US takes another step toward gearing up nuclear pit factory - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The U.S. agency in charge of producing key components for the nation's nuclear arsenal has cleared the way for new equipment to be installed at a New Mexico laboratory as part of a multibillion-dollar mission, but nuclear watchdog groups say the project already is behind schedule and budgets have ballooned.
Approval for moving equipment into place at Los Alamos National Laboratory was first outlined in an internal memo issued by the deputy secretary of energy in January. The National Nuclear Security Administration, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy, made a public announcement Thursday.
The work will include the design, fabrication and installation of gloveboxes and other special equipment needed to make the plutonium cores. The work will be split between Los Alamos in northern New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, with the locations facing a congressional mandate to make at least 80 of the cores each year by 2030.
The deadline for meeting that capacity has been pushed back, with the memo being the latest evidence that the minimum equipment necessary will be in place at Los Alamos by August 2030, or four years later than expected.
The nuclear agency contends that installation of the equipment isn't necessary for Los Alamos to produce 30 pits per year, and that the lab will be building war reserve pits using existing equipment as the project proceeds.
Agency spokeswoman Shayela Hassan said in an email to The Associated Press that the NNSA expects an increasing number of pits to be produced each subsequent year until the new equipment is installed. She said that's when the capability will be in place to produce 30 pits each year "with moderate confidence."
The long-shuttered Rocky Flats Plant outside Denver was capable of producing more than 1,000 war reserve pits annually before work stopped in 1989 due to environmental and regulatory concerns. In 1996, the DOE provided for limited production capacity at Los Alamos, which produced its first war reserve pit in 2007. The lab stopped operations in 2012 after producing what was needed at the time.
Greg Mello, director of the watchdog Los Alamos Study Group, said the NNSA has made contradictory statements about the delays and what they mean for the overall plutonium pit project. He pointed to NNSA statements in 2017 and 2018 in which the agency predicted problems if it were producing pits while also replacing gloveboxes and other equipment at the same time.
"There is more they aren't saying," Mello said. "We believe NNSA and LANL will struggle mightily, with further setbacks, failures and accidents in a misguided attempt to produce any meaningful number of pits in that cramped, aging facility."
The memo provides formal cost and schedule estimates for getting equipment in place at Los Alamos, but it's unclear when construction will begin. The cost has been pegged at roughly $1.85 billion.
More details about spending and schedules are expected when the NNSA submits its budget request to Congress next month.
In January, the Government Accountability Office said in a report that NNSA plans for reestablishing plutonium pit production do not follow best practices and run the risk of delays and cost overruns.
The GAO described the modernization effort as the agency's largest investment in weapons production infrastructure to date, noting that plutonium is a dangerous material and making the weapon cores is difficult and time consuming.
Ousted election clerk hit with ethics lawsuit in New Mexico - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
A local elections regulator in rural New Mexico who was recently declared missing from work and replaced is now facing possible sanctions from a commission that oversees ethics and conduct by government officials.
The civil lawsuit against Yvonne Otero was filed Tuesday by the State Ethics Commission. It alleges that Otero used her office for personal gain and to exchange favors, seeking sanctions that include fines of up to $5,000.
Otero, a Republican elected as Torrance County clerk in 2020, was replaced in office last month by a decision of the board of county commissioners. The all-Republican board says Otero went missing from work and abandoned her duties. Linda Jaramillo was appointed in her place to serve as clerk through 2024.
Jacob Candelaria, an attorney for Otero, called the misconduct allegations by the State Ethics Commission "outlandish, sexist and politically motivated," and said that Otero has not abandoned her elected post.
"We intend to vigorously defend against these allegations," he said Friday.
Separately, Otero has petitioned the state Supreme Court to reinstate her as county clerk.
Otero's conduct has come under scrutiny at the same time that Torrance County officials grapple with simmering mistrust about voting systems.
Torrance was one of a handful of rural counties in New Mexico that considered delaying certification of the results of its June 2022 primary election as angry crowds gave voice to unproven conspiracy theories about voting systems. Commissioners later ordered a hand-tally of primary ballots and assigned a county manager to ensure adequate preparations for the general election.
Commissioners last year accused Otero in a censure resolution of harassing employees of the clerk's office and botching the certification of the county's ballot-counting machines in the run-up to the November 2022 election. Machines were recertified.
Otero's petition to the Supreme Court argues that county commissioners decided without proper evidence or due process that she had abandoned her duties as clerk. Otero also is challenging the constitutionality of a statute that was used to remove and replace her. The court has yet to respond.
NM officials request $125M over five years to cut groundwater pumping below Elephant Butte - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
It’ll be months before a judge makes a decision on a deal that could end the fight over Rio Grande water between New Mexico and Texas before the U.S. Supreme Court, but the state still needs to spend millions of dollars to cut groundwater pumping in Southern New Mexico.
State officials and the lead attorney in the case on Thursday told lawmakers on the Senate Conservation Committee they need more than $125 million over the next five years to address water supply for the Mesilla Aquifer — which feeds Las Cruces — and to reduce pumping in southern New Mexico below Elephant Butte by about 17,000 acre feet.
To help understand how much that is, that amount of water could cover the entire city of Las Cruces in water 4 inches deep.
The money would be used to make good on promises in the proposed plan, said attorney Jeff Wechsler, who represents New Mexico in Original No. 141 Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado.
On Monday, the states jointly presented the proposed decree to a federal judge and argued they think it can end the near-decade of litigation over Rio Grande water.
The federal government opposes the deal, saying it does not go far enough in setting specific limits on New Mexico’s groundwater, and that concerns remain over how the plan would change operations for a series of federally-managed dams, reservoirs and canals in the southern part of the state.
If the judge does eventually approve the proposal, New Mexico would be required to deliver water to Elephant Butte, and from there send 57% to southern New Mexico and the other 43% to El Paso, Texas.
Wechsler told state lawmakers that the deal on the table incorporates an equation based on a drought period from 1951 to 1978 as a “baseline” for how much groundwater can be pumped from the Rio Grande.
With the budget request before the state Legislature, $75 million would go to projects recharging the aquifer, and potentially desalinating water in the Mesilla Valley, said Rolf Schmidt-Petersen, Interstate Stream Commission director.
The rest would go to programs to retire farmlands. All $125 million would be spent over a five year period.
Wechsler said the mood was “cautiously optimistic” that the federal judge in the case would recommend the proposal and allow the state’s to proceed with the water plan.
If rejected, “then we’ll be right back at trial,” he said.
And going back to court could lead to New Mexico losing even more water.
Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-Albuquerque) asked Wechsler what would happen if the judge or the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the federal government’s arguments that New Mexico would need to cut more groundwater pumping under an even higher standard.
Wechsler said the consequences would be quite significant, and New Mexico would need to cut back hundreds of thousands of acre-feet instead of 17,000.
“In those circumstances,” he said, “there would be very, very significant and draconian measures taken below Elephant Butte to severely reduce depletions and water use.”
Change to Roundhouse secrecy policy awaits a House vote - By Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico
A bill to alter how and who can talk about harassment complaints made against state legislators is now waiting for debate by the full New Mexico House.
If House Bill 169 is passed, it would allow a person who files a complaint with the Legislative Ethics Committee to speak publicly about what happened. Currently, state law bans the person who made the complaint from talking about it to the press or while working, but the person who is accused of wrongdoing is free to talk about the matter.
“It’s not that this is just a gag order. It’s a one-sided gag order,” Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-Santa Fe) said this week during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “This is one of those things I can’t imagine how this got through the process and was signed into law with a straight face.”
The matter came to light last year when lobbyist Marianna Anaya accused Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Albuquerque) of sexual harassment, assault and retaliation. Anaya made one statement before she filed the complaint, the only time she was allowed to speak on the matter. As the process unfolded, Ivey-Soto took numerous interviews to defend himself and called Anaya’s allegations inaccurate.
In the end, the case did not move forward due to a tie vote by a legislative committee. That process was also shielded from the public and prevented Anaya from talking about even how the investigation was unfolding.
This legislation would change that and give anyone in Anaya’s shoes in the future the opportunity to defend themselves and share details about the complaint.
She testified this week in support of the bill, and was careful about not sharing her personal experience, speaking more broadly about how this impacts recovery for sexual assault survivors.
“We know victims of sexual violence and violence generally need access to resources to heal. And this gag order currently has no limit,” she said. “Victims generally don’t know whether or not they can talk to counselors. When their family asks what’s going on, whether they can share it, whether they can talk to friends.”
Alexandria Taylor with the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs said the process in place today enables problems around assault in the workplace.
“Survivors deserve access to healing,” she said. “And we know that silencing survivors — as this current statute does — only allows for the power imbalance to continue.”
The measure first cleared the House Government, Elections, and Indian Affairs Committee on a 6-1 vote. It was then approved unanimously by House Judiciary and is on the schedule for a floor vote. It’s unclear when that vote will take place.
HB 169 would still maintain confidentiality agreements for Legislative Ethics Committee staff, who are not allowed to share information on active cases with the public.
This would also only apply outside of a 30 or 60-day legislative session. Complaints filed during session do not have the same restrictions in place.
Rep. Ryan Lane (R-Aztec) said it was strange the process is different for when he and his colleagues are not in session. He wants to see consistency across the calendar.
“I guess I never thought about it until we got to this hearing,” Lane said. “But that seems patently unfair to the complainant.”
White House taps Indiana, New Mexico governors for federal-state council on national security - Ariana Figueroa, States Newsroom
President Joe Biden announced Thursday the appointment of Govs. Eric J. Holcomb, an Indiana Republican, and Michelle Lujan Grisham, a New Mexico Democrat, to a special bipartisan board that strengthens the federal and state partnership on matters pertaining to national security.
The Council of Governors consists of 10 members selected by the president to serve a two-year term, with no more than five members from the same political party.
The goal is to “increase coordination around preparedness, resilience, and response between the Federal government and state governments, and strengthen the Federal-State partnership that’s critical to protecting our nation from threats to our homeland security,” according to a White House fact sheet.
The White House said in a statement that this year the council will focus on “supply chain resiliency and Federal-State cooperation to mitigate risks to defense critical infrastructure.”
There have been major supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war that have contributed to inflation and disruptions in the flow of goods.
The White House said that Holcomb and Lujan Grisham will replace former Govs. Kate Brown of Oregon, a Democrat, and Bill Lee of Tennessee, a Republican, both of whom have finished their terms.
The Council of Governors was authorized in 2008 by the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass defense measure, and established in 2010 by an executive order during the Obama administration.
The council focuses on homeland security; homeland defense; civil support; state and federal military activities in the United States; and matters involving the National Guard.
“Federal-State cooperation is critical to protecting communities given the evolving challenges and threats facing our country, which range from extreme weather to domestic and international terrorism to a global pandemic,” the White House said.
The other governors sitting on the council include:
- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Co-Chair
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Co-Chair
- Delaware Gov. John Carney
- Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards
- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox
- Vermont Gov. Phil Scott
- Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon
New Mexico wildlife commission left without enough members - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A key state commission that guides New Mexico's wildlife agency and oversees a multimillion-dollar budget that includes conservation, hunting and fishing programs won't be able to conduct any business until the governor fills at least one of four outstanding vacancies.
Game Commission Chair Deanna Archuleta submitted her resignation Monday, leaving the seven-member panel short of a quorum. Her announcement that she needed to devote more time to her job with a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm came less than two weeks after taking over as chair.
It marks the latest shakeup for the commission during Lujan Grisham's tenure. The previous chairwoman resigned in October, and two previous commissioners were ousted after running afoul of the governor over a stream access fight that was ultimately settled by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
The governor's office confirmed Thursday that it was in the process of making appointments and the commission would have a quorum before a scheduled meeting in April.
Sportsmen's groups and other critics have raised concerns about systemic problems not being addressed while the commission has been shorthanded over most of the past four years. They pointed to turnover among the Game and Fish Department's conservation officers, a lack of maintenance at the state's fish hatcheries and pleas going unanswered to reform the draw process for elk hunting tags.
A report released last fall by the New Mexico Wildlife Federation suggested the state's system of allocating elk licenses was skewed in favor of landowners who often resell the tags to the highest bidder. The sportsmen's group pointed to data from the Game and Fish Department that showed nonresidents obtained over 35% of the total elk licenses issued in 2021.
Other western states, including neighboring Arizona, limit nonresident hunters to a maximum of 10% of licenses.
The group has argued that many of the licenses granted through the landowner program allow hunters to hunt on public lands where they compete with resident hunters who drew tags in the public draw.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the federation, is among those who have called for changes. He said in a statement that the state needs to insulate wildlife management decisions from politics.
"We've seen game commissioners removed for standing up for the public and we're all suffering as a result. It's time for a change," he said.
Archuleta said she was not aware of the governor's office engaging directly on commission issues.
The commission's seven members are appointed by the governor with the consent of the state Senate. Five of the members represent regions of the state and two serve at large.
Legislation under consideration now would change the way commissioners are appointed by giving the Legislative Council authority to appoint four of the seven members. The measure also would take away the governor's ability to dismiss a commissioner, allowing the state Supreme Court to take action in cases of incompetence or malfeasance.
Slain cinematographer's Ukrainian relatives sue Alec Baldwin - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Ukrainian relatives of a slain cinematographer are seeking damages in her death from actor Alec Baldwin in connection with a fatal shooting on the set of a Western movie, under a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles.
The new lawsuit against Baldwin was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of Hutchins' parents and younger sister, who works as a nurse on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv and is married to a Ukrainian man fighting in the war against Russia.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during a rehearsal in the movie "Rust" in October 2021 at a film-set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when it discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
The new lawsuit alleges negligence and the depravation of benefits, based on the emotional or financial support that Hutchins previously provided to younger sister Svetlana Zemko and parents Olga Solovey and Anatolii Androsovych. The lawsuit also names as defendants a long list of "Rust" crew members, an ammunition supplier, producers of the film and affiliated businesses.
Separately, Baldwin and weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed are confronting felony criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter in New Mexico District Court, with a remote first appearance scheduled later this month in which pleas may be entered. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have vowed to dispute the charges, while an assistant director has agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges.
Los Angeles-based attorney Gloria Allred described Zemko as a working emergency operating-room nurse who is raising an infant and 4-year-old child while her husband fights in the war.
At a news conference, Allred said that Zemko "had a very close and loving relationship with her big sister, Halyna, and she feels strongly that anyone who is responsible for her loss must be held accountable."
Contacted Thursday, an attorney for Baldwin in New Mexico had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as legal costs. Allred declined to quantify possible demands.
Matthew Hutchins, widower to Halyna Hutchins, reached an undisclosed settlement with Baldwin and other producers of Rust late last year. Part of the settlement calls for Matthew to be a producer on "Rust" as it potentially resumes filming.
Baldwin has sought to clear his name by suing people involved in handling and supplying the loaded gun. Baldwin, also a co-producer on "Rust," said he was told the gun was safe.
In his lawsuit, Baldwin said that while working on camera angles with Hutchins, he pointed the gun in her direction and pulled back and released the hammer of the weapon, which discharged.
The new lawsuit against Baldwin, though filed in California, relies on provisions of New Mexico state law regarding the depravation of benefits, also known as "loss of consortium."
Texas man pleads guilty in racist 2019 Walmart attack - By Morgan Lee And Paul J. Weber Associated Press
A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal hate crime and weapons charges in the racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, which prosecutors say was preceded by the gunman posting an online screed that warned of a "Hispanic invasion."
Patrick Crusius, 24, showed little emotion while shackled in an El Paso courtroom just a few miles from the store where he was accused of killing 23 people, including citizens of Mexico, in what remains one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
Sentencing is not scheduled until later this year, but the U.S. government had previously announced it wouldn't seek the death penalty. Crusius waived most of his rights to appeal on a total of 90 federal charges, which U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama said would each carry a life sentence.
"I plead guilty," he said.
Crusius had originally pleaded not guilty before federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. He could still receive the death penalty, however, under separate state capital murder charges in Texas, although it remains unclear when that case might go to trial.
Albert Hernandez, whose sister and brother-in-law were killed in the attack, was one of about 40 people with close ties to the victims in the court gallery. He called Crusius a coward who was trying to "save his own skin" by pleading guilty in federal court.
"This guy knew what he was doing. It was premeditated," Hernandez said of the shooting. "He came here to take care of business."
Crusius surrendered to police after the massacre, saying, "I'm the shooter, " and that he was targeting Mexicans, according to court records. Prosecutors have said he drove more than 10 hours from his hometown near Dallas to the largely Latino border city and published a document online shortly before the shooting that said it was "in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas."
The Aug. 3, 2019, shooting happened on a busy weekend at a Walmart that is typically popular with shoppers from Mexico and the U.S. In addition to those killed, more than two dozen were injured and hundreds more were scarred by being present or having a loved-one hurt.
Prosecutors presented a detailed narrative of the attack during Wednesday's plea hearing, describing how it began with a pedestrian gunned down in the parking lot before Crusius, wearing earmuffs that mute the sound of gunfire, opened fire at people at a fundraiser for a soccer team.
As Crusius moved inside the store, prosecutors said, nine people were cornered and shot to death at a bank near the entrance. Among them were husband and wife Jordan and Andre Anchondo, whose infant son survived with broken bones in a hand.
It's also where gunfire cut down Margie Reckard, whose August 2019 funeral drew thousands of sympathizers from as far away as California and across the border in Mexico — after her husband announced that he was alone with almost no family left and invited the world to attend.
The killing continued as Crusius fired his assault rifle down multiple aisles, according to prosecutors. Exiting Walmart, he fired on a passing car, killing and elderly man and wounding his wife.
Former El Paso Mayor Dee Margo attended the plea hearing and called it a "gut-wrencher."
"We have an evil white supremacist who showed up and attacked us for who we are," he said.
After the hearing, defense attorney Joe Spencer said Crusius wanted to accept responsibility. "There are no winners in this case," he said.
Prosecutors say Crusius consented after surrendering to two videotaped interviews with detectives and the FBI on Aug. 3 and providing two thumb drives that containing his racist writings and other records.
Crusius' writings before the shooting echoed both the anti-immigration rhetoric of American politics and racist screeds put out by other mass shooters in the U.S. and abroad.
More than three years after the shooting, the description of an "invasion" on the U.S.-Mexico border has continued in American politics. Critics have condemned the characterization as anti-immigrant and dangerous in the aftermath of El Paso and other racially motivated attacks.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has recently embraced using the word "invasion" while authorizing a series of hardline immigration measures. In November, Abbott sent a letter to state police and the Texas National Guard with the subject line "Defend Texas Against Invasion."
Abbott has defended his statements by saying he is invoking language included in the U.S. Constitution. Some legal scholars have called it a misreading of the clause.
"If this is not an invasion, what is it?" Abbott asked CNN's Jake Tapper during an interview last month. "Think about the volume of people coming across the border."
America's Voice, an immigration reform group, said it tracked more than 80 Republican candidates during last year's midterm elections who amplified what they called "invasion" and "replacement" conspiracies.
"I think it's been creeping over the years," said Zachary Mueller, political director of America's Voice. "What I would say is that in 2021, there was a marked shift where it went from the fringes of the Republican Party into the mainstream of the Republican Party."
A database of mass killings in the U.S. since 2006 compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University shows that the number of deadly mass shootings linked to hate crimes has increased in recent years. Among 13 prominent instances, the 2019 Walmart shooting was the deadliest. The database tracks every mass killing — defined as four dead, not including the offender — in the U.S. since 2006.