Another $1.45 billion could be on the way for NM fire victims – By Alice Fordham, KUNM News
Another huge tranche of government money could be on the way to help fire victims in New Mexico. A proposed federal spending bill includes $1.45 billion to compensate victims of the disastrous Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak fire earlier this year, which was accidentally started by the US Forest Service. The money is in addition to $2.5 billion allocated in September.
The funding could pay for everything from new homes to clearing acequias to compensating for loss of logging and grazing rights.
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez told KUNM that although entities like the state and local municipalities are eligible for the help, regular people should come first.
“We are going to prioritize that those who are least able to survive long periods of time without receiving their compensation,” she said.
She said she is pressing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to hire staff locally, and as quickly as possible.
"In order to get $3.95 billion out the door, you need people to process those claims,” she said. “And until people start getting the checks in hand, it's going to be hard, right?”
FEMA says applicants should be able to begin filing claims around February.
New Mexico seeks tougher provisions for US nuclear dump - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
State officials on Tuesday released a draft permit that includes tougher provisions for the U.S. government to meet if it wants to continue dumping radioactive waste from decades of nuclear research and bomb-making in the New Mexico desert.
The public will have the next 60 days to comment on the proposal. Watchdog groups already have indicated their support for measures that include forcing the federal government to consider developing another waste repository elsewhere in the U.S. and reporting annually on those efforts.
Top state officials have accused the federal government of taking advantage of New Mexico over the decades. They are also concerned about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico having an unending lifespan.
State Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Las Cruces Democrat who heads the Legislature's radioactive and hazardous materials committee, said the permit proposed by the New Mexico Environment Department puts definition and meaning into the state's agreement with the federal government for operating the underground repository.
“I think there’s this mentality that New Mexico can just be the forever home for all the nation’s waste. It’s an exploitative mentality regarding our state," he said in an interview. "And so it’s good to see our state setting boundaries.”
New Mexico wants to raise the bar by demanding federal officials produce a full accounting of materials still needing to be cleaned up and shipped to the repository from laboratories and defense-related sites around the country. The state also is putting Congress on notice that the permit would be revoked if lawmakers expand the type of waste accepted at WIPP.
Currently, the subterranean landfill carved out of an ancient salt formation is licensed to take transuranic waste, or waste generated by the nation’s nuclear weapons program that is contaminated with radioactive elements heavier than uranium. The drums and special boxes entombed there are packed with lab coats, rubber gloves, tools and other contaminated debris.
The U.S. Energy Department said in a statement that it looks forward to participating in the comment period.
The comment period will be followed by negotiations with the Department of Energy and a public hearing.
State officials and watchdog groups expect the Department of Energy to push back on several conditions, and it could take a year before a final permit is hashed out and approved.
Don Hancock with Southwest Research and Information Center said his group is concerned that limits on the volume of waste that can be disposed at WIPP will not be enforced and that the permit does not include a final end date for shipments.
Hancock said the state's proposed conditions can be strengthened. For example, the Department of Energy could include timelines and milestones in the report on efforts to develop another repository and make that information publicly available.
The permit negotiations follow Congress' approval last week of a defense bill that would clear the way for more money to be spent on making key plutonium components for the nation's nuclear arsenal. The waste resulting from new production would require disposal.
Democratic members of New Mexico's congressional delegation have supported expanding production at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the once-secret installation that helped with development of the atomic bomb. The mission has an escalating price tag and promises to bring jobs to the state.
While federal officials have described the project as essential for national security, critics have voiced their concerns about unchecked spending, the lab's history of safety violations and environmental consequences of ramped-up production.
Steinborn said he recognizes the economic benefits of facilities like Los Alamos and WIPP.
“And yet, at the same time, we should never sacrifice or be willing to look the other way or take the soft approach towards vigorously defending our public health or safety for any of these projects — or for that matter any industry in the state of New Mexico,” he said.
Steinborn noted that New Mexico also is grappling with contamination from past uranium mining, oil and gas development and the use of toxic firefighting chemicals known as PFAS at air force bases around the state.
Navajo company sues BNSF Railway over coal transportation - By Felicia Fonseca Associated Press
One of the largest coal producers in the United States has sued a major freight railroad, alleging it breached a contract to transport coal from Montana for use overseas.
The Navajo Transitional Energy Co. alleges that major shortcomings in BNSF Railway service cost it $150 million in lost revenue this year and another $15 million in charges when coal wasn't loaded in a timely manner onto ships destined for Japan and Korea. The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Billings, Montana.
BNSF Railway spokesperson Lena Kent declined to comment Tuesday.
Like other freight railroads, BNSF has struggled to deliver products on time and handle all the shipments that companies want to move because of worker shortages coming out of the coronavirus pandemic. Service has improved but not to pre-pandemic levels.
NTEC contends BNSF gave no indication it wouldn't be able to handle shipping up to 5.5 million tons of coal from its Spring Creek Mine near the border of Montana and Wyoming to a coal export facility in Canada when the companies negotiated a contract for 2022.
BNSF told NTEC in late April and early May that it could commit to delivering only 3.1 million tons of coal this year, far short of what NTEC needed to fulfill its own obligations to customers and maintain good working relationships, according to the lawsuit.
NTEC further alleged that BNSF favored other coal companies that ship on the railroad.
"BNSF is, simply put, abusing its monopoly power and picking winners and losers," Matt Babcock, vice president of sales and marketing for NTEC said in a statement. "And it's not only at the expense of our business and our customers, but at the expense of the Navajo Nation."
The Navajo Nation is the sole shareholder of NTEC, which owns three coal mines in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, and another near Farmington, New Mexico — making it the third-largest coal company in the nation. It also owns a share of the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington.
Revenue from NTEC makes up about one-third of the Navajo Nation's roughly $160 million general fund, which doesn't account for federal funding the tribe receives. NTEC's corporate offices are in Broomfield, Colorado.
Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway is owned by Warren Buffet's Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
UNM and NMSU graduate workers approve collective bargaining agreements - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Graduate workers at New Mexico’s two biggest higher education institutions overwhelmingly approved their first-ever collective bargaining agreements with their bosses.
Rank-and-file members of the two unions representing graduate workers at the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University said in interviews they are happy with the contracts but consider them only a starting point for much more work to be done.
“NMSU and UNM are setting the stage for what grad workers can fight for and what grad workers deserve, and making a standard the universities are going to have to meet and realize they don’t just to get decide everything for us,” said Laura-Martin Alasandagutti, a teaching assistant in the French program at UNM.
Graduate workers at UNM ratified their contract in a 437-17 vote (96% in favor). Their counterparts at NMSU approved theirs in a 190-10 vote (95% in favor). Voting on each contract ended on Friday.
Ben Garcia, a graduate assistant in UNM’s biology department who’s studying fish immunology, said now that they’ve started, they need to keep going.
“We’ve now delivered something we can show the student body and graduate workers,” he said.
The contracts will take effect starting in the upcoming spring semester at both schools.
UNM spokesperson Cinnamon Blair said Monday she needed to wait to comment on the ratification until after UNM receives a signed copy of the contract.
NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu weighed in on Monday, saying that though the agreement must still be formally approved by the university, he’s hopeful that they’re on a course that will mutually benefit everyone involved.
“We’re delighted this contract has been approved by our graduate assistants’ bargaining unit,” he said in a written statement. “NMSU’s graduate assistants teach classes, and conduct research and outreach efforts, and serve as mentors to our undergraduates.”
WHAT’S IN THE CONTRACTS
The UNM contract provides a 7% raise, while the NMSU contract provides a 6.8% raise.
The NMSU contract only provides raises to research assistants “dependent on available funds.” This is not fair, said Lindley Hornsby, a research assistant in the NMSU social work program.
“We need an equitable increase for research assistants,” Hornsby said.
Garcia was not expecting such a high wage increase from UNM management, and he said it will allow him to travel to see family.
“It’s obviously not enough, given the increases in the cost of living, and it’s not enough in that it’s a one-time raise, but it’s going to increase quality of life overall and let a lot of people not have nearly as much financial stress,” Garcia said.
UNM will also cover 100% of graduate workers’ health care costs and 25% of their dental care.
The U.S. government makes international students pay a fee, which he said functionally denies higher education to many of them. But from now on, UNM will cover those fees.
The NMSU contract also requires management to provide official contract letters with specific, detailed job duties, and a start date, Hornsby said.
“Previously, we didn’t have this,” Hornsby said. “I was coming from out of state, and I didn’t know, two weeks before I was supposed to move if I was officially hired.”
Both contracts create a grievance process for graduate workers, including a written nondiscrimination clause.
“We didn’t have that before,” Hornsby said. “Before, we could pretty much get fired for no reason.”
WHAT’S NOT IN THE CONTRACTS
One of the main issues graduate workers at NMSU have been organizing around is tuition remission. The NMSU contract does not entirely cover tuition for graduate workers, but does provide the equivalent of two credit hours, or $686 of tuition coverage, said Alexander Allison, a teaching assistant in the biology department.
It also only covers a grad worker who doesn’t already receive the equivalent amount of money from NMSU’s scholarship program, Allison said.
Even though UNM graduate workers are employees, they still must pay for parking.
The contract doesn’t offer any parking discounts like other groups on campus but does give them the ability to set up a payment plan to pay the same amount in parking fees over the course of a semester, Alasandagutti said.
NMSU will provide $100 to international students for their health care costs, and search for a health insurance company to further reduce their health care costs. This is not good enough, Allison said.
Also not present in either contract is a right for graduate workers to go on strike.
Garcia said the union bargaining team did a great job with the situation in New Mexico, “with having next to no leverage,” referring to state law prohibiting public sector workers from striking.
Union members have agreed to start working toward a right to strike, given how important it is to have a bargaining chip in future negotiations, Garcia and Alasandagutti said.
“Unions are sort of neutered out of the gate,” Garcia said. “The university has no reason to bargain in good faith and actually make concessions with us if we don’t have any leverage over them.”
It’s not something the union would be able to get into a contract, Garcia said, but is a broader objective that would have to be accomplished by the union’s Political Action Committee lobbying state lawmakers in Santa Fe.
“We see what’s happening in California. We see what’s happening elsewhere,” Alasandagutti said. “Whether we want to strike or not, it is helpful to have that in our conversations and have that in UNM’s mind.”
New Mexico’s HSD proposes medication-assisted treatment for incarcerated people - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Beginning in 2024, New Mexico’s Medicaid program could start providing medication-assisted treatment to incarcerated people 30 days before they are released, along with a 30-day supply of medication when they leave.
In a 275-page application to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services by the New Mexico Human Services Department published Friday, HSD says it hopes to ensure formerly incarcerated people stay on their medication after release, don’t commit more crime, end up in an emergency room or become unhoused.
It would be “a critical step to addressing the harms of substance use, but also the harms of criminalization for people who are experiencing substance use disorder,” said Emily Kaltenbach, senior director of criminal legal and policing reform at the Drug Policy Alliance.
At any given time in New Mexico, more than 14,000 people are held in state, local or youth correctional facilities, HSD wrote, and nearly 50,000 people churn through local jails here each year.
New Mexico’s prison system forces people on medication for opioid use disorder to withdraw from it when they enter prison, with the exception of pregnant people, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by ACLU-NM and Disability Rights New Mexico.
The lawsuit cites research showing that someone leaving incarceration is nearly 13 times more likely than the general population to die of an overdose in the first two weeks after their release.
HSD wants to get people held in jail before a trial or imprisoned post-conviction on Medicaid so they can get medication-assisted treatment while inside state prisons, local jails, youth correctional facilities, tribal holding facilities, tribal jails and the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas.
The department plans to focus on incarcerated people with serious mental health conditions, severe emotional disturbance, substance use disorder, or an intellectual or developmental disability. It estimates 7,500 people per year could benefit.
Albuquerque sued by ACLU for hounding, harassing 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.”
Faith leaders prep for border changes amid tension, hope - By Giovanna Dell'orto Associated Press
Two long lines of migrants waited for blessings from visiting Catholic priests celebrating Mass at the Casa del Migrante shelter in this border city, just across the bank of the Rio Grande River from Texas.
After services ended last week, several crammed around the three Jesuits again, asking about upcoming U.S. policy changes that would end pandemic-era asylum restrictions. That's expected to result in even more people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, adding to the already unusually high apprehension numbers.
"All of you will be able to cross at some point," the Rev. Brian Strassburger told the nearly 100 Mass goers in Spanish while a Haitian migrant translated in Creole. "Our hope is that with this change, it will mean less time. My advice is, be patient."
It is getting harder to deliver that message of hope and patience not only for Strassburger, but also for the Catholic nuns running this shelter and leaders from numerous faith organizations who have long shouldered most of the care for tens of thousands of migrants on both sides of the border.
Migrants here — mostly from Haiti, but also Central and South America and more recently from Russia — are deeply mistrustful of swirling policy rumors. A judge has ordered the restriction known as Title 42, which only affect certain nationalities, to end Wednesday. But the asylum restriction, which was supposed to lift in May, is still being litigated.
Faith leaders working on the border are wary of what's to come. They expect tensions will keep rising if new restrictions are imposed. And if not, they will struggle to host ever larger numbers of arrivals at already over-capacity shelters and quickly resettle them in a volatile political environment.
"People are coming because it's not long before the bridge will be opened. But I don't think that the United States is going to say, 'OK, all!'" said the Rev. Hector Silva. The evangelical pastor has 4,200 migrants packed in his two Reynosa shelters, and more thronging their gates.
Pregnant women, a staggering number in shelters, have the best chance of legally entering the U.S. to apply for asylum. It takes up to three weeks, under humanitarian parole. Families wait up to eight weeks and it can take single adults three months, Strassburger explained at Casa del Migrante, where he travels from his Texas parish to celebrate Mass twice a week.
Last week, the shelter housed nearly 300 people, mostly women and children, in tightly packed bunk beds with sleeping pads between them. Men wait in the streets, exposed to cartel violence, said Sister Maria Tello, who runs Casa del Migrante.
"Our challenge is to be able to serve all those who keep coming, that they may find a place worthy of them. …Twenty leave and 30 enter. And there are many outside we can't assist," said Tello, a Sisters of Mercy nun.
Edimar Valera, 23, fled Venezuela with family, including her two-year-old daughter. They crossed the notoriously dangerous Darien Gap, where Valera nearly drowned and went without food. After arriving in Reynosa and escaping a kidnapping, she found refuge at Casa del Migrante, where she's been since November despite having a sponsor ten miles away in McAllen, Texas.
"We need to wait, and it could be good for some and bad for others. One doesn't know what to do," she said, finding some comfort in Mass and daily prayers, where she begs God for help and patience.
So does Eslande, 31, who left Haiti for Chile. She is on her second attempt to cross into the U.S. after not finding there the right help for her young son's learning disability. At Casa del Migrante just a day, she read the Gospel aloud in Creole during Mass, a reminder of happier times when her father distributed Communion.
"I have faith that I will be going in," she said in the Spanish she's learned en route. Like many migrants, she only gave a first name fearing for her safety.
Tensions are rising faster than hope as it's unclear who will be able to cross first.
"Any change could grow the bottleneck," said the Rev. Louie Hotop, dropping off hygiene donations at one of Silva's shelters — a guarded, walled camp with rows of tents pitched tightly together.
Even if Title 42 is lifted and thousands more are allowed to enter the U.S., asylum seekers would still face enormous backlogs and slim approval chances. Asylum is granted to those who cannot return to their countries for fear of persecution on specific grounds — starvation, poverty and violence don't usually count.
It's a long, uncertain road ahead even for the roughly 150 migrants at a barebones welcome center in McAllen, Texas, where the Jesuit priests stop after their Reynosa visits. Families legally admitted to the United States, or apprehended and released, rested in the large Catholic Charities-run hall before traveling to join sponsors.
Lugging their Mass kit and heavy speakers, the priests offered migrants spiritual and practical help– like writing "I'm pregnant. Can you ask for a wheelchair to bring me to my gate?" on a paper for a Honduran woman eight months pregnant with her first child and terrified about airport travel.
"It's a way of listening, of supporting, it's not so much resolving the immediate problem," the Rev. Flavio Bravo said. "They bring stories of trauma, of life, that we must give value to."
Sister Norma Pimentel, a prominent migrant rights advocate who first helped border crossers four decades ago and now runs Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, said religious people should push for centrist reform to help migrants — not make them political pawns.
"Policies don't respond to the realities we're facing," said Pimentel, who opened the welcome center in 2014 for the first big asylum surge of this century. "It's impossible to help everyone … but who are we to limit the grace of God?"
Now, the busiest crossing is some 800 miles away in El Paso, Texas, and neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Ronny, 26, turned himself into U.S. authorities there and was flown to McAllen because "around Juarez it was collapsing," he said last week at Pimentel's shelter.
He and his family left Venezuela on foot in September because he opposed his country's regime and his wages were too low to afford food. He has a U.S. immigration appointment next month in New York where his sponsor lives, but no money to get there.
On his first free night in the U.S., he turned to God, following Mass from a distance so he wouldn't leave the thin mat where his children slept.
"We ask God for everything. Always," he said.