ruling. The new laws aim to protect the right of those from outside the state to get abortion services within its borders and bar extradition of people involved in reproductive health care services should they face charges in another state.
Murphy said he was "overwhelmingly angry" that he had to sign the bills, but equally as proud to do so.
"These laws will make New Jersey a beacon of freedom for every American woman," he said during a signing ceremony in Jersey City, not far from the Statue of Liberty.
In Washington state, the governor prohibited the state patrol from cooperating with out-of-state abortion investigations or prosecutions, but he noted that he didn't have jurisdiction over local law enforcement agencies. The executive in the county surrounding Seattle said Tuesday that its sheriff's office and other executive branch departments will not cooperate with out-of-state prosecutions of abortion providers or patients.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown's office has said the state will refuse non-fugitive extradition for criminal prosecutions around abortion, but said an executive order is not needed.
Some progressive prosecutors around the U.S. have already declared that they won't enforce some of the most restrictive, punitive anti-abortion laws. Police in Nashville on Wednesday released a statement saying they "are not abortion police" a day after the city council passed a resolution calling on the department to make abortion investigations a low priority.
City council members in two other liberal cities in conservative states — New Orleans and Austin, Texas — have called for similar resolutions.
New Mexico governor withstands lawsuits over pandemic orders - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico residents who say they endured constitutional rights violations, depression and anxiety under aggressive public health restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak have abandoned a lawsuit against Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham after most allegations were dismissed by a judge.
The move came after a string of adverse rulings in state and federal courts for plaintiffs in several lawsuits that challenged the authority of the Democratic governor and state health officials to impose public health restrictions, such as mask mandates, that were phased out earlier this year.
New Mexico imposed some of the most aggressive public health restrictions in the U.S. during the pandemic — mandating face masks, halting in-person activity at nonessential businesses and allowing public schools to suspend in-person classroom teaching for about a year. The orders withstood repeated legal challenges.
Attorney Jonathan Diener said Tuesday that a dozen plaintiffs dropped their lawsuit against Lujan Grisham and state health officials after a federal magistrate judge last week dismissed most of their claims.
The plaintiffs included a pet food business in Rio Rancho, a martial arts studio in Bernalillo, a restaurant in Silver City and a member of an Albuquerque-based megachurch. The lawsuit sought to limit future public health emergency declarations.
Diener said the lawsuit no longer appeared viable, though the federal judge had allowed claims to move forward about possible infringements on religious freedoms during the state's initial shutdown of in-person gatherings at churches and other places of worship.
One plaintiff, a member of the Albuquerque-based Calvery Chapel, alleged that she was denied expression of her religious beliefs and that she suffered depression and anxiety set in from social isolation during the pandemic.
Three lawsuits against Lujan Grisham and her public health orders are still pending in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
New Mexico state judges have consistently backed the governor's authority to impose broad public health orders.
The New Mexico Supreme Court in August 2020 affirmed the authority of the state health secretary to restrict or close businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic, rejecting assertions that a temporary ban on indoor dining services was arbitrary and capricious.
In June 2021, the state's top court ruled that there is no constitutional or statutory requirement to compensate businesses for financial losses caused by emergency public health orders.
Allegations of economic hardship under the orders were blunted somewhat by billions of dollars in federal and state aid that was funneled to New Mexico residents and businesses to sustain payrolls and unemployment payments without corresponding tax increases.
The New Mexico Supreme Court also has ruled that the Legislature was allowed to restrict in-person access to the state Capitol due to the pandemic.
Virgin Galactic taps Boeing subsidiary to build motherships - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Virgin Galactic announced Wednesday that it is partnering with a Boeing subsidiary to manufacture the next generation of the twin-fuselage aircraft used to carry aloft the space tourism company's rocket ship.
Aurora Flight Sciences will build two of the special carrier planes at its facilities in Mississippi and West Virginia. Final assembly still will take place at Virgin Galactic's facility in Mojave, California, with the first mothership produced under the contract expected to enter service in 2025.
Each of the aircraft will be designed to fly up to 200 launches per year.
Virgin Galactic officials said that outsourcing the work will provide access to labor, minimize supply chain disruptions and lead to faster production times. The company has repeatedly pushed back the timeline for launching paying customers, with commercial service now expected in 2023.
Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said the next-generation motherships will be integral to scaling up the company's operations.
"They will be faster to produce, easier to maintain and will allow us to fly substantially more missions each year," he said in a statement. "Supported by the scale and strength of Boeing, Aurora is the ideal manufacturing partner for us."
Virgin Galactic had assessed different aerospace manufacturers early in the process, but opted for Aurora in part because of its history of building cutting-edge aircraft. It has designed and built a new aircraft nearly every year for the past three decades.
Virgin Galactic officials also noted Aurora's direct access to Boeing's expertise and other resources.
Aurora and Virgin Galactic have been working for the last several months to develop design specifications as well as workforce and manufacturing requirements.
After reaching nearly 50,000 feet, Virgin Galactic's space plane is released from the carrier aircraft and drops for a moment before igniting its rocket motor. It shuts off once it reaches space, providing passengers with silence, weightlessness and a view of Earth below. The rocket ship then glides back to the spaceport runway.
It's been nearly a year since Virgin Galactic launched founder Richard Branson and five Virgin Galactic employees toward the edge of space as the British entrepreneur raced to beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos and his rocket company Blue Origin.
Just weeks after the flight, Virgin Galactic reopened the ticket window, with prices starting at $450,000 a seat. By the fall, the company put off a planned research flight with members of the Italian air force and began scheduled assessments and maintenance of its aircrafts.
Large Texas abortion provider will relocate to New Mexico - Associated Press
One of the largest abortion providers in Texas is planning to move its operations to New Mexico and another provider that offers tele-health services related to abortion and reproductive health care is expanding its footprint in the state.
Austin-based Whole Woman's Health began winding down its Texas operations after a ruling Friday by the Texas Supreme Court forced an end to abortions in that state. Now, the provider wants to establish a new clinic in a New Mexico city near the state line to provide first and second trimester abortions.
Home to a Democratic-led legislature and governor, New Mexico recently took an extra step to protect providers and patients from out-of-state prosecutions. It's likely to continue to experience a steady influx of people seeking abortions from neighboring states with more restrictive abortion laws.
Whole Woman's Health has started a fundraising effort to help with the costs of moving equipment and supplies from Texas to New Mexico and for the purchase of a building to serve as its new home.
"With the shuttering of our four Texas clinics, we do not have the financial reserves to open in New Mexico without community support," Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman's Health, said in a statement.
Officials with Mississippi's only abortion clinic also have plans to relocate to southern New Mexico and the tele-health provider Choix, based in San Francisco, announced Wednesday that it is now licensed to operate in New Mexico and plans to serve all states where abortion care remains legal by the end of 2023.
New Mexico lawmakers last year repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures as felonies, thus ensuring access to abortion even after the federal court rolled back guarantees.
The state's largest city, Albuquerque, is home to one of only a few independent clinics in the country that perform abortions in the third trimester without conditions.
An abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, is just a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the state line with Texas near El Paso.
Albuquerque revisiting how it addresses homeless encampments - Associated Press
The mayor of New Mexico's largest city says his administration is revisiting how it addresses homeless encampments.
Coronado Park, located north of downtown Albuquerque, hosts a large group of regular campers and requires biweekly cleanups.
Amid increasing criticism from the public and some city councilors about unsanctioned camp sites, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the current situation at Coronado Park is unacceptable and his administration is looking toward a new approach to the dozens of unhoused people who sleep there.
However, the Albuquerque Journal reports Keller's administration has not determined the exact framework it wants to pursue.
"We know we need to get our ducks in a row. It is extremely dangerous for our officers, for our civilians, for the unsheltered and for taxpayer funding because of litigation, to make a rash decision about how we handle Coronado," Keller told the Journal.
City Councilman Louie Sanchez said Keller's administration is totally ignoring what the citizens of Albuquerque are demanding.
Keller administration officials said homelessness is a complex problem with resource and legal considerations and the encampment problem is not unique to Albuquerque.
Biologists' fears confirmed on the lower Colorado River - By Brittany Peterson Associated Press
For National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Arnold, it was a moment he'd been dreading. Bare-legged in sandals, he was pulling in a net in a shallow backwater of the lower Colorado River last week, when he spotted three young fish that didn't belong there. "Give me a call when you get this!" he messaged a colleague, snapping photos.
Minutes later, the park service confirmed their worst fear: smallmouth bass had in fact been found and were likely reproducing in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam.
They may be a beloved sport fish, but smallmouth bass feast on humpback chub, an ancient, threatened fish that's native to the river, and that biologists like Arnold have been working hard to recover. The predators wreaked havoc in the upper river, but were held at bay in Lake Powell where Glen Canyon Dam has served as a barrier for years — until now. The reservoir's recent sharp decline is enabling these introduced fish to get past the dam and closer to where the biggest groups of chub remain, farther downstream in the Grand Canyon.
There, Brian Healy has worked with the humpback chub for more than a decade and founded the Native Fish Ecology and Conservation Program.
"It's pretty devastating to see all the hard work and effort you've put into removing other invasive species and translocating populations around to protect the fish and to see all that effort overturned really quickly," Healy said.
As reservoir levels drop, non-native fish that live in warm surface waters in Lake Powell are edging closer to the dam and its penstocks — submerged steel tubes that carry water to turbines, where it generates hydroelectric power and is released on the other side.
If bass and other predator fish continue to get sucked into the penstocks, survive and reproduce below the dam, they will have an open lane to attack chub and other natives, potentially unraveling years of restoration work and upending the Grand Canyon aquatic ecosystem — the only stretch of the river still dominated by native species.
On the brink of extinction decades ago, the chub has come back in modest numbers thanks to fish biologists and other scientists and engineers. Agencies spend millions of dollars annually to keep intruders in check in the upper portion of the river.
Under the Endangered Species Act, government agencies are required to operate in ways that will not "jeopardize the continued existence" of listed animals. That includes infrastructure.
Even before the discovery of smallmouth bass spawning below the dam, agencies had been bracing for this moment. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently enlisted a team of researchers at Utah State University to map the nonnative fish in Lake Powell and try to determine which could pass through the dam first.
A task force quickly assembled earlier this year to address the urgency the low water poses for native fish. Federal, state and tribal leaders are expected to release a draft plan in August containing solutions for policymakers who intend to delay, slow and respond to the threat of smallmouth bass and other predators below the dam.
There are a variety of solutions, but many will require significant changes to infrastructure.
In the meantime, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Arizona Game and Fish Department are moving quickly to try to contain the issue. During an emergency meeting, they decided to increase their monitoring efforts in other shallow areas and block off the entire backwater where the smallmouth bass were found so they can't swim out into the river.
"Unfortunately, the only block nets we have are pretty large mesh, so it will not stop these smaller fish from going through, but it will keep the adults from going back out," Arnold said, noting it's the best they can do with available resources.
Experts say leaving more water in Lake Powell would be the best solution to ensure cool water can be released through the dam, although it's tough to do in a river under so much stress.
Last month, the Department of the Interior notified the seven western states that depend on Colorado River water that they must devise a way to conserve up to 4 million acre-feet of water in 2023 — more than Arizona and Nevada's share combined -- or face federal intervention. It is unclear where that conserved supply would be stored, but Healy says he hopes Lake Powell is being considered.
"If we want to protect some of the values for which Grand Canyon National Park was established, we need to really think about how water is stored," Healy said. "That issue needs to be at the table."