New Mexico sees unprecedented revenue boom bringing $3.5B in new money – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
State officials Wednesday announced the highest general fund revenue forecast in New Mexico history.
The Albuquerque Journal reports an ongoing boom in oil and gas production, combined with strong consumer spending, is behind the windfall. Recurring revenues for the budget year that starts next July are estimated at around $13 billion. That’s 3.5% more than projected for this current fiscal year.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told lawmakers there will be almost$3.5 billion more money in the next budget. It’s a far cry from seven years ago when lawmakers relied heavily on reserve accounts just to pay the bills.
Secretary of Taxation and Revenue Stephanie Schardin Clarke said the state is building a bridge from “peak oil” to income that grows through investments such as permanent funds.
Oil production in New Mexico has surpassed North Dakota, making the state second only to Texas. But the chief economist for theLegislative Finance Committee told lawmakers these surpluses will not be around forever. Oil production is expected to peak in2031.
The revenue forecast is used by the committee and the governor’s office to develop their budget recommendations, which are usually released in January ahead of the legislative session.
Veteran Services secretary latest to depart Lujan Grisham administration - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday that she is losing another member of her cabinet. Department of Veterans’ Services Secretary Donnie Quintana is the next in a long list of departures throughout the governor’s second term.
Sec. Quintana will officially step down next Friday.
In a statement, the governor expressed her appreciation for the secretary’s work, but “also his decision to step aside to allow for new leadership to accelerate the work of the agency.”
Quintana was confirmed to lead the department earlier this year.
Lujan Grisham said the next Secretary of Veterans’ Services “must deliver on that mission.”
Brig. Gen. Jamison Herrera of the New Mexico National Guard will serve as acting secretary as the executive office takes on a “broad search.”
So far this year, the Lujan Grisham administration has seen the departure of at least eight other cabinet members. Those include from posts atop the Public Education Department, Human Services Department, General Services Department, Finance and Administration Department, Indian Affairs Department, Information and Technology Department, Economic Development Department and Aging and Long-term Services Department.
Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico ranch is sold for an undisclosed price to a newly registered company - Associated Press
Known as the Zorro Ranch, a high-desert property once owned by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been sold after two years on the market.
An attorney for Epstein's estate, Daniel Weiner, confirmed Tuesday that the ranch had been sold for an undisclosed price, and the proceeds would be used to administer the estate and pay creditors. The property was listed in 2021 for $27.5 million. That price was later dropped to $18 million.
Weiner told Albuquerque television station KRQE that the estate would disclose the sales price in its next quarterly accounting that will be filed with the probate court in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Records kept by the Santa Fe County assessor list the new owner as San Rafael Ranch LLC, which registered with the secretary of state's office in late July, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
Epstein was found dead in August 2019 in his Manhattan jail cell, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Federal watchdogs have said negligence, misconduct and job failures had enabled him to take his own life.
In New Mexico, Epstein built a 26,700-square-foot mansion with a sprawling courtyard and a living room roughly the size of the average American home. Nearby was a private airstrip with a hangar and helipad. The property also included a ranch office, a firehouse and a seven-bay heated garage.
Epstein purchased the Zorro Ranch in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King.
While Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, the state attorney general's office in 2019 confirmed that it was investigating and had interviewed possible victims who visited the ranch south of Santa Fe.
Judge clears the way for a civil case to proceed against Alec Baldwin and 'Rust' producers - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A New Mexico judge on Wednesday rejected a request by Alec Baldwin 's attorneys to dismiss a civil lawsuit by three "Rust" crew members who allege cost-cutting endangered the cast and crew as the actor-producer skipped his own safety training.
Chief District Judge Bryan Biedscheid also declined to delay proceedings despite arguments by Baldwin's legal team that doing to so would put their client at risk of self-incrimination since prosecutors have yet to decide whether to refile criminal charges against him over the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer.
Attorney Robert Schwartz told the judge there would be nothing to prevent prosecutors from using evidence gleaned from discovery in the civil case against Baldwin in the criminal case, if charges are refiled. As an example, he pointed to any interpretation of Baldwin's production contract and what authority he had over decision making.
Schwartz said the court is putting Baldwin in an "unfortunate position."
"No protective order can protect him against that. It just can't happen," Schwartz said. "So what's going to happen is Mr. Baldwin is going to assert his 5th Amendment rights and the plaintiffs are not going to get any discovery in the meantime."
The judge disagreed, saying he would be mindful of Baldwin's rights.
Prosecutors have been mum about when a decision will be announced, but in asking for the civil case to be delayed, Schwartz indicated Wednesday that it could some within the next few weeks.
Baldwin, a coproducer of the film, was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the film's set outside Santa Fe when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
The 2021 shooting resulted in a series of civil lawsuits centered on accusations that the defendants were lax with safety standards. The cases have including wrongful death claims filed by members of Hutchins' family. Baldwin and other defendants have disputed accusations they were lax with safety standards.
The plaintiffs in the case heard Wednesday say Baldwin and the other producers cut corners, ignored reports of multiple unscripted firearm discharges and rushed to finish the film while being understaffed. They also say they suffered mental anguish and emotional distress by witnessing the shooting.
Baldwin's attorneys argue that none of the plaintiffs were physically injured and should not be allowed to recover any damages. They contend that gun safety was the responsibility of others — not Baldwin — and that his authority as a producer was limited to making suggestions on the script and casting.
A separate settlement to resolve allegations of workplace safety violations was finalized in March by New Mexico workplace safety regulators and Rust Movie Productions. Following its review, the state issued a scathing narrative of safety failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires on set before the fatal shooting.
Regulators also documented gun-safety complaints from crew members that went unheeded and said weapons specialists were not allowed to make decisions about additional safety training.
Fake Arizona rehab centers scam Native Americans far from home, officials warn during investigations - By Anita Snow Associated Press
Autumn Nelson said she was seeking help for alcohol addiction last spring when fellow members of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana suggested a rehabilitation center in Phoenix, far to the south.
The 38-year-old said the center even bought her a one-way airline ticket to make the 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) journey. But Nelson said after a month, she was kicked out after questioning why there was one therapist for 30 people and no Native American staff despite a focus on Native clients.
"All of a sudden I was out in the 108-degree heat in Phoenix, Arizona," said Nelson. "I was scared, and didn't know where to go."
Now back on the Blackfeet reservation, Nelson is among hundreds of Native Americans who have been targeted by Phoenix-area scammers. The billing schemes often left clients homeless and in some cases financed lavish lifestyles for the fraudulent providers, authorities have said. Arizona has been defrauded in recent years out of hundreds of millions of dollars through such scams, state officials estimated.
The fraudulent charges were submitted mostly through the American Indian Health Program, a Medicaid health plan that allows providers to bill directly for reimbursement of services rendered to Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
Federal law lets Native Americans enrolled in federally recognized tribes choose the fee-for-service plan or a managed care plan. The state Medicaid program known as AHCCCS — Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System — contracts with managed care organizations to provide health services to most Medicaid members in Arizona, while the fee-for-service plan allows Native Americans to use any provider registered with AHCCCS.
The scams' far-reaching consequences are now becoming known as warnings are sounded by state and tribal governments outside Arizona, as well as Montana's U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, and Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes — who has said authorities believe a Nevada-based criminal syndicate launched the first scams — in May announced they were stepping up an investigation on fraudulent Medicaid billing begun before they took office in January. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney General's Office have joined Arizona prosecutors in the probe. And Tester has called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to investigate as well.
Non-medical transport companies that reportedly have taken Native Americans from their reservations to phony programs should also be investigated, said Arizona State Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, a Democrat and Navajo who lives on the reservation. The New Mexico Attorney General announced a "Don't be taken for a Ride" campaign, warning people not to accept transportation from strangers to go to Arizona rehab centers.
The Navajo Nation and the Blackfeet Nation declared public health emergencies to free up resources to help affected members. The Navajo Nation also launched a program called Operation Rainbow Bridge to help members get into legitimate programs or back to the reservation.
Blackfeet members who recruit on the reservation for fake programs face thousands of dollars in fines and even expulsion, the tribal leadership decided.
Arizona has since suspended Medicaid payments to the center where Nelson stayed — a phone number on the provider's LinkedIn account no longer works — along with more than 300 other providers based on "credible allegations of fraud" as of Aug. 18. Some providers closed and some have appealed to stay open.
AHCCCS instituted tighter controls, including a six-month moratorium for enrolling new behavioral health clinics for Medicaid billing. Site visits and background checks with fingerprinting are now required for high-risk behavioral health providers when they enroll or revalidate.
The scams exploded during COVID-19 lockdowns.
"There were a lot of rules relaxed that allowed those scammers to get in," said Dr. John Molina, health service director for the federally funded Native Health, a health center serving Native Americans in Phoenix. He said addiction among Native Americans is rooted in generations of trauma.
"This takes us back to the early years of colonization and how Natives were taken advantage of for economic gain," said Molina, of Pascua Yaqui and San Carlos Apache ancestry.
Last year, Johnwick Nathan, 29, was indicted on multiple counts of fraud, money laundering and forgery. Authorities allege Nathan illegally billed Medicaid on behalf of Native American clients, a charge he denies. He is scheduled to be tried Sept. 18.
The scams can be highly lucrative. In a federal case, a woman who operated a fake recovery program in Mesa, Arizona, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and money laundering after raking in over $22 million in Medicaid money between 2020 and 2021 for services never provided.
Court records don't say whether patients were Native Americans, only that they were brought to the facility just once and billings were subsequently made in their names up to 90 days. Billings were also made for dead people and prisoners.
Diana Marie Moore, 42, will be sentenced Dec. 18 after an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. A federal court required her to forfeit property obtained through the fraud, including four homes, seven high-end vehicles and luxury items including Rolex watches, diamond rings and a rainbow of Louis Vuitton handbags.
Navajo police visiting Phoenix in recent months have encountered hundreds of Native Americans living in the street after centers closed, said Harland Cleveland, special operations manager for Rainbow Bridge. Many are inebriated and don't have cellphones to call their families, he said.
Former clinic clients "are too scared" to testify before the state Senate, Hatathlie said.
Reva Stewart and several other Native American women living in Phoenix operate an online network to help find missing people they call "our relatives," posting details of those lost on social media.
Stewart, who is Navajo, got involved a year ago after watching drivers stop vans outside Phoenix Indian Medical Center, offering people a place to stay.
"Something didn't look right," said Stewart, who manages a Native American arts shop nearby. Around that time, her cousin disappeared into a similar vehicle in New Mexico.
After an hourslong trip, the cousin was kicked out of the Phoenix center she was taken to after refusing to complete intake forms, Stewart said. She said her cousin is now back on the reservation and sober.
Not all endings are happy.
Raquel Moody, who is Hopi and Apache, described a home where residents were allowed to drink alcohol. Moody said she left in December after quarreling with her cousin Carlo Jake Walker, who continued imbibing.
Months later, Moody learned Walker died from alcohol poisoning and was buried in a pauper's grave. Moody quit drinking and now volunteers with Stewart's group #stolenpeoplestolenbenefits to help Native American families find lost loved ones who went to rehab homes.
Addiction recovery is a challenge on reservations, where resources for residential treatment aren't always available.
Nearly half of the Navajo Nation's 25,000 arrests in 2021 were for public intoxication, even though federal law prohibits alcohol sales on tribal land.
A small residential addiction treatment program on the Blackfeet reservation is usually full.
Blackfeet member Laura McGee's brother went missing shortly after arriving at a Phoenix facility in the spring, she said. After a harrowing search, the family found him and brought him back to Montana. Arizona later suspended Medicaid payments to the provider while law enforcement investigates.
Now, McGee works with Stewart to help other families find loved ones. She recently crossed paths online with Nelson, who said she's optimistic about staying sober.
"That earlier situation traumatized me," said Nelson. "But now it has encouraged me to stand up."
Asylum-seekers are being set up for rejection at a New Mexico detention facility, rights groups say — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A coalition of human rights groups on Tuesday leveled new criticism at a privately operated migrant detention facility in New Mexico where they say fast-track asylum screenings routinely take place without legal counsel or adequate privacy during sensitive testimony.
The rights groups say the broken screening system at the Torrance County Detention Facility means that migrants with strong, viable claims to asylum — who can't go back to their country because of persecution or the threat of torture — are instead being screened out inappropriately for deportation as the Biden administration seeks to impose severe limitations on migrants hoping for asylum at the border.
The 187-page complaint and findings were made by the American Civil Liberties Union and three advocacy groups that provide legal services to asylum-seekers. They're urging the U.S. government to end its contract with the private company that runs the facility, which is overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The report also catalogued complaints of retaliation against migrants who raise objections to asylum procedures and living conditions.
The report arrives roughly a year after Brazilian migrant Kesley Vial killed himself during detention at the Torrance County facility. The 23-year-old was scheduled for removal when he took his own life.
Most initial interviews at the facility are being conducted without access to a crucial legal orientation, and other key legal requirements are routinely ignored, the groups say. As migrants appeal their initial rejection to an immigration judge, many are denied access to files in their own cases, leaving them to challenge "secret decisions they have never seen," according to the report.
The Torrance County facility was repurposed in January to conduct expedited asylum screenings as immigration officials started to unwind coronavirus restrictions on asylum that allowed the U.S. to quickly turn back migrants, the report says. The complaint outlines how ICE has fast-tracked hundreds of asylum screenings at the facility in Estancia, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of the U.S. border with Mexico.
Advocacy groups estimate about 30% of detainees at the facility have passed asylum screenings since December 2022, far below the national average of 73% for the December-July period. That national average slid to 56% in the July 16-31 period.
Separately, the Biden administration launched speedy asylum screenings in April at Border Patrol holding facilities along the Southwest U.S. border, where the promise of attorney access appears largely unfulfilled.
Those who pass initial asylum screenings — to determine whether there is a "credible fear" of persecution or torture — are generally freed into the U.S. to pursue their asylum cases in court. Those who fail are supposed to be deported.
"The credible fear process at Torrance County Detention Facility is particularly flawed, pass rates are unusually low and many individuals detained … are deprived of due process," says the report, signed by the New Mexico Immigration Law Center, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and Innovation Law Lab.
The administrative complaint was filed directly to U.S. immigration authorities at the Department of Homeland Security, urging the agency to terminate the contract at Torrance County with private detention company CoreCivic.
Media representatives for Homeland Security had no immediate response to the report. CoreCivic spokesman Brian Todd characterized it as inaccurate and misleading.
"We are firmly committed to providing those in our care with access to counsel and access to courts," he said in an email.
It's unclear whether screening arrangements by ICE at Torrance County are replicated elsewhere — the advocacy groups didn't survey facilities in other states for the purposes of the complaint.
The report also describes situations where initial screening interviews by telephone with asylum officers are easily overheard by other migrants, citing testimonials from migrants who express alarm at the lack of privacy and fear of recounting past persecution abroad, including conflicts with organized crime and sexual assault. Those initial interviews with asylum officers take place in cubicles separated by thin partitions that don't reach the ceiling and white-noise machines that reportedly don't do enough to drown out conversations.
Alberto Mendez, a 33-year-old Salvadoran national, said his asylum screening at the Torrance County Detention Facility took place in unison with 15 other migrants, without prior legal advice, and ended in rejection.
"The cubicles don't have a roof, they just have dividers. So we all hear what everyone is saying. Everything," said Mendez, a father of three who worked as a cook and Uber driver on the outskirts of San Salvador until he fled threats and relentless recruitment campaigns by gangs.
"My fear was that what you were saying would be divulged in your own country," he said. "And that could bring reprisals and even bigger consequences."
Aside from the procedural issues, a federal watchdog in early 2022 detailed unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the Torrance County facility during an unannounced inspection — recommending that everyone be transferred elsewhere. Those findings from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General were disputed by CoreCivic and ICE officials.
CoreCivic has said the detention center is monitored closely by ICE and is required to undergo regular reviews and audits to ensure an appropriate standard of living for all detainees and adherence agency's strict standards and policies.
Support for the facility among elected officials has wavered. On Friday, Democratic U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico renewed calls for ICE to terminate its contract with CoreCivic at Torrance County, in a letter also signed by Sen. Ben Ray Luján and Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury.
A panel of state legislators met Tuesday to revisit a failed bill to restriction immigrant detention in New Mexico. The state Senate in March voted down the initiative, which would've prohibited local government agencies from contracting with ICE to detain migrants as they seek asylum.
States including California, Illinois and New Jersey have enacted legislation in recent years aimed at reining in migrant detention centers in their territory.
Attorney John Eastman surrenders on charges in Trump's Georgia 2020 election subversion case — Kate Brumback, Associated Press
John Eastman, the conservative attorney who pushed a plan to keep Donald Trump in power, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday on charges in the Georgia case alleging an illegal plot to overturn the former president's 2020 election loss.
Eastman was booked at the Fulton County jail and is expected to have an arraignment in the coming weeks in the sprawling racketeering case.
He was indicted last week alongside Trump and 17 others, who are accused by District Attorney Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters in a desperate bid to keep Joe Biden out of the White House. It was the fourth criminal case brought against the Republican former president.
Trump, whose bond was set Monday at $200,000, has said he will surrender to authorities in Fulton County on Thursday. His bond conditions prohibit him from intimidating co-defendants, witnesses or victims in the case, including on social media. He has a history of assailing the prosecutors leading the cases against him, including Willis.
Eastman said in a statement provided by his lawyers that he was surrendering Tuesday "to an indictment that should never have been brought." He criticized the indictment for targeting "attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients" and said each of the 19 defendants was entitled to rely on the advice of lawyers and past legal precedent to challenge the results of the election.
A former dean of Chapman University Law School in Southern California, Eastman was a close adviser to Trump in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by the president's supporters intent on halting the certification of Biden's electoral victory. He wrote a memo laying out steps Vice President Mike Pence could take to stop the counting of electoral votes while presiding over Congress' joint session on Jan. 6 in order to keep Trump in office.
After the 2020 election, Eastman and others pushed to put in place a slate of "alternate" electors falsely certifying that Trump won and tried to pressure Pence to reject or delay the counting of legitimate electoral votes for Biden, a Democrat.
Bail bondsman Scott Hall, who was accused of participating in a breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County, Georgia, also turned himself in to the Fulton County Jail on Tuesday.
Two other defendants, former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark and former Georgia Republican Party chair David Shafer, have filed paperwork aiming to transfer the case to federal court. Willis has filed paperwork in Fulton County Superior Court, where the indictment was filed, seeking a March 4 trial date. Legal maneuvering, such as the attempts to move the case to federal court, could make it difficult to start a trial that soon.
Lawyers for Clark argued in their court filing Monday that he was a high-ranking Justice Department official and the actions described in the indictment "relate directly to his work at the Justice Department as well as with the former President of the United States." Shafer's attorneys argued that his conduct "stems directly from his service as a Presidential Elector nominee," actions they say were "at the direction of the President and other federal officers."
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows last week made similar arguments in a federal court filing, saying his actions were taken in service to his White House role. A judge has scheduled a hearing for Monday in that case.
Attorneys for Meadows and Clark both filed motions seeking to keep their clients from having to turn themselves in at the Fulton County Jail by the deadline at noon Friday.
Clark's motion sought to stay any proceedings in Fulton County Superior Court while Meadows' motion asks the judge to immediately rule that his case can be moved to federal court or to issue an order prohibiting Willis from arresting him before Monday's hearing. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones gave Willis' office until 3 p.m. Wednesday to respond to both motions.
Meadows' motion says that before turning to the court his lawyers asked Willis for an extension, but she rejected that request, saying in an email Tuesday that at 12:30 p.m. Friday she would "file warrants in the system."
Clark was a staunch supporter of Trump's false claims of election fraud and in December 2020 presented colleagues with a draft letter pushing Georgia officials to convene a special legislative session on the election results, according to testimony before the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Clark wanted the letter sent, but Justice Department superiors refused.
Shafer was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election in the state and declaring themselves the "duly elected and qualified" electors even though Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors was certified.
Shafer was one of several defendants whose lawyers negotiated bond amounts with the district attorney's office on Tuesday. His bond was set at $75,000.
Bond was set at $100,000 for Jenna Ellis, an attorney who prosecutors say was involved in efforts to convince state lawmakers to unlawfully appoint presidential electors. Bond was set at $50,000 for Michael Roman, a former White House aide who served as a director of Trump's Election Day operations and was involved in efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election. Robert Cheeley, a lawyer accused of helping organize the fake electors meeting at the state Capitol in December 2020 and then lying about what he knew to a special grand jury, had a bond set at $14,000.
Bond was set at $10,000 for Shawn Still, another of the fake electors who was elected to the Georgia state Senate in November 2022 and represents a district in Atlanta's suburbs. Cathy Latham, another fake elector who also is accused of participating in a breach of election equipment in Coffee County, had a bond set at $75,000. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, a pastor who prosecutors say worked with others to pressure a Fulton County election worker, had a bond set at $75,000.
Santa Fe hospitals see uptick in COVID patients - Santa Fe Reporter, KUNM News
Two of Santa Fe’s largest hospitals are reporting treating more patients for COVID-19 over the last week.
According to the Santa Fe Reporter, Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center has 7 patients. While Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center has only two at the moment, the hospital reported a slight uptick in its emergency room last week and in overall hospitalizations this month.
Presbyterian Santa Fe’s Chief Executive John Adams told the Reporter the situation is concerning and urged vaccination, testing and isolation for those with symptoms.
Hospitalizations for the virus are up nationwide and New Mexico has seen cases trending upward as of late, though not nearly what they’ve been in years past. According to an Aug. 14th report, cases are up 140% compared to the count reported in July.
Deputy Secretary of Health Dr. Laura Parajón says the department is preparing for spread to increase as the weather gets colder by relaunching its Situational Awareness Team.
She recommends older or immune-compromised New Mexicans take extra precautions right now to prevent catching the virus.
Lawmakers request feds and state officials find third party in chromium plume fight - By Danielle Prokop,Source New Mexico
State and federal officials charged with overseeing the treatment of contaminated groundwater in Los Alamos say clean-up has stopped and remains at an impasse.
Source New Mexico’s Danielle Prokop reports a chromium plume discovered in 2005 extends south of East Jemez Road toward the Pueblo of San Ildefonso.
State and federal officials agreed to a treatment plan in 2015, which included a series of wells to suck up the water, treat it, and then pump it back into the aquifer. A similar interim plan was put forward last September.
The Environment Department says the current plan may be worsening the plume, and the interim plan should change while a full remedy is sought.
Michael Mikolanis, head of the Office of Environmental Management in Los Alamos, says the changes are too extensive for an interim plan, and circumvent public approval requirements.
The clean-up stoppage has meant the contamination has backslid, and potentially threatens drinking water for San Ildefonso Pueblo.
Learn more from Source New Mexico at KUNM.org.