New Mexico city sued for hounding, harassing the homeless - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and others are suing the city of Albuquerque to stop officials in the state's largest city from destroying homeless encampments and jailing and fining people who are living on the street.
The lawsuit filed Monday accuses the city of violating the civil rights of what advocates describe as Albuquerque's most vulnerable population.
Lawyers for the ACLU, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and a group of homeless plaintiffs contend that Albuquerque has initiated a campaign in which city personnel is hounding and harassing the homeless.
The complaint blames the city's own policies for causing a housing shortage, along with escalating home prices that have put ownership out of reach and have resulted in more pressure on the rental market. They also point to the trend of institutional investors buying single-family homes and renting them at sky-high rates.
"The lack of affordable housing and adequately paid employment in Albuquerque has not only caused precariously housed individuals and families to lose their housing, but it has also presented a barrier for currently unhoused people to exit homelessness," the lawsuit states.
The lawyers also acknowledge that mental illness, disabilities or substance abuse can be contributing factors to some people's homelessness, but that the city simply doesn't have enough beds or shelters to accommodate the growing population.
Democratic Mayor Tim Keller's office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit.
The ACLU is fighting similar actions in Arizona, where a federal judge last week temporarily halted Phoenix from conducting sweeps of a huge homeless encampment downtown.
In Albuquerque, the mayor's office has struggled to address the complaints of residents about homeless encampments taking over public parks and about aggressive panhandling. The city plans to develop a multimillion-dollar center on Albuquerque's south side where the homeless can seek services but the number of beds will meet only a fraction of the need.
Those without a place to go also have complained that the city's emergency housing shelter in a remote area west of Albuquerque is dangerous, unsanitary and infested with black mold.
According to the lawsuit, the shelter — which is able to house as many as 450 people — lacks working fire hydrants, does not meet fire safety and building codes, and has no means of sanitizing sheets, blankets or bedding to rid them of bed bugs and parasites.
Many of those at the shelter also have mental illness and behavioral health disabilities, and the advocates say mental health therapy is not provided there.
The lawsuit also detailed a homeless community of about 120 people that set up camp in Coronado Park, a city park north of downtown along a busy interstate. City workers began clearing the park of tents and belongings earlier this summer, making for what the plaintiffs described as a chaotic scene.
"Because the city lacks adequate shelter space and because even the available shelter space is not a viable option for some people, the people evicted from Coronado Park had nowhere to go," the lawsuit states. "People have looked for other locations, but the city continues to sweep unhoused people from wherever they land, making it impossible for people to settle anywhere."
The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness estimates the number of New Mexicans experiencing homelessness statewide is between 15,000 and 20,000. That includes those staying in shelters or outdoors and those who are temporarily living with others, living in unsafe housing conditions, sleeping in cars or staying in motels.
Maria Martinez Sanchez, legal director at ACLU-NM, said laws that criminalize people experiencing homelessness make it harder for them to find housing and jobs because even misdemeanor convictions can make someone ineligible for subsidized housing.
"Criminalizing homelessness does nothing to address its root causes. In fact, it exacerbates the problem," she said. "We know the solution — affordable housing. The city just needs to find the will and the courage to make it happen."
PED says it issued 4,000+ new teacher licenses. But there are still hundreds of vacancies. - By Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico
New Mexico waived fees for teacher licenses for a 60-day stretch during the spring.
Education officials are beaming at the fact that the free window brought in thousands of new applicants to help fill the vacancies in classrooms across the state.
Since the beginning of the year, the N.M. Public Education Department has issued 4,198 new teacher licenses, and those applications spiked during the free period between Feb. 1 and March 31, said Layla Dehaiman, PED assistant director of educator quality.
A little over 900 of those new licenses went to people who are working as substitute teachers, some of them part-time. So plenty would seem to be left to fill the 690 vacant teaching positions in New Mexico — down from a shortage of 1,048 reported last year.
So why aren’t all those new educator licenses turning into full-time classroom teachers? Licenses can be issued to people who may choose to take another job but still retain the license, Dehaiman said. Plus, another 1,770 or so of the new licenses were applications of reciprocity from out of state or country, which means they came from educators who work in other places and decided to stay there.
Some people, like Dehaiman herself, got the license because they do work in education but not necessarily in the classroom.
The office that handles licenses grew this year after receiving money from the state to hire three additional staff members. This helped to streamline the application and process, and establish an online system so educators across the state don’t have to drive to Santa Fe to renew their licenses. Teachers took advantage of the free period to renew their licenses and keep money in their pockets, too.
PED is asking state lawmakers for more money to expand the office so licenses get out the door and teachers get in the classroom.
“At one point in the summer, we had about 7,000 pending applications, which were renewals and initial licensure licenses,” Dehaiman said. “It follows the fiscal year, and so that just becomes a really intense time for our team. And so we kind of have an all-hands-on-deck approach to get those licenses issued, and issued correctly.
A quick and easy process benefits teachers and their students, she said.
“We’ve got anywhere between 20,000 to 20,500 educators across the state of New Mexico that need help. We need to be there to support them.”
Her office is also looking for money to support education fellow programs that are designed as teacher pipelines. The program recruits education assistants, recent college graduates and anyone else interested in teaching to become full-time teachers. Fellows receive financial support and pay while they finish school or work to get licensed.
Fellowships lead to a one-year teacher residency program that can guarantee a job in the district upon completion.
“What we’re doing is making sure that we’re attracting teachers that want to work within their communities and stay within their communities,” Dehaiman said. “Because what we know is that if a teacher feels fully supported during those first three years, they’re much more likely to stay in the field.”
New Mexico student charged in connection with fatal shooting - Associated Press
A University of New Mexico student has been charged in connection with last month's fatal shooting on campus that involved a basketball player at a rival school.
Bernalillo County prosecutors said Eli-sha Upshaw, 19, was arrested Friday on suspicion of two counts of aggravated battery, conspiracy and tampering with evidence.
They said Upshaw allegedly helped lure New Mexico State University forward Mike Peake to UNM's Albuquerque campus Nov. 19 hours before a scheduled basketball game between the two schools and allegedly attacked him with a baseball bat.
That led to a shootout between Peake and 19-year-old UNM student Brandon Travis, who died at the scene.
Prosecutors said Upshaw tried to hide and destroy evidence and he's jailed without bond pending a court hearing Monday.
It was unclear Sunday if Upshaw has a lawyer yet who can speak on his behalf.
New Mexico State Police believe Upshaw conspired with Travis and at least two other UNM students — including a 17-year-old girl — to lure Peake to campus and assault him.
They said Travis was seeking revenge after being beaten up in a fight involving Peake and other men at the Oct. 15 football game in Las Cruces between the two schools.
State Police said the gun Peake possessed was legal, but the gun used by Travis was stolen in June out of a man's truck in Clovis.
Peake, 21, suffered a leg wound in the shootout that has required several surgeries.
He has not been charged in Travis' death, but has been suspended indefinitely from the Aggies' basketball team.
County prosecutors and independent investigators hired by NMSU are now looking into the actions and involvement of the players, coaches and other university staff members in connection with the incident.
Anxiety added as condition for medical weed in New Mexico - Associated Press
Officials in New Mexico have approved anxiety disorders as a qualifying condition under the state's medical marijuana program.
When approving the move last month, the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board cited that up to 25 percent of New Mexico's adult population — roughly 465,000 people — could be experiencing the effects of such disorders. The ruling takes effect Jan. 1.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the change, which could expand the medical cannabis program to thousands of new patients, came about after two advisory board members, physician assistant Stephanie Richmond and Dr. Jean-Paul Dedam, petitioned the board to add anxiety as a qualifying condition.
Richmond said she and Dedam asked if they could submit their own petition when public petitions to add conditions to the program abruptly ceased in 2021 after recreational cannabis was legalized for adults 21 and over. Richmond and Dedam excused themselves from voting on the petition, but four remaining board members voted unanimously to approve it.
Richmond said she hopes the measure will reduce the need for benzodiazepines, common pharmaceutical drugs prescribed for anxiety disorders with the potential for dependency and negative side effects. She also hopes it will encourage more discussions between patients and doctors about the plant's use, especially because strong stigmas and misinformation still exist.
Dispensary managers view the measure as a positive step forward, but they say dosage and treatment protocols will ultimately remain the responsibility of cannabis shop employees until more medical doctors are versed in products and their effects.
Boy who got new heart inspires tribe to boost organ donation - By Felicia Fonseca Associated Press
Greyson Parisien's time on earth was short. But the boy with dark-rimmed eyeglasses who was enchanted by the music in "Frozen," the sound of ripping paper and his dad playing the guitar is having an outsized impact on his tribal community in the far reaches of North Dakota.
His journey to correct an irregular heart led the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians to add an organ donation box to tribal IDs, which it unveiled during a November ceremony.
The rate of organ donations among Native Americans is much lower than other ethnic groups. For some tribes, cultural beliefs are a factor. In rural communities, time, distance and spotty internet access can hinder the process.
"You don't think about donation and how many people are not donors," said Greyson's grandmother, Joan Azure. "I was thinking, 'There has to be more donors.' When you're going through this personally, you don't want someone to die but you also want your child to live."
Fewer than 1% of the 100,000 people nationwide waiting for organ transplants are Native Americans, who make up nearly 3% of the U.S. population.
The figures are higher in some states, including New Mexico where 1 in 5 people on the waiting list are Native American. In South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota, nearly 5% of patients awaiting an organ donation are Native American.
Greyson had surgery at 5 months to correct a heart problem, and then he needed an external device to pump blood through his small body. A heart transplant allowed him to leave the hospital after a year and return to the Turtle Mountain reservation, headquartered in Belcourt, North Dakota.
Tribal members followed Greyson's treatment through updates his family posted on social media. They saw him hooked up to medical equipment and dressed sharply in boxy eyeglasses, bow ties and khakis, his hair combed in a mohawk.
When he died suddenly of pneumonia in September 2019, the community sought understanding and assurance that it wasn't because of his new heart. He was 21 months old.
Greyson's story and spirit live on in parades, powwows and conversations. Joan Azure also highlights her grandson during a week devoted to children born with congenital heart problems.
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians honored Greyson this year with a resolution to add an organ donation box to tribal IDs. The tribe unveiled the IDs in November, waived the $10 fee and encouraged tribal members to check the box.
"Today is a monumental day that people will remember, especially Native nations, for decades to come," tribal Chairman Jamie Azure said, standing next to Greyson's photo, was taken after he got a new heart — smiling with arms stretched to the sky.
The tribe believes it could be the first of the 574 federally recognized Native American nations to designate a spot on tribal IDs for organ donors.
Susan Mau Larson, the chief strategy officer for LifeSource, part of a network of nearly 60 organ procurement organizations, said she hopes other tribes follow suit. Several are working with tribal communities to raise awareness of organ donation and transplant.
Those conversations can be tough, especially when personal or traditional beliefs don't align with Western medicine. They happen in tribal communities, at events and in hospital rooms as someone nears the end of their life. And there are guidelines: Identify the decision maker in a family. Tell a story, don't explain the process. Give the family time to discuss. Be comfortable with silence. And comfort families, regardless of the decision.
In the Southwest, Darryl Madalena encourages tribal members to think about becoming organ donors by making a connection between kidney disease — which afflicts Native Americans at higher rates than the U.S. population — and organ donation and receipt.
He talks about tribes' increasing reliance on Western medicine and asks, hypothetically, if members would be prevented from journeying on if they had a pacemaker or an artificial hip. If not, why not donate or receive an organ?
"So much of westernized medicine is in the fabric of our communities, our lives, our culture," said Madalena, the Native American liaison for New Mexico Donor Services. "If you pull one string, that may be very detrimental to the health of Natives."
Madalena's work is partly driven by the memory of his partner, Mylia Phouamkha, a Hopi woman who died within a week of being hospitalized with liver problems in 2019, without enough time to seriously consider a transplant.
She and Madalena had a son together, Micca, who was 2 years old at the time.
"If your heart tells you and you have it within yourself to have a transplant if you need it ...I would say yes, do it," said her father, Myron Ami, as Micca sat on his lap.
Madalena has faced criticism for mentioning death, which can be a taboo topic. His community of Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico believes that people enter this world physically and spiritually whole, and that they should leave the same way.
"That's what we're taught, that's what the beliefs still are," he said.
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians doesn't hold the same beliefs, Joan Azure said. About 40% of people in Rollette County where the tribe is based have signed up to become organ donors, compared to 65% overall in North Dakota.
Education, means or opportunity are big factors, said Mau Larson. Simply getting a driver's license means traveling 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the Turtle Mountain reservation. But tribal IDs are renewed every two years, giving tribal members a more frequent opportunity to choose organ donation.
Studies show that organ recipients are best matched with donors of similar genetic makeup, Mau Larson said. Kidneys are especially needed in Native American communities, where one-quarter of the population is diabetic, she said.
Greyson and his family spent much of his life in Rochester, Minnesota, for his medical care, hundreds of miles from the rolling hills and lakes of the Turtle Mountain reservation. His heart came from a girl named Coralynn, whose picture on a puzzle piece was interlocked with Greyson's on a parade float banner reading "Not all Heroes Wear Capes!"
After Greyson died, his family asked a Turtle Mountain elder to to bestow a traditional name upon him, through their creator. The elder was in a sweat lodge praying when it came to him: "Waasizo Gichi Anong Ningaabii' Anong," or "Shining Big Star in the West," said Joan Azure.
"Even in his worst moments, his smile shined brightly, his presence brought happiness and light to everyone he came into contact with," she said. "And he provided guidance to many with that bright shining light through his bravery and strength."
Officials: Colorado firm's alfalfa cubes may kill horses - Associated Press
State and federal officials are warning horse owners not to feed their animals Top of the Rockies brand alfalfa cubes after nearly 100 horses developed neurologic illnesses — 45 of which have died or been euthanized.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the warning Saturday. The agency said it's working with state agriculture departments in Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas to investigate the horse deaths.
Manzanola Feeds of Manzanola, Colorado, recalled the cubes Friday. The company warns that certain batches may contain bacteria that cause botulism, a fatal paralytic disease. The FDA said more testing is ongoing to confirm the causes of reported illnesses.
The company directly distributed products to stores in 10 states including Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin. The FDA warns the cubes may have been sold in other states as well.
Symptoms include dizziness, trouble with vocalizing or swallowing, difficulty breathing, muscle weakness, abdominal distension and constipation. Anyone who fed the cubes to horses or observes symptoms should immediately contact a veterinarian.
Some cubes have been reported to contain what appears to be fur and animal tissues, which may have been ground up during alfalfa harvesting. Botulism-causing bacteria is found in decaying animal carcasses.
Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes are sold in white and tan plastic 50-pound bags with green labeling. The date codes are on the front of the package. Potentially contaminated lots include those with the date codes 111222, 111322, 111422, 111522, and 111622.
The FDA advises anyone with the cubes to throw them away in a secure container. People should wear gloves and a face mask when emptying containers with the cubes, then apply bleach solution to any feed bins or containers. More specific tips on disposal can be found here.
The Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine said its lab has conducted necropsies on 12 horses. Testing of some alfalfa cubes and tissues from those horses is being done at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
LSU says an equine medicine professor is treating other horses with symptoms.
Judge rules Alamogordo lab cannot keep research chimps - Associated Press
A federal judge has ruled that chimpanzees previously used for research in a New Mexico laboratory can be transferred to an animal sanctuary.
A U.S. District Court judge in Maryland found this week the National Institutes of Health legally cannot refuse to send chimpanzees in the Alamogordo Primate Facility to a sanctuary.
It would violate the Chimpanzee Health, Improvement, Maintenance and Protection Act. The law was established in 2000 to fund a federal chimpanzee sanctuary system.
The order is in response to a lawsuit brought by the Humane Society of the United States, Animal Protection of New Mexico and other animal rights groups last year.
According to the federal agency, 30 chimps remain in Alamogordo because of medical conditions and social attachments.
The NIH has previously said all federally owned chimps are eligible to live out the rest of their lives at Chimp Haven, a sanctuary in Louisiana.
Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby also wants both sides to file a joint report by Jan. 13 on next steps to resolve the situation.