Governor announces plan for EV tax credits- Jeanette DeDios, KUNM News
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced today her plans to pursue tax credits for electric vehicles during the upcoming legislative session.
The governor made the announcement during her Symposium on the Future of Transportation in New Mexico.
She also signed on an executive order directing the state fleet to transition to zero-emission vehicles by 2035. The order allows for some exceptions, including law enforcement and firefighting vehicles.
The governor said quote "The fact of the matter is that consumers and dealers want better access to electric vehicles.”
The proposed tax credits would apply to new and used electric vehicles to help meet the state's and the country's climate goals.
Part of New Mexico's electric vehicle transition funding comes from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure law, which is expected to allocate an estimated $38.6 million dollars to the state supporting the use of electric vehicles.
As more babies are born with syphilis, NMDOH increases testing - Alice Fordham, KUNM News
The New Mexico Department of Health is increasing testing for syphilis across the state, as more babies are born with the condition.
The department has renewed and updated a public health order issued a year ago, directing medical professionals to increase syphilis testing to everyone aged 18 to 50 across the state, and to test pregnant people three times during their pregnancy.
Syphilis can lead to miscarriages, birth defects and infant mortality. The Department of Health said in a statement that so far this year, eight miscarriages or stillbirths related to the condition have been reported.
The CDC has reported cases of syphilis increasing nationwide for several years, and New Mexico ranks second in the nation in syphilis rates.
Last year, the state Department of Health reported 76 cases of congenital syphilis, which is when the condition is passed to a baby during pregnancy.
Health Secretary Patrick Allen said in a statement, "babies are dying, and we cannot stand idly by.”
Former Navajo Nation president announces his candidacy for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District- Associated Press
Former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez announced Monday that he's running for Congress.
Nez, a 48-year-old Democrat, will vie for the seat occupied by incumbent Eli Crane, a Republican who has represented Arizona's redrawn 2nd Congressional District since last year.
The district covers a large portion of northern and eastern Arizona and includes 14 of the 22 federally recognized tribes within the state.
"I grew up in a rural, low-income home, in a long-overlooked community where my family lived paycheck-to-paycheck, worried about how we'd make ends meet. I understand the struggles that many Arizona families are facing right now," Nez said in a statement Monday.
Nez was born in Tuba City and grew up in Shonto, both located on the vast Navajo reservation.
He was the Navajo Nation's president from 2019-23 after serving four years as the tribe's vice president.
Nez lost in his presidential reelection bid last year and now hopes to become the first Native American to represent Arizona in Congress.
However, the state's 2nd District has about 30,000 more voters registered as Republicans than as Democrats with an estimated 160,000 voters registered as independent.
Nez said he believes voters care less about which party holds the seat than whether their representatives are taking concrete action to improve their lives.
"We need leadership in Congress that will put aside the politics of drama and division and fight for rural Arizona families instead," Nez said. "We cannot afford to have representatives who take us to the brink of a government shutdown just to prove a political point."
At least two other people have filled out paperwork to possibly run for the 2nd District seat — Lindsay Bowe, a Democrat, and David Bies, a Libertarian.
A tale of two Martins: Artificial intelligence takes center stage in Santa Fe- Megan Taros, Source New Mexico
As artificial intelligence tests the boundaries of copyright law, labor rights and disinformation, the solutions to rein in its capabilities are about as tenuous as the technology itself.
On Friday U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), author George R. R. Martin and University of New Mexico professor Melanie Moses spoke about the potential threats and solutions for the use of artificial intelligence in the creative industry.
The subject came up most recently as the Writers Guild of America, which Martin is a member of, secured provisions for the use of AI in its contract following a 148-day strike.
Martin is also a signatory on the Authors Guild lawsuit that alleges “mass copyright infringement” of authors’ works used to train artificial intelligence programs. The suit features a Game of Thrones fan who used AI to write a version of Winds of Winter, the next book Martin is writing in his series.
“You can’t turn back technology, but we can control technology,” Martin said. “AI has to be relegated to being a tool that writers and artists can use and not a replacement for writers and artists.”
Heinrich praised the strong copyright law in the U.S., but cautioned that lawmakers should get ahead of the technology before it has a chance to pose threats to creators and beyond.
“There are many things that we could not have imagined when much of (copyright) law was put into place,” he said. “We need to articulate for the future specifically how AI is going to fit into this history of intellectual property.”
Heinrich, who founded the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus, said that social media was an example of failing to handle potentially powerful technology because it propagated conspiracy and disinformation.
Early inaction made it difficult to regulate social media companies now, which is why it’s important to develop fundamentals for handling the consequences of AI, he said.
“What we’re really talking about is respecting the individual artist and saying, ‘You’re in control of your image and your voice and your art’ and applying the same values that we’ve had for a very long time in this country to a new set of tools,” he said
Most creative copyrights, however, belong to corporations that individual creators have sold the rights to, Martin said.
This creates a strain between legislative power and the right for businesses to operate within their rights.
“A few large companies have the ability to build these neural networks and train them with enormous amounts of computation that requires enormous amounts of power and water to make these things work,” Moses said “That kind of technology at the moment is only in a few large hands. I think we want to figure out ways to democratize the use of this technology.”
Heinrich took that approach when he introduced the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act, he said. The act would create “a shared national research infrastructure” that gives AI researchers and students from diverse backgrounds access to advanced artificial intelligence technology and helps them create responsible programs.
Moses said we are not yet in a position to predict the future and potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence.
But the propensity for bias and spreading disinformation is already troubling for creators and the general public alike.
Artificial intelligence programs often have trouble depicting Black people in positions of authority, she said.
AI photos are causing firestorms online. Recently, artificially generated photos spread online that claim to depict the war in Gaza and Israel, which led to misinformation and propaganda.
Artificial intelligence threatens to replace creators as employers begin to consider using existing programs to write material and use the likeness of performers in future works without having to rehire them.
Material created by AI doesn’t compensate the original creators whose works were fed into the programs. This leaves many questions unanswered, Martin said.
“A lot of it comes down to property rights and copyright,” he said. “We can do these things, I don’t think we’re going to be able to pass laws that say you can’t do these things, but the question is who owns it? And who then has the right to do it? Who gets paid for it and how long do they get paid for it?”
Workers in creative industries face the threat of total erasure because workers cannot necessarily be retrained to do a different job managing the new technology or working in another department like someone in a factory job may be able to, Moses said.
“The real threat is that not only are people immediately having their livelihoods threatened, but that we as humanity are threatened with losing the creative contributions of humanity,” she said. “And that’s a very scary position to be in.”
Judge authorizes attempted murder trial in shooting over Spanish conquistador statue — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A judge on Friday ordered an attempted murder trial for a New Mexico man accused in the shooting of a Native American activist amid confrontations about aborted plans to reinstall a statue of a Spanish conquistador outside a government office.
State District Court Judge Jason Lidyard found sufficient evidence to support charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon against 23-year-old Ryan David Martinez in connection with the shooting that was recorded by bystanders with cell phones and by surveillance cameras.
Martinez was arrested on Sept. 28 after chaos erupted and a single shot was fired at an outdoor gathering in Española over canceled plans to install a bronze likeness of conquistador Juan de Oñate, who is both revered and reviled for his role in establishing early settlements along the Upper Rio Grande starting in 1598.
The shooting wounded Jacob Johns, of Spokane, Washington, a well-traveled activist for environmental causes and an advocate for Native American rights who is of Hopi and Akimel O'odham tribal descent.
Multiple videos show Martinez attempting to rush toward a shrine at the center of prayers and speeches in opposition to installing the statue on that spot — only for Martinez to be blocked physically by a group of men. Voices can be heard saying, "Let him go," as Martinez retreats over a short wall, pulls a handgun from his waist and fires one shot.
Lidyard said Martinez should have known he was provoking a crowd with contrary views who opposed the statue's installation as he repeatedly tried to push or rush past peaceful demonstrators. He highlighted that Martinez had arrived with a fully loaded, concealed handgun in a holster and had a second loaded handgun in his car with two additional loaded magazines of ammunition at hand.
"Mr. Martinez's intentional acts of attempting to enter into an area of counter protesters, whether or not it was a public area, would lead a reasonable person in his same circumstances to know that it would cause provocation," Lidyard said at a county courthouse in rural northern New Mexico. That he "would intentionally provoke them while knowing full well that he was carrying a concealed firearm is sufficient to find probable cause for attempted murder in the first degree."
The ruling followed nearly five hours of testimony from law enforcement officers, including a sheriff's deputy who says Martinez repeatedly directed an expetive at him and people around him without obvious provocation. Eyewitnesses testimony was also provided, including from a 23-year-old woman who said Martinez leveled the gun at her after wounding Johns.
Martinez, of Sandia Park, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Defense attorney Nicole Moss said her client came to take pictures with his cell phone, never hid his identity and was shoved to the ground by several larger men.
"Fearing for his life because he was so outnumbered by all these men, he pulled his firearm that he possessed lawfully — he had a concealed carry permit — and he fired one shot at Mr. Johns in self-defense," she said.
The judge also ordered that Martinez remain incarcerated while awaiting trail, citing a long list of safety concerns, some based on newly revealed evidence that Martinez appeared to be converting semi-automatic guns at home to automatic weapons and was building untraceable gun parts at home using a 3D printer. State police also interviewed a former neighbor of Martinez who told them he saw Martinez out at night in a residential neighborhood dressed in body armor with an assault-style rifle and handgun.
The judge said he also weighed in violent threats Martinez made against the U.S. Federal Reserve banking system on social media as early as 2018, noting Martinez the FBI warned him in 2020 to refrain from further threatening behavior.
Johns remains in fragile health at a hospital in Albuquerque, according to his mother LaVerne McGrath, who attended Friday's hearing. She fought back tears during witness testimony and repeated viewings of videos of the shooting.
"I'm sad but I'm really honored for all of the support that's been given to this community, to my son," she said. "He's got people from around the world joining hands."
Five of Martinez's relatives, including his father, attended the proceedings but declined to comment. They gathered in a circle to pray during one court recess.
Hopi, Akimel O’odham activist, civil society groups call for hate crime prosecution — KUNM News, Source New Mexico
The person recorded on video shooting a Hopi, Akimel O’odham activist in Española on Sept. 28 is being prosecuted by the state of New Mexico for attempted murder and aggravated assault.
Meanwhile, the victim, Jacob Johns, along with civil society groups in and outside of New Mexico, are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute the shooter for a hate crime under federal law.
John Day, Johns’ attorney, said the shooter’s actions against the Indigenous activist and artist meet all of the elements of a hate crime. He said his client had gathered with others in a religious ceremony and a peaceful prayer event outside the Rio Arriba County headquarters in Española.
“This is a hate crime,” Day said in a news release on Monday. “It needs to be recognized and prosecuted as such.”
The DOJ, through the N.M. District Office for the U.S. Attorney, would be the agency with the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the shooter seen on video and in person, Ryan Martinez, for a hate crime.
Reached for comment on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the office declined to respond to questions about whether they are investigating Martinez for any federal hate crime charges related to the incident, and whether the office will prosecute him for any federal hate crime charges.
“As a matter of policy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation,” the spokesperson said in a written statement to Source NM.
Johns’ family “remains hopeful that the U.S. Department of Justice will address this as a federal hate crime matter,” Day said.
As of Tuesday, Johns was still at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque and his condition is unstable, Day said. Hospital staff have scheduled and then delayed multiple surgeries because they’re worried he couldn’t make it through the medical procedures, Day said.
Day said his client’s heroism in protecting the lives of innocent people, including children, is important on its own but said there is a larger principle at stake: “We cannot afford to minimize or normalize targeting lawful, peaceful assembly of people with violent crime because they belong to a different group.”
“It threatens anyone’s right to peaceably assemble or simply belong to a faith community,” Day said. “It should concern all people, whatever faith or community you belong to.”
‘The whole world saw it’
Day said he has not sent a letter or any other formal request to the federal government asking them to pursue hate crime charges against the shooter, because that’s not how the federal hate crime statute works.
“The whole world saw it and it would be troubling if the DOJ had to be formally asked to investigate and prosecute it as a hate crime,” Day said.
It is not just Johns’ family and attorney who think what the shooter did was a hate crime.
On Tuesday, the 25th Navajo Nation Council issued a joint statement condemning the shooter. Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley asked the DOJ, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state authorities to “investigate the shooting as a hate crime and terrorist attack.”
Navajo Nation citizens were also present at the peaceful gathering.
“The right of people to peacefully assemble is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Council Delegate Carl Roessel Slater said. “No one should ever fear for their life for exercising their rights. What happened in Española is a travesty and the shooter needs to be held accountable for his disregard of humanity in this hateful act of terrorism.”
Day also pointed to the shooter’s previous interactions with the FBI, who interviewed him about his posts on social media that suggested a violent attack on the country’s central banking system.
The morning after the shooting, Janene Yazzie, Southwest Regional Director of NDN Collective, posted on social media that what the shooter did was a hate crime.
“There was absolutely no reason why this peaceful, spiritual demonstration should have faced this level of violence 500 feet from the sheriff’s office,” Yazzie wrote.
That afternoon, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico referred to the shooter’s actions as an “act of racist and hateful violence.”
“We stand firmly against violence or aggression threatening the safety and well-being of those who peacefully gather in prayer,” ACLU-NM said.
Also on Sept. 29, Millions for Prisoners New Mexico described the incident as a “racially motivated shooting” and “white supremacist violence.”
Writing of Johns, the group wrote: “This inspirational man has put his life on the line over and over again to make a better world for his fellow humans, and now he and his family need your support to recover from this terrible hate crime.”
Níhi K’é Ba’ Mutual Aid, an Indigenous mutual aid organization in the Four Corners region, said on Oct. 3 the shooting “must be recognized as the racially motivated hate crime that it is at all levels of government.”
While not going so far as to refer to the shooting as a hate crime, the Democratic Party of New Mexico described the shooter on social media on Sept. 30 as “a right-wing extremist.”
“We call for unity, for all people to recognize and understand this hate crime for what it is: a threat to all peaceful assembly,” Yazzie said Monday. “And we call for justice for Jacob and for all Indigenous People living under this threat.”
NM and partners left out of hydrogen hub funding - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
A White House announcement Friday left New Mexico out of $7 billion in funding for regional hydrogen energy hubs across the nation.
As the Albuquerque Journal reports, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah — which formed the Western Inter-State Hydrogen Hub coalition last year — had jointly applied for $1.25 billion to help finance eight different hydrogen projects in the region, including four in New Mexico.
But the coalition didn't make it across the finish line.
During a news conference in Albuquerque to announce the launch of a new Climate Investment Center, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in an initial response to the funding news that New Mexico expects to continue working with the other states and the private sector to advance regional hydrogen projects.
“I’m disappointed, but not deterred,” the governor said, adding that her gut told her that the Department of Energy thought that the projects could happen without the funding.
Later on Friday, the governor said all the private companies involved in the relevant hydrogen projects in New Mexico remain on board.
She said in a statement “Our bullish outlook has not changed and we will continue to move forward.”
'Ring of fire' eclipse brings cheers and shouts of joy as it moves across the Americas — María Verza, Iván Valencia, Associated Press
First came the darkening skies, then the crescent-shaped shadows on the ground, and finally an eruption of cheers by crowds that gathered Saturday along the narrow path of a rare "ring of fire" eclipse of the sun.
It was a spectacular show for millions of people across the Americas as the moon moved into place and blocked out all but a brilliant circle of the sun's outer edge.
Hundreds of people filed into the planetarium in the Caribbean resort city of Cancún to watch the eclipse. Some peered through box projectors, while others looked through telescopes and special glasses.
Excited children whistled, as some adults raised their arms toward the sky as if to welcome the eclipse.
Vendors selling plants outside observed the dance between the moon and the sun in a more natural way — with the help of trees as the shifting sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting unique shadows on the sidewalk.
"There was silence and like a mist, as if it was dusk, but only a few minutes later the birds were singing again," said Carmen Jardines, 56, one of the vendors.
Artemia Carreto, was telling passersby about her experience as a child in southern Mexico, when they were told to look instead at the river where it reflected beautifully on the sand beneath the water.
While she wasn't near a river this time, Carreto said she was carried away by the sensations induced by changing temperatures and a feeling of heaviness that she pegged to the rotation of the Earth.
For Pilar Cáceres, there was a sense of energy.
"It is something that nature brings us and that we must watch," said the 77-year-old retired elementary school teacher who watched the eclipse by following its shadow through a piece of cardboard.
Ancient Maya astronomers who tracked the movements of the sun and moon with precision referred to eclipses as "broken sun." They may have used dark volcanic glass to protect their eyes, said archeologist Arturo Montero of Tepeyac University in Mexico City.
Unlike a total solar eclipse, the moon doesn't completely cover the sun during a ring of fire eclipse. When the moon lines up between Earth and the sun, it leaves a bright, blazing border.
The entire eclipse — from the moment the moon starts to obscure the sun until it's back to normal — lasted 2 1/2 to three hours at any given spot. The ring of fire portion was from three to five minutes, depending on the location.
Saturday's U.S. path: Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas in the U.S., with a sliver of California, Arizona and Colorado. Then: Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Brazil. Much of the rest of the Western Hemisphere got a partial eclipse.
NASA and other groups livestreamed the event.
In the U.S., some eclipse watchers traveled to remote corners of the country to try to get the best view possible while those in Albuquerque got a double treat as the eclipse coincided with an international balloon fiesta that typically draws tens of thousands of spectators and hundreds of hot air balloon pilots from around the world.
There were hoots, hollers and yelps from the balloon launch field as the moon began to cover the sun. Some pilots used their propane burners to shoot flames upward in unison as the spectacle unfolded.
"It's very exciting to be here and have the convergence of our love of flying with something very natural like an eclipse," said Allan Hahn, a balloon pilot from Aurora, Colorado.
At Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, enthusiasts hit the trails before sunrise to stake out their preferred spots among the red rock hoodoos.
With the ring of fire in full form, cheers echoed through the canyons of the park.
"I just think it's one of those things that unites us all," said John Edwards, a cancer drug developer who traveled alone across the country to watch the eclipse from Bryce Canyon.
Kirby James and Caroline McGuire from Toronto didn't realize they would be in a prime spot when they planned their trip to southern Utah.
"Nothing that you can read could prepare you for how it feels," said Kirby James, 63, a co-founder of a software company. "It's the moment, especially when the ring of fire came on, you realized you were having a lifetime experience."
For the small towns and cities along the path, there was a mix of excitement, worries about the weather and concerns they'd be overwhelmed by visitors flocking to see the annular solar eclipse.
In Eugene, Oregon, oohs and ahs combined with groans of disappointment as the eclipse was intermittently visible, the sun's light poking through the cloud cover only at times.
In southern Colombia, the Tatacoa desert played host to astronomers helping a group of visually impaired people experience the perfect golden ring created by the moon and sun through raised maps and temperature changes.
Colombia Science Minister Yesenia Olaya said moments like this should inspire people to promote science among children, so they see it as "a life project."
Juan Pablo Esguerra, 13, waited months to make the trip to the desert with his father to witness the eclipse.
"I like the astronomy because it's a spectacular experience," he said. "This is the best that I've seen in my life."
In Mexico City, some children came dressed as astronauts as thousands of people gathered at the main esplanade of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the country's main public college. People shared special glasses, and the university set up telescopes.
Saturday's eclipse marked the first for Brazil since 1994. The country's national observatory broadcast the event online while thousands flocked to parks and beaches in the north and northeastern regions to soak in the phenomenon.
Next April, a total solar eclipse will crisscross the U.S. in the opposite direction. That one will begin in Mexico and go from Texas to New England before ending in Canada.
The next ring of fire eclipse is in October next year at the southernmost tip of South America. Antarctica gets one in 2026. It will be 2039 before another ring of fire is visible in the U.S., and Alaska will be the only state in its direct path.
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Valencia reported from Tatacoa Desert, Colombia. AP reporters Mauricio Savarese in Sau Paulo, Brazil; Claire Rush in Eugene, Oregon; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; Katie Oyan and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Brady McCombs in Garfield County, Utah; and Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia contributed to this report
Windy conditions cancel farewell mass ascension at Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta — Associated Press
Windy conditions delayed and then cancelled Sunday's farewell mass ascension at the 51st annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
It was the final day of this year's event. The mass ascension was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m.
Organizers said balloon pilots were on standby for more than two hours due to brisk winds from the north before the cancellation.
According to launch directors, winds of more than 10 mph can be dangerous for ballooning.
The fiesta draws pilots and spectators from across the globe to New Mexico's high desert and is one of the most photographed events in the world.
Over nine days, local residents and visitors are treated to a cavalcade of colorful and special-shaped balloons.
Since its start in 1972, the fiesta has grown to include a cadre of European ballooning professionals.
More than 20 countries were represented this year, including Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Taiwan and Ukraine.
The event also serves as the launching venue for the America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race, one of the world's premier distance races for gas balloons.