Santa Fe Archdiocese files plan for $121M abuse settlement - Associated Press
In New Mexico, one of the oldest Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S. has filed its bankruptcy reorganization plan to compensate nearly 400 clergy abuse survivors with more than $121 million.
A federal bankruptcy judge in the District of New Mexico will hear the Archdiocese of Santa Fe's plan in a hearing Wednesday, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
The long-anticipated agreement comes nearly four years after the Archdiocese of Santa Fe filed for bankruptcy reorganization to resolve mounting abuse claims that dated back decades.
Under the plan, six insurers will cover $46.5 million of the $121.5 million, according to the court filing, which the newspaper obtained. That leaves the archdiocese responsible for $75 million. The archdiocese has over $69 million in an escrow account, as well as a $5.4 million promissory note that must be paid off by March 31.
The Servants of the Paraclete, which ran a treatment center for Catholic priests with conditions including pedophilia for decades, and three religious orders will contribute $7.85 million.
"It is impossible to overstate the tragedy of the Abuse that was inflicted on the children and teenagers of the Archdiocese," the archdiocese wrote in the disclosure statement with the reorganization plan. "The Abuse was perpetrated by priests or others purporting to do the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church. Instead of fulfilling their missions, those perpetrators inflicted harm and suffering."
At least two-thirds of the church abuse survivors who filed claims must approve the plan.
Brad Hall, an Albuquerque attorney, has represented more than 235 church abuse survivors in recent years. He says 145 of them filed claims in the bankruptcy case. Having a plan filed now will hopefully lead to survivors receiving allocations before the end of the year, Hall told the newspaper.
The filing "finally represents the possibility of some closure for long suffering people who were badly hurt as children. I see light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
Survivors allege those in power in New Mexico's Catholic Church looked the other way or concealed abuse. They also accused the archdiocese of simply moving abusive priests to new parishes rather than investigate them.
The settlement agreement also calls for the archdiocese to make documents about the abuse scandal publicly available. They will be given to the University of New Mexico Zimmerman Library. Victims' names and other identifying information would be redacted.
Meanwhile, there are numerous other claims or lawsuits in state court — including 80 against the Servants of the Paraclete. Their treatment center was created more than 50 years ago for priests from all over the country. Their facility in Jemez Springs is closed, but they are accused of perpetuating abuse by collaborating with the archdiocese to send supposedly rehabilitated priests to other Catholic churches.
Current Archbishop of Santa Fe John C. Wester is leading an archdiocese that has now promised a zero tolerance policy for abuse or hiding it. The archdiocese website has a list of roughly 80 credibly accused priests and clergy. It lists 29 of them as still alive. There is also a list of priests who have been credibly accused elsewhere but at one time worked in New Mexico.
Lawmakers fail to amend sexual harassment policy - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
New Mexico legislators have failed to pass an update to the Roundhouse’s sexual harassment policy despite broad, bipartisan calls for a culture shift.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the proposal failed to advance after a tie vote Tuesday.
It would have amended how complaints of sexual misconduct are looked into, including adding a fifth member to the committee in charge of the investigations, allowing for a tie-breaking vote. Also, that new member would not be a lawmaker, but an outside legal party, and would serve as chair.
Seven Democrats voted in favor of the proposal. All six Republican members of the panel and Democratic Rep. Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup voted no, thereby defeating the changes.
Republican Craig Brandt told the Journal that he took issue with the idea of having someone who is not an elected lawmaker on a legislative committee. He also said he thought a committee evenly split along party lines would mean only allegations with bipartisan support would proceed, which he saw as a positive thing.
Meanwhile, those in favor of the proposal thought it would help keep complaints against lawmakers move along in the investigation process.
Democratic Rep. Daymon Ely told the Journal that the existing process is broken and should have been fixed.
NM water commission goes into closed session to talk ‘forever chemicals,’ despite transparency concerns - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A board tasked with renewing a water discharge permit for the Cannon Air Force Base went into closed session for its deliberations Tuesday amid concerns about how often the public gets looped in on the base’s release of so-called “forever chemicals” into surrounding areas.
The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission voted 7-3 to discuss the matter beyond the public’s view during its meeting Tuesday afternoon. The board was supposed to vote on an amended permit for the base, but after hours of private deliberation, decided to delay.
Cannon officials are attempting to change the permit that allows the base to discharge waste into water sources. The base filed a petition in early 2021 to waive some state contaminant testing requirements, including for PFAS, arguing that Cannon follows federal regulations anyway.
Members of the public in Clovis, where the base sits, have criticized leadership there for not offering many opportunities to hear from base officials about the release of PFAs.
PFAs are per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals that don’t break down naturally and cause illness, including cancer. The chemical is often present in fire-fighting foams that are used on Air Force bases and can leak into groundwater.
A dairy farmer near Cannon had to euthanize several thousand cows after their drinking water was contaminated with PFAs.
At the meeting Tuesday, members of the commission cited a section of the Open Meetings Act that allows meetings to be held in executive session if they are “administrative adjudicatory proceedings.” Those are proceedings before a public body that are “brought by or against a person” to determine individual legal rights, duties and privileges after a trial-type hearing.
Commissioner Robert Sanchez, in explaining the decision to discuss the issue in private, acknowledged that there wasn’t a “trial-type hearing” before the closed session. But there were oral arguments, he said.
Another commissioner, Larrry Dominguez, said they sometimes vote to go into closed session for particularly controversial hearings.
“Some commissioners tend to lean toward the public transparency aspect for deliberations. Other commissioners have tended to lean towards the side that if this body has really sticky issues before it and want to have an open and frank discussion that typically, people are more willing to speak up in executive session,” he said.
But Commissioner Bruce Thomson said the issue merited being discussed openly.
“I think that we’re a deliberative body that answers to the public, and I would prefer that we keep our comments available to them,” he said.
A board representative did not respond to a request for comment.
About more than two hours into deliberations, the commission came back and voted unanimously to postpone a vote, allowing the New Mexico Water Quality Bureau to review new evidence and report back “promptly” to the board.
Hopi curator to lead New Mexico's Native American art museum - Associated Press
An expert in the field of Indigenous art has been named as the executive director of New Mexico's Museum of Indian Arts & Culture.
Pollyanna "Polly" Nordstrand, who is Hopi, will take on her new role next month. She will oversee a team of curators, anthropologists and archaeologists who are responsible for the preservation and interpretation of objects and works of art that represent Native people from the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
"It is an exciting time to step into this leadership position as MIAC envisions its place as a 21st century museum with new exhibitions and expanded partnerships with tribal communities," she said in a statement.
Nordstrand was selected following a national search.
Nordstrand comes from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas where she was that museum's first curator of Native American Art. She also served as curator of Southwest art at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Museum at Colorado College and associate curator of Native art at the Denver Art Museum.
In New Mexico, Nordstrand will manage an anthropology library and archives as well as the Center for New Mexico Archaeology, which is the state's archaeological repository.
Nordstrand began working in the museum world around 1990 as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act came into effect. She said her approach to museums has been shaped by the increasing collaboration between tribes and institutions and she has advocated for more equity and inclusion in museums.
She co-founded the American Alliance of Museums' Diversity Committee after leading the Native Americans and Museums Professional Interest Committee for years. She also maintains an ongoing relationship with the staff at the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office in Arizona to seek advice and advance their participation in museum projects.
EXPLAINER: Trying to get politics out of election certifying - By Christina A. Cassidy Associated Press
Before the 2020 presidential election, certifying election results in the states was routine and generated little public attention. That has changed.
Attempts to delay presidential certification in Michigan in 2020 and in local balloting in New Mexico earlier this year have brought new scrutiny — after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack shined a bright light on certification at the national level.
Members of certification boards have raised unsubstantiated claims of fraud or other wrongdoing, focusing new attention on a process that could be manipulated if either side didn't like an election outcome.
Whether partisan actors might try to block or delay certification at the local or state level is a growing concern among election officials, both for the upcoming November midterm voting and then the 2024 presidential election. Here is how election officials prepare for certification, who is involved and what might happen if a county refuses to certify its results.
HOW ELECTION OFFICIALS PREPARE FOR CERTIFICATION
Voting is over when polls close on Election Day, but the work to count and verify the results is just beginning. Through the canvass and certification process, local election officials check to ensure all votes were cast and counted correctly before results become official.
The canvass includes checking lists of voters in pollbooks against the number of ballots cast and researching any discrepancies. Those often are due to clerical errors or mistakes such as someone failing to sign the pollbook.
"There are all these little human errors that can happen that could lead to mismatch or discrepancies in the accounting," said Jennifer Morrell, a former local election official who now advises election offices. "Best practice is to show them and do your best to account for them and explain them."
It's this reconciliation that election officials also use to detect potential voter fraud, flagging for authorities any issues such as a voter attempting to cast more than one ballot. During this time, many election offices also test equipment and audit the results to make sure the votes were tallied correctly. Others might take those steps after certification.
Most states have deadlines for when the canvass and certification must be completed.
WHO CERTIFIES RESULTS?
Partisan officials are involved in certifying elections, something experts worry about after nearly two years of conspiracy theories falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Republican former President Donald Trump. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulated voting machines, and reviews in battleground states confirmed Democrat Joe Biden's win.
In 45 states, the local boards that handle election certification are either party-controlled or commissions where the members are elected on a partisan basis, according to research by the advocacy group Election Reformers Network.
Once certified at the local level, results are sent to the state for further certification. In virtually every state, officials with ties to political parties play some role, according to the group. This typically involves a board comprised of statewide officials such as the secretary of state and governor, although in some states it's the secretary of state who has sole authority to certify an election. Hawaii is the only state where certification is overseen by a nonpartisan chief election official appointed by a bipartisan commission.
THE PROCESS OF CERTIFICATION
Certification involves a public meeting during which election officials report to the local board charged with certifying the results. Those reports detail the number of voters who cast ballots, how many ballots were cast and counted, and any discrepancies that surfaced during the canvass.
It's a ministerial task, meaning those handling certification do not have authority to investigate allegations of fraud or other wrongdoing. That's up to prosecutors and the courts, which handle challenges filed by candidates or parties. Judges can delay or halt certification if there are questions surrounding an election.
That did not happen in 2020, as numerous judges including some appointed by Trump dismissed his claims.
DISPUTES ARISE AMID PARTISAN INFLUENCES
Local certification is typically handled by a county commission or board of elections. In some places, a separate board of canvassers is formed to handle certification. In Michigan, the county canvassing board is comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats. In Wayne County, which includes Detroit, Republican board members initially voted against certifying the 2020 election but later reversed course.
The Republican members then sought to rescind their vote to certify after receiving calls from Trump. State officials said there was no way to do that, and ultimately the election was certified at the state level.
"The law is very clear that the board must certify," said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. "It doesn't say they may or can consider, they must. And so we have the law on our side."
If such a dispute arises again, the state Board of Canvassers has the authority to review and certify a county's election, Benson said. If the state board, which is likewise comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats, similarly deadlocks, Benson said she would seek a court order to compel certification.
That happened recently when the state board deadlocked along partisan lines on whether an abortion measure should appear on the November ballot, and the state supreme court subsequently allowed it.
HAS THIS HAPPENED ELSEWHERE?
Commissioners in a rural New Mexico county initially refused to certify the results of their June primary. They cited distrust of the voting systems used to tally the vote even though the county's election official said there were no problems.
A tiny county in Nevada didn't certified its primary results until it completed a hand count of all ballots.
In the New Mexico case, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver petitioned the state Supreme Court, which issued an order directing the local commissioners in Otero County to certify. They ultimately did so in a 2-1 vote. The dissenting vote was by commissioner Couy Griffin, who had dialed into the meeting from Washington, D.C. Hours earlier he had been sentenced for entering restricted grounds during the attack on the Capitol, where Congress was meeting to certify Biden's victory.
During the meeting, Griffin acknowledged he had no evidence to support his vote against certification, saying, "It's only based on my gut feeling and my own intuition." He has since been removed from office.
If the commission would have refused to abide by the court order, the state was prepared to seek another order to allow the state board to certify the county's results, said Alex Curtas with the secretary of state's office.
"We weren't just going to let some 8,000 people who had voted in Otero County be disenfranchised because their county commission refused to certify their votes," Curtas said.
GUARDRAILS TO PREVENT PARTISAN INTERFERENCE
Election officials in various states say they are prepared to intervene and have the legal means to compel certification if needed.
"No county official can just say that she or he just feels or believes or has a vibe or a hunch that something went wrong and feel free to just not certify an election," said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.
In Colorado, a new law requires the secretary of state to review any results not certified by a local board by the deadline and certify them if there is no reason not to. But most states have to rely on the courts.
Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections with Common Cause, said voter advocacy groups are prepared to intervene should partisan actors interfere with certification without justification or if a secretary of state refuses to seek a court order compelling a local board to act.
"That is why we are here, and there will be lot of advocates and lawyers willing and able to step in and file if the secretary is not interested in using their authority or their position to ensure that the votes of their constituents are counted," Albert said.
Big law firms circle burn scar to get some of $2.5 billion NM fire payout — Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Now that a huge compensation program is on its way to the burn scar of the biggest fire in state history, private law firms are increasing efforts to convince victims that they need a lawyer to get a piece of the $2.5 billion pie.
But attorneys with New Mexico Legal Aid say Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire victims should think twice about signing any contract with a law firm. Also, New Mexican members of Congress who wrote the legislation say the law’s intent was that fire victims should be able to get money they deserve without the help of a lawyer.
“We are asking (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to provide technical assistance, and something akin to navigators, so that survivors can receive compensation without the need for attorneys,” U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) said. “I will continue to push FEMA to make sure the claims process under my legislation is as straightforward as possible.”
In April, a botched prescribed burn ignited by the United States Forest Service north of Las Vegas, N.M. escaped and, combined with another errant prescribed burn, scorched more than 530 square miles of forest and farmland, destroyed more than 500 homes and ushered in deadly flooding and watershed damage.
Just weeks after the fire started, advertisements appeared on Google and Facebook seeking clients who suffered damages, according to a review of Google and Facebook ad libraries. Several of the firms are from out-of-state but partnered with local firms.
Antonia Roybal-Mack, a lawyer who grew up in Mora and who is also representing fire victims, said she’d never seen anything like the amount of lawyers who swooped in.
In 2000, the last time the federal government botched a prescribed burn in New Mexico and caused billions in damage, there weren’t huge firms like now that specialize in mass tort lawsuits, she said.
“We’ve really never seen this many lawyers come in and capitalize on a disaster like this in New Mexico,” she said. “They do it all over the country all the time, but this is definitely new for New Mexico.”
And what explains it?
“Money,” she said.
In recent weeks, online ad buys have increased. The push for clients comes weeks after Congress passed the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act, which supplies $2.5 billion supposed to fully compensate victims for their losses from the fire, including for burned structures, lost income, flood damage and more.
There is no cap on the amount an individual can receive.
It’s a historic amount of money for a disaster, elected officials have said, and is nearly triple the last time the federal government screwed up a prescribed burn in New Mexico. The $2.5 billion equals about 30% of the entire New Mexico state budget.
Hoping to find clients, law firms have held meet-and-greets in town at restaurants, civic centers and elsewhere. They’ve mailed advertisements to trawl for clients. One law firm pasted a sign on a piece of plywood in Mora’s main drag, calling to “FIRE VICTIMS” in big, red letters and advertising a law clinic and a phone number.
“Your rights to compensation from the federal government will be explained!” it reads.
A 20% cut
Source New Mexico obtained an unsigned contract with a different firm, Singleton & Schreiber from San Diego. It tells would-be clients that they don’t have to pay any money up-front but that the firm would take 25% of any verdict, settlement or damages the client receives at any time.
It also notes that clients who qualify for the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act might also be able to file a lawsuit in district court.
But Leger Fernandez said the act is intended to give FEMA resources necessary to guide fire victims toward compensation without an attorney who takes a cut. The agency now has a little more than a month to set up a system for paying out the money, and that program will include employees whose whole job is to help people file claims.
“We passed this legislation so that survivors would not have to file a lawsuit to receive compensation, but would instead be compensated through an administrative process that a special office in FEMA will administer,” Leger Fernandez said.
She also noted that the act limits the amount of fees attorneys can take from any compensation to 20%, not 25% as those who signed the contract with the San Diego firm.
Gerald Singleton, managing partner at the San Diego firm, told Source New Mexico that the firm will update its contracts – and send letters to those who have already signed contracts – to inform clients that the firm’s fee will be reduced to 20%, now that the act has passed Congress.
Those who file separate lawsuits will still see 25% of their awards go to the law firm, however.
He also defended his firm as highly competent and said that hiring it is necessary to maximize compensation. A person filing by themselves might not know how to document the extent of multiple types of damages, he said. Singleton’s firm will pay for specialized fire and flood experts who can calculate current and even future damages caused by the fire.
“No one has to hire an attorney for this process, just like no one has to hire an attorney to represent them in a court suit,” he said in an email. “However, the vast majority of people will get a great deal more (even after paying a 20% attorney fee) if they hire an attorney than if they attempt to do it on their own.”
He did not respond to a request for comment on how many victims have signed retainers with his firm.
The Singleton-Schreiber contract also states that the firm will place a lien on clients who leave without good cause. The lien would be for any damages the victim receives and for costs the firm had incurred in filing a claim, plus interest.
‘Makes me want to vomit’
Even if victims decide they need a lawyer, there are other options than an out-of-state, for-profit firm, said Edna Sprague, litigation director for New Mexico Legal Aid. For example, Legal Aid will do much or all of the same work as private firms for free, she said, as long as a victim’s household income is less than 200% of the federal poverty line.
For a family of four, that’s $55,500. The median household income for Mora County and San Miguel County are both about $29,000, according to Census figures. So Sprague says the “vast majority” of fire victims will qualify, and the agency is working on finding money to fund legal services for those who earn above the limit.
In addition to being free, she said, New Mexico Legal Aid has local expertise and connections to the community affected.
Private injury firms like the one in San Diego “can really conserve a great function for people,” she said.
“But they can also be predatory. And the idea of having a law firm out of San Diego representing a northern New Mexican who doesn’t have Internet, frankly, makes me want to vomit,” she said.
She recommends anyone affected by the fire call NM Legal Aid for advice, which she said is more trustworthy than a private law firm seeking to earn a profit.
But Legal Aid is having difficulty recruiting clients, said spokesperson Paxton Patrick. Sprague said the organization hasn’t had the same ability to advertise as monied private firms.
And she said a lot of folks might have signed agreements with private law firms early in their first wave of advertisements, when the fire was still burning and FEMA was facing widespread criticism for denying claims and providing minimal financial compensation to those who lost everything.
“There was some real disconnect between what FEMA was trying to do with New Mexico’s disaster legal services program,” Sprague said. “I think that a lot of it had to do with the lack of cultural competence about the landscape of northern New Mexico and what those communities are. And people didn’t want to, or seemingly didn’t want to, put their feet on the ground.”
The amount of time it took for the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act to pass Congress might also have meant more people sought an attorney, Roybal-Mack said.
It took about five months since the fire started for Congress to pass the $2.5 billion fund legislation, which was modeled after the one passed in 2000 in response to the Cerro Grande Fire in Los Alamos.
With that fire, passage took a little more than a month. The Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act was intended to stave off mass lawsuits and the need for private lawyers. Roybal-Mack, a fire attorney in New Mexico for decades, said it had the desired effect.
But it was different this time around, Roybal-Mack said.
“Until the Act was passed, the only recourse was for people to hire a lawyer and prove liability,” she said.
Is FEMA up to it?
Roybal-Mack said a lot of residents are skeptical about FEMA now and that a law firm like hers is necessary to ensure FEMA pays up, even if members of Congress intend victims to be able to navigate the system themselves.
“People are sick of FEMA, and FEMA is sick of us,” she said. “So we might be in a good place to say, we need some independent investigators, evaluators to help look at this stuff.”
The bill allows for the appointment of an independent manager to evaluate claims, someone like a judge who would be independent from FEMA. The Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act also had the same provision allowing for an independent manager, though none was appointed. Many of the victims in that fire lived in a subdivision, were wealthy federal employees and were fully insured, which made for a smoother process.
But with the different demographics and complications that presents this time around, Roybal-Mack hopes an independent manager is appointed.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), did not respond to a request for comment about the influx of private law firms into the burn scar.
But he has said he thinks Congress can hold FEMA’s feet to the fire as it builds the compensation program to make sure it is designed to fit New Mexico’s particular needs, including the lack of deeds on many properties and the destroyed acequia system.
“FEMA doesn’t have a challenge spending resources,” he said after the bill passed Congress. “They have a cultural challenge … And they still have a long way to go to prove that they can do that as well as we want them to, but they are also the only game in town.”
Early and absentee voting begins across New Mexico — Associated Press
Early voting began Tuesday across New Mexico on a limited scale at county clerk's offices, as election regulators began mailing absentee ballots by request to registered voters.
More than a dozen people formed a line to cast ballots outside the Santa Fe County Clerk's office, including U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández as she seeks reelection in a race against Republican engineer Alexis Martinez Johnson.
Many counties will add more early voting locations on Oct. 22. Polls close Nov. 6-7 prior to Election Day on Nov. 8.
Three first-term congresswomen are seeking reelection in contested New Mexico races, as voters also consider a long list of candidates for statewide elected offices, including governor, attorney general and secretary of state.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is seeking a second term in office against GOP nominee Mark Ronchetti in a contest highlighting concerns about urban crime, abortion access and spending priorities amid a windfall in state government income from oilfield production.
Ronchetti hopes to unseat the incumbent governor with calls for a new approach to combatting crime amid a record-setting spate of homicides in Albuquerque and a proposal to provide annual rebates linked to oil and natural gas production.
Lujan Grisham has cast herself as crucial advocate for expanding early childhood education, tuition-free college and continued access to abortion. In 2021, she overturned a dormant state ban on most abortion procedures, while Ronchetti wants a statewide referendum in an effort to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy with limited exceptions.
In southern New Mexico, Republican U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell is seeking a second term in a congressional district that has been redrawn in ways that could help Democrats by adding portions of Albuquerque and dividing a politically conservative oil-producing region. Democratic Las Cruces Councilman Gabe Vasquez hopes to reclaim the swing district that Republicans flipped in 2020.
In the secretary of state's race, incumbent Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver is seeking reelection after expanding ballot access through same-day registration against Republican nominee Audrey Trujillo, a proponent of new voter ID requirements and new restrictions on absentee voting.
New Mexico's primary election in June drew national attention when a handful of rural counties considered delaying certification of the results, as angry crowds gave voice to unproven conspiracy theories about voting systems.
Albuquerque-based District Attorney Raul Torrez is vying in an open race for attorney general against Republican attorney and U.S. Marine veteran Jeremy Michael Gay of Gallup.
Voters will also decide on a statewide ballot referendum that would increase spending on K-12 schools and early childhood education by about $200 million a year through greater distributions from the state's oil-based permanent fund.
The entire state House is up for election. Democrats are defending a 45-seat majority, with 24 Republicans and one unaffiliated legislator.
In recent elections, Democrats have consolidated control over every statewide office, the state Supreme Court and broad majorities in the state House and Senate.
Study shows sharp decline in teacher vacancies in New Mexico — Associated Press
A New Mexico State University study has found that teacher vacancies in the state have dropped significantly over the last year.
NMSU released a report Monday from its Southwest Outreach Academic Research Evaluation & Policy Center showing that the number of empty positions are closer to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
Researchers looked at the number of job openings in every school district in New Mexico and data provided by colleges and universities.
They found 690 teacher vacancies compared to 1,048 last year, a 34% decline.
Rachel Boren, the center's director, says the findings don't diminish the fact that there is still an urgent need for teachers and other support staff. The void is especially felt with teaching special education and elementary education. By subject, the biggest needs are in math, science and English language arts.
The study also counted 1,886 students enrolled in an education preparation program during the 2021-22 academic year. That is an increase compared to 1,596 students enrolled the year prior. The report found 1,027 students finished a program this year.
Officials at NMSU's own teacher education program say having secure, collaborative partnerships helps with ensuring prospective teachers obtain their license.
Bird flu worries prompt Albuquerque BioPark Zoo closures — Associated Press
A popular penguin exhibit at the Albuquerque BioPark Zoo has been shut down due to concerns about bird flu.
The Albuquerque Journal reports zoo officials announced Tuesday that Penguin Chill will be closed indefinitely as a precaution.
No birds have tested positive for the virus. But there are outstanding tests for ducks and other birds at Tingley Beach.
A majority of the zoo's birds were recently relocated to indoor shelters.
Dr. Carol Bradford, the zoo's senior veterinarian, said some birds are still open for visitors to see. But their have been covered with tarps.
Avian flu is highly contagious.