Jury finds ex-UNM athletic director not guilty of two embezzlement charges — KUNM News, Source New Mexico
Relief washed over Paul Krebs as he lifted his head when District Court Judge Cindy Leos read the jury verdict saying he is not guilty of two counts of felony embezzlement.
Jurors came back with the verdict around 10:30 a.m. Friday, the fifth day in the trial brought by prosecutors from the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office against Krebs, the former athletic director at the University of New Mexico.
The original indictment included seven counts of alleged misuse of public money, but those counts were dropped by prosecutors weeks before the trial because there was not enough evidence to proceed with those charges.
Turns out there was also not enough evidence presented to the jury that Krebs embezzled money from the university to cover losses from a 2015 Scotland golf trip organized to raise high-dollar donations for Lobo sports.
“Tremendous amount of relief,” Krebs said, describing his feelings outside the courtroom after the verdict. “I had faith that the jury would see the truth and that justice would prevail.”
Defense attorney Paul Kennedy stood affirmed with the position he took in his opening arguments on Monday when he said prosecutors would not present evidence to show Krebs took public money from the university for his own gain.
“He testified he didn’t take any money, and the auditor testified there was no embezzlement, it’s hard to know what we were here for,” Kennedy said after the trial.
Current and former top administrators at UNM — including the director of internal audits, a former president and a vice president that was one of the few people above Krebs — all testified there were red flags for how money was moved from university budgets to pay for the golf trip.
The internal auditor even reported Krebs to the state auditor’s office for potential violations of the anti-donation clause in the New Mexico Constitution.
But breaking policy is not breaking the law, and the jury agreed.
“As soon as they start talking about (policy), you know they don’t have any evidence. They don’t want to talk about the law, they want to talk about policy,” Kennedy said. “That’s where they retreat to when they don’t have any evidence.”
Prosecutors did show evidence that Krebs directed employees underneath him to use more than $24,500 to pay for part of the Scotland trip for three people he wanted to court for a big money donation to athletics.
More evidence also showed Krebs moved money from a “contingency fund” to cover more than $13,000 in losses related to the trip. His lawyers argued that money, part of a taxpayer allocation to the athletic department, could be used at his discretion and in no way was ever taken from the university for Krebs personal gain.
The jury agreed.
“There are reasons for this prosecution beyond the actual facts of the case,” Kennedy said, but refused to elaborate. “Unfortunately you are in a high-profile position in a governmental agency, you come under a lot of scrutiny and sometimes not fairly.”
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez expressed disappointment in the verdict and called on the state legislature to update criminal statutes to strengthen laws against public corruption.
“We are prepared to work with the legislature to make sure that this kind of activity is clearly and unambiguously prohibited under the law and reassure taxpayers that public resources are not used for private purposes or the interests of a privileged few,” Torrez said in a statement issued after the verdict.
Afterwards, Krebs wiped tears from his face then hugged his wife Marjori and his brothers who sat behind him the entire trial.
“I can’t say I was surprised but I was relieved, because you just don’t know,” Marjori Krebs said. “But you do have to trust in the judicial system. Justice was served, Paul got his day in court and now he is exonerated.”
With his criminal charges now behind him Paul Krebs, 66, can head back into retirement. He worked in college athletics for 37 years in Oklahoma and Ohio before his career took a drastic turn in New Mexico with charges related to public corruption.
“I don’t wish this on anybody, it was a horrible experience.” Krebs said. “Anybody who has ever worked with me would tell you that my integrity is unquestioned and this was a very difficult situation.”
Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Shaun Griswold for questions: info@sourcenm.com. Follow Source New Mexico on Facebook and Twitter.
The city of Albuquerque may have to start putting out their trash cans earlier - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
With long bouts of extreme heat sitting over the Southwest, the city of Albuquerque is starting to collect trash earlier on pick-up days and moving up operating hours of the Cerro Colorado Landfill to protect workers from the sun.
As the Albuquerque Journal reports, the Solid Waste Management Department announced the changes will start from Friday, July 21 and extend to August 20th. That means residential collection times at the landfill and operation hours will shift up by 2 hours.
The Department also warns residents that recycling and other large items could be picked up earlier as well.
The release advises Albuquerque neighborhoods that typically see trash pick-up in the early hours of the morning to start putting out bins the night before.
DOH and DWS team up to help tribal, rural residents — KUNM News
A new $2.8 million outreach program is coming to tribal, rural and remote communities across the land of enchantment.
A partnership between two state departments seeks to expand outreach and support for unemployment benefits and re-employment services and training for those areas using funds provided by the federal Department of Labor.
The departments of workforce solutions and health will work together to equip and train community health workers on unemployment insurance and employment services, including social safety net programs, according to a press release.
The community health workers will work directly with a workforce solutions employee to help clients applying for benefits, finding a job, or getting support for education and training.
State officials said the health workers are particularly suited to the job as they can provide one-on-one assistance and are already out working in these areas.
In a nod to Oppenheimer's legacy, US officials vow to prioritize cleanup at nuclear lab - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The price tag for cleaning up waste from the once top-secret Manhattan Project and subsequent Cold War-era nuclear research at Los Alamos National Laboratory has more than doubled in the last seven years, and independent federal investigators say federal officials will have to do better to track costs and progress.
The Government Accountability Office in a report issued Wednesday said while some improvements have been made, the U.S. Energy Department hasn't taken a comprehensive approach to prioritizing cleanup activities at the New Mexico lab.
The report came as federal officials hosted a forum Thursday in Los Alamos to talk about cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater and handling hazardous waste generated by decades of research that started with development of the atomic bomb during the 1940s.
Ike White, who heads DOE's Office of Environmental Management, said the release this week of the "Oppenheimer" film makes it a good time to talk about the legacy that came from the dawning of the atomic age. Part of the environmental cleanup mission requires an examination of history, White told those gathered at the historic Fuller Lodge in the heart of Los Alamos.
He characterized the nation's multibillion-dollar cleanup program as the third largest liability on the books for the federal government — behind only Social Security and Medicaid.
"It is a large, it is a complicated, it a technologically challenging program," White said. "It is extremely important to a lot of people who live across the country from coast to coast, and all of us who are part of that program feel an extraordinary responsibility to make that program successful."
Still, the GAO pointed to weaknesses in oversight by the Office of Environmental Management at Los Alamos. They said failure to finalize a performance baseline for the cleanup contractor prevented the office from tracking ongoing costs, the scope of work and progress.
New Mexico environmental regulators said the report validates their longstanding concerns — that cleanup is mired in unnecessary delays that threaten public health and the environment. New Mexico Environment Department spokesman Matthew Maez pointed specifically to the federal government's responsibility to protect drinking water.
"The frequent delays and lack of transparency in cleanup must be remedied," he said. "We hope this report galvanizes DOE-EM to enact change in Los Alamos."
Environmental management officials at Los Alamos said they expect to complete remaining cleanup activities at the lab by 2043 at an estimated cost of about $7 billion.
Michael Mikolanis, who heads DOE's environmental management office at Los Alamos, said Thursday that his team is developing a long-term strategic vision for the remaining cleanup that will be based on priorities identified through numerous meetings with state regulators, the leaders of neighboring Native American communities and others.
While White agrees with the GAO that prioritizing the scope of work is important, he said optimum efficiency is not always the most important factor.
"One of the things that we've arranged with our strategic vision effort and our stakeholder engagement is to try to make sure we're doing that prioritization of the work in a way that is transparent to the community and that doesn't just reflect a sort of bureaucratic set of values," he said.
Don Hancock with the Albuquerque-based nuclear watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center said the DOE in 2010 had issued a roadmap that included a goal of disposing of most of the transuranic waste — that which contains manmade elements heavier than uranium — by the end of 2015.
He asked the DOE officials at the forum about the timeline and how much waste remained.
Mikolanis said his office plans to unveil an interactive map this fall that will include estimates of the waste at Los Alamos that is stored above ground and that which has yet to be unearthed.
White said estimates for the cleanup project nationwide are hard to calculate because the ultimate volume of waste can change depending on the scope of a project.
The GAO report includes several recommendations for the DOE that include implementing a plan to account for cost and schedule increases, building trust with state regulators and including consideration of potential risks when making decisions.
UNM embezzlement case goes to jury – Santa Fe New Mexican
The jury in the case against the former athletic director at the University of New Mexico Paul Krebs has begun deliberations.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the closing arguments took place Thursday after Krebs was on the stand all morning and into the afternoon. He is facing two counts of felony embezzlement that could result in more than a decade in jail and a hefty fine.
At issue is a 2015 golfing trip to Scotland that was to be a fundraiser for the university’s athletics department but ended up costing UNM about $38,000. Krebs is accused of using taxpayer funds to cover the losses.
State Assistant Attorney General John Duran argued that Krebs participated in covering those losses by anonymously donating his own funds to UNM and then authorized shifting over $13,000 from an athletics department account to the Lobo Club.
Krebs’ attorney Paul Kennedy has argued his client got no financial benefit from the trip and therefore committed no crime.
APD releases details of two June incidents where officers shot and killed people - Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque Police Department gave details Wednesday of two incidents in June where police officers shot and killed people.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the first happened on June 24th, when police were called about a man outside a tire shop on 98th Street, slumped over the steering wheel, with the engine running and knives visible in his shirt.
APD identified the driver as Mark Peter, who had an arrest warrant. Peter drove over tire deflation devices when he started his car at about 4pm, then ran behind the back of a strip mall.
APD says Peter ran into a crowded El Mezquite market. Security footage shows he pulled a handgun which he fired as he was struck by a Taser. Employees and customers fled. Four police officers opened fire and Peter died at the scene.
The other incident happened on June 20th, when four police officers shot and killed a stabbing suspect named Jeramiah Salyards, and also struck and injured two bystanders.
Police located him around midnight nearLomas and Louisiana Boulevards. After he refused to drop a knife, four officers fired toward him, hitting him and the two bystanders, who have not been identified.
None of the eight officers involved in these shootings has returned to duty and the incidents are being investigated, particularly tactics that saw shots fired in the direction of bystanders and other officers.
Police chief Harold Medina told reporters in his opinion Salyards and Peter should not have been in the community, but should have been receiving help for mental health problems or substance abuse. Online obituaries for both men said they were loved and missed.
Fed announces $1M in broadband grants for New Mexico pueblos — KUNM News
Two New Mexican pueblos have a million dollars in grants heading their way to build up and expand crucial broadband internet access for their communities.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced in a news release the Pueblos of Jemez of Nambe were each awarded $500,000 from the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.
Senator Ben Ray Lujan said the funding is key to “bridge the digital divide” and bring modern telehealth, education, and more to tribal communities.
The funds will go to installing new infrastructure, such as wireless towers and fiber optic cables, that Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez said will create new possibilities for healthcare, safety, education, and social services.
This round of awards from the program includes 8 tribal entities receiving nearly $4 million, but the program overall has issued 191 awards totaling $1.78 billion dollars.
Jemez and Nambe are just the two latest of sixteen total awards from the program here in the Land of Enchantment totaling more than $232 million according to program’s statistics.
New Mexico families often leave home-visiting programs that can improve infant health and safety - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Families of infant children in New Mexico are increasingly exiting earlier than expected from home-visiting programs aimed at improving the health, safety and emotional lives of preschool children, state budget and accountability analysts announced Thursday.
Nearly 90% of New Mexico families enrolled in home visiting are not staying the expected length of time, versus a national average of about 50%. And more than half stay enrolled for less than 12 months, the Legislature's budget and accountability office said in a presentation to state legislators in Farmington.
Home-visiting programs provide parenting guidance from pregnancy to rearing toddlers.
"Families are not staying in home visiting the expected length of time, nor are they getting the expected number of visits" each month from child-development professionals, said Sarah Dinces, a program evaluator for the budget and accountability office.
She said the trend makes it less likely that children will receive the expected benefits of home visits, including more mature behavior when children reach kindergarten.
Studies show children in New Mexico are among the most vulnerable in the nation when it comes to malnutrition, access to adequate medical care, and experiencing trauma. The evaluation of New Mexico's home-visiting programs took place as legislators and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ramped up annual spending on home visiting and expanded a suite of early education programs including no-cost preschool.
The study also found that New Mexico could expand home visiting enrollment to 5,400 more families by tapping into unused annual federal Medicaid funds.
About 6,300 families were enrolled in home visiting at last count in 2022 — equal to about 6% of households statewide with children under age 5.
Home visiting is offered by the state through 33 businesses ranging from small, local nonprofits to statewide medical providers, including Presbyterian Medical Services. The providers follow several different models of care.
Elizabeth Groginsky, secretary of the early childhood education agency that oversees the programs, said turnover in the home-visiting workforce is one likely reason that families leave early — and that higher pay may be needed.
"When you think of a family building a relationship, building that rapport with a home visitor ... and then the home visitor says, 'I'm leaving the program.'" Groginsky testified to legislators. "As a family, you may say, 'You know, I've gotten a lot out of this program. ... but I'm really not going to start another relationship.'"
Several legislators expressed unwavering support for state spending on home visiting, amid questions about how to improve state oversight.
"It seems to be costly, but I think making sure that we spend and invest the types of dollars that it takes to protect our ... youngest and vulnerable is something that we have to do," said Democratic state Rep. Derrick Lente of Sandia Pueblo.
Homes become 'air fryers' in Phoenix heat, people ration AC due to cost - Isabella O'malley, Associated Press
Temperatures have peaked at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) the entire month of July in Phoenix. Air conditioning, which made modern Phoenix even possible, is a lifeline.
When a cloudless sky combines with outdoor temperatures over 100 F, your house turns into an "air fryer" or "broiler," as the roof absorbs powerful heat and radiates it downward, said Jonathan Bean, co-director of the Institute for Energy Solutions at the University of Arizona. Bean knows this not only from his research, he also experienced it firsthand this weekend when his air conditioner broke.
"This level of heat that we are having in Phoenix right now is enormously dangerous, particularly for people who either don't have air conditioning or cannot afford to operate their air conditioner," said Evan Mallen, a senior analyst for Georgia Institute of Technology's Urban Climate Lab.
Yet some are cutting back on AC, trying to bear the heat, afraid of the high electricity bills that will soon arrive.
Camille Rabany, 29, has developed her own system to keep herself and her 10-month-old Saint Bernard Rigley cool during the Arizona heat wave. Through trial and error, Rabany found that 83 F is a temperature she is willing to tolerate to keep her utility bill down.
By tracking the on-peak and off-peak schedule of her utility, Arizona Public Service, with the help of her NEST smart thermostat, Rabany keeps her home that hot from 4 to 7 p.m., the most expensive hours. She keeps fans running and has a cooling bed for Rigley, and they both try to get by until the utility's official peak hours pass.
"Those are the hours that I have it at the hottest I'm willing to have it because I have a dog," she said. Last month, Rabany said her utility bill was around $150.
Emily Schmidt's home cooling strategy in Tempe, Ariz. also centers around her dog. Air conditioning is "constantly a topic of conversation," with her partner, too, she said.
"Sometimes I wish I could have it cooler, but we have to balance saving money and making sure the house isn't too hot for our pets."
With the unrelenting heat of the recent weeks, "I'm honestly afraid what the electric bill will be, which makes it really hard to budget with rent and other utilities."
Katie Martin, administrator of home improvements and community services at the Foundation for Senior Living, said she sees the pet issue, too. Older people on limited incomes are making dangerous tradeoffs and often won't come to cooling centers when they don't allow pets.
"In recent years we are finding that most of the seniors we serve are keeping their thermostat at 80 F to save money," she said.
Many also lack a support network of family or friends they can turn to in case of air conditioner breakdowns.
Breakdowns can be dangerous. Models from Georgia Tech show that indoors can be even hotter than outdoors, something people in poorly-insulated homes around the world are well acquainted with. "A single family, one-story detached home with a large, flat roof heats up by over 40 degrees in a matter of hours if they don't have air conditioning," Mallen said.
The Salvation Army has some 11 cooling stations across the Phoenix area. Lt. Colonel Ivan Wild, commander of the organization's southwest division, said some of the people visiting now can't afford their electricity bills or don't have adequate air conditioning.
"I spoke to one elderly lady and she that her air conditioning is just so expensive to run. So she comes to the Salvation Army and stays for a few hours, socializes with other people, and then goes home when it's not as hot," he said.
While extreme heat happens every summer in Phoenix, Wild said that a couple of Salvation Army cooling centers have reported seeing more people than last year. The Salvation Army estimates that since May 1, they have provided nearly 24,000 people with heat relief and distributed nearly 150,000 water bottles in Arizona and Southern Nevada.
Marilyn Brown, regents professor of sustainable systems at Georgia Tech, said that high air conditioning bills also force people to cut spending in other areas. "People give up a lot, often, in order to run their air conditioner... they might have to give up on some medicine, the cost of the gasoline for their car to go to work or school," she said.
"That's why we have such an alarming cycle of poverty. It's hard to get out of it, especially once you get caught up in the energy burden and poverty," Brown added.
Texas is largest state to leave bipartisan national effort to prevent voter fraud - By Acacia Coronado And Christina A. Cassidy Associated Press
The state of Texas resigned Thursday from a national, bipartisan effort to prevent voter fraud, becoming the largest state and ninth GOP-led state to leave the initiative since 2022.
The exit from the Electronic Registration Information Center, commonly known as ERIC, comes after Texas Republicans began showing a willingness this year to leave the group, which has been targeted by conspiracy theories about its funding and purpose. Republicans elsewhere have cited other reasons for leaving the initiative and said they have been working on an alternate system.
On Thursday, Texas submitted a letter to ERIC giving notice that the state would withdraw from the program, effective in 91 days, according to a Secretary of State spokesperson.
As fewer states participate in the effort, which allows states to share government data to maintain accurate voter lists, the costs for participating states are set to increase, spokesperson Alicia Phillips Pierce said.
There is no immediate plan to join another system, but the state continue to research options, Pierce said.
Other states to have recently resigned from ERIC include Louisiana, who was first, as well as Alabama, Florida, West Virginia, Missouri, Ohio, Iowa and Virginia.
In Kentucky, Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, said he is exploring his state's options. His state is required to participate in ERIC due to a court order. But according to Adams, several surrounding states as well as Florida, where many Kentucky residents retire, are leaving or do not participate.
"Even if ERIC were hunky-dory, I still need to find ways to get information from 30-plus states that aren't in ERIC," Adams said.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said she was approached by officials in Ohio to discuss a data-sharing agreement, and she declined. "I am very interested in the longevity of ERIC because the concept of doing state-by-state agreements, it's just a mess," Toulouse Oliver said, adding that it took years to develop the various security and privacy protocols built into the process.
Multiple Democratic officials have said they are uninterested in alternatives to the ERIC system, which still includes a few Republican-led states. They expressed hope that large-population states will join, like California and New York, which are not currently part of ERIC.
"I'm committed to ERIC, I believe in it," Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said earlier this month, before Texas announced its plans to leave. "There have been a lot of attempts in the past to create what ERIC created effectively, and those attempts failed."