New Mexico State basketball players settle lawsuit stemming from hazing episodes – By Eddie Pells, Associated Press National Writer
The former New Mexico State basketball players who filed a lawsuit alleging they were ganged up on and sexually assaulted by teammates have settled the case, one of their attorneys said Tuesday.
Aggie players Deuce Benjamin and Shak Odunewu filed the lawsuit in April, alleging three players on the team assaulted them, while coaches who knew of the assaults did nothing about it.
Attorney Joleen Youngers said all defendants — the players, coaches and the New Mexico State board of regents — were part of the settlement, and that she could not release the terms. A school spokesman said terms would be released on the state's open-records website "soon."
"The important thing was getting a settlement that reasonably compensates them and allows them to put this matter behind them, and helps them to move on," Youngers said. "Because a lawsuit like this can end up being a second victimization, where they have to go through months, if not years, of dealing with all the issues."
Separately, the state attorney general has been looking into potential criminal charges in the case.
The lawsuit came two months after the Aggies abruptly canceled the rest of their 2022-23 basketball season when Deuce Benjamin, a freshman guard, brought his allegations to campus police. The school characterized them as hazing allegations.
In an interview with The Associated Press shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Benjamin said he had lost his respect for people in the aftermath of what had happened.
"Pretty much just a lot of anger," Benjamin said. "I can't put my trust in people, and I've just come to despise people, really."
The AP normally does not name alleged victims of sexual assault, but Benjamin and Odunewu had both agreed to let their names be used in both the lawsuit and subsequent media interviews, including the one with AP. Benjamin's father, former Aggies star William Benjamin, joined his son and Odunewu as plaintiffs.
"It took so much courage for them to stand up and voice their name, to say this happened and it was wrong, and to demand accountability, and they did it," Youngers said.
Billions are being spent to turn the tide on the US West's wildfires. It won't be enough - By Matthew Brown, Terry Chea, Caleb Diehl and Camille Fassett, Associated Press
Using chainsaws, heavy machinery and controlled burns, the Biden administration is trying to turn the tide on worsening wildfires in the U.S. West through a multi-billion dollar cleanup of forests choked with dead trees and undergrowth.
Yet one year into what's envisioned as a decade-long effort, federal land managers are scrambling to catch up after falling behind on several of their priority forests for thinning even as they exceeded goals elsewhere. And they've skipped over some highly at-risk communities to work in less threatened areas, according to data obtained by The Associated Press, public records and Congressional testimony.
With climate change making the situation increasingly dire, mixed early results from the administration's initiative underscore the challenge of reversing decades of lax forest management and aggressive fire suppression that allowed many woodlands to become tinderboxes. The ambitious effort comes amid pushback from lawmakers dissatisfied with progress to date and criticism from some environmentalists for cutting too many trees.
Administration officials in interviews and during testimony maintained that the thinning work is making a difference. Work announced to date, they said, will help lessen wildfire dangers faced by more than 500 communities in 10 states. But they also acknowledged finishing the task will require far more resources than what's already dedicated.
"As much money as we're receiving, it's not enough to take care of the problems that we are seeing, particularly across the West," said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. "This is an emergency situation in many places, and we are acting with a sense of urgency."
BIG MONEY FOR BIG PROBLEM
Congress in the last two years approved more than $4 billion in additional funding to prevent repeats of destructive infernos that have torched communities including in California, Colorado and Montana.
By logging and burning trees and low-lying vegetation, officials hope to lessen forest fuels and keep fires that originate on federal lands from exploding through nearby cities and towns.
The enormity of the task is evident in an aerial view of California's Tahoe National Forest, where mountainsides are colored brown and gray with the vast number of trees killed by insects and drought. After work on the Tahoe was delayed last year, Forest Service crews and contractors recently started taking down trees across thousands of acres.
"The forests as we know them in California and across the West, they're dying. They're being destroyed through fire. They're dying from drought, disease and insects," said forest Supervisor Eli Ilano. "They're dying at a pace that we're having trouble keeping up with."
The scale of spending is unprecedented, said Courtney Schultz with Colorado State University. The forest policy expert said millions of acres have been through environmental review and are ready for work.
"If we really want to go big across the landscape — to reduce fuels enough to affect fire behavior and have some impact on communities — we need to be planning large projects," she said.
Key to that strategy is addressing forest patches where computer simulations show wildfire could easily spread to inhabited areas. Some areas have yet to get the extra funding for thinning despite facing high risk, including portions of California's Sierra Nevada range, Montana's Bitterroot Valley and around Mescalero Apache lands in southern New Mexico.
Only about a third of the land the U.S. Forest Service treated last year was designated with high wildfire hazard potential, agency documents show. About half the forest was in the southeastern U.S., where wildfires are less severe but weather conditions make it easier to use intentional burns, the documents show.
The infrastructure bill passed two years ago with bipartisan support included a requirement for the administration to treat forests across 10 million acres — 15,625 square miles or 40,500 square kilometers — by 2027. Less than 10% of that was addressed in the first year.
"The Forest Service is obligating hundreds of millions of dollars, but not in the areas required by law," said Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Forest Service spokesman Wade Muehlhof said the agency was confident in the administration's strategy, but declined to say if it would meet the acreage mandates.
MIXED FIRST-YEAR RESULTS
An AP analysis of federal data reveals the scale of the challenge: Hundreds of communities are threatened by the potential for fires to ignite on federal forests and spread to populated areas.
In California, thinning zones announced to date address the risk to only about one-in-five houses and other buildings potentially exposed to fires on federal lands, the analysis shows. In Nevada and Oregon, it's about half of exposed structures, and in Montana it's one-in 25.
Most areas identified as hot spots where forest fires have high potential to burn into populated areas won't be addressed for at least the next several years, according to government planning documents. And computer models project up to 20% of areas that need thinning will be hit by fires before that work occurs.
Architects of the Forest Service's strategy based it on tens millions of computer wildfire simulations being used to predict areas that pose the greatest risk. Those scenarios showed fires on only 10% to 20% of the land would account for 80% of exposure to communities.
"This is a mapped plan through time, where we can laser-focus on one highly important issue: the problem of communities being destroyed by wildfires started on public lands," said Forest Service fire scientist Alan Ager.
FALLING SHORT IN A RISKY AREA
In 2022, the Forest Service missed its treatment goals in four of 10 areas targeted as priorities. One was the Tahoe National Forest's North Yuba region, where the agency addressed only 6% of the acreage planned.
Small towns tucked into the forest's canyons escaped disaster two years ago when the Dixie fire raged just to the north, destroying several communities and burning about 1,500 square miles (3,900 square kilometers) in the Sierra Nevada range. Those communities also escaped another fire to the south that burned more than 1,000 homes and structures. The previous year, yet another fire killed 15 people and torched more than 2,000 homes and structures in the region.
The same conditions that whipped those fires into infernos exist on the Tahoe forest — densely-packed trees and underbrush primed to burn following years of drought. And government computer modeling suggests it's among the U.S. communities most exposed to wildfires on federal lands.
Five million trees died on the Tahoe last year alone, said Ilano, the forest supervisor.
"What we're realizing is we're not moving fast enough, that the fires are burning bigger and more intense, more quickly than we anticipated," Ilano said.
Earlier this month, tracked vehicles including one known as a "harvester" worked through dense stands on the North Yuba, clipping large trees at their base and stripping them bare of branches in just seconds, then piling the trunks to be burned later. Elsewhere, work crews walked slowly behind a wood chipper as it was pulled along a forest road, stuffing the machine with small trees and branches cut to clear the understory.
The increased logging needed to reach the government's lofty goals has gained acceptance as the growing toll from wildfires softens longstanding opposition from some environmental groups and ecologists.
"Gone are the days when things were black and white and either good or bad," said Melinda Booth, former director of the South Yuba River Citizens League. "We need targeted treatment, targeted thinning, which does include logging."
Others think officials are going too far. Sue Britting with Sierra Forest Legacy says the North Yuba plan includes about nine square miles (23 square kilometers) of older trees and stands along waterways that should be preserved. Yet for most of the work, Britting said it's time to "move forward" on a thinning project years in the making.
OBSTACLES TO THINNING STRATEGY
Hindering the Forest Service nationwide is a shortage of workers to cut and remove trees on the scale demanded, government officials and forestry experts say. Litigation ties up many projects, with environmental reviews taking three years on average before work begins, according to the Property and Environment Research Center, a Bozeman, Montana think tank.
Another problem: Thinning operations aren't allowed in federally designated wilderness areas. That puts off limits about a third of National Forest areas that expose communities to high wildfire risk and means some thinning work must be carried out in a patchwork fashion.
Keeping track of progress presents its own challenges. Acres that get worked on are often counted twice or more — first when the trees are cut down, again when leftover piles of woody material on the same site are removed, and yet again when that landscape is later subjected to prescribed fire, said Schultz of Colorado State University.
Even where thinning is allowed, officials face other potential constraints, such as protecting older groves important for wildlife habitat. A Biden inventory of public lands in April identified more than 175,000 square miles (453,000 square kilometers) of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land.
The inventory will be used to craft new rules to better protect those woodlands from fires, insects and other side effects of climate change. But there's overlap between older forests and many areas slated for thinning. That includes more than half of the treatment area at North Yuba, according to an AP analysis of mature forest data compiled by the conservation group Wild Heritage.
"What's driving all of this is insect infestation, drought stress, and all of that is related to the climate," said Wild Heritage chief scientist Dominick DellaSalla. "I don't think you can get out of it by thinning."
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP's climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
New Mexico lawmakers question fallowing as way to reduce water use along the Rio Grande - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Some New Mexico lawmakers are warning that leaving farmland unplanted along one of North America's longest rivers won't be a long-term answer to ensuring Texas gets its share of the Rio Grande under a pending settlement that would end a yearslong fight over the river's management.
Members of the powerful Legislative Finance Committee met Tuesday in Las Cruces, not far from the border with Texas. On the agenda were briefings from top water managers about the history of the dispute and the creation of a task force that will be charged with developing a plan for implementing the proposed agreement.
"The work ahead in the lower Rio Grande is significant and we know that and we see that and we're prepared to take it on. We have a plan," said Hannah Riseley-White, interim director of the Interstate Stream Commission.
That plan calls for reducing use through a combination of efforts that range from paying farmers not to pump groundwater to leasing surface water, fallowing farmland and making infrastructure improvements.
The proposed settlement reached last fall by New Mexico, Texas and Colorado still needs the approval of a judge who has been overseeing the case and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court.
State Sen. Joseph Cervantes, a Democrat from Las Cruces, argued that the settlement was far from a done deal, while other lawmakers said the burden of meeting water delivery obligations should not fall just to farmers in southern New Mexico.
Some officials talked about fallowing land along the Rio Grande to reduce both diversions from the river and groundwater pumping that many farmers are forced to rely on in times of drought. In fact, it was pumping over the last two decades that prompted Texas to sue, arguing that the practice was cutting into the amount of water that was ultimately delivered as part of a decades-old water sharing compact between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
Others at the meeting said focusing on infrastructure would result in more efficient use of the river. They also said storm water runoff could be captured and managed to help recharge aquifers in southern New Mexico.
Proposals at two dams along the southern reaches of the river call for building secondary ponds where runoff could be held for later release so New Mexico would not lose out when storm surges send excess water beyond the state line.
"This infrastructure is absolutely necessary to adapt to this changing climate that we're in. It is necessary, but not sufficient," said Phil King, an engineering consultant with Elephant Butte Irrigation District, the largest in New Mexico. "We're definitely going to have to change the way we administer our water."
King noted that farmers along the lower Rio Grande are not pumping any more water than they did between the early 1950s and late 1970s, a period that serves as the baseline condition. However, municipal and industry use has increased 250% since then, he said.
Speaking to the fallowing efforts, King said: "Do you really want to go and slaughter the goose that lays the golden eggs, contributing to our economy and forming an important part of our culture? Or do you want to look at trying to use infrastructure first to minimize how much you have to reduce water use?"
Cervantes said that while the proposed settlement would end the dispute with Texas, it will create a battle between users in southern and northern New Mexico and that most farmers would not be willing to sell their land for the prices offered through the fallowing programs.
Democratic Sen. George Munoz, who chairs the Legislative Finance Committee, suggested money appropriated by the state Legislature as well as federal infrastructure funding would be better spent on infrastructure improvements along the river.
"We need to think about how we target the money we're going to use in this next year to fix some of these problems," he said. "But the Middle Rio Grande guys, my message to you is they're coming for you next. You better get ready because there's not enough water down south."
New Mexico negotiates settlement over permit renewal for US nuclear waste repository - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
New Mexico has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Energy over the renewal of a permit for the federal government's only underground repository for nuclear waste.
Officials with the New Mexico Environment Department announced Tuesday that an agreement was reached last week after four days of negotiations. The state first outlined its terms in December, seeking to ensure that high-level waste such as diluted plutonium wouldn't find its way to the state.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico plays a key role in the nation's multibillion-dollar effort to clean up radioactive waste left behind by decades nuclear research and bomb-making. Currently, it's licensed to take what is known as transuranic waste, or waste generated by the nation's nuclear weapons program that is contaminated with radioactive elements heavier than uranium.
The new draft permit would provide greater regulatory oversight and safeguards at the repository over the next decade, officials said. It also would prioritize the cleanup of Cold War-era waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory — the birthplace of the atomic bomb.
"The new permit conditions affirm New Mexico's authority and position that all roads lead from WIPP — we are no longer the last stop for clean-up but the driving force in that process that begins here," said James Kenney, head of New Mexico's Environment Department.
The state agency expects to publish the modified permit on Aug. 15. A public meeting will follow in September, with a final permit being issued in October.
Nuclear watchdog groups said they were in support of the agreement because it focuses on the waste at Los Alamos and requires more transparency about legacy defense-related waste around the U.S.
The permit also includes language that would enable the state to suspend shipments to WIPP if there's evidence of a threat to human health or the environment.
New Mexico also could move to revoke the permit if Congress were to increase WIPP's capacity or expand the types of waste that could be sent there. State officials and watchdogs have said that language serves as a hedge against New Mexico becoming the nation's permanent dumping ground.
Under the permit, the Energy Department would have to document its progress in siting another underground repository in a state other than New Mexico through a new annual report as well as hold quarterly meetings to update the public.
US Interior Secretary Haaland reflects on tenure and tradition amid policy challenges - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
It was never about making history for Deb Haaland, but rather making her parents proud.
She says she worked hard, putting herself through school, starting a small business to pay bills and eventually finding her way into politics — first as a campaign volunteer and later as the first Native American woman to lead a political party in New Mexico.
The rest seems like history. Haaland was sworn in as one of the first two Native American women in Congress in 2019. Two years later, she took the reins at the U.S. Interior Department — an agency whose responsibilities stretch from managing energy development to meeting the nation's treaty obligations to 574 federally recognized tribes.
Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet member in the U.S., spoke to The Associated Press about her tenure leading the 70,000-employee agency that oversees subsurface minerals and millions of acres of public land.
The hardest part? Balancing the interests of every single American, she said.
"I might feel one way about an issue personally. It doesn't mean that that's the decision that's going to be made," said Haaland, 62, sitting in the shade of the towering cottonwood trees that line her backyard in Albuquerque. "There is a process, so I am dedicated to that. I really do want to find a balance."
Criticism of Haaland has mounted in recent weeks. Environmentalists slammed her department's approval of the massive Willow oil project in Alaska, while a Republican-led U.S. House committee opened an investigation into ties between Haaland and an Indigenous group from her home state of New Mexico that advocates for halting oil and gas production on public lands.
Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress also have grilled her about her agency's $19 billion budget request. Critics say the Interior Department under her guidance had failed to conduct quarterly oil and gas lease sales as required under law, doubled the time it takes to get permits, and raised royalty rates charged to energy companies to discourage domestic production and advance the administration's climate goals.
Haaland defended the Biden administration's priorities, reiterating that her department was following the law and was on track to meet the administration's goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.
But even some Democratic senators who support more wind and solar energy development have questioned that timeline, saying some projects take years to be permitted and could be at risk. Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico did not get a response from Haaland when asking when the first utility-scale offshore wind projects would be permitted
Haaland said she had an idea of what the Cabinet job might entail, having served in Congress and as a member of Joe Biden's platform committee when he was the Democratic presidential nominee. Many of Biden's ideals about climate change, renewable energy and conservation mirrored her own.
What gets conserved and how is at the root of a few thorny projects Haaland must navigate, from the Willow project to a drilling moratorium around a national park near northwestern New Mexico's Chaco Canyon, and now protests by Native American tribes over a proposed lithium mine in Nevada.
"There isn't a one-size-fits-all for any of these things," she said. "We have to take each one individually and find the best solution that we can."
Native American tribes are not always pleased with the outcome, she acknowledged.
"Every tribe, I think, is different. Their opportunities are different. Their lifestyles are different and it's up to us to make sure that we get them to the table to tell us what's important to them," she said. "... And we do our best, as I said, to balance whatever the project is — using the science, using the law."
Haaland's heritage as a member of Laguna Pueblo makes her unlike any previous secretary, and she's aware of the added expectations from Indian Country as she leads an agency with a fraught and even murderous history with Native tribes.
She has worked to boost consultation efforts with tribal governments, allocate more resources to help address the alarming rate of disappearances and deaths among Native Americans, and launched an investigation into the federal government's role in boarding schools that sought to assimilate Native children over decades.
Wenona Singel, an associate professor at Michigan State University College of Law and director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center, pointed to the stories Haaland has told about her grandparents being taken from their families when they were children. The story is similar to Singel's own family and many others.
"She understands the pain and the trauma of having our ancestors be stripped of their culture and their language and their Native identity," said Singel, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. " She has demonstrated a deeper understanding of our nation's need to come to grips with the reality of this history and the way in which it continues to impact our communities today."
For Haaland, there's no way to disconnect from her heritage: "I am who I am."
Haaland grew up in a military family — her late father was a decorated Marine and her late mother spent more than two decades working for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs after serving in the U.S. Navy. Haaland often talks about how her mother — who also was a member of Laguna Pueblo — raised her to be fierce.
Haaland, a mother herself, got married in 2021 to her longtime partner Skip Sayre. They share a home in Albuquerque with their two rescue dogs — Remington and Winchester.
Haaland still hangs her clothes on the line out back to dry in the New Mexico sun, finds time to be outside every day and makes big batches of her own red chile sauce with garlic and oregano, freezing it so she has a ready supply when she comes home.
Despite moving around as a kid, Haaland said her traditions keep her grounded. In fact, she's working to finish her master's degree in American Indian studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, a feat nearly 25 years in the making.
Haaland's mother was the one who encouraged her to finish her thesis — an exploration of Laguna Pueblo's traditional foods. Haaland was proud to say she turned the paper in to her committee in early June, looking to show that Indigenous knowledge continues to be carried down and that the foods eaten at Laguna Pueblo — including stew and piki bread — haven't changed since the tribe migrated from the Chaco Canyon area generations ago. While modern ovens may have taken the place of hot stones, Haaland said Laguna's foods are still rooted in tradition.
One of her first obligations as a Pueblo woman is to nurture her family and community, and Haaland said that's not unlike the demands of her current job: to manage and protect natural resources and cultural heritage.
"You have values as a human being," she said. "That's the way you're raised by your family, and that's what I bring to the table."
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New Mexicans can listen to updates from state agencies during legislative meeting this week - Megan Gleason, Source New Mexico
New Mexico legislators will get work going this week to hear about what’s going on around the state. This comes before the official 30-day legislative session starts up in January 2024.
These interim meetings will be held across New Mexico and are a space for lawmakers to get updates from state agencies, hear from experts on various topics, discuss budget ideas and craft policy proposals.
One of the first up to get some of this work done is the powerful Legislative Finance Committee that helps to develop budget recommendations for different state agencies.
Anyone can attend or tune into the finance committee meeting happening today through Thursday. People can go in person at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, or can watch the livestream.
Legislators will listen to various presentations from local, state and federal officials and experts. The agenda can be found here.
Topics include New Mexico’s water supply, nontraditional water options, economic development along the border, updates on behavioral health and cultural affairs, information about juvenile justice facilities and different research plans from universities in the state.
Legislators will also discuss the Legislative Finance Committee budget status for fiscal year 2023, recent report cards on different state agencies and staffing updates at state departments.
WATER WEEK
A big topic spanning multiple days will be water.
Local and state officials will give an update Tuesday morning on the yearslong, multi-million dollar battle between Texas and New Mexico over Rio Grande water.
State Engineer Mike Hamman will discuss a “high-level overview” of the Rio Grande basin, said Maggie Fitzgerald, spokesperson for the Office of the State Engineer.
She said this Legislative Finance Committee meeting is an important opportunity for the engineer’s office to talk about “plans to use the funds received in the 2023 legislative session and provide a roadmap of what we expect for the region in the coming decade.”
The New Mexico Environment Department will also be giving a presentation Tuesday morning. As of Monday afternoon, the agenda didn’t include any specific details.
After that, local, state and federal water officials are slated to talk about the state of water in New Mexico, including a discussion about alternative water sources. On the agenda are topics that include long-term planning, rethinking water supply sources, special appropriations and capital outlay dollars, and federal funding opportunities.
DESALINATION
Another presentation on Wednesday will further delve into workarounds for New Mexico’s lack of water amid climate change.
Pei Xu is a New Mexico State University professor with expertise in water and hydrosciences. She’s presenting to lawmakers about desalination, one of her research interests.
Desalination is the process of removing salts and minerals from water. Xu told Source NM this could be a solution to the diminishing water supply available in the southwest.
“In New Mexico, we need water,” she said. “Water is life.”
Xu said she plans to tell lawmakers about how NMSU researchers are exploring treatments for water sources like brackish water — saline water usually found in underground aquifers. This water has to be treated because it has excessive minerals or other compounds that make it unsafe for humans to drink naturally.
The college’s researchers are trying to find more energy- and cost-efficient ways to treat the water, Xu said, a process that’s not cheap to do and can harm the environment. She said she’ll talk about different methods and technology NMSU experts are working on.
Xu said she hopes the lawmakers financially support the work.
BORDER ECONOMICS
The national southern border is New Mexico’s largest export base and second-largest industrial base, according to the Border Industrial Association. Association President and CEO Jerry Pacheco is on the committee schedule to talk more about this to lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon.
According to the agenda, he will discuss progress on “legislative investments” along the border.
In addition, Kathy Hansen will talk about economic development strategies at NMSU’s Arrowhead Center, where she’s the director and CEO. Arrowhead is a research organization that strives to help “innovators, entrepreneurs and small businesses” start or grow their services, according to the center’s website.
She told Source NM that the Legislative Finance Committee “places a very high priority on economic development in our state” and wants to learn more about what’s happening in southern New Mexico.
The final speaker is Joseph De La Rosa, senior advisor for global trade and infrastructure investments at the New Mexico Departments of Transportation and Economic Development. He’s scheduled to talk about “obstacles and opportunities for economic development in the border region.”
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
New Mexico Human Services Department Secretaries Kari Armijo and Alex Castillo Smith will join Margaret McCowen, director of the Behavioral Health Providers Association of New Mexico, on Thursday morning to talk about behavioral health matters.
They’ll speak about Medicaid and non-Medicaid rates for New Mexicans as well as HSD interagency operations, like workforce support and funding.
The agenda also says they’ll discuss “behavioral health provider startup costs” for fiscal year 2023 between HSD and the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
CULTURAL AFFAIRS
The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs Secretary Debra Garcia y Griego and Deputy Secretary Michelle Gallagher Roberts are speaking Tuesday afternoon.
They plan to talk about upcoming exhibition plans in the state. They’ll also give an update on the status of improving facilities outside of Santa Fe.
In addition, the officials will go over staffing turnover, vacancy rates and plans to hire newly funded staff in fiscal year 2024.
UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
Officials from New Mexico’s universities will be present Wednesday morning to talk about different research interests.
Research vice presidents from the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech will tell lawmakers about current research projects, general priorities and funding awards.
JUVENILE JUSTICE FACILITIES
The last presentation, happening Thursday morning, will be a progress report on juvenile justice facilities.
John Campbell, legislative finance program evaluator, and Teresa Casados, acting secretary for the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department will present.
Suspect in custody after ABQ movie theater shooting – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
A suspect is in custody after a fight for a movie theater seat Sunday night left one man dead and another wounded.
TheAlbuquerque Journal reports that two couples were after the same seat for the 8:50pm showing of “No Hard Feelings” at Albuquerque’s Century Rio movie theater when the altercation led to gunfire.
APD Chief Harold Medina said an off-duty police officer was in the audience and performed CPR on the gunshot victim in the theater until medical responders arrived. The man later died.
Police also found another man outside the theater with a gunshot wound.
Witnesses told the Journal people were fleeing from the front and rear doors of the theater after hearing 4 to 6 gun shots.
APD is pursuing an arrest warrant for the suspect and has asked the public to share any evidence they may have.
US Interior Secretary Haaland reflects on tenure and tradition amid policy challenges - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
It was never about making history for Deb Haaland, but rather making her parents proud.
She says she worked hard, putting herself through school, starting a small business to pay bills and eventually finding her way into politics — first as a campaign volunteer and later as the first Native American woman to lead a political party in New Mexico.
The rest seems like history. Haaland was sworn in as one of the first two Native American women in Congress in 2019. Two years later, she took the reins at the U.S. Interior Department — an agency whose responsibilities stretch from managing energy development to meeting the nation's treaty obligations to 574 federally recognized tribes.
Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet member in the U.S., spoke to The Associated Press about her tenure leading the 70,000-employee agency that oversees subsurface minerals and millions of acres of public land.
The hardest part? Balancing the interests of every single American, she said.
"I might feel one way about an issue personally. It doesn't mean that that's the decision that's going to be made," said Haaland, 62, sitting in the shade of the towering cottonwood trees that line her backyard in Albuquerque. "There is a process, so I am dedicated to that. I really do want to find a balance."
Criticism of Haaland has mounted in recent weeks. Environmentalists slammed her department's approval of the massive Willow oil project in Alaska, while a Republican-led U.S. House committee opened an investigation into ties between Haaland and an Indigenous group from her home state of New Mexico that advocates for halting oil and gas production on public lands.
Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress also have grilled her about her agency's $19 billion budget request. Critics say the Interior Department under her guidance had failed to conduct quarterly oil and gas lease sales as required under law, doubled the time it takes to get permits, and raised royalty rates charged to energy companies to discourage domestic production and advance the administration's climate goals.
Haaland defended the Biden administration's priorities, reiterating that her department was following the law and was on track to meet the administration's goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.
But even some Democratic senators who support more wind and solar energy development have questioned that timeline, saying some projects take years to be permitted and could be at risk. Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico did not get a response from Haaland when asking when the first utility-scale offshore wind projects would be permitted
Haaland said she had an idea of what the Cabinet job might entail, having served in Congress and as a member of Joe Biden's platform committee when he was the Democratic presidential nominee. Many of Biden's ideals about climate change, renewable energy and conservation mirrored her own.
What gets conserved and how is at the root of a few thorny projects Haaland must navigate, from the Willow project to a drilling moratorium around a national park near northwestern New Mexico's Chaco Canyon, and now protests by Native American tribes over a proposed lithium mine in Nevada.
"There isn't a one-size-fits-all for any of these things," she said. "We have to take each one individually and find the best solution that we can."
Native American tribes are not always pleased with the outcome, she acknowledged.
"Every tribe, I think, is different. Their opportunities are different. Their lifestyles are different and it's up to us to make sure that we get them to the table to tell us what's important to them," she said. "... And we do our best, as I said, to balance whatever the project is — using the science, using the law."
Haaland's heritage as a member of Laguna Pueblo makes her unlike any previous secretary, and she's aware of the added expectations from Indian Country as she leads an agency with a fraught and even murderous history with Native tribes.
She has worked to boost consultation efforts with tribal governments, allocate more resources to help address the alarming rate of disappearances and deaths among Native Americans, and launched an investigation into the federal government's role in boarding schools that sought to assimilate Native children over decades.
Wenona Singel, an associate professor at Michigan State University College of Law and director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center, pointed to the stories Haaland has told about her grandparents being taken from their families when they were children. The story is similar to Singel's own family and many others.
"She understands the pain and the trauma of having our ancestors be stripped of their culture and their language and their Native identity," said Singel, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. " She has demonstrated a deeper understanding of our nation's need to come to grips with the reality of this history and the way in which it continues to impact our communities today."
For Haaland, there's no way to disconnect from her heritage: "I am who I am."
Haaland grew up in a military family — her late father was a decorated Marine and her late mother spent more than two decades working for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs after serving in the U.S. Navy. Haaland often talks about how her mother — who also was a member of Laguna Pueblo — raised her to be fierce.
Haaland, a mother herself, got married in 2021 to her longtime partner Skip Sayre. They share a home in Albuquerque with their two rescue dogs — Remington and Winchester.
Haaland still hangs her clothes on the line out back to dry in the New Mexico sun, finds time to be outside every day and makes big batches of her own red chile sauce with garlic and oregano, freezing it so she has a ready supply when she comes home.
Despite moving around as a kid, Haaland said her traditions keep her grounded. In fact, she's working to finish her master's degree in American Indian studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, a feat nearly 25 years in the making.
Haaland's mother was the one who encouraged her to finish her thesis — an exploration of Laguna Pueblo's traditional foods. Haaland was proud to say she turned the paper in to her committee in early June, looking to show that Indigenous knowledge continues to be carried down and that the foods eaten at Laguna Pueblo — including stew and piki bread — haven't changed since the tribe migrated from the Chaco Canyon area generations ago. While modern ovens may have taken the place of hot stones, Haaland said Laguna's foods are still rooted in tradition.
One of her first obligations as a Pueblo woman is to nurture her family and community, and Haaland said that's not unlike the demands of her current job: to manage and protect natural resources and cultural heritage.
"You have values as a human being," she said. "That's the way you're raised by your family, and that's what I bring to the table."
DeSantis unveils an aggressive immigration and border security policy that largely mirrors Trump's - By Valerie Gonzalez And Steve Peoples Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis promised to end birthright citizenship, finish building the southern border wall and send U.S. forces into Mexico to combat drug cartels as part of an aggressive — and familiar — immigration policy proposal he laid out Monday in a Texas border city.
The sweeping plan, the Florida governor's first detailed policy release as a 2024 contender, represents a long-established wish list of Republican immigration proposals that largely mirrors former President Donald Trump's policies. Much of DeSantis' plan faces tall odds, requiring the reversal of legal precedents, approval from other countries or even an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Still, DeSantis projected confidence on Monday, excoriating leaders in both political parties for failing to stop what he called an immigrant "invasion." He addressed his plans while touring Eagle Pass, a community that has emerged as a major corridor for illegal border crossings during Joe Biden's presidency.
"I have listened to people in D.C. for years and years and years, going back decades — Republicans and Democrats — always chirping about this yet never actually bringing the issue to a conclusion," DeSantis told an audience of roughly 100 residents, including local Democratic officials, school teachers and mothers of children lost to fentanyl overdoses. "What we're saying is no excuses on this."
He likened illegal border crossings to home break-ins and warned that drug traffickers trying to bring their product into the United States could wind up "stone cold dead."
"If somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad, you would respond with force. Yet why don't we do that at the southern border?" DeSantis asked. "So if the cartels are cutting through the border wall, trying to run product into this country, they're going to end up stone cold dead as a result of that bad decision.
"And if you do that one time, you're not going to see them mess with our wall ever again," he said.
The DeSantis campaign has promised to release more detailed policy rollouts in the coming weeks. But in leading with immigration, the two-term Florida governor is prioritizing a divisive issue that has long been a focus of the GOP's most conservative voters. The pro-immigrant group America's Voice condemned DeSantis for making "invasion" references that have been used by white supremacists.
Yet voters in the political middle have warmed to more aggressive immigration policies in recent months as illegal border crossing surged. Overall, 6 in 10 adults in the U.S. disapprove of Biden's handling of immigration, according to a recent AP-NORC poll.
Still, it may be difficult for DeSantis to separate himself on immigration from the many other Republicans seeking the 2024 presidential nomination — especially Trump, the front-runner.
That didn't stop him from trying.
Speaking from a podium emblazoned with the words, "No Excuses" and "Stop the Invasion," DeSantis noted that there were more immigrants deported in the first four years of the Obama administration than in Trump's first term.
He made repeated references to the unfinished border wall, an indirect knock on the former president, who is now his chief rival in the crowded Republican presidential primary. Trump tried and ultimately failed to finish a border wall along the entire 1,950-mile (3,140-kilometer) U.S.-Mexico border during his four years in office.
Before the Monday announcement, the DeSantis campaign released new merchandise bearing the words, "Build The Wall. No Excuses."
Trump apparently watched DeSantis on television, describing his trip to the border as "a total waste of time."
"He is a failed candidate, whose sole purpose in making the trip was to reiterate the fact that he would do all of the things done by me in creating the strongest Border, by far, in U.S. history," Trump wrote on social media.
The fierce feud between Trump and DeSantis, which includes clashes over policy and personality, will continue on Tuesday as both men are scheduled to campaign in New Hampshire. But immigration has been central to their messages no matter where they are.
Trump emphasized immigration while delivering the keynote address to hundreds of enthusiastic religious conservatives at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's conference in Washington over the weekend. He promised to carry out "the largest domestic deportation operation on the border" and boasted about completing more than 300 miles (or 480 kilometers) of wall along the southern border during his administration while promising to build even more should he win another term.
Trump's policies worked to constrict immigration, but the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border still swelled during his time in office before dropping during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And his policies caused clogs in the system that led to massive overcrowding; for instance, the immigration court case backlog alone grew from roughly 500,000 in June 2016 to 1.3 million cases by the end of 2020. There were massive human rights concerns, too, particularly with the Remain in Mexico program and the separation of children from their families at the border.
Facing reporters on Monday, DeSantis said he would be more "aggressive" than Trump in implementing strong immigration policies if elected president.
"I think a lot of the things he's saying, you know, I agree with," he said of Trump. "But I also think those are the same things that were said back in 2016."
Like Trump, DeSantis vowed to end the practice, as outlined in the Constitution, that grants citizenship to all babies born on U.S. soil. The 14th Amendment states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside."
DeSantis promises to end the United States' so-called catch-and-release policy, which currently allows for the release of immigrants in the country illegally until their court dates. That's because federal immigration authorities have the money for just 30,000 beds, making it impossible to detain everyone who is arrested.
DeSantis also wants to reinstitute the Remain in Mexico policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. Such a plan would need Mexico's approval.
He's calling for closing the "Flores loophole," which, among other things, requires families to generally be released from custody in 20 days. It is part of a federal court order, so it's unclear how he could close it.
DeSantis is also promising to use military force against drug cartels if necessary. He would "reserve the right to operate across the border to secure our territory from Mexican cartel activities," according to the plan, which also calls for the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard to block precursor chemicals from entering Mexican ports if "the Mexican government won't stop cartel drug manufacturing."
DeSantis' plan says little about the millions of immigrants already living in the country illegally, aside from promising to deport those who have overstayed their visas. Deporting such people has been a challenge that has eluded authorities for decades.
In September, the small border city of Eagle Pass made international headlines when nine people drowned in their attempt to swim through the Rio Grande.
DeSantis was supportive of one audience member who suggested that the situation at the border constituted an "act of war."
"I think the state of Texas has the right to declare an invasion," DeSantis told the man. "You're going to see as president under Article 2 of the Constitution, you have a responsibility and a duty to protect the country. We are going to do that and we are going to do that robustly."
What is a heat dome? Scorching temperatures in Texas are expected to spread to the north and east - By Jake Bleiberg, Ken Miller And Isabella O'malley Associated Press
Scorching temperatures meteorologists say were brought on by a heat dome have taxed the Texas power grid and threaten to bring record highs to the state before they are expected to expand to other parts of the U.S.
National Weather Service Forecaster Bob Oravec said yesterday that the heat dome is expected to reach north to Kansas City and east to the Florida Panhandle and continue at least until the July Fourth holiday.
The National Integrated Heat Health Information System reports more than 46 million people are under heat alerts.
Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said the dome is not unusual because this is the time of year the atmospheric conditions combine to create such a threat.
DALLAS (AP) — Scorching temperatures brought on by a "heat dome" have taxed the Texas power grid and threaten to bring record highs to the state before they are expected to expand to other parts of the U.S. during the coming week, putting even more people at risk.
"Going forward, that heat is going to expand ... north to Kansas City and the entire state of Oklahoma, into the Mississippi Valley ... to the far western Florida Panhandle and parts of western Alabama," while remaining over Texas, said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service.
Record high temperatures around 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) are forecast in parts of western Texas on Monday, and relief is not expected before the Fourth of July holiday, Oravec said.
Cori Iadonisi, of Dallas, summed up the weather simply: "It's just too hot here."
Iadonisi, 40, said she often urges local friends to visit her native Washington state to beat the heat in the summer.
"You can't go outside," Iadonisi said of the hot months in Texas. "You can't go for a walk."
WHAT IS A HEAT DOME?
A heat dome occurs when stationary high pressure with warm air combines with warmer than usual air in the Gulf of Mexico and heat from the sun that is nearly directly overhead, Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said.
"By the time we get into the middle of summer, it's hard to get the hot air aloft," said Nielsen-Gammon, a professor at Texas A&M's College of Atmospheric Sciences. "If it's going to happen, this is the time of year it will."
Nielsen-Gammon said July and August don't have as much sunlight because the sun is retreating from the summer solstice, which was Wednesday.
"One thing that is a little unusual about this heat wave is we had a fairly wet April and May, and usually that extra moisture serves as an air conditioner," Nielsen-Gammon said. "But the air aloft is so hot that it wasn't able to prevent the heat wave from occurring and, in fact, added a bit to the humidity."
High heat continues this week after it prompted Texas' power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, to ask residents last week to voluntarily cut back on power usage because of anticipated record demand on the system.
The National Integrated Heat Health Information System reports more than 46 million people from west Texas and southeastern New Mexico to the western Florida Panhandle are currently under heat alerts. The NIHHIS is a joint project of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The heat comes after Sunday storms that killed three people and left more than 100,000 customers without electricity in both Arkansas and Tennessee and tens of thousands powerless in Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana, according to poweroutage.us.
Earlier this month, the most populous county in Oregon filed a $1.5 billion lawsuit against more than a dozen large fossil fuel companies to recover costs related to extreme weather events linked to climate change, including a deadly 2021 heat dome.
Multnomah County, home to Portland and known for typically mild weather, alleges the combined carbon pollution the companies emitted was a substantial in causing and exacerbating record-breaking temperatures in the Pacific Northwest that killed 69 people in that county.
An attorney for Chevron Corp., Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., said in a statement that the lawsuit makes "novel, baseless claims."
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH THREATS?
Extreme heat can be particularly dangerous to vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and outdoor workers need extra support,
Symptoms of heat illness can include heavy sweating, nausea, dizziness and fainting. Some strategies to stay cool include drinking chilled fluids, applying a cloth soaked with cold water onto your skin, and spending time in air-conditioned environments.
Cecilia Sorensen, a physician and associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Medical Center, said heat-related conditions are becoming a growing public health concern because of the warming climate.
"There's huge issues going on in Texas right now around energy insecurity and the compounding climate crises we're seeing," Sorensen said. "This is also one of those examples where, if you are wealthy enough to be able to afford an air conditioner, you're going to be safer, which is a huge climate health equity issue."
In Texas, the average daily high temperatures have increased by 2.4 degrees — 0.8 degrees per decade — since 1993, according data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration amid concerns over human caused climate change resulting in rising temperatures.