New Mexico governor pans Forest Service amid wild cow fight- By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
New Mexico's governor has stepped into the fight over how federal land managers are eradicating wild cows in the Gila Wilderness.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a statement Friday saying she was disappointed by what she described as the U.S. Forest Service's lack of meaningful, long-term engagement with stakeholders on a controversial issue.
The Forest Service is currently conducting an aerial shooting operation to kill as many as 150 "unauthorized" cows in a vast area of steep rugged valleys and mountainsides blanked with trees.
The operation has been the source of legal wrangling and protests by the agricultural community in southwestern New Mexico.
Federal officials and environmentalists contend the animals are trampling stream banks and damaging habitat for other species. Ranchers argue the operation amounts to animal cruelty and that the cows could have been rounded up and removed instead of letting their carcasses rot in the wilderness.
A federal judge cleared the way for the operation Wednesday when he denied a request by ranchers for a delay.
The governor said she has shared her concerns with federal officials, and asked them to do better.
"Whether debating prescribed burns or wildlife management, it is imperative that New Mexicans who live and work in and near impacted areas are allowed the time to be meaningfully involved in these decisions," Lujan Grisham said. "When that does not occur, it fosters a continued climate of distrust and hinders progress toward our shared goals of a healthy environment and a thriving rural economy.
"As it stands, they are failing New Mexicans," she said.
The Forest Service did not immediately respond to the governor's comments.
The Gila National Forest issued its final decision to gun down the wayward cattle last week amid pressure from environmental groups that have raised concerns about unchecked grazing in sensitive areas.
The cattle in question are the descendants of cows that legally grazed the area in the 1970s before the owner went out of business. Federal officials have made several attempts over the last couple of decades to remove the animals, including a similar shooting operation in 2022 that took out 65 cows in two days.
The Forest Service has said it would release results early next week once the operation is concluded.
Weapons supervisor pleads not guilty in 'Rust' shooting case - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A weapons supervisor charged with a felony for her alleged role in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie pleaded not guilty during her first formal court appearance Friday.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Alec Baldwin were charged last month with felony involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in October 2021.
A New Mexico judge set conditions of release that allowed Gutierrez-Reed to keep a gun at home for self-defense. Her attorney told the judge his client has received numerous threats and was forced to file for a restraining order against a stalker. He said authorities released documents related to the case and failed to redact identifying information that included phone numbers.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told the judge she adamantly opposed the request because of Gutierrez-Reed's "sloppy mishandling of firearms and guns" on the set. She suggested Gutierrez-Reed could either move or keep a bat or pepper spray in her house instead.
Gutierrez-Reed's attorney, Jason Bowles, challenged the district attorney's characterization and disputed the claim about sloppiness.
"There is no allegation that she is a danger to anyone having a firearm within her home and it's for self-protection because of actions that the state took in releasing private information. That is the reason for that request," he said.
In addition to allowing Gutierrez-Reed to have a gun at home, the judge ordered her not to have any contact with witnesses who might testify as part of the case.
A day earlier Baldwin agreed to forgo a hearing to have his rights explained to him and entered a plea of not guilty.
The judge allowed Baldwin to have limited contact with potential witnesses in connection with plans to complete the filming of "Rust." Other provisions included a prohibition on consuming alcohol and against any possession of weapons, including firearms.
Work on "Rust" was halted with Hutchins' death. Rust Movie Productions says filming is expected to resume this spring, without the use of real weapons or ammunition.
The involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin, a lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," and Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armor, are punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine under New Mexico law.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are preparing for a likely preliminary hearing within a few months to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
Authorities said Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas said when the charges were announced that they were "a terrible miscarriage of justice." He said Baldwin relied on the professionals with whom he worked and "had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun."
Bowles had said the charges were the result of "a very flawed investigation and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts." He said he believed jurors will exonerate his client.
Prosecutors say assistant director David Halls, who oversaw safety on set, has signed an agreement to plead guilty in the negligent use of a deadly weapon, explaining that he may have handled the gun improperly before it was given to Baldwin.
A judge is scheduled to consider approval of the plea agreement in March. Halls waived his first appearance in court.
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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Associated Press writer Morgan Lee contributed from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Most NM workers would get paid time off under plans headed to Senate - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Over the objection of its leader, a panel of state senators on Thursday endorsed a proposal to allow nearly all workers in New Mexico to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year and still receive part of their income.
The Senate Finance Committee voted 6-5 to pass Senate Bill 11, which would allow someone to take paid time off when they are raising a newborn child, dealing with a long-term illness, trying to avoid a stalker or domestic abuser, or facing other circumstances that make it impossible to work.
Democrats on the committee were split over part of the proposed Paid Family and Medical Leave Act which would create a new pot of money to pay for workers’ time off.
The money would come from contributions by employers and workers. For every $1,000 in wages a New Mexican worker earns, they would pay $5 into the fund to cover leave.
For example, a worker making the state minimum wage would pay $119.60 per year, and their boss would pay $95.16 per year.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup) joined Republicans in opposition because he believes the fund would run out of money or become “insolvent.”
He pointed to the Fiscal Impact Report, an analysis produced by legislative staff, that says the sponsors’ estimates of how many people would file claims for leave, and how many businesses would opt out of the program, “may have been too low.”
“We need to fix that in some way, shape or form,” Muñoz said in explaining his vote against the bill.
“The FIR is wrong,” Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) immediately replied. “It used the wrong study, it used an inaccurate study.”
Legislative Finance Committee analyst Eric Chenier estimated 10% of the 871,000 eligible workers would file claims, a proportion called a “take up rate.”
“It’s completely plausible that a 10% take up rate could happen,” Chenier told the committee.
However, Suzan Reagan, senior program manager of the Data Bank at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of New Mexico, estimates only 4% of eligible workers would file claims.
“I feel that is a valid number, and a reasonable number,” Reagan told the committee.
Based on Reagan’s estimates, payments into the fund would total more than $463 million in the first year, and increase to more than $514 million by 2028. That annual income would total more than the payouts.
Chenier estimates the fund would pay out so much that it would run out of money and go negative by 2027.
The disconnect appears to be caused by the different methods used by Chenier and Reagan to determine how many people would actually apply for the money.
Chenier’s analysis is based on a 2018 survey commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor that looks at a sample of 2,153 businesses across the country.
Reagan’s analysis, on the other hand, is based in part on UNM population estimates and short-term disability claim data from the Risk Management Division of the New Mexico General Services Department.
“It’s better to come up from New Mexico-based data, as opposed to taking a national survey, and adding that percentage down,” Reagan said.
Reagan said she had difficulty with the way Chenier used the survey in his analysis to say everyone who has a family medical leave issue arise in their life is actually going to make a claim.
“I think it speaks to the need for labor to have coverage for (family and medical leave),” Reagan said, “I don’t think it actually is a true claims number.”
That’s because, Reagan said, there is no government program that actually meets 100% of the demand, perhaps because people don’t understand the program, don’t apply, or don’t qualify.
HOW THE BILL WORKS
Under Senate Bill 11, workers would be able to take the leave in order to care for a newborn child, manage a long-term illness, care for a family member dealing with illness, deal with domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, bereavement or active duty military service or deployment.
For a worker making the state minimum wage of $11.50 per hour, they would still get 100% of the wages they would have made. Anyone making more than that would receive 67% of the wages they would have made.
The federal Family Medical Leave Act already protects a worker from losing their job while they are away, but that leave is unpaid.
The program would complement New Mexico’s existing paid sick leave program, in cases where a worker needs to take more extended periods of time away from work for health reasons — cancer, for example.
Someone would have to work for the company for 90 days before they would get job protection from the state under the proposal.
Southern acequia stewards try to understand ‘muddy’ disaster recovery process - Megan Gleason, Source New Mexico
Grant County acequia stewards gathered in Silver City on Wednesday, knowing they need to start irrigating crops within weeks.
They also do not fully understand how to access state disaster aid. To find out where to start in their recovery process, the group gathered state officials to explain where different avenues of funding can come from.
The flooding that followed the Black Fire, the state’s second-largest recorded wildfire that tore through the Gila National Forest in 2022, ripped apart acequia infrastructure and dragged debris downstream that still blocks ditches where water should be flowing.
Now, acequia stewards need construction equipment to move fallen trees off of culverts that have cracked from the pressure, or new fencing to prevent the river flow from pouring over into farms, damaging fields and crops.
Acequias are political subdivisions in New Mexico, the only state where the systems are quasi-governmental. Small communities of farmers and ranchers elect leaders, usually on a volunteer basis, to run the irrigation system they share and depend on for their livelihoods.
With small bank accounts, the stewards can’t afford to fix all the damage. Irrigation season starts in March, so they need to start figuring out solutions soon.
FUNDING SOURCES
Different state agencies offer disaster relief options for acequias.
On Thursday, the Interstate Stream Commission, a subdivision of the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, unanimously approved another $1.25 million for short-term repair work. The commission passed $500,000 in January, so there will now be $1.75 million total.
That money will be available on a reimbursement basis and has no cost-share requirements at this time, according to Maggie Fitzgerald, spokesperson for the Office of the State Engineer.
Fitzgerald said the commission is also considering allocating up to $300,000 in state money for the Grant County Soil and Water Conservation District so officials from districts around the state can help with post fire and flood repairs.
The N.M. Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has about $1.4 million available so the state Department of Transportation can help with acequia repairs.
That work is expected to start on Monday.
The other funding available from the state emergency management department is only for a few counties and is part of a pot that requires reimbursement. This came from executive orders signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in fall 2022. Those set aside $750,000 for different public entities to recover from fire and flooding damage.
Acequias stewards and mayordomos in Grant County have had a few hold-ups with that process. Grant County Emergency Manager Justin Gojkovich said county officials weren’t sure they would get reimbursed for that work, so it’s up to acequias to apply for state relief on their own behalf.
The acequia stewards in Grant County have systems scattered across the southwestern edges of the Gila. The stewards are in different stages of submitting applications to and updating their system information with the state.
Matthew Smith is a senior program manager for High Water Mark, LLC, an environmental consulting firm the New Mexico Acequia Association paid to help stewards through the recovery process. He said reimbursements often take eight months to a year to arrive.
If the money runs out from the governor’s executive order, which Smith said is likely, the county and stewards can request more.
That funding from the governor only covers 75% of the work. Many of the stewards are worried about how to afford paying for the other quarter, much less all of the costs, upfront.
For example, if a Mimbres irrigation system needs $50,000 for a headgate fix and machinery to clean out debris in a rural area, its steward would have to pay the full $50,000. Then they would have to wait to get the reimbursement, and still be out $12,500.
Other relief dollars could help offset those losses.
Grant County commissioners recently approved a $600,000 grant that should be going to stewards in just over a week. Gojkovich said the main goal of this funding is to get water flowing in dry ditches again, but it could also be used to prove stewards have paid for 25% of work.
Legislators are trying to push other funding opportunities, too, including $3 million for Black Fire recovery and a $5 million pot that could be used for acequia disaster recovery.
Destre Shelley is a steward in the Gila Valley. She said the meeting on Wednesday was the first time relief money from the state truly started coming together.
She said that the N.M. agencies really want to help and are well-intentioned but need to work out their coordination.
“The main intention is to understand what are all the funding sources,” Shelley said. “The challenge is nobody talks to anyone. None of the government agencies are talking to anybody. They don’t know what’s going on with each other.”
The recovery dollars and state aid is already coming in late, Shelley said. March, the irrigation season, is next week. She said if enough funding doesn’t come quickly enough, the stewards just have to keep fighting.
“You sit there and just keep digging at what we’re doing to try and get water in the ditch someway, somehow,” she said.
The acequias in Grant County are also getting dollars from private individuals and companies. An anonymous individual donated $50,000 to acequias in Mimbres that should be dispersed in the coming days, and the mining company Freeport-McMoRan Inc. gave a $100,000 grant to acequias in the Gila Valley. Shelley said the check from Freeport arrived this week.
“Freeport was instrumental in that,” she said. “They supported their community by doing that for us.”
Some of the Grant County acequia stewards plan to ask for capital outlay funds, too. But they’re decades behind on paperwork with the Office of the State Auditor because they didn’t know they were supposed to be doing the paperwork.
Smith said it’s up to the stewards to contact the state to make themselves known and organize their auditing forms, a necessity to get capital outlay funds.
Some of the procedures to get acequias up-to-date can be complicated, like the need to have a licensed public accountant, which can be costly.
“These guys operate just off the kitchen table,” Smith said.
A MUDDLED RECOVERY PROCESS
Grant County acequias stewards are the ones making sure all state aid comes to their bank accounts. Smith said it may not be the same for mayordomos responsible for acequias in other affected counties because they don’t know where to start to ask for help.
“There’s acequias in different counties that have been impacted, and we don’t know,” he said. “And they just don’t know where to go, what to do.”
Smith said New Mexico disaster agencies are understaffed and under-resourced, making the recovery process difficult. Even in past disasters, he said, “it’s always just kind of muddy water to boggle.”
The disasters in New Mexico last year were exceptional, he pointed out. In the future, people will have to figure out the recovery process, just like people in Grant County are trying to understand.
“We’re realizing as a society as a whole, that we just can’t move on from a fire or disaster and think everything’s going to be okay; we’re just going to rebuild it and go on,” he said. “No, we’ve got to help be better stewards of our own backdoor areas, and go in there and help the watersheds recover.”
NM Senate moves to abolish life without parole for children sentenced as adults - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Senate endorsed a proposal to end life without parole as a sentencing option for children, and decrease how long someone convicted as a juvenile would have to be in prison before a parole board could consider their case.
In a bipartisan 32-8 vote, senators passed Senate Bill 64, known as the Second Chance bill, which would no longer allow judges to sentence people to life without the possibility of parole for crimes they committed as children.
The legislation provides eligibility for parole after someone serves 15 years in prison for a crime they committed when they were under the age of 18 in most circumstances.
Sen. Ron Griggs (R-Alamogordo) opposed the bill in 2022 but was one of the six Republican senators who voted for it on Wednesday.
“Any of us standin’ here today, we’re all probably lucky that when we were kids, we didn’t do somethin’ that put us in a bad spot,” Griggs said.
As of Wednesday, there were 75 New Mexicans held in state prisons for crimes they committed while they were juveniles who could be impacted by the bill if it became law.
The bill creates a “tiered” sentencing review system which advocates say creates developmentally meaningful timing for parole eligibility, while balancing a commitment to punishment and accountability in the most severe of cases.
“It’s not an automatic get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Sen. Bill O’Neill (D-Albuquerque), a co-sponsor. “Every circumstance is different.”
Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-Roswell) amended the bill to clarify that it will not change the existing practice of the New Mexico Parole Board.
The board could still deny parole to anyone who hasn’t learned, improved or changed, said Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque).
The legislation still needs to go through the committee process and a vote in the House of Representatives, where it is being carried by Reps. Janelle Anyanonu (D-Albuquerque), Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque), and Kristina Ortez (D-Taos).
If the House passes it, it would then go to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk.
PEOPLE CAN AND DO CHANGE
Ortiz y Pino said children should be treated differently than adults, and no matter how brutal a crime might have been, it should be judged differently if a child is convicted of committing it.
“There’s a lot of difference between kids and adults,” he said, “and we need to be willing to discern that difference, and to make decisions based on that discernment.”
People do change, he said, and one cannot definitely predict something about someone into the future.
“When you lock somebody up in a prison, we’re paying a lot of money for nothing — we get nothing from them,” Ortiz y Pino said. “If they were out, if they were able to sustain employment, if they were able to start their family, if they were able to become productive members of the society, we all would benefit.”
Sen. Antonio Maestas (D-Albuquerque) said prison guards have privately told him it is in their interests for the bill to pass.
It is horribly unsafe to have someone in prison without any hope of getting out, he said, but if someone has a “flicker of hope” to possibly get out in 20 years, that would curb unsafe behavior.
“It will increase safety within the walls, it’ll increase safety for our correctional officers, because it will incentivize good behavior for those folks who have zero incentive to behave,” he said.
Griggs said he hopes the Parole Board takes its duty more seriously and gives people hope when it evaluates them for release.
“This is still difficult for all of us, because we know a circumstance or an individual that could benefit, or at least have the opportunity for hope, that may not have that today,” Griggs said.
3 dead after shooting, stabbing inside Albuquerque home - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Authorities in Albuquerque discovered three people had died after an off-duty state parks law enforcement officer spotted a person lying in the street and police followed a trail of blood inside a home where two people had been shot, police said Thursday.
The person found in the middle of the roadway appeared to have been stabbed and ultimately died, Albuquerque police spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said.
Inside, officers found two people with fatal gunshot wounds. Neighbors had reported hearing the sound of gunshots earlier that morning.
No identities were released.
Detectives talked to a man who was locked in a room at the house and don't believe he was a suspect, Gallegos said. It's unclear if the man was wounded.
Detectives were trying to determine the relationship among the people involved. They filed search warrants for the home and the vehicles in the garage to try to determine what happened, Gallegos said.
Investigators believe the violence was isolated to the household in Albuquerque's North Valley. The home is in a quiet neighborhood just down the road from a public library and fire station.
"There's a lot of moving pieces with this. They're investigating a lot of different possibilities," Gallegos said. "We do not think there is an offender outstanding, but this is early in the investigation, and a firearm was found on scene, so that's why investigators believe no one is outstanding in terms of a shooter."
A first responder was also seen carrying a toddler on her hip as she walked away from the scene. Gallegos said authorities were trying to find relatives and did not know if the girl was in the house at the time.
Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty in shooting, can still work - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Actor Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie and waived his first formal court appearance, in court documents filed Thursday.
Baldwin and a weapons supervisor were charged last month with felony involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in October 2021.
Baldwin agreed to forgo a hearing to have his rights explained to him. A judge on Thursday set conditions of release that allow Baldwin to have limited contact with potential witnesses in connection with plans to complete the filming of "Rust."
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are preparing for a likely preliminary hearing within a few months to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
Other provisions of Baldwin's pretrial release include a prohibition on consuming alcohol and against any possession of weapons, including firearms.
"Defendant is permitted to have contact with potential witnesses only ... in connection with completing the 'Rust' movie and other related and unrelated business matters; provided, however, that defendant is not permitted to discuss the accident at issue," state District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in a signed order.
The involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin, a lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed are punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine under New Mexico law.
Authorities said Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas said when the charges were announced that they were "a terrible miscarriage of justice." He said Baldwin relied on the professionals with whom he worked and "had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun."
Work on "Rust" was halted with Hutchins' death. Rust Movie Productions says filming is expected to resume this spring, without the use of real weapons or ammunition.
Hutchins' widower, Matthew Hutchins, will be the film's new executive producer, fulfilling the terms of a legal settlement to a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and other "Rust" producers.
A related documentary is planned that would detail the completion of the film and the life of Hutchins.
Gutierrez-Reed is scheduled to appear remotely at a court hearing Friday, Her attorney says Gutierrez-Reed will enter a plea of not guilty.
Prosecutors say assistant director David Halls, who oversaw safety on set, has signed an agreement to plead guilty in the negligent use of a deadly weapon, explaining that he may have handled the gun improperly before it was given to Baldwin.
A judge is scheduled to consider approval of the plea agreement in March. Halls waived his first appearance in court.
Arizona border rancher returns to court in migrant killing - By Anita Snow Associated Press
An Arizona rancher accused of killing a Mexican man on his land near the U.S.-Mexico border while allegedly firing an AK-47 rifle at a group of unarmed migrants is due back in court Friday in a case that has sparked strong political feelings in the debate over border security.
The morning appearance by George Alan Kelly in Santa Cruz County Justice Court in Nogales, Arizona, is an evidentiary hearing intended to determine issues of material fact in the case and allow Kelly's defense to call witnesses.
Prosecutors allege Kelly, 74, opened fire with an AK-47 rifle on about eight unarmed migrants he encountered Jan. 30 on his ranch outside Nogales, striking the man who died in the back as he tried to flee. Two migrants in the group later told authorities that Kelly shot at them as well but they were not hit and escaped over a fence back into Mexico.
Prosecutors say the 48-year-old man who was killed lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. The man is referenced in court documents only by his initials but has been identified by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, which on Thursday corrected the spelling of his name to Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea. U.S. court records show Cuen-Buitimea was convicted of illegal entry and deported back to Mexico several times, most recently in 2016.
Kelly also faces two counts of aggravated assault against the two migrants who came forward and said they would testify. Prosecutors have said even though the men were not hit, one said they "felt like they were being hunted."
Kimberly Hunley, chief deputy county attorney, says her office, the court and the sheriff's department "have all received disturbing communications, some threatening in nature, that seem to indicate an ongoing threat to the safety of the victims."
In arguing against a reduction in Kelly's $1 million cash bond, Hunley said earlier this week that the rancher's comments conflicted with what witnesses from the group told law enforcement and his story has significantly changed over time.
Kelly's attorney, Brenna Larkin, has said Kelly did not shoot and kill the man but Kelly acknowledges that earlier in the day he fired warning shots above the heads of smugglers carrying AK-47 rifles and backpacks on his property.
Justice of the Peace Emilio G. Velasquez on Wednesday ordered that Kelly's bond be changed from a cash to a surety bond, which allowed Kelly to put up his ranch and home rather than come up with cash. Bond was posted later that day.
The shooting has stirred up emotions as the national debate over border security heats up with an eye toward the 2024 presidential election.
Less than six months ago, a prison warden and his brother were arrested in a West Texas shooting that killed one migrant and wounded another. Michael and Mark Sheppard, both 60, were charged with manslaughter in the September shooting in El Paso County.
Authorities allege the twin brothers stopped their truck near a town about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the border and opened fire on a group of migrants getting water. A male migrant died and a female suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach.
GoFundMe campaigns to pay for Kelly's defense have been shut down and the money was returned to donors because of the seriousness of the charges, according to the platform. But GiveSendGo, which describes itself as a Christian fundraising platform, carries several campaigns collecting defense funds, including one that has gathered more than $300,000.
Kelly apparently drew on his borderlands ranching life in a self-published novel, "Far Beyond the Border Fence," which is described on Amazon.com as a "contemporary novel which brings the Mexican Border/Drug conflict into the 21st century."