Planned Parenthood of New Mexico limits non-abortion care due to surge from Texas - MedPage Today, KUNM News
New Mexico's Planned Parenthood clinics are prioritizing abortion care amongst a growing number of patients from Texas — where abortion is largely banned — and continued side effects from COVID remain.
According to MedPage Today, the overwhelming demand has prompted Planned Parenthood, which offers low to no-cost services, in some instances to refer patients out to surrounding clinics in New Mexico for family planning, wellness exams, and other reproductive health services, to keep wait times down for abortion care.
With the current wait time for an abortion appointment being 14 days, patients outside the state are forced to make the choice to drive further to access care, or live longer with discomfort or uncertainty regarding reproductive health concerns.
Adrienne Mansanares, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains says that 56% of New Mexico's Planned Parenthood abortion patients are from Texas, according to data from Planned Parenthood.
Texas was one of 13 states with a "trigger" law that took effect almost immediately when the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned.
2 teens arrested, 2 sought in a drive-by shooting that mistakenly killed a 5-year-old girl - Associated Press
Four teenagers have been charged in a drive-by shooting that mistakenly killed a 5-year-old girl as she slept inside a trailer home in southwest Albuquerque last week, authorities said Monday.
City police said the girl wasn't targeted and a teenage boy living in the trailer with his grandmother had a feud since middle school with one of the charged teens and the dispute had escalated.
Two boys, ages 15 and 16, are in custody while two brothers, ages 15 and 17, still are being sought in the murder case, police said at a news conference.
The Associated Press is not naming the four teens because they are juveniles.
Police said the teens were in two stolen vehicles that entered a mobile home park around 6 a.m. on Aug. 13.
They say several gunshots were fired from at least one of the vehicles toward a trailer where Galilea Samaniego was sleeping with her two sisters.
Police said Samaniego was struck in the head by a bullet and later died at a hospital.
They said the four suspects have been charged with an open count of murder, conspiracy, shooting at a dwelling or occupied building, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.
Campaigners hope for expansion of nuclear compensation soon - Alice Fordham, KUNM News
Campaigners for New Mexicans who developed cancer and other illnesses in the wake of the Trinity test in 1945 are hoping for victory soon.
At a meeting of the state Radioactive & Hazardous Materials Committee in Los Alamos Monday, campaigner Tina Cordova gave an update on progress on legislation to provide compensation.
She said the communities near the test have long known the impact
“We recorded oral histories from people who were alive at the time and who experienced the fallout for days,” she said.
Recently a study used new modeling techniques and historical weather data and confirmed that.
“Now we have a fallout deposition map, based on today's technology, recreating the fallout that shows that all of New Mexico over a 10-day period received significant levels of fallout,” Cordova said.
The Washington Post reported that the levels in most of New Mexico were higher than required under the federal compensation program known as RECA, passed in 1990.
The people known as Downwinders were never entitled to compensation under that Act - but last month the Senate passed an amendment as part of a national defense bill expanding the program.
The Senate, led by Democrats, and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, must now agree on the final version of the bill. Cordova urged people to contact Republican members of the House to press them to pass the expansion.
Trial scheduled in 2024 for movie armorer in fatal shooting of cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin - Associated Press
A New Mexico judge has set a 2024 starting date for the trial of movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of a Western film.
State district court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Monday scheduled the trial to run from Feb. 21 through March 6 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The first day begins with jury selection.
Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the set of "Rust" on Oct. 21, 2021.
An attorney for Gutierrez-Reed has described the fatal shooting as a tragic accident and says the film's armorer committed no crime. Gutierrez-Reed is currently the sole criminal defendant.
Prosecutors are weighing whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after receiving a new analysis of the gun fired at Hutchins. Special prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired, fatally wounding Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
In March, "Rust" assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the shooting.
Defense attorneys said they plan to present evidence that Gutierrez-Reed asked Halls to call her back into rehearsal if Baldwin planned to use the gun. They say that didn't happen before Hutchins was shot.
The filming of "Rust" resumed this year in Montana, under an agreement with the cinematographer's widower, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.
Hot air balloon pilot with cocaine in his system made a mistake that caused fatal crash, NTSB finds - Associated Press
A mistake made by a hot air balloon pilot who had drugs including cocaine in his system caused a crash in 2021 in New Mexico that killed all five people on board, investigators have determined.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in its final report released this week that pilot Nicholas Meleski did not maintain enough clearance from power lines while trying to land. He hit the power lines and crashed into a busy intersection. The report said investigators found no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures.
The amounts of cocaine and marijuana found in his system suggested "recent use" that would have likely had "impairing effects" that contributed to the crash on June 26, 2021, the report said.
Meleski's family told Albuquerque station KOB-TV in a statement that their hearts go out to the families of the passengers: Mary Martinez, her husband Martin, and their friends Susan and John Montoya.
"We cannot express the depth of our grief and sadness for the pain this accident has caused," the statement said.
Witnesses also told investigators that the balloon's envelope separated from the basket after hitting the power lines and floated away. It was found south of the crash site.
Martin Martinez worked as a police officer, first for the city of Albuquerque and later for its public school system. Mary Martinez, a mother of two, is remembered for her love of helping people. Susan Montoya was an assistant school principal and her husband worked with special education students.
Federal officials said the balloon crash was the deadliest in New Mexico's history and the second deadliest in the U.S. since 2016. Albuquerque is home to an annual international balloon fiesta that draws hundreds of pilots and tens of thousands of spectators every October.
Tribal courts across the country are expanding holistic alternatives to the criminal justice system - By Hallie Golden Associated Press
Inside a jail cell at Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, Albertyn Pino's only plan was to finish the six-month sentence for public intoxication, along with other charges, and to return to her abusive boyfriend.
That's when she was offered a lifeline: An invitation to the tribe's Healing to Wellness Court. She would be released early if she agreed to attend alcohol treatment and counseling sessions, secure a bed at a shelter, get a job, undergo drug testing and regularly check in with a judge.
Pino, now 53, ultimately completed the requirements and, after about a year and a half, the charges were dropped. She looks back at that time, 15 years ago, and is grateful that people envisioned a better future for her when she struggled to see one for herself.
"It helped me start learning more about myself, about what made me tick, because I didn't know who I was," said Pino, who is now a case manager and certified peer support worker. "I didn't know what to do."
The concept of treating people in the criminal justice system holistically is not new in Indian Country, but there are new programs coming on board as well as expanded approaches. About one-third of the roughly 320 tribal court systems across the country have aspects of this healing and wellness approach, according to the National American Indian Court Judges Association.
Some tribes are incorporating these aspects into more specialized juvenile and family courts, said Kristina Pacheco, Tribal Healing to Wellness Court specialist for the California-based Tribal Law and Policy Institute. The court judges association is also working on pilot projects for holistic defense — which combine legal advocacy and support — with tribes in Alaska, Nevada and Oklahoma, modeled after a successful initiative at the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana.
"The thought and the concept will be different from tribe to tribe," said Pacheco. "But ultimately, we all want our tribal people ... to not hurt, not suffer."
People in the program typically are facing nonviolent misdemeanors, such as a DUI, public intoxication or burglary, she said. Some courts, like in the case of Pino, drop the charges once participants complete the program.
A program at the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe in Washington state applies restorative principles, and assigns wellness coaches to serve Native Americans and non-Natives in the local county jail, a report released earlier this year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation outlined. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma has a reintegration program that includes financial support and housing services, as well as cultural programming, career development and legal counsel. In Alaska, the Kenaitze Indian Tribe's wellness court helps adults in tribal and state court who are battling substance abuse and incorporates elements of their tribe's culture.
"There's a lot of shame and guilt when you're arrested," said Mary Rodriguez, staff attorney for the court judges association. "You don't reach out to those resources, you feel that you aren't entitled to those resources, that those are for somebody who isn't in trouble with the law."
"The idea of holistic defense is opening that up and reclaiming you are our community member, we understand there are issues," Rodriguez said. "You are better than the worst thing you've done."
The MacArthur Foundation report outlined a series of inequities, including a complicated jurisdictional maze in Indian Country that can result in multiple courts charging Native Americans for the same offense. The report also listed historical trauma and a lack of access to free, legal counsel within tribes as factors that contribute to disproportionate representation of Native Americans in federal and state prisons.
Advocates of tribal healing to wellness initiatives see the approaches as a way to shift the narrative of someone's life and address the underlying causes of criminal activity.
There isn't clear data that shows how holistic alternatives to harsh penalization have influenced incarceration rates. Narrative outcomes might be a better measure of success, including regaining custody of one's children and maintaining a driver's license, said Johanna Farmer, an enrolled citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and a program attorney for the court judges association.
Some tribes have incorporated specific cultural and community elements into healing, such as requiring participants to interview their own family members to establish a sense of rootedness and belonging.
"You have the narratives, the stories, the qualitative data showing that healing to wellness court, the holistic defense practices are more in line with a lot of traditional tribal community practices," Farmer said. "And when your justice systems align with your traditional values or the values you have in your community, the more likely you're going to see better results."
While not all of these tribal healing to wellness programs have received federal funding, some have.
Between 2020 and 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice distributed more than a dozen awards that totaled about $9.4 million for tribal healing to wellness courts.
This year, the Quapaw Nation in Oklahoma started working on a holistic defense program after seeing a sharp increase in cases following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said a large area of eastern Oklahoma remains a Native American reservation.
So far this year, about 70 cases have been filed, up from nearly a dozen in all of 2020, said Corissa Millard, tribal court administrator.
"When we look at holistic approaches, we think, what's going to better help the community in long term?" she said. "Is sending someone away for a three-year punishment going to be it? Will they reoffend once they get out? Or do you want to try to fix the problem before it escalates?"
For Pino, the journey through Laguna Pueblo's wellness court wasn't smooth. She struggled through relapses and a brief stint on the run before she found a job and an apartment to live in with her son nearby in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her daughters live close by.
She largely credits the wellness court staff for her ability to turnaround her life, she said.
"They were the ones that stood by me, regardless of what I was choosing to do; that was the part that brought me a lot of hope," she said. "And now where I'm at, just to see them happy, it gets emotional, because they never let go. They never gave up on me."
Federal judge rejects some parts of New Mexico campaign finance law - Associated Press
Some parts of a New Mexico campaign finance law limiting the amount of money state political parties can give are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled.
Chief U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson issued an opinion Thursday on a lawsuit first filed 11 years ago by the Republican Party of New Mexico and other plaintiffs with GOP ties, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
The campaign finance regulations are part of the state's Campaign Reporting Act. State Republican officials including from Bernalillo County, Doña Ana County and GOP-leaning organizations challenged five of the set limits.
Johnson found three violated the First Amendment. They include an $11,000 limit on state parties' contributions to gubernatorial candidates or candidate committees and a $5,500 limit for all other candidates and county parties each election cycle.
The limits on candidate donations were lower compared to other states' limits and lower than limits upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to Johnson.
In regards to contributions to county political parties, the judge ruled the state didn't show enough evidence proving there was a risk of a "quid pro quo corruption" or the appearance of it.
But the judge dismissed the suit's challenge to a $27,500 cutoff on contributions from individuals and entities to state political parties. He also left intact a $27,500 limit on contributions from national political parties to state political parties for federal elections.
A spokesperson for the Republican Party of New Mexico on Thursday told the newspaper the party's legal team is studying the decision.
Representatives at the state Attorney General's Office, which defended the state, immediately responded Thursday to the newspaper's requests seeking comment.
The campaign finance laws were enacted in 2009 in response to political corruption in the state. In the 87-page ruling, the judge recounted that scandalous history including a high-profile situation involving former Gov. Bill Richardson. The then Democratic governor was under federal investigation in 2008 for allegedly giving state contracts to campaign donors. The allegations led to him withdrawing from consideration as President Barack Obama's commerce secretary.
A Republican lawsuit threatens a Biden immigration policy thousands have used to come to the US - By Rebecca Santana And Gisela Salomon Associated Press
Valerie Laveus remembers when she first heard about an immigration program designed to allow people to come to the U.S. from four countries, including her native Haiti.
"I said, 'Whoa! This seems like it would work well for bringing my nephew and my brother into the country,'" said the Florida teacher, who received a WhatsApp message in January and verified with an immigration lawyer that the program was real.
After years of trying to get a green card, her brother arrived with her nephew in early August, ready to start a new life. They are two of the roughly 181,000 people who have entered the U.S. under the humanitarian parole program since President Joe Biden launched the initiative.
But 21 Republican-leaning states threaten to end the program through a lawsuit to determine its legality, which is set to be heard in a Texas court beginning Thursday, with a decision coming later.
If the Biden administration loses, it would undercut a broader policy seeking to encourage migrants to use the administration's preferred pathways into the U.S. or face stiff consequences. The administration has said it had to act in the absence of congressional action to overhaul the nation's immigration system.
But much of the administration's strategy is just one lawsuit away from collapse.
In the Texas trial, Republican states are expected to argue the Biden administration is basically usurping the power of Congress by allowing up to 360,000 people annually into the U.S. from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under the humanitarian parole program. They say the program is an overreach of a parole power meant to be used on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.
The administration argues it has the power to use humanitarian parole in this way and credits the initiative with drastically reducing illegal border crossings by immigrants from those four countries. Program applicants must pass background checks and have a financial sponsor in the U.S. who vouches for them. If approved, they must fly into a U.S. airport instead of crossing at the southern border. They can then stay in the U.S. for two years and get a work permit.
Immigrant rights groups successfully petitioned to join the legal proceedings on behalf of Laveus and six other people who are sponsoring migrants. Esther Sung, an attorney for Justice Action Center, said the groups want to show the real people who have volunteered to be sponsors and how ending the program would affect them.
Blas Nuñez-Neto, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a recent conference call that the government is worried about the upcoming trial and will appeal if the administration loses.
The case is scheduled to be heard by Judge Drew Tipton in Victoria, Texas, a Donald Trump appointee who has ruled against the Biden administration on who to prioritize for deportation. The federal government pushed unsuccessfully to have the humanitarian parole case transferred from Tipton's courtroom after suggesting the Republican states filed in Victoria because they were seeking a favorable judge.
The U.S. used its humanitarian parole powers to grant entry to tens of thousands of Ukrainians when Russia invaded, but the Republican states' lawsuit does not challenge that decision.
Just about anyone can be a sponsor provided they fill out the paperwork. Many, like Laveus, are sponsoring relatives who have no other way to come to the U.S.
Laveus said her brother was approved for a green card a few years ago, but the immigration system's quotas meant his arrival was estimated to be delayed another six years. In the meantime, she supported relatives from afar as they tried to survive in a country plagued by economic instability and largely controlled by gangs.
A former opposition political leader and human rights activist from Nicaragua, who was jailed in his homeland for his activities, was sponsored by his brother, a U.S. citizen living in El Paso, Texas. The man, who wanted his identity withheld to protect his family in Nicaragua, came to the U.S. in July and plans to work in construction.
"I wanted to take this opportunity to save my life," he said in Spanish.
Members of churches, synagogues and mosques have joined to sponsor people they don't know out of religious belief to help others.
Eric Sype is sponsoring a member of a family he stayed with when he lived and worked in Nicaragua as a college student in 2014. Sype is one of seven sponsors represented by immigrants’ rights groups in the legal challenge.
The person he is sponsoring plans to work in the U.S. for two years, then return to Nicaragua to be with his wife and two children. Sype said his friend will stay in Sype's childhood home in Washington state, where a cousin has offered him a job at an orchard growing pears, cherries and apples.
Sype said he had no hesitation about sponsoring the man, whom he said is part of his "chosen family." Sype has spent major holidays including Christmas with the family in Nicaragua and they talk or message weekly.
"I just can't really imagine how this program is doing anything but benefiting folks, bringing people back together," he said.
The Biden administration's program appears to be one of the largest single uses of the humanitarian parole authority, but it is certainly not the only administration to use it.
The authority has been used repeatedly in large and small ways including providing entry to Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians in the late 1970s, Iraqi Kurds who helped the U.S. in the 1990s Gulf War and Cubans fleeing their country at various times, according to data from the Cato Institute.
The Biden administration started the program for Venezuelans in October 2022 and added Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in January.
Still, some who are generally supportive of the program have concerns. Critics say the need to have a financial sponsor essentially favors more affluent, well-connected migrants, while also fearing the program could be used to exploit migrants.
Muriel Sáenz, who helps immigrants through Nicaraguans Around the World, a Texas-based group, said it can be difficult to find sponsors for migrants who don't already have family ties in the U.S. She encourages U.S. citizens to sponsor people they don't know, which can be a harder sell.
"It is too much responsibility," Sáenz said. "Legally you are adopting people for two years."
NM Agriculture Department seeks public input on how to spend federal grant - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
The New Mexico Department of Agriculture is expecting to receive over $4.5M dollars from a federal grant program. And it’s looking to industry workers to help decide how to spend it.
The department, in collaboration with the Governor’s Office and Economic Development Department, releaseda survey last week to suss out the top infrastructure priorities of those with “boots on the ground” in New Mexico agriculture.
Secretary Jeff Witte called the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant “a game changer” for the local food system.
The state department said in a statement that the money is meant to bolster the middle of the food supply chain. That can include activities like processing, distribution and aggregation, according to USDA.
It also aims to expand local food markets and improve prices and wages, while helping to keep profits in rural communities.
Once the department has established its priorities, those contributing to the middle of the supply chain will be able to apply to the state for funding. The department says it anticipates posting the application next month.
The survey is due Thursday. The department is also hostinga virtual meeting on August 29, where attendees can give their input.
PNM reaches settlement agreement in San Juan rate credits case - By Hannah Grover,NM Political Report
The Public Service Company of New Mexico announced on Friday that it reached a settlement agreement with state regulators and advocacy groups regarding rate credits associated with closing the San Juan Generating Station.
The agreement calls for PNM customers to receive $115 million in bill credits over a one-year period of time. This will result in an average credit of $9.28 per month for residential customers, which the utility says is about 11 percent of the average bill.
According to the press release, the customer credits come from PNM earnings. The customer rates will not be used to pay any part of the credit.
Customers must also be protected from increasing interest rates on the securitization bonds that PNM is using to refinance past investments in the coal-fired power plants.
The agreement is still pending approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.
The case is currently in the New Mexico Supreme Court and the court will likely remand it to the PRC to allow state regulators to consider the agreement.
“We came together to demand PNM return windfall profits that it has collected at the expense of New Mexicans,” Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, said in a statement. “The savings that come from the transition to clean energy must be passed on to customers. Today’s agreement shows that when advocates for the people of New Mexico work together, we can achieve just outcomes that protect ratepayers.”
The various parties to the settlement include the PRC’s utility division staff, PNM, the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, Western Resource Advocates, New Energy Economy, New Mexico Affordable Reliable Energy Alliance, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy.
“We have been working towards this transition for many years and appreciate the collaborative effort from parties to reach a unanimous settlement to complete the final steps,” PNM CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn said in the press release. “As the solar and battery storage replacement power resources also begin to come online, we are seeing the full scope of the Energy Transition Act’s benefits for our customers, the environment, employees and the communities impacted by the plant’s closure.”
NM Reps to put $34 million in earmarks around their districts next year - By Danielle Prokop,Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s representatives are poised to give more than $34 million directly to projects in and around their districts as part of next year’s budgets for federal agencies.
But the funds will not be disbursed until Congress passes the budget, which faces hurdles as members of the far-right Freedom Caucus have threatened agovernment shutdown.
Congress must pass 12 bills with the budgets of federal agencies by the deadline of Sept. 30, for the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Currently out of session, lawmakers would just have12 days to pass legislation before the deadline.
There is a stopgap measure, called a continuing resolution, which keeps agencies funded at the same level as last year, until a new budget can be passed. A continuing resolution which was floated by leadership Wednesday, NBC News reported.
As a part of next year’s budget, New Mexico’s representatives earmarked more than $34 million. Each representative was limited to 15 projects.
The appropriations committee, chaired by republican Rep. Kay Granger from Texas, released copies of 12 bills, including earmarks.
No New Mexico representatives are on the appropriations committee.
The States Newsroom DC Bureau reported that Republican House members have 62% of the earmarked fund – nearly $7.4 billion – while allocating about 38% to Democratic projects at just under $2.8 billion.
Republican members said, they are not short-changing Democratic requests, since that was the split used when Democrats held the majority in the House. Many Democratic earmark requests were capped at $1 million and cut by 41% on average, while Republican earmark request cuts averaged around 18% with a $6 million cap, said Rep. David Trone (D-Md) in a committee debate in June.
This is the third year Congress is allowing for direct spending in districts, after a decades-long hiatus. Earmarks were banned in 2011 when House Speaker John Boehnereliminated the practice afteryears of scandals.
In 2021, earmarks were revived by House Democrats, with additional guardrails and rules.
The process is now called Community Project Funding in the House and Congressionally Directed Spending in the Senate.
Lawmakers must submit letters saying there is no personal gain by themselves or a family member. Recipients of the funding cannot be for-profit entities, but instead by either governments or nonprofits.
In fiscal year 2022, New Mexico received more than $185 million for 103 projects from both chambers, a report from the U.S Government Accountability Office, as earmark spending totaled $9 billion.
If the budget is passed, federal agencies would reach out to projects within 30-60 days to administer funding. Based on which federal agency is funding the project, local entities may still have to pay a certain percentage of the project to qualify for the money.
Here’s where Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández plans to spend $11M in earmarks
Here’s where Rep. Melanie Stansbury’s earmarks will go in 2024