FEMA plans to open offices this week for New Mexicans affected by last year's wildfire - Associated Press
The Federal Emergency Management Agency Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Claims Office, charged with administering nearly $4 billion in emergency financial aid for survivors of last year's record-breaking wildfire in New Mexico, is expected to open its three regional offices to the public Wednesday.
The wildfire was the most destructive in state history, burning 533 square miles between early April and mid-June in San Miguel, Mora and Taos counties.
It destroyed more than 900 structures, including several hundred homes, according to authorities.
Ben Akers, external affairs officer for the FEMA claims office in New Mexico, told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the agency has hired 43 people to staff the offices in Mora, Santa Fe and Las Vegas, N.M.
He said all FEMA employees serving as "navigators" — those who will take claimants through the claims process — are New Mexico residents, and many of them are from communities affected by the wildfire.
FEMA wants to offer that personal connection to help claimants as they deal with the loss and grief that followed the fire, Akers said.
As of last Friday, the FEMA claims office had received 548 notices of loss associated with the fire.
So far, FEMA workers have reached out to 518 of those claimants to start the process of reviewing and processing claims.
FEMA is sympathetic to those who incurred losses or damages in the fire and wants to begin making partial payments as soon as next month, Akers said.
Lawsuit challenges NM law that criminalizes disclosure of child abuse case information — Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
A lawsuit recently filed in federal court challenges the constitutionality of a New Mexico law that mandates all information and records related to abuse and neglect cases remain confidential.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the suit was filed by attorney Harold Atencio who represents relatives of an infant involved in such a case.
Atencio said he became aware of ongoing conduct by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department while representing his client that he characterized as “egregious.”
That includes policy violations, possible corruption, and plans to do things that would have threatened the life and well-being of the infant, according to the lawsuit.
Despite Atencio’s knowledge of these allegations, the lawsuit stated New Mexico law barred him from disclosing them publicly under threat of criminal penalties, even if he kept any identifying information under wraps. It argued this “enables and encourages” the misconduct and violates free speech rights.
The federal appeals court that would hear the case were it to reach that stage struck down a similar Colorado law last year.
The office of Attorney General Raúl Torrez told the Journal that it’s aware of that ruling and is reviewing the New Mexico lawsuit before determining next steps.
What the new COVID vaccine guidance means for you or your loved ones - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Only one in five New Mexicans who are eligible for the Omicron booster have received the updated shot as of Thursday, according to a news release by the New Mexico Department of Health.
This news comes as the federal government retires the vaccine used for the original wild-type strain of SARS-CoV-2 and instead authorizes just the vaccine commonly known as the Omicron booster.
Guidance on when to get vaccines and if a person is eligible is discussed below, adapted from a series of flowcharts created by Dr. Elisabeth Marnik, assistant professor at Husson University. Before you get there it’s important to understand two terms, monovalent and bivalent.
“Monovalent” means the dose is for the original wild-type strain of SARS-CoV-2, the most common vaccine Americans received and the one that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is retiring.
“Bivalent” means the dose is split between the RNA sequence for the wild-type, and the remainder is the sequence for the more recently evolved Omicron variant. This will be the vaccine most people will receive for the foreseeable future.
The dosage will depend on someone’s age and their immune status.
There is not yet CDC guidance for immunocompromised children under the age of 6.
OVER 65 YEARS, NOT IMMUNOCOMPROMISED
Anyone that’s gone at least four months since they got the bivalent vaccine is eligible for another dose.
Same goes for anyone that received a monovalent COVID-19 vaccine but hasn’t gotten the booster. They can sign up to get a bivalent.
6 TO 65 YEARS, NOT IMMUNOCOMPROMISED
Anyone in this group who received a bivalent booster is not eligible at this time for another shot.
People who have not received any vaccine can get one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna bivalent.
Anyone unvaccinated that was infected in the last three months, is eligible for a bivalent, but may want to consider waiting.
If you haven’t got a bivalent, but have got any monovalent, and it’s been at least three months since you’ve been infected, and at least eight weeks since your last monovalent, then you’re eligible for a bivalent, but you may want to consider waiting a longer interval.
If you haven’t got a bivalent, but have got any monovalent, and it’s been at least three months since you’ve been infected, but your last monovalent was less than eight weeks ago, then you should wait for a longer interval.
5 YEARS, NOT IMMUNOCOMPROMISED
Children who received the booster will have to wait, they are not eligible under the guidelines.
Children without any vaccine are eligible to get one dose of the Pfizer bivalent or two doses of the Moderna bivalent.
If they haven’t got a bivalent but got any monovalent, and it’s been at least eight weeks since their last monovalent, then they’re eligible for one bivalent Moderna or Pfizer.
If they haven’t got a bivalent but got any monovalent, and it hasn’t been at least eight weeks since their last monovalent, then they’ll be eligible after eight weeks.
6 MONTHS TO 4 YEARS, NOT IMMUNOCOMPROMISED
Any child in this age range is up to date with their vaccine if they received at least two doses of the Moderna bivalent.
If they got a Pfizer bivalent, and have at least three doses including at least one bivalent, then they’re up to date.
If they got a Pfizer bivalent, but have not got at least three doses with at least one being bivalent, then they’re eligible for a third bivalent dose, which should be at least eight weeks after the first one.
Any children in this age range that are unvaccinated can get three Pfizer bivalent doses or two Moderna bivalent doses.
If they haven’t got a bivalent but do have one Pfizer monovalent, then they’ll be eligible for two more bivalent doses, three to eight weeks between doses one and two, and at least eight weeks between doses two and three.
If they haven’t got a bivalent but do have two Pfizer monovalent doses, then their third dose should be bivalent and at least eight weeks after their last dose.
If they haven’t got a bivalent but do have a Moderna monovalent, then they’re eligible for a bivalent at least four weeks after their first monovalent dose.
OVER 6 YEARS, IMMUNOCOMPROMISED
If they got a bivalent, and have been infected or vaccinated in the last two months, then they will be eligible once it’s been at least two months.
If they got a bivalent, and it’s been at least two months since their last infection or vaccination, then they’re eligible for a bivalent every two months.
If they haven’t got a bivalent, but have got any monovalent, then they’re eligible for a bivalent every two months or at least two months after their last infection.
If they haven’t got a bivalent nor a monovalent, then they can get one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna bivalent.
HOW TO REGISTER
People can sign up for their vaccine appointment by calling 1-855-600-3453 (option 3, option 9 for Spanish), online at vaccineNM.org, vaccineNM.org/kids, vaccines.gov, or through their medical provider or pharmacist.
New Mexico residents can still receive mail order free at-home COVID tests through DOH’s partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation’s Project Act program while supplies last at accesscovidtests.org/.
Free at-home tests are available until May 11, or while supplies last at covid.gov/tests.
NMSU gives AD extension despite hoops problems - By Eddie Pells Ap National Writer
New Mexico State athletic director Mario Moccia signed a five-year contract extension earlier this month, on the same day his boss and a staunch defender, chancellor Dan Arvizu, stepped down nearly three months earlier than scheduled.
Moccia oversees a basketball program with former players who are suing the school's board of regents and two former coaches. The players claim administrators did nothing after they tried to tell them they had been sexually assaulted by teammates.
Both the AD and Arvizu signed the contract on April 7, the date Arvizu announced he would leave immediately instead of at the end of his contract on June 30.
The Las Cruces Sun-News acquired the contract, which calls for Moccia to get nearly a $72,000 raise from his current deal and make $351,800 in the first year of the new contract. His pay will escalate to $425,000 in the last year, which ends June 30, 2028.
School spokesman Justin Bannister told KTSM-TV that the timing of the deal was a coincidence.
"It had been in the works for quite some time," Bannister said. "The timing just so happened to be on Arvizu's last day."
In a February news conference held after Arvizu canceled the Aggies' basketball season and fired coach Greg Heiar in the wake of hazing allegations — the details of which came out in the lawsuit filed earlier this week — the chancellor staunchly defended Moccia's performance in his eight years as AD at New Mexico State.
And Moccia defended his record as athletic director, saying "I made a list of every coach I've hired ... and, you know, we have an excellent batting average. Nobody bats a thousand."
One of the allegations in the lawsuit was that one of the player's father tried to reach Moccia to discuss the alleged assaults, but the AD did not return the calls. That led to the player taking his story to campus police, who opened an investigation.
The basketball program is also the subject of multiple investigations stemming from the fatal shooting of a University of New Mexico student by former player Mike Peake. Video of the shooting suggests Peake was acting in self-defense. He has not been charged. Police had to stop the team bus on Interstate 25 to question witnesses after the team left Albuquerque the morning after the shooting.
In a meeting late last year, the NMSU board of regents declined to renew Arvizu's contract, which was set to expire at the end of June. On April 7, he announced he was leaving early to allow the school to focus on a search for his replacement.
Arvizu had previously drawn concerns in the NMSU community after police body camera video came out from a dispute at his home. The chancellor was accused by his wife, Sheryl, of having an affair with a NMSU staff member. He denied the affair.
A pandemic experiment in universal free school meals gains traction in the states - Adam Goldstein, States Newsroom
Every public school kid in the United States was eligible for free school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of family income, thanks to the federal government.
While that’s now ended, a growing number of states across the country are enacting universal school meal laws to bolster child food security and academic equity. With little prospect of action soon in Congress, the moves by states show an appetite for free school meals for all developing beyond Washington.
Nine states have passed a temporary or permanent universal school meal policy in the past year. Another 23 have seen legislation introduced during the past three years, according to recent data from the Food Research and Action Center.
”As a former teacher, I know that providing free breakfast and lunch for our students is one of the best investments we can make to lower costs, support Minnesota’s working families, and care for our young learners and the future of our state,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said when signing his state’s universal school meals bill on March 17.
“When we feed our children, we’re feeding our future,” said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a Democrat, when she signed her state’s policy into law on March 28.
HOW IT WORKS
The National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program authorize the Department of Agriculture to subsidize school meals for low-income students. Schools are reimbursed for meals that meet federal nutrition standards, and incorporate U.S.-grown foods.
The programs accounted for $18 billion in annual expenditures in 2019, serving roughly 30 million students at lunch and 16 million at breakfast.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government enacted a policy that ensured access to school meals for all public school students, which teachers and families say supported kids’ wellbeing during the health crisis.
Yet the program was sunsetted in 2022, given objections to its roughly $29 billion estimated annual price tag and a desire among conservative members of Congress to “go back to normal.”
“There are pieces to this program that are badly damaged,” said Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “You’re not solving anything by making it a universal program.”
Under current federal law, only students with families who have incomes 185% or more below the poverty line are eligible for entirely free school meals. That would be a family of four that makes roughly $36,000 or less.
Families with income between 130% and 185% above the poverty line pay a reduced price for meals. Students whose families have income above 185% of the poverty line must pay full price.
PARTY DIVISIONS
Policy experts say that despite growing interest in some states, federal universal school meals legislation would be a non-starter in the current Congress, where Republicans in the House majority aim to reduce federal spending.
States led by Republicans might be less eager to move ahead as well, with bills in those states stalled in committee or failing to pass by slim margins. Costs for the program range from $30 million to $40 million annually in states like Maine, to $400 million over two years in Minnesota.
Of the nine states that have passed universal school meals, all have Democratic majorities of both chambers of state legislatures and control the governor’s office.
The last legislation introduced at the federal level was the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The bill failed to make it out of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
“I certainly don’t have a whole lot of hope with Republican control of the House that they’ll do much, in those terms,” said Marcus Weaver-Hightower, professor of educational foundations at Virginia Tech.
Still, there is optimism about universal school meals over the long term at the federal level, after the trial run during the pandemic.
“The resistance isn’t as loud as it might seem,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and advocate for universal school meals. “I know it’s going to be able to move with urgency because the community outside of the Capitol bubble is moving with urgency, talking about this more and more.”
An experiment in the lockdown
As communities locked down in March 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economy weathered mass layoffs, the Department of Agriculture authorized the provision of free school meal waivers for all students, and raised the per-meal reimbursement rate.
The program grew to support roughly 50 million students during the health crisis. Food-insecure households with children decreased by 2.3 percentage points between 2020 and 2021, according to the USDA.
“It was kind of a natural experiment,” Weaver-Hightower said. “Everybody was suddenly getting them for free.”
Jeanne Reilly, the director of school nutrition at Windham Raymond Schools in Maine, recalled that when schools were closed, school nutrition teams got creative. Lunch staff were meeting parents in parking lots to distribute meals.
Yet as vaccines proliferated at the end of 2021, and students returned to school, the federal universal meals program hit turbulence.
Conservative members of Congress, including Kentucky Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, refused to extend the universal school meal policy as part of the omnibus spending bill passed in March 2022.
The bipartisan Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 passed by Congress in June 2022 allowed some states to extend their free meal programs, and provided additional money for reimbursements. Yet school nutritionists say the effects of sunsetting the waivers are lingering.
Cohen said that experts now are starting to hear about the return of school meal debt, which can force schools to forgo educational expenses in paying the USDA for delinquent meal costs. A recent School Nutrition Association survey found that 847 school districts have racked up more than $19 million in debt from unpaid lunches.
School participation in the meal programs also dropped to 88% in fall 2022, compared to 94% in March 2022, according to a study from the Department of Education.
STATES TAKE ACTION
Five states have passed laws that will provide free universal school meals in the 2023-2024 school year and beyond, including Minnesota, New Mexico, Maine, California and Colorado.
Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts are providing universal school meals for the 2022-2023 school year, through a combination of federal and state funds. Nevada is providing universal school meals through the 2023-2024 school year.
Twenty-three other states have seen universal school meals legislation introduced in the past three years, including Arizona, Louisiana, Montana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, a professor of nutrition and leader of the Arizona State Food Policy and Environmental Research Group, said offering free school meals reduces the social stigma for low-income students, increasing participation and nutritional benefits for those who need it most.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and the Jean Mayer Professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, cited a Journal of the American Medical Association study which found school meals are among the most nutritious meals students eat anywhere.
Other studies have shown that universal school meals produce positive overall effects on school attendance, and academic performance across grades.
Tlaib says she benefited firsthand from participating in the National School Lunch Program when she was a kid, while growing up with 13 siblings, an immigrant father who worked the night shift at Ford Motor Company and a mother who was still learning English.
“As our family grew larger, I’ll tell you that I don’t think my family would have ever been able to provide us food for lunch,” Tlaib said. “When you have a parent tell me that’s the only place their child eats twice a day, this is so incredibly important.”
Others say that the policy would be a waste of taxpayer dollars, and push the school lunch program further from its original purpose.
“Free and reduced price school meals are for those who need the assistance,” said Republican Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, who declined to extend universal school meal waivers in a stopgap spending bill in September, in a statement to States Newsroom.
“Universal school meals isn’t about increasing access for hungry children — it’s about taxpayers subsidizing meals for those who do not need it.”
Butcher, of the Heritage Foundation, said that the National School Breakfast and National School Lunch programs are on the high-priority list for the government watchdog Government Accountability Office, accounting for over $1 billion in untracked spending as food waste grows in school lunchrooms.
Baylen Linnekin, a food policy analyst for the libertarian think tank Reason Foundation, said that nutritional quality of the meals has improved “slightly” since the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.
But he said two-thirds of the costs of the program go to overhead expenses, and with the variety of diets and allergies emerging, he said there is “no way” one school meal program can account for the needs of all children.
ORIGINS OF FREE SCHOOL MEALS
In the build-up to World War I and World War II, a significant number of men who signed up for military service were disqualified due to nutritional deficiencies. This, combined with economic pressures of the Great Depression, fueled the development of federally-subsidized meal programs.
President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946, formally enshrining the National School Lunch Program.
“The preamble is that it has a military function: the nation’s defense of the welfare of children, and the protection of our agricultural system,” Weaver-Hightower said.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Republicans in Washington began denouncing inefficiencies in the meals program, and pushing policies that dropped participation by millions of children.
It wouldn’t be until 2010 that the idea of nutritious school meals for all children gained steam, when Congress ultimately passed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010.
The legislation enacted more rigorous nutrition standards to combat the rise of childhood obesity, while boosting federal meal reimbursement rates. It also created the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, which allowed schools with more than 40% of students on means-tested federal nutrition programs to offer free meals to all students.
While the CEP has improved outcomes for students in low-income areas, nutrition experts say the provision has not eliminated child food insecurity.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that there are a lot of families that are not eligible for free school meals that are struggling,” said Juliana Cohen, director of the Center for Health Inclusion, Research and Practice at Merrimack College in Massachusetts.
SOME THINGS STATES AND LOCALITIES CAN DO
While Congress may not act on universal school meals, policy minds said there are numerous alternatives for state and local governments to improve student food access.
Cohen said Arizona just got rid of its reduced-price tier for school meals in 2022, folding it into the free lunch tier.
Mozaffarian said he believes the best return on investment at the federal level is by expanding the Community Eligibility Provision, so public schools could provide free meals to all students if they have 25% of their students or more on means-tested nutrition assistance.
He added that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack proposed this change earlier this year.
Mozaffarian also suggested increasing the reimbursement rate for low-income schools, as well as improving federal school lunch nutrition standards. The doctor also recommended investing in scratch kitchens, where chefs make food from fresh ingredients, at low-income schools.
Butcher suggested using the money for universal school meals to create education savings accounts, which allow parents to “design” their child’s educational experience.
Reilly noted that she hopes to see a federal universal school meal legislation, because “everyone needs it.”
“I do think it’s feasible in the next five or 10 years federally,” Mozaffarian said.
Tlaib said that we as a society have a “moral obligation” to ensure students do not worry about where their next meal comes from.
“Something like this — something that our country can afford — we should do it,” Tlaib said. “There should be no hesitation.”
Tribes seek invitation to Rio Grande water commission - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A commission that oversees how the Rio Grande is managed and shared among three Western states has adopted a recommendation that could set the stage for more involvement by Native American tribes that depend on the river.
The Rio Grande Compact Commission voted unanimously Friday during its annual meeting in Santa Fe to direct its legal and engineering advisers to look into developing protocols for formal discussions with six pueblos that border the river in central New Mexico.
Pueblo leaders have been seeking a seat at the table for years, saying their water rights have never been quantified despite an agreement made nearly a century ago between the U.S. Interior Department and an irrigation district to provide for irrigation and flood control for pueblo lands.
Isleta Pueblo Gov. Max Zuni told the commission that progress has been made over the last year after the Interior Department established a federal team to assess the feasibility of settling the pueblos' claims to the river. He requested that commissioners extend an invitation to the pueblos to address the commission at its next annual meeting.
Zuni said any discussion of a water rights settlement with Isleta, Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana and Sandia pueblos would be of interest to the commission, which is made up of officials from Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Each state is responsible for delivering a certain amount of water to downstream users each year.
While record snowpack in the mountains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico is resulting in spring runoff not seen in years, commissioners acknowledged that future supplies remain uncertain as the region remains locked in a long-term drought.
For Isleta Pueblo, Zuni said the river is more than just a source of water for crops.
"We use it for traditional purposes," he said. "I don't know how we could quantify that amount of water but carrying on our traditions and our customs, our water is very essential to us. It is important to us, our livelihood. That river is very sacred."
One of the longest rivers in North America, the Rio Grande supplies water for more than 6 million people and 2 million acres of land in the U.S. and Mexico.
There has been much disagreement over management over the decades, including one fight between New Mexico and Texas that is still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The states have reached a proposed settlement, and commissioners at Friday's meeting said they were hopeful a federal judge serving as special master will recommend approval of the agreement.
The commission's engineers also presented accounting sheets for water deliveries based on a new accounting method that was approved last fall. That allowed the engineers to reconcile deliveries dating back to 2011 based on more timely streamflow and reservoir storage records and other data.
They say New Mexico still owes Texas about 93,000 acre feet of water. An acre foot is roughly enough to serve two to three U.S. households annually.
"We need that water," said Bobby Skov, who represents Texas on the commission.
He also pointed to concerns his state has about evaporative losses in reservoirs along the Rio Grande, a proposed copper mine in New Mexico that he said could effect flows to the river and the build-up of sediment that is compromising reservoir storage capacities.
Mike Hamman, New Mexico's state engineer and a member of the commission, noted that New Mexico marked its worst wildfire season on record in 2022 and that watersheds that feed the Rio Grande were damaged. That means there will be higher flows of ash and debris coming off the mountains and that runoff patterns will be altered for years to come.
Hamman said the Rio Grande system was designed over the last century to deal with flood control and the delivery of water downstream, but the pressures of climate change and the needs of endangered species have shifted the mission and complicated management.
He said it's time to reevaluate how managers can balance demands on the Rio Grande.
"We can no longer afford to be micro-focused on our own interests," he said. "This is one complete system. We need to manage it that way in order for us to survive as our water systems evolve here in the 21st century and that means some creativity and some work in Congress and work within our legislatures to make sure we can pull it off together."
Santa Fe National Forest Service officials outlined changed practices for prescribed burns - KUNM News
Officials from the Santa Fe National Forest held a live webinar on Facebook Friday to explain how the US Forest Service has changed its practices for prescribed burns.
Last year, the agency paused prescribed burns nationwide for ninety days after two such fires got out of control and became the largest wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history.
Forest Fire Management Officer Terrance Gallegos explained in the webinar that the agency now uses several more elements when deciding whether to conduct a prescribed burn.
Those include consulting drought reports in the local area and having firefighting equipment and personnel within 30 minutes of a planned burn, in case of emergency.
Gallegos also said that rangers must now brief the forest supervisor before any planned burn and show that they have involved the public, private landowners and local entities in planning the fire.
Prescribed burns are designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires by clearing flammable undergrowth in forests. But as climate change makes forests drier, the risks of such burns are higher.
Prosecutors dismiss Alec Baldwin charge, citing new evidence - By Morgan Lee And Andrew Dalton Associated Press
Prosecutors on Friday formally dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film "Rust, " citing new evidence and the need for more time to investigate.
In a stunning turnaround for the 65-year-old A-list actor, special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis filed the notice to dismiss the only remaining criminal allegation against Baldwin in state District Court in Santa Fe. Prosecutors say the investigation of the shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza is ongoing.
An involuntary manslaughter charge against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons supervisor on the film, is unchanged.
Friday's court filing echoed early statements from prosecutors that new facts had been revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis.
On Thursday, after Baldwin's attorneys announced the decision, the special prosecutors said the "decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled." They have declined further comment and only vaguely addressed the matter during a virtual status conference Friday in Gutierrez-Reed's case.
Los Angeles-based entertainment litigator and defense attorney Kate Mangels, who is not involved in the "Rust" case, said opportunities for further charges against Baldwin are narrowing.
"If they don't have the evidence now, I don't see what evidence they could obtain or that could develop. …It looks like they already had 30 people on a witness list, a cooperative (codefendant) witness, investigations done by various law enforcement agencies. It seems like this has already been pretty well investigated. I can't imagine what would arise to bring new charges."
Authorities have not determined how live ammunition found its way into the .45-caliber revolver made by an Italian company that specializes in 19th century reproductions.
Baldwin has said the gun fired accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward Hutchins, who was behind the camera. Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.
An August FBI report on the agency's analysis of the gun found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer — such as by dropping the weapon.
The only way the testers could get it to fire was by striking the gun with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge, or by pulling the trigger while it was fully cocked. The gun eventually broke during the testing.
After reading the FBI report, retired Seattle police Detective Donald Ledbetter said it was unlikely the gun would have gone off without the trigger being pulled.
In March, "Rust" safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the fatal shooting.
A defense attorney for Halls said Friday that he is happy for Baldwin and also wishes the best for the Hutchins family.
"Mr. Halls never believed Mr. Baldwin should be charged with a crime. It was a tragic accident that is best resolved out of criminal court," defense attorney Lisa Torraco said in an email.
When the manslaughter charges were announced in January, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said the case was about equal justice under the law and accountability in Hutchins' death, regardless of the fame or fortune of those involved. She said the Ukrainian-born cinematographer's death was tragic — and preventable.
A new legal team took over prosecution of Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed in late March, after the original special prosecutor appointed in the case resigned.
When word of the dismissal came, Baldwin was at Yellowstone Film Ranch on the set of a rebooted "Rust" production, a representative for Rust Movie Productions said. Preparations for filming were underway at the film's new location in Montana, 18 months after the shooting shut it down.
Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys said they fully expect her to be exonerated in the judicial process. A preliminary hearing scheduled in May was pushed back to August on Friday after prosecutors said they need more time.
"The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered," the lawyers, Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion, said in a statement.
Before Friday's dismissal, the case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. In February, a weapons enhancement to the manslaughter charge was dropped, reducing the maximum prison sentence from five years to 18 months.
Baldwin's 40-year career has included the early blockbuster "The Hunt for Red October" and a starring role in the sitcom "30 Rock," as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" and a film adaptation of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross." In recent years, he was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live."
Baldwin has worked little as an actor since the shooting but hardly went into hiding. He stayed active on social media, making Instagram videos, posting podcast interviews and pictures of his wife and seven children. He and his wife posted pictures on their Instagram accounts Thursday embracing each other.
Plans to resume filming were outlined last year by the cinematographer's widower, Matthew Hutchins, in a proposed settlement to a wrongful death lawsuit that would make him an executive producer. Souza has said he will return to directing "Rust" to honor the legacy of Halyna Hutchins.
Gloria Allred, attorney for other Hutchins relatives who filed their own lawsuit, and for "Rust" script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, who witnessed the shooting and filed the first suit over it, said Friday that her clients will press forward with their civil litigation against Baldwin, regardless of what happens with the criminal charges.
"Mr. Baldwin should know that we remain committed to fighting and winning for our clients and holding him accountable for pointing a loaded gun at Halyna Hutchins, pulling the trigger, and killing her," Allred said in a statement.
New Mexico investigates more potential abuse, neglect claims - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
New Mexico officials identified on Friday dozens of cases of potential abuse and neglect after completing wellness checks on thousands of developmentally disabled people around the state.
The state Health Department announced that it has checked on all 6,815 clients receiving services through a wavier program. The wellness checks were prompted by abuse claims that were made public in March and resulted in the state terminating contracts with four providers in the Albuquerque area.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and top health officials had warned that any caregivers who mistreat and abuse developmentally disabled or otherwise vulnerable people would be held accountable. Republican legislative leaders also requested that the federal government investigate, saying an independent inquiry would ensure transparency and might prompt the state to take necessary steps to prevent such cases in the future.
State Health Secretary Patrick Allen said in a statement Friday that in-person visits to developmentally disabled clients over such a short period of time was "a huge and necessary undertaking."
The visits identified a total of 111 sites with possible concerns. Every one of these incidents is being fully investigated, Allen said.
Home repairs and other environmental concerns were found at 50 sites, while 61 site visits resulted in reports of potential abuse, neglect and exploitation.
The governor had announced in March that the state would be embarking on a forensic review of the entire Developmental Disabilities Waiver program, which is meant to offer an alternative to institutional care.
Critics have said the incidents of neglect and abuse seem to be related to system failures of various home and community-based programs that fall under the purview of the Developmental Disabilities Supports Division and Division of Health Improvement, which report to the Health Department.
The Health Department has said it would cooperate with federal officials should they choose to investigate and that the department has contracts with a law firm to recommend improvements in the system.
State officials said anyone found to be in an abusive situation or in danger of immediate harm would be removed and that referrals to law enforcement would be made as appropriate.
Allen said the state has responsibility to make sure developmentally disabled clients are being well cared for.
"Most (developmentally disabled) waiver providers do," he said. "Our job is to make sure that they all do."
Details on the case of abuse that triggered the in-person wellness checks still have not been made public.