Lujan Grisham begins second term as New Mexico governor - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham officially started her second term as New Mexico governor on New Year's Day with promises of "launching the state into the future" by building on the work her administration has done over the past four years.
"Progress — not paralysis — is in fact our destiny," Lujan Grisham said shortly after taking the oath of office during a public ceremony Sunday afternoon. "We will move forward into the unknown with malice toward none and with charity for all, and with the conviction that hard work on behalf of New Mexicans will always win the day."
The day's festivities in the capital city of Santa Fe included performances by Native American dancers and a mariachi band. The governor's ball was scheduled for the evening, with tickets going for $1,000 per person.
In her remarks, Lujan Grisham ran down a list of the primary issues she plans to tackle. They included early childhood education, affordable housing, opioid addiction and codifying abortion rights.
She also announced plans to establish the New Mexico Healthcare Authority, "a comprehensive entity that will expand access to services and cut through the red tape that keeps New Mexicans from getting the high quality healthcare they need."
Lujan Grisham won a hard-fought and costly race for reelection against Republican Mark Ronchetti, with outside groups spending heavily on the campaigns.
Lujan Grisham and the Democrat-controlled Legislature are expected to take advantage of a more than favorable financial forecast as they set spending priorities during the upcoming session. Among the top orders of business will be addressing public safety concerns and the state's dismal educational outcomes.
Citing billions of dollars in new money, the governor said in a recent social media post that New Mexico has an opportunity to reach new heights.
"We will double down on the investments we know are working and explore innovative new strategies through investments in key areas like housing, healthcare, education and public safety," she said.
The Legislature has increased recurring appropriations for public schools by more than $1 billion since 2018. While some progress has been made, legislative analysts in a September briefing last year outlined numerous recommendations for making sure the investments actually pay off.
New Mexico continues to rank at the bottom of many lists that gauge educational success, even four years after landmark litigation that resulted in a district court determining the state was falling short of its constitutional responsibility to provide an adequate education to all students.
The case predated Lujan Grisham's first term. Despite her effort to get the case dismissed, a judge ruled the court would maintain its jurisdiction until there were long-term comprehensive reforms implemented.
The state Public Education Department earlier this year released a draft plan for dealing with the shortcomings highlighted by the case but a final version has yet to be made public.
Results from the latest standardized tests also show just 26% of students in grades three to eight were proficient in math while 34% were proficient in reading, putting New Mexico further behind other states even when considering the widespread challenges across the U.S. that were brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
The nonprofit group Think New Mexico has published recommendations ranging from increasing learning time to keeping class sizes small and shifting money from administration to the classroom as ways to turn things around.
"Improving New Mexico's public schools is the most pressing need facing our state," said Fred Nathan, the group's founder and executive director.
He pointed to more time in the classroom as an evidence-based reform and the importance of maximizing the amount of the education budget that is spent in classrooms. The goal, he said, is ensuring the state's investments will "yield the largest return for students."
One immediate change the governor is banking on to make a difference in 2023 is the availability of free virtual tutoring in math, language arts and science for many pre-K through eighth grade students. The program was announced in December.
City officials to disclose more about family finances this year - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
Albuquerque residents will learn more about the personal finances of their elected officials this year.
The Albuquerque Journal reports legislation — passed unanimously by the City Council and signed by Mayor Tim Keller last month — updated the City Charter’s Code of Ethics and goes into effect in 2023. It mandates the mayor and city councilors disclose more financial information than previously required.
The new transparency rules are the strictest in the state, according to City Clerk Ethan Watson. He says similar rules were proposed for state lawmakers but never approved.
Elected officials in the state’s largest city must now disclose information about their entire immediate family, including spouses and dependents.
The information will include earned and unearned income, assets worth $50,000 or more, debts over $5,000 and any payments made on them, along with gifts over $50 in value. Officials must also now report if their family owns any properties or businesses, among other things.
A new financial disclosure form in the works will replace a one-page form that required less information and only for the officials themselves.
The Journal reports Executive Director of the State Ethics Commission Jeremy Farris spoke in favor of the legislation at a recent Council meeting, noting that its approval makes the city a “model in the area of financial disclosure law.”
NMSU, Los Alamos unite on research of migratory bird die-off - Associated Press
Two years after New Mexico saw migratory birds literally falling from the sky, New Mexico State University and Los Alamos National Laboratory have announced plans to establish a research program on bird die-off.
the two entities will collaborate with the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies to recruit and train students to study "disaster ecology," the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Saturday.
A $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture combined with other funding sources will cover the cost for 24 students—graduate and undergraduate—to join the four-year program.
The students will examine how a changing climate is impacting migratory birds and leading to a die-off like one seen in the fall of 2020.
Sightings of groups of dead birds were reported by residents in the Taos area and at Valles Caldera National Preserve in the north to the cottonwood forest along the Rio Grande to southern New Mexico, including at White Sands Missile Range.
Biologists from several agencies collected hundreds of samples of dead warblers, swallows and other birds to the USGS' National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin for analysis.
The results showed starvation and unexpected weather were behind the die-off. Researchers at the time said many of the birds were severely emaciated. An unusual storm likely caused them to be disoriented and fly into objects or buildings.
They ruled out disease and poisoning.
Tim Wright, a NMSU biology professor, leads the school's aviation migration program.
"These birds are literally the canaries in a coal mine for how human activities are impacting the natural world," he said.
Tribes get advisory role in New Mexico utility regulation - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed a former state lawmaker and two energy policy experts on Friday to a powerful regulatory commission whose decisions have direct economic and environmental consequences for the state's utility customers.
Brian Moore, Patrick O'Connell and Gabriel Aguilera start work Jan. 1 on the Public Regulation Commission under a voter-approved overhaul that changed the commission from a five-member elected body to one appointed by the governor after a monthslong nominating process.
The New Mexico Senate will confirm the governor's choices during the upcoming legislative session.
"These appointees are experienced professionals who have the skills needed to oversee an energy transition that is affordable, effective and equitable for every New Mexico community," said Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who is embarking on her second term following a hard-fought reelection bid.
A nominating committee had sent Lujan Grisham a list of nine finalists, most of whom were from New Mexico's most populated areas. That prompted criticism from some lawmakers and advocacy groups about the lack of representation for Native Americans and northwestern New Mexico, where one coal-fired power plant and an adjacent mine were recently shuttered, taking with them hundreds of jobs and tax revenue.
Seeking to address the concerns, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order Friday creating a Tribal Advisory Council to provide input to the commission. It will be made up of one representative from the eight northern pueblos, one from the 10 southern pueblos, one from the Apache tribes and one from the Navajo Nation.
In the executive order, the governor encourages the PRC to meet with the advisory council on a regular basis and consult with its leadership at commission meetings.
"It's extremely important that we ensure tribal voices are heard on issues before the PRC, regardless of who is appointed to the commission now and into the future," Lujan Grisham said. She noted that regulators will have more important decisions to make as the state continues to implement the 2019 Energy Transition Act.
The commission will play a role in ensuring new renewable energy resources and battery storage projects being brought online can meet customer demands as more coal-fired plants close in the coming years. They also will be tasked with keeping rates affordable in a state where many families are at or near the poverty line.
The commissioners also must decide a billion-dollar rate case involving New Mexico's largest electric provider — Public Service Co. of New Mexico, and they may have to revisit a contested merger between PNM and Avangrid, a U.S. subsidiary of global energy giant Iberdrola.
O'Connell, an engineer with more than two decades of experience, previously worked for PNM as the utility's director of planning and resources before becoming the interim clean energy director at Western Resource Advocates. His term on the commission will be six years.
O'Connell has said that he applied to be a commissioner because he thinks he can continue to make a difference in the fight against climate change while regulating essential services that New Mexicans use every day.
Western Resources Advocates, the state attorney general's office and others were among those who supported the proposed PNM-Avangrid merger when it came before the commission in 2021. The companies filed an appeal with the New Mexico Supreme Court after the elected commissioners decided the deal did not offer adequate protections for customers.
Moore, a Republican, represented several eastern New Mexico counties during his term as a state lawmaker and is now president and CEO of Ranch Market supermarket in Clayton. He previously served as the legislative team leader for the New Mexico Association of Counties and was on the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority board.
Moore also was a member of Lujan Grisham's Economic Recovery Council. His appointment will last two years.
A graduate of New Mexico State University, Aguilera has worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission since 2007. He most recently served as a senior policy advisor for FERC's Office of Energy Market Regulation. His appointment is for four years.
AG says teen's death in Albuquerque standoff was avoidable - Associated Press
New Mexico's top prosecutor says a teenage boy's death in an Albuquerque house fire, which broke out after authorities tried to arrest a man inside, could have been avoided.
Attorney General Hector Balderas announced Friday, a day before he leaves office, the results of a review of the July death of 15-year-old Brett Rosenau.
Balderas says "less-lethal tactics to detain the suspect earlier would have mitigated fatal risks."
He called on Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina and incoming Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen to work together on effective, non-lethal options when it comes to apprehending suspects.
Medina has asked Balderas to lead a probe of the incident. He promised that if police are found to have indirectly contributed to Rosenau's death, "we will take steps to ensure this never happens again."
A police SWAT team was involved in a house standoff with 27-year-old Qiaunt Kelley. Police say Kelley was wanted for a probation violation and for questioning in a recent homicide and officer-involved shooting.
Officers allegedly threw tear gas canisters and shot chemical munitions before the blaze started.
Police said Rosenau had followed Kelley into the house. After the fire was extinguished, Rosenau was found dead.
Arson investigators say the boy died from smoke inhalation.
His death sparked an outcry in the community and from "Black Lives Matter" protesters.
New Mexico governor appointed a new top health official
- By Morgan Lee and Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Oregon's top health official will be taking the reins of New Mexico's Health Department as the state builds a new veterans home and grapples with the enduring hardships of COVID-19 and the toll of alcoholism, drug-overdose deaths and gun violence.
The appointment of Patrick M. Allen was announced Friday in a news release from Gov. Michelle Lujan's office.
"Patrick is a regulator and public health professional with a proven record in improving health care systems, and I have full confidence he will do the same here in New Mexico," Lujan Grisham said. "He shares my vision of a New Mexico that fosters better health outcomes for every resident of our beautiful state."
Allen will oversee an agency of more than 2,000 employees at the forefront of efforts to blunt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic while attending to longstanding public health issues aggravated by poverty and limited access to medical care in remote areas.
At the same time, lawmakers are funding or considering initiatives that expand the agency's mission to address gun violence and possibly climate change as a matter of public health.
The governor's office said Allen has spent more than 30 years in public service, most recently serving as the director of the Oregon Health Authority under outgoing Gov. Kate Brown. He also worked with Oregon's Department of Consumer and Business Services.
Lujan Grisham is starting a second, four-year term on Jan. 1 amid a series of departures and new appointments of leaders at crucial state agencies.
The governor has relied on Human Services Secretary David Scrase to oversee the Health Department for the past 18 months since the departure of Tracie Collins, a dean at the University of New Mexico College of Population Health who led the agency on temporary basis in early months of the pandemic until July 2021.
Scrase will continue in his role as head of the Human Services Department.
Recent performance evaluations by the Legislature's budget and accountability office give the Health Department mixed marks for programs aimed at combating drug overdose deaths in the midst of a nationwide fentanyl crisis. Statewide drug overdoses and alcohol-related deaths reached an all-time high in 2020, amid increased spending on treatment and prevention programs.
The agency's scientific laboratory has been praised for its efficiency in monitoring drinking water for contaminants including lead and so-called forever chemicals — and short processing times for blood alcohol samples for law enforcement as they combat drunken driving.
The Health Department operates on a budget of nearly $350 million annually in state general funds, which acts as a conduit for federal public health spending.
The agency operates seven residential treatment centers that have been flagged in recent evaluations by state and federal authorities for inadequate oversight, inefficiencies, staffing shortages, poor facility conditions and serious deficiencies in care for patients.
A recent evaluation of state-operated hospitals for veterans, the mentally ill and older adults in September described inadequate oversight that threatens the ability to provide quality care, including harmful conditions at the State Veterans' Home.
In July, the state began construction of new residences at the State Veterans' Home — a health care facility for military veterans in the town of Truth or Consequences that had been criticized for substandard conditions by state and federal evaluators.
Amid surge at UNM Hospital, feds send relief for staff - Associated Press
The federal government is dispatching a medical team to assist the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital, which has been overwhelmed with patients.
The Albuquerque hospital announced a 14-member disaster response team from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will begin seeing children Saturday.
The medical professionals will include a nurse practitioner, registered nurses, paramedics and respiratory therapists. They will relieve staff and fill in gaps where needed.
UNM Hospital officials say they are operating at over full capacity. The staff, many who worked through the holidays, have been stretched thin. The hospital requested the extra support through the state Department of Health.
Hospitals across New Mexico have been dealing with the triple threat of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus—also known as RSV. Some doctors say they are busier than the past two winters when COVID-19 was the main factor increasing hospital admissions.
Earlier this month, UNM Hospital resorted to erecting a tent outside the emergency room to triage adult patients.
Roswell zoo reopens day after 4 animals die in dog attack - Associated Press
A popular zoo in Roswell reopened Friday, a day after four animals were killed by wild pack of dogs.
City officials announced Friday that three barbary sheep, also known as aoudads, and one wallaby were found dead at Spring River Zoo.
They say the killings happened late Wednesday night after three dogs managed to get into the zoo by digging under new fencing.
The zoo closed Thursday as several employees mourned the loss.
Juanita Jennings, the city's public affair director, told the Roswell Daily Record that the zoo's other animals were undergoing welfare checks to make sure they weren't traumatized by the incident.
Jennings says the fencing had only been put up recently.
Animal control officers are searching for the dogs.
Barbary sheep are native to southeastern New Mexico and Texas since being introduced to the region in the 1950s. Wallabies are native to Australia and New Guinea and resemble kangaroos.