New Mexico braces for confrontational poll watchers - Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico's top elections regulator said Wednesday that precautions are being taken to guard against the possibility of deliberate disruptions by party-appointed poll challengers and watchers in the ongoing general election.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said at a news briefing that she is aware of efforts to recruit poll challengers by people who believe the election process is rigged and may want to interfere.
"Maybe they feel like at the end of the day, even if they ultimately get removed, that they've been able to slow down the process, cause folks to get discouraged," Toulouse Oliver said. "As long as a challenger is following the rules and not obstructing the election process and not interposing challenges in bad faith, they can stay there the entire process. But when we start seeing this other behavior, that's when they have to go."
At the same time, Toulouse Oliver has encouraged people with concerns about the integrity of elections to volunteer and work at the polls under oath. She said hundreds of new poll workers have responded.
Poll challengers and watchers have traditionally functioned as an essential element of electoral transparency at polling locations, acting as the eyes and ears of major political parties to help ensure that the mechanics of voting are administered fairly and accurately.
Election officials in several states are raising concerns this year about a surge of election-conspiracy believers who are signing up for those positions, with training by people who have propagated the lie spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 presidential election was riddled with fraud.
Absentee and limited early voting is underway across New Mexico in the general election that culminates on Nov. 8, with a long list of statewide offices in contention, including governor.
Toulouse Oliver said poll workers and county clerks are trained and empowered to respond to disruptive behavior, including delay tactics. She said a presiding poll judge can call on law enforcement agencies to remove a poll challenger or watcher not only for public safety concerns but also behavior that interferes with the ability to carry out duties at a polling place.
"While a challenger or a watcher or observer are completely allowed to ask a question of the poll officials about what they're observing, they are not allowed to dominate that individual's time," Toulouse Oliver said. "They are not allowed to interpose challenges without a basis for that challenge."
Nearly 37,000 ballots have been cast statewide as of Tuesday. Registered Democrats accounted for about 56% of ballots cast.
Certification of New Mexico's primary election in June was nearly derailed by officials in a handful of counties amid voter anger and distrust fueled by unproven conspiracies about vote-counting equipment and election procedures.
Toulouse Oliver is seeking reelection against Republican nominee Audrey Trujillo, a small business owner from Corrales who is campaigning for large-scale changes to elections as part of the America First Secretary of State Coalition.
In the run-up to the election, Toulouse Oliver said her office is monitoring mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook for misinformation about elections and voting.
She said election officials are prepared to debunk and request the removal of misleading posts, and urged residents not to rely on "right-wing extremist" platforms for election information.
Rio Grande managers eye federal cash for western drought - Suman Naishadham Associated Press
With several billion dollars in federal money secured for drought-stricken western states, managers and officials on the Rio Grande are hopeful some will reach their communities and bring attention to the challenges facing one of North America's longest rivers.
Stretches of the river near Albuquerque, New Mexico went dry for the first time in 40 years in August, destroying critical habitat for endangered fish. South Texas cities including McAllen, Brownsville and Mission, whose only water source is the river, ratcheted up water restrictions on businesses and a collective 1 million people. Reservoirs that are key to those residents, but not household names, like Amistad and the Falcon Lakes, fell to all-time lows. Farmers in the Rio Grande Valley braced for losses when drought caused interruptions to deliveries from canals that normally bring them water.
With $4 billion in the Biden administration's climate measure to address drought, some officials argue cities and farms in the Rio Grande basin have been overlooked while facing just as many problems as others in the West. The money from the federal spending package has not yet been fully allocated, but priority will be given to states served by the 1,450-mile powerhouse of the West, the Colorado River, and to other drought-afflicted basins. Officials in New Mexico and Texas want the Rio Grande to be included.
A main way the money will be spent in the Colorado River basin is to pay farmers to leave fields unplanted and free up the water that would otherwise be used. Southwestern cities and Native American tribes, who have their own rights to water, could also be paid to use less of their supply.
Over the years, Rio Grande communities have received federal grant funding and loans for infrastructure repairs and conservation, but officials say the current moment is unique because the Interior Department and other federal agencies are flush with cash from spending packages passed under the Biden administration.
New Mexico has received "bits and pieces of things," said Mike Hamman, the state water engineer. "But nothing like a major drought appropriation strictly from the federal government, to date."
In Texas, Maria Elena-Giner helps oversee treaties that govern how the U.S. and Mexico share the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the U.S. representative to the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Key differences between the two rivers make managing South Texas' water supply challenging, Giner said. In South Texas, 70% of water from the Rio Grande comes from tributaries located in Mexico. The southern neighbor is to deliver water to the U.S. in five-year cycles, or send smaller increments yearly. But Mexico's water deliveries have grown increasingly unpredictable as drought cuts into both countries' water supply.
Additional money could be put toward new water storage projects and improvements to existing dams, canals, and reservoirs in both countries, Giner said. "The big challenge is really some predictability ... on an annual basis."
The situation on the Rio Grande is unlike the Colorado River, where Mexico is last in line for water. The northwestern Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora use Colorado River water while Chihuahua, to the east, relies on the Rio Grande.
Giner added that whereas the Colorado has the powerful Bureau of Reclamation as a manager, the Rio Grande has the International Boundary and Water Commission, a little-known diplomatic agency headquartered in El Paso, with nowhere near the same manpower to handle transboundary water issues.
"We are the Bureau of Reclamation on the Rio Grande," she said, pointing to the commission's $55 million annual budget for the entire U.S-Mexico border.
But Democratic U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico said the problems of the three-state Rio Grande basin go beyond money. She wants to reform how the river is managed, and introduced legislation in Congress last summer to bring more coordination between the basin states, arguing that policies should be updated to match current climate conditions in the Southwest.
Stansbury said reservoirs on the Rio Grande could be managed differently to allow for better water storage, which would help communities in times of drought. Currently, reservoirs in New Mexico have specific uses for water delivery, flood control or storage, but are rarely used for more than one purpose. And adding more coordination among states would allow them to make better use of funding that's available, she said.
"On the Rio Grande, there's not a set of common goals because that management framework doesn't exist for the entire basin," Stansbury said. Her bill is part of a larger drought and wildfire package that the Senate will likely vote on after the midterm elections.
The Colorado River is on a scale unmatched by any other North American river, serving 40 million people across seven states, 29 tribes and Mexico. The Rio Grande provides water to more than 6 million people in southern Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico and irrigates thousands of square miles of farmland.
Jason Casuga, chief engineer for New Mexico's Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, said the Rio Grande's smaller scale should make conservation easier, particularly as drought-affected states are eligible for more funding.
"The Colorado is just orders and orders of magnitude different on the scale of water, which complicates solutions," Casuga said. "Luckily, for the Rio Grande, I don't believe that's the case. There are tangible solutions to moving water for drought purposes."
Previously-approved ‘safe outdoor space’ to be reconsidered - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
The first safe outdoor space approved by the Albuquerque Planning Department back in August will now have to be reassessed after a city hearing officer determined neighbors weren’t given proper notice.
The Albuquerque Journal reports land use hearing officer Steven Chavez heard seven appeals over the approval of the Dawn Legacy Pointe safe outdoor space slated for city property near Menaul NE and Interstate 25.
Chavez ruled that the Planning Department violated due process in its approval by only requiring space organizers to notify two nearby property owners of the plan, rather than the 20 owners that had property within 100 feet of the space.
A consultant for the space says those additional 18 notifications were sent to area residents Tuesday, which a Planning Department spokesperson says started a 10-day clock for the agency to make a second call on whether to OK the project.
The safe outdoor space in Northeast Albuquerque would be available for people without shelter to set up tents or park cars to sleep in.
The City Council voted to legalize such spaces over the summer.
Rio Grande managers eye federal cash for western drought - Suman Naishadham Associated Press
With several billion dollars in federal money secured for drought-stricken western states, managers and officials on the Rio Grande are hopeful some will reach their communities and bring attention to the challenges facing one of North America's longest rivers.
Stretches of the river near Albuquerque, New Mexico went dry for the first time in 40 years in August, destroying critical habitat for endangered fish. South Texas cities including McAllen, Brownsville and Mission, whose only water source is the river, ratcheted up water restrictions on businesses and a collective 1 million people. Reservoirs that are key to those residents, but not household names, like Amistad and the Falcon Lakes, fell to all-time lows. Farmers in the Rio Grande Valley braced for losses when drought caused interruptions to deliveries from canals that normally bring them water.
With $4 billion in the Biden administration's climate measure to address drought, some officials argue cities and farms in the Rio Grande basin have been overlooked while facing just as many problems as others in the West. The money from the federal spending package has not yet been fully allocated, but priority will be given to states served by the 1,450-mile powerhouse of the West, the Colorado River, and to other drought-afflicted basins. Officials in New Mexico and Texas want the Rio Grande to be included.
A main way the money will be spent in the Colorado River basin is to pay farmers to leave fields unplanted and free up the water that would otherwise be used. Southwestern cities and Native American tribes, who have their own rights to water, could also be paid to use less of their supply.
Over the years, Rio Grande communities have received federal grant funding and loans for infrastructure repairs and conservation, but officials say the current moment is unique because the Interior Department and other federal agencies are flush with cash from spending packages passed under the Biden administration.
New Mexico has received "bits and pieces of things," said Mike Hamman, the state water engineer. "But nothing like a major drought appropriation strictly from the federal government, to date."
In Texas, Maria Elena-Giner helps oversee treaties that govern how the U.S. and Mexico share the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the U.S. representative to the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Key differences between the two rivers make managing South Texas' water supply challenging, Giner said. In South Texas, 70% of water from the Rio Grande comes from tributaries located in Mexico. The southern neighbor is to deliver water to the U.S. in five-year cycles, or send smaller increments yearly. But Mexico's water deliveries have grown increasingly unpredictable as drought cuts into both countries' water supply.
Additional money could be put toward new water storage projects and improvements to existing dams, canals, and reservoirs in both countries, Giner said. "The big challenge is really some predictability ... on an annual basis."
The situation on the Rio Grande is unlike the Colorado River, where Mexico is last in line for water. The northwestern Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora use Colorado River water while Chihuahua, to the east, relies on the Rio Grande.
Giner added that whereas the Colorado has the powerful Bureau of Reclamation as a manager, the Rio Grande has the International Boundary and Water Commission, a little-known diplomatic agency headquartered in El Paso, with nowhere near the same manpower to handle transboundary water issues.
"We are the Bureau of Reclamation on the Rio Grande," she said, pointing to the commission's $55 million annual budget for the entire U.S-Mexico border.
But Democratic U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico said the problems of the three-state Rio Grande basin go beyond money. She wants to reform how the river is managed, and introduced legislation in Congress last summer to bring more coordination between the basin states, arguing that policies should be updated to match current climate conditions in the Southwest.
Stansbury said reservoirs on the Rio Grande could be managed differently to allow for better water storage, which would help communities in times of drought. Currently, reservoirs in New Mexico have specific uses for water delivery, flood control or storage, but are rarely used for more than one purpose. And adding more coordination among states would allow them to make better use of funding that's available, she said.
"On the Rio Grande, there's not a set of common goals because that management framework doesn't exist for the entire basin," Stansbury said. Her bill is part of a larger drought and wildfire package that the Senate will likely vote on after the midterm elections.
The Colorado River is on a scale unmatched by any other North American river, serving 40 million people across seven states, 29 tribes and Mexico. The Rio Grande provides water to more than 6 million people in southern Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico and irrigates thousands of square miles of farmland.
Jason Casuga, chief engineer for New Mexico's Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, said the Rio Grande's smaller scale should make conservation easier, particularly as drought-affected states are eligible for more funding.
"The Colorado is just orders and orders of magnitude different on the scale of water, which complicates solutions," Casuga said. "Luckily, for the Rio Grande, I don't believe that's the case. There are tangible solutions to moving water for drought purposes."
Previously-approved ‘safe outdoor space’ to be reconsidered - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
The first safe outdoor space approved by the Albuquerque Planning Department back in August will now have to be reassessed after a city hearing officer determined neighbors weren’t given proper notice.
The Albuquerque Journal reports land use hearing officer Steven Chavez heard seven appeals over the approval of the Dawn Legacy Pointe safe outdoor space slated for city property near Menaul NE and Interstate 25.
Chavez ruled that the Planning Department violated due process in its approval by only requiring space organizers to notify two nearby property owners of the plan, rather than the 20 owners that had property within 100 feet of the space.
A consultant for the space says those additional 18 notifications were sent to area residents Tuesday, which a Planning Department spokesperson says started a 10-day clock for the agency to make a second call on whether to OK the project.
The safe outdoor space in Northeast Albuquerque would be available for people without shelter to set up tents or park cars to sleep in.
The City Council voted to legalize such spaces over the summer.
Jacob Candelaria resigns from New Mexico Senate; Maestas wants his seat - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
State Sen. Jacob Candelaria announced Wednesday he would be resigning from the New Mexico State Senate, leaving two years before his term was slated to end.
Candelaria, who recently left the Senate Democratic caucus amid fights with leadership, had previously announced he would not seek re-election in 2024. He previously told Source New Mexico he was leaving so that he could start a family with his husband.
“After 10 years in the legislature, I’m content,” he said in December. “I feel proud of the work I’ve done and what I’ve achieved and tried to contribute to the state. So for me, it’s really closing a beautiful chapter of my life so that another one can open.”
In the last year, Candelaria clashed frequently with Senate leadership, including over redistricting. In Senate floor debates late last year he accused “elites” of diluting the voting strength of Hispanic residents in his Westside Albuquerque district. Candelaria, first elected in 2013, changed his party affiliation late last year from Democrat to independent.
“I cannot follow down a road which asks me to betray the people that elected me, that asks me to betray my integrity, just to vote for a map that partisan elites think is the best,” Candelaria said at the time. “I won’t do it.”
Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, a Democrat, is hoping to take Candelaria’s seat. His district is also in the Westside. He is running unopposed for re-election in District 16.
Because Candelaria’s and Maestas’ districts are both fully contained in Bernalillo County, the County Commission has authority to appoint replacements. Maestas will submit an application to the commission shortly, he said in a brief interview Wednesday, and, if he’s chosen, the commission could appoint Maestas’ replacement soon after.
It could all happen in the next few weeks, he said. The Commission meets Tuesday.
Maestas said he has the experience required to pick up the Westside’s interests in the Senate.
“We represent the same neighborhoods. … In terms of community leaders, capital outlay, and responding to constituents, we really don’t make distinctions between the district lines here on the Westside,” he said.
He credited Candelaria for his effective use of capital outlay money for big infrastructure projects in the district, like the Interstate 40 and 98th Street interchange.
“He got us to do these million-dollar projects, which I think will be – in addition to fantastic lawmaking – his local legacy.”
New Mexico State project seeks more nutritious chile peppers - Associated Press
It's no secret that chile is a popular and essential crop in New Mexico.
Now researchers at New Mexico State University are working to develop more nutritious and better-yielding chile pepper varieties to improve overall productivity in the nation's top chile-producing state.
Dennis Nicuh Lozada, the school's chile pepper breeder and director of the Chile Pepper Breeding and Genetics Program, is leading the four-year project.
It's funded by a nearly $489,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Lozada said the project's goal is to develop chile pepper varieties with improved nutritional quality and yield through a deeper understanding of the genetic basis underlying these traits.
Work on the project began this spring at NMSU's Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center in Las Cruces.
Lozada's research team is using two novel genomic approaches – genome-wide association studies and genomic selection – to accelerate the selection, breeding and development of chile pepper varieties with improved nutritional content and yield.
The researchers will first use genome-wide association studies to identify genetic markers linked with fruit morphology, nutritional content and yield in New Mexican chile peppers.
They then will implement genomic selection for fruit morphology, yield and nutritional quality-related traits and evaluate the effects of different factors on genomic selection accuracy.
Finally, the researchers will develop molecular markers that improve fruit morphology and nutritional content in chile peppers.
Wolf known for genetic value found dead in New Mexico - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Environmentalists are pushing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do more to protect Mexican gray wolves after one of the endangered predators was found dead in southwestern New Mexico.
The Western Watersheds Project is among the groups that have been critical of the agency's management of wolves in New Mexico and Arizona, saying illegal killings continue to hamper the population. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service says there have been fewer wolves found dead this year than in previous years.
The agency also pointed to a revised recovery plan for the wolf that was released in early October. The agency was under a court order to revamp the plan to address the threat of human-caused mortality as one of the ways to increase survivability for wolves in the wild.
Federal officials said they could not provide any details about the circumstances of the latest death since it was an ongoing investigation. It's rare that such investigations are ever closed.
Environmentalists described the male wolf recently found dead near Winston as one of the most genetically-valuable Mexican wolves in the wild. It had been released in 2018 after being born in captivity and then cross-fostered into a wild wolf den as part of an effort to increase genetic diversity.
The wolf and its mate were captured near Reserve in 2021 and relocated with pups to Ted Turner's Ladder Ranch in 2021. That move spurred a legal fight, with ranchers saying they were not notified by the federal government of plans to establish the new pack.
The Ladder Ranch has worked with the Fish and Wildlife Service for years, providing a site for captive wolves and other endangered species projects through the Turner Endangered Species Fund. Across Turner's vast land holdings, that work has ranged from breeding endangered Bolson tortoises to providing habitat for endangered black-footed ferrets and gray wolves in the northern Rockies.
For more than two decades, the effort to return Mexican gray wolves to the U.S. Southwest has been fraught with conflict as ranchers have complained about having to scare away wolves to keep their cattle from being eaten. Many have said their livelihoods and rural way of life are at stake.
Environmentalists say the reintroduction has stumbled as a result of illegal killings, management decisions and challenges stemming from the region's year-round cattle calving season.
Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, said she noticed the male wolf was missing when officials released the latest public map.
"The good news is that wolf #1693 was able to successfully father two litters of pups, which is a testament to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's willingness to leave him in the wild in 2021 and 2022," she said in a statement. "The bad news is that his ability to continue to contribute to the overall diversity of the wild population was tragically cut short."
North America's rarest subspecies of gray wolf, the Mexican gray wolf was listed as endangered in 1976 after being pushed to the brink of extinction. From the 1960s to the 1980s, seven Mexican wolves — believed to be the last of their kind — were captured and the captive breeding program was started. Wolf releases began in the late '90s.
The wild population has seen its numbers nearly double over the last five years, with the latest annual census finding nearly 200 Mexican wolves in New Mexico and Arizona. There also are a few dozen in Mexico.
EPA: UPS to pay fine, correct hazardous waste violations - By Matthew Daly Associated Press
The Environmental Protection Agency has reached a settlement with United Parcel Service to resolve violations of hazardous waste regulations at more than 1,100 facilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico, the agency said Wednesday.
The consent agreement with Atlanta-based UPS resolves a range of alleged violations, including failure to make land disposal determinations and to conduct proper on-site management of hazardous waste. The company has three years to reach compliance across 1,160 locations and will pay a civil penalty of $5.3 million.
UPS, whose familiar brown trucks are known worldwide, generates hazardous waste regulated under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act when a package containing certain hazardous materials is damaged, as well as during day-to-day operations such as maintenance, EPA said.
"This settlement is another example of EPA's commitment to protecting communities from the dangers of hazardous waste," said Larry Starfield, EPA's acting assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance. The settlement requires UPS to address illegal actions at all of its facilities and "implement policies that prevent future non-compliance," Starfield said.
UPS spokesperson Lauren Spangler said the parcel-delivery service has long-standing procedures in place to handle hazardous waste and is taking additional steps to improve its practices.
"The safety of our employees and communities, and care for our environment are the highest priorities at UPS,'' she said in an email. "We will continue to work with agencies and authorities around the world to ensure the safety of our network and the well-being of our employees and the customers and communities we serve.''
EPA officials in Texas-based Region 6 entered into a settlement agreement with UPS last year for facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. Following that settlement, EPA expanded its investigation into other UPS facilities across the country and identified similar claims nationwide. UPS facilities generated, accumulated and offered for transport, treatment and/or disposal of certain hazardous waste streams, including ignitable, corrosive and acute hazardous wastes, EPA said.
UPS has developed compliance strategies at its Region 6 facilities and has begun similar steps nationwide, EPA said.
Under the settlement, UPS agreed to comply with state and federal RCRA laws and regulations, including more accurate hazardous waste determinations, proper employee training and proper onsite management of hazardous waste, EPA said.