$2M for Black Fire recovery assigned to wrong agency - By Megan Gleason,Source New Mexico
New Mexico lawmakers approved $2 million to help repair damage inside and around the Gila National Forest caused by the Black Fire and flooding in 2022.
One problem.
That money was budgeted to the wrong agency. The error could cause a delay in getting aid to people devastated by last year’s catastrophic disasters.
The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department was mistakenly allocated the money, according to its spokesperson Sidney Hill.
He said the money really should have gone to the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which handles disaster recovery.
The emergency funds are supposed to be available for the state energy department July 1. Hill said the agency will then have to transfer the $2 million over to correct coffers at the New Mexico Homeland Security and Emergency Management by September.
It’s unclear what caused the confusion in the deposit.
This means there will potentially be an up-to two-month delay in getting these emergency funds to the right department, and then to affected communities.
State Sen. Crystal Diamond (R-Elephant Butte) represents some of the areas recovering, like Sierra and Hidalgo Counties, and tried to pass legislation with more immediate funding for those communities during the 60-day session.
She said, “no matter the bureaucracy that is delaying the process,” money needs to get out.
“We trust the state government to execute our legislative intent, yet this is another instance where we as legislators have to monitor these departments to ensure this funding for our struggling community makes it into the hands of those we appropriated it for,” Diamond said.
It’s not clear how the funding will be split up in southern New Mexico. The budget appropriation says the dollars are for “response and restoration” to the fire in the Black Range.
David Lienemann is the spokesperson for New Mexico’s emergency management department. He said if the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department sends the funds over to his agency, then officials would still need to put policies in place on how to distribute the funds.
Multiple counties had fire and flooding damage. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed emergency orders for four different counties in southern New Mexico after flooding last summer. However, not all counties actually sustained enough damage to receive the funds.
Justin Gojkovich is the Grant County emergency manager. He said the state hasn’t reached out about the $2 million allocated in the budget but stressed the county could certainly use that money.
One bridge in Grant County that was damaged by flooding would take around $3.5 million to fix, he said. That’s nearly double the state’s Black Fire relief allocation in the budget.
Gojkovich said the New Mexico Department of Transportation told him the bridge isn’t usable. Families that live on the other side of that bridge were trapped, he said, and the county put a low-water crossing in with rocks over the river. Still, he added, it’s impossible for people to cross when it rains.
“That’s what happened last year,” he said. “They were stuck on that side of the river until the water went down.”
Gojkovich said the budget issues with the state funds that could bog down repair aid is a mistake that’s unfortunate. But, he added, nobody’s perfect and he doesn’t get upset anymore when things work out like this.
“It kind of seems like everything we’ve been doing is met with some type of delay, which I’m not blaming on necessarily human error, specifically,” he said. “It’s a lot of factors that go into it.”
Acequia stewards in Grant County were struggling to get their own repairs going in time for irrigation season before spring this year. Disaster aid eventually came from private donations, the county and the state.
Gojkovich said the aid stewards did receive helped cover “band-aid repairs” that won’t last permanently when the next disaster sweeps through the region.
“If we get another pipe flow or a bunch of rain again, those are gonna be washed out,” he said.
People living in and near the Gila National Forest also sustained heavy damage. Ranchers in southern New Mexico have largely gone without state relief funds because of New Mexico’s anti-donation clause, which prohibits the state from giving money directly to communities in certain scenarios.
In the 2023 legislative session, Diamond introduced a $3 million relief bill with Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill (D-Silver City) that had a proposal to work around the anti-donation clause.
Diamond said in February that funds from this bill could go from the state to local soil and water conservation district officials, who could then get money to people like ranchers trying to fix up their private properties.
Correa Hemphill also said the legislation had an emergency clause, so money could immediately get on the ground if Lujan Grisham signed the bill into law.
The governor never signed the bill because it didn’t make it through the Legislature.
Instead, Diamond and Correa Hemphill got the $2 million that could be delayed due to the budget issue.
Local soil and water conservation districts in southern New Mexico are still trying to get part of the funding pot.
Jennie Bierner is the manager of the Sierra County Soil and Water Conservation District, one of the entities hoping to get funds and distribute them to affected areas. Like Gojkovich, she said she hasn’t heard anything from the state about where the funding is or how her district can use it.
Bierner is waiting for the state’s guidance on how to move forward with recovery efforts.
“We can’t do anything if we don’t have the money,” she said.
Protest derails planned celebration of 20-year ban on oil drilling near Chaco national park - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
It was supposed to be a homecoming of sorts for U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, after her agency spent many months hosting public meetings and talking with Native American leaders about curbing the pace of oil and gas development in the San Juan Basin and protecting culturally significant sites.
But her return to Chaco Culture National Historical Park on Sunday was derailed when a group of Navajo landowners blocked the road, upset with the Biden administration's recent decision to enshrine for the next 20 years what previously had been an informal 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer around the World Heritage site.
Social media posts showed protesters yelling "Go Home!" as some held signs that read no trespassing on allottee land.
The landowners and Navajo leaders have said Haaland and the Biden administration ignored efforts to reach a compromise that would have established a smaller buffer to protect cultural sites while keeping intact the viability of tribal land and private Navajo-owned parcels for future development.
Haaland gathered Sunday in Albuquerque with tribal leaders to celebrate the withdrawal.
Haaland's own pueblo of Laguna — about 100 miles to the south — is among those that have fought to protect a broad swath of land beyond park boundaries. Haaland has called Chaco a sacred place that holds deep meaning for Indigenous people, and she talked Sunday about cooperation over the decades between Navajos and people from Laguna.
"This morning wasn't ideal," she told reporters. "To see any road into any of our national parks or our public lands blocked was heartbreaking because our public lands belong to all Americans."
Haaland said in matriarchal societies women have an obligation to nurture their families and communities. She said she takes her responsibility seriously, both as a pueblo woman and as secretary of the Interior.
"We can disagree on policy. But we must be united in the protection of our children, our culture, our shared sacred spaces," Haaland said, in a nod to those tribal communities that have raised concerns about the potential effects of new development on cultural resources.
The region is made up of a patchwork of different ownership. Even though the Biden administration's withdrawal applies only to federal land, Navajo officials and allotment owners said their interests will now be landlocked.
Navajo President Buu Nygren said in a statement issued Thursday that the weekend celebration was disappointing and disrespectful. It should have been cancelled, he said.
"The financial and economic losses that are impacting many Navajo families as a result of the secretary's recent land withdrawal are nothing to celebrate," Nygren said. "As leaders of the Navajo Nation, we support the Navajo allottees who oppose the withdrawal of these public lands."
Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley said allotment owners were not adequately consulted despite the federal government's claims.
Industry groups also have backed the Navajo leaders and landowners, with some alleging that Haaland has conflicts of interest when it comes oil and gas policy decisions.
A Republican-led U.S. House committee announced just days after the Chaco decision that it would investigate the secretary's ties to an Indigenous environmental group that has protested fossil fuels.
Still, a coalition of environmental groups and Native American activists who campaigned for the restrictions have lauded Haaland's order as a first step in protecting cultural sites and the region from pollution and climate change. The coalition also continues to lobby for legislation that would formalize the same buffer around the park, spanning more than 490 square miles (1,269 square kilometers) of federal land.
A study published last fall by the Interior Department shows the withdrawal would not affect existing leases and that much of the area of interest by the industry for future development already is under lease or falls outside the boundary of what would be withdrawn.
Federal officials have operated under an informal pause when it comes to development around Chaco park for at least the last three presidential administrations, and supporters argue that Navajos had a seat at the table as the latest moratorium was discussed.
The All Pueblo Council of Governors, which is made up of many tribes that support the withdrawal, noted Sunday that it was joint discussions with the Navajos that began several years ago that prompted the withdrawal efforts.
Los Alamos labs contractor settles state violation; has federal notice for more issues - By Danielle Prokop,Source New Mexico
As contractors at Los Alamos National Lab resolved allegations of mislabeling hazardous waste in 2020 after a New Mexico Environment Department inspection, federal overseers recently reported additional significant safety violations from 2021.
Triad National Security, LLC is a contractor that manages the national lab, including LANL’s plutonium weapons program. Triad is co-owned by the Battelle Memorial Institute, Texas A&M University System, and the University of California.
On May 31, Triad and New Mexico’s environment department agreed to a $20,000settlement, after the agency alleged Triad violated state laws during a 2020 inspection.
Environment department inspectors said Triad failed to label containers of hazardous waste, universal waste batteries and free liquids. There was also a failure to provide secondary containers for free liquid hazardous waste. NMED issued a notice of violation nearly two years later in July 2022.
According to the settlement, Triad did not admit to any of the allegations, but paid the civil fine to “avoid further legal proceedings.”
FEDERAL OVERSEER FLAGS 2021 SAFETY VIOLATIONS
On May 25, the National Nuclear Security Administration issued apreliminary notice of violation after a series of events that occurred between February and July 2021 at LANL’s plutonium facility.
The NNSA, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, is responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons. It oversees the national laboratories production, testing and development of the stockpile.
The NNSA labeled the five safety breaches against Triad and Los Alamos labs as “Severity Level II violations” with a high safety significance.
Level II violations “represent a significant lack of attention or carelessness towards responsibilities of (Department of Energy) contractors for the protection of public or worker safety,” according to a letter to Los Alamos labs director Thom Mason.
When asked how the public and workers can trust Triad in the wake of nuclear safety violations, a laboratory spokesman gave the following written statement.
“The Laboratory takes the incidents raised by the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments seriously and undertook corrective actions to address them when they occurred in 2021. We will continue to work closely with DOE EA as we prioritize the safety of our workers, the public, and the environment,” the written statement said.
Violations included an issue when fissionable materials were placed in a drop-box and violated “criticality” safety posting limits, which are to help prevent fission chain-reaction accidents.
A glovebox – which is supposed to allow people to handle dangerous materials – breached on March 3, 2021, allegedly contaminating three workers’ skin with radioactive material.
“Triad did not immediately recognize that a glove had breached and that a worker had contamination on their hands,” the federal violation notice said. “As a result, the worker spread contamination to surfaces, personal protective equipment, personal clothing and skin of some workers in the room.”
The NNSA cited staffing shortages, noting that one person was given four roles.
“With all these responsibilities and distractions, self-monitoring was not performed when the individual exited the glovebox,” the violation notice said. That allowed the contamination to spread to two other people before being detected.
On March 31, 2021 flooding occurred in a vault with fissionable materials.
NNSA said Triad failed to inform the lab’s operations center that the vault water bath required filling. During the process, Triad deviated from approved procedures by blocking open a spring-loaded valve, “bypassing its safety feature.”
“This ultimately caused water to overflow onto the vault floor because the worker was not present to close the valve,” the violation notice said.
A second flooding event on July 19, 2021 happened after work was inappropriately delegated to unqualified workers, the NNSA said. The workers did not manipulate the valves in the right sequence, and did not notify the LANL Operations Center property to respond to the alarms.
“These errors resulted in one of the valves being misaligned, allowing water to inadvertently enter the ventilation system,” the violation notice said.
The flooding included glovebox ventilations systems and a glovebox containing fissionable material. Triad issued a memo two years before cautioning that misaligned valves could flood the ventilation systems, NNSA noted in the letter.
NNSA said both flooding incidents shared a problem of insufficient staff to complete facility rounds.
The violations totaled more than half a million dollars, $571,187 to be exact. However, NNSA withheld $1.4 million from the Triad contract “in part for deficiencies related to the events,” the agency said it would not seek further civil penalty for the violations.
Triad is required to submit a written reply, which can contest the violations.
Ex-GOP candidate to remain jailed in connection with drive-bys at lawmakers' homes - Associated Press
A judge ruled that a failed political candidate will remain jailed on federal charges that include election interference related to a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque.
In a ruling Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Paul Briones said he could find no conditions of release for Solomon Peña that would reasonably ensure the safety of the community. The judge also found that Peña is at risk of fleeing from authorities.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that Peña's lawyer, Elizabeth Honce, argued for her client to be released, saying he had no intention of harming the community.
Peña lost a 2022 state House race by nearly 50 percentage points but never conceded the race.
"He was frustrated by his election loss, and there's no indication that this motivation has subsided or will subside," prosecutor Patrick Cordova told the judge.
Peña had been held in jail on state charges after his arrest in January. He allegedly orchestrated the shootings at the homes of four Democrats, police said, including two who had certified the November election results.
No injuries were reported, though in one case bullets passed through the bedroom of a state senator's 10-year-old daughter.
The state charges, which included shooting at a dwelling and conspiracy, were dropped June 1 so the federal case against the three defendants could proceed.
Peña has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of interference with federally protected activities and two firearms offenses.
New Mexico State Police officer accused of sexually assaulting a female officer - Associated Press
A New Mexico State Police officer has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a female officer last year when he was employed by the Grants Police Department, authorities said.
Officials said 30-year-old Isaiah Cheromiah was arrested at the State Police Office in Milan and booked into jail Friday on suspicion of criminal sexual contact and giving alcoholic beverages to a minor.
It was unclear Sunday if Cheromiah had a lawyer yet who could speak on his behalf.
State Police said a 22-year-old woman told officers in Gallup that she was sexually assaulted by another officer.
The woman had been on a two-week New Mexico National Guard deployment in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in July 2022.
She said Cheromiah was with the Grants Police Department at the time.
The woman said she and Cheromiah had been hanging out and drinking together before she was allegedly sexually assaulted while she slept. However, she did not report the alleged incident until last month.
Cheromiah was hired by State Police last November as part of a lateral recruit academy.
After learning of the allegations, State Police placed Cheromiah on administrative leave and began an internal and criminal investigation.
State Police Chief Tim Johnson said in a statement that he was "deeply disturbed" that one of the agency's officers had been arrested over sexual assault allegations, adding, "any breach of public trust is entirely unacceptable."
New Mexico reaches $500M settlement with Walgreens in opioid case
New Mexico has settled with Walgreens for $500 million over the pharmacy chain's role in distributing highly addictive prescription painkillers.
The agreement was signed in March, and state officials confirmed that a confidentiality provision on the agreement was lifted Friday.
The settlement is in addition to $274 million in settlements obtained in the case last fall from Albertsons, CVS, Kroger and Walmart. Attorneys representing the state say that, in all, New Mexico's opioid litigation has brought in more than $1 billion.
They argued at trial last year that Walgreens failed to recognize suspicious prescriptions and refuse to fill them.
"I'm optimistic this will help in the fight against the opioid crisis and provide the treatment New Mexicans so desperately need," Luis Robles, one of the attorneys who worked on the case, told the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Over the past few years, drug manufacturers, distribution companies, pharmacies and other companies with roles in the opioid business have reached settlements totaling more than $50 billion with local, state and tribal governments.
In May, West Virginia announced its settlement with Kroger, bringing that state's total opioid litigation dollars to more than $1 billion. West Virginia state has lost more lives to opioid overdoses per capita than any other.
Most of the settlement money from the opioid litigation is required to be used to fight the crisis, which has been linked to more than 560,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades, including more than 70,000 a year recently.
In recent years, most of the deaths have been connected to fentanyl and other illicit synthetic opioids, not prescription painkillers, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New voting districts could change again in some states before the 2024 elections - By David A. Lieb Associated Press
The 2022 elections marked the first using new voting districts drawn from updated census data. Those districts typically last for a decade, but they could be short-lived in some states.
Court challenges could force lawmakers or special commissions to draw yet another set of maps before the 2024 elections for representatives in Congress and state capitols.
That means voters who were just shifted into new U.S. House or state legislative districts could be grouped with different communities when they go to vote the next time.
Here's a look at some places where voting districts could change, and the reasons why.
RACE IN REDISTRICTING
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that Alabama's congressional districts likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of Black voters.
The ruling means the state's Republican-led Legislature and GOP governor likely will have to draw new U.S. House districts in which Black voters comprise a majority — or close to it — in two of Alabama's seven districts, instead of only one.
The ruling also could lead to new U.S. House districts in Louisiana, and potentially Georgia.
While considering the Alabama case, the Supreme Court had put a hold on a similar lower court ruling that Louisiana's districts must be redrawn to create a second majority-Black district. That's likely to be lifted. A federal judge in Georgia last year also said some of its congressional and state legislative districts likely violated the Voting Rights Act, but no final decision has been issued.
The Alabama decision is "breathing new life" into similar cases around the country, said attorney Mark Gaber, senior redistricting director at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center.
Voting Rights Acts challenges are in the early stages in Texas. Lawsuits also allege that state legislative districts dilute the voting strength of Hispanic residents in Washington and Native Americans in North Dakota.
Though based on different legal theories, other lawsuits allege districts were drawn to the detriment of minority votes in Arkansas and Florida. The Supreme Court also has agreed to review a lower court ruling that a South Carolina congressional district discriminates against Black voters.
A NEW LOOK FOR A NEW ELECTION
New Assembly districts also are on tap in New York. The state's highest court last year struck down maps approved by the Democratic-led legislature for the U.S. House, state Senate and state Assembly. It ordered a lower court to impose new U.S. House and state Senate districts for the 2022 elections. But judges determined it was too late to come up with new Assembly districts before the last election.
The courts instead said that the state's Independent Redistricting Commission should draw new districts. The commission in April endorsed a revised Assembly map, which received quick approval from the legislature and governor to take effect for the 2024 elections.
A pending lawsuit asks that the independent commission also be allowed to draw new U.S. House maps before the 2024 elections.
In North Carolina, a Democratic majority of the state Supreme Court ruled last year that congressional districts drawn by the Republican-led General Assembly were an illegal partisan gerrymander and instead allowed a map drawn by judges to be used for the 2022 elections. While that case was on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, voters elected a Republican majority to the state Supreme Court. Those judges in April reversed the previous ruling and declared there was no constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering.
Whatever the U.S. Supreme Court does with the original appeal, state lawmakers are planning to redraw congressional districts before the next election — giving Republicans a chance at winning more seats than the current 7-7 split.
In Ohio, the state Supreme Court rejected multiple maps drawn by Republican officials for U.S. House, state Senate and state House districts. But courts allowed the 2022 elections to go forward anyway using those maps, directing new districts to be drawn before the next elections.
Republican state lawmakers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the congressional map rejection. If they lose, they will have to draw new maps. Meanwhile, a Republican-led commission responsible for drawing state legislative maps is expected to meet later this year to make another attempt.
MORE PARTISAN CHALLENGES
Cases are pending before the top courts in New Mexico and Utah claiming that their congressional districts are illegal partisan gerrymanders — in New Mexico's case benefitting Democrats, and in Utah's aiding Republicans.
The New Mexico Supreme Court heard arguments in January but has not ruled on whether to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Republicans. The lawsuit contends Democratic lawmakers illegally divided up the southeastern corner of the state — an oil-producing Republican stronghold — into three districts "for raw political gain." Democrats won all three districts in the 2022 elections.
The Utah Supreme Court is to hear arguments in July on whether a trial can go forward in a lawsuit contending Republican lawmakers engaged in illegal partisan gerrymandering by splitting Salt Lake County — the most politically competitive area — among four congressional districts. Republicans won all four districts in last year's elections.
In Kentucky, a trial court last November rejected a partisan gerrymandering claim brought by Democrats against congressional and state House maps adopted by the Republican-led Legislature. That case has been appealed to the state Supreme Court.
WISCONSIN, TOO?
Though there is no current redistricting challenge in Wisconsin, there could be by the end of the summer. That could open the potential for new districts before the 2024 elections.
Voters in April elected a new Democrat-backed judge to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, ensuring that liberals will take over majority control when Judge Janet Protasiewicz officially joins the court in August.
Protasiewicz said during the campaign that she thought the current maps were "rigged" and she wanted to revisit them.
That's raised hopes among Democrats that the high court could be more receptive to a lawsuit alleging that the current state legislative and congressional districts provide an unfair advantage for Republicans. Though the current districts were approved by the court, they were modeled after previous Republican-drawn districts that gave the GOP a strong edge over the past decade.
Jeff Mandell, a Madison attorney, said he and others opposed to the maps plan to file a legal challenge shortly after Protasiewicz joins the court.
"We think the people of Wisconsin deserve a chance for this new court to take a fresh look at this issue," Mandell said.
Homeland Security names Border Patrol veteran Jason Owens to lead the agency - Associated Press
The Biden administration on Friday named U.S. Border Patrol veteran Jason Owens to lead the agency, replacing retiring chief Raul Ortiz at a time of intense political scrutiny over the administration's immigration policies.
In a statement announcing Owens' promotion, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, "Chief Owens is a talented, selfless, and inspiring leader who is dedicated to the Border Patrol's law enforcement mission, the men and women who fulfill it, and the country that we all serve."
"I am inspired by his commitment to the mission, and am grateful to him for his continued service in this new leadership role," Mayorkas added.
The New York Times reported that Owens has been with the Border Patrol for more than 20 years, most recently as the head of the Del Rio division in Texas.
Del Rio is one of nine sectors along the southern border. The sector stretches 245 miles (395 kilometers) along the Rio Grande River that divides Texas from Mexico. It is staffed by roughly 1,400 Border Patrol agents.
According to his LinkedIn profile, before that Owens served as the head of the Border Patrol's training academy in New Mexico. His resume also includes numerous stints in other locations along the southern and northern borders.
The Border Patrol is responsible for patrolling the vast stretches of land between the legal border crossings to stop smuggling or illegal migration.
Ortiz said last month in a note to staff that was obtained by The Associated Press that he will leave June 30.
Ortiz managed the Border Patrol and its roughly 20,000 agents through the COVID-19 pandemic and Title 42 emergency health restrictions that began in March 2020 and allowed agents to quickly return migrants over the southern border.
He also oversaw the rollout of new policies on May 11 meant to discourage migrants from crossing illegally while opening up other legal pathways. The number of crossings has dropped, and the border has not seen the high numbers of crossings or chaos anticipated by even President Joe Biden with the end of the restrictions.
But Republicans, who say the Biden administration has done little to deter immigration, are still aiming to make it a key issue this Congress where they've been holding repeated hearings that have been harshly critical of the administration and specifically of Mayorkas.