New Mexico county official could face a recall over Spanish conquistador statue controversy - Associated Press
A New Mexico county official is the subject of a recall petition following controversy over a Spanish conquistador statue.
The Santa Fe New Mexican said a county resident filed a complaint last week to begin the recall process, alleging Rio Arriba County Commission Chairman Alex Naranjo committed "malfeasance or misfeasance in office and/or violation of the oath of office."
The newspaper said Antonio DeVargas would have to gather just more than 1,200 signatures to force a recall vote in a special election.
Among the accusations Naranjo is facing is that he violated the state Open Meetings Act by unilaterally deciding to place the statue of Juan de Oñate at the Rio Arriba County Office Complex.
Chaos erupted and a single shot was fired at a Sept. 28 outdoor gathering in Española over canceled plans to install a bronze likeness of de Oñate, who is both revered and reviled for his role in establishing early settlements along the Upper Rio Grande starting in 1598. A New Mexico man is facing an attempted murder charge in the shooting and wounding of a Native American activist amid confrontations about the aborted plans.
Naranjo told the New Mexican he had not yet been served with the complaint and he "would never be in violation of the Open Meetings Act."
Boosted accessibility for voters in ongoing NM local election - Megan Gleason, Source New Mexico
Polls are open for New Mexican voters, and thousands of people have already voted, both in-person and by mail.
And with additional accessibility measures enacted by the 2023 Voting Rights Act, people could find more ease voting in this election than in the past.
As of Tuesday morning, voters had turned in 6,418 ballots, according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office.
That’s made up of 5,101 in-person early voters and 1,317 absentee ballots.
Only about 4% of absentee ballots had been received, out of the 31,779 people that requested them so far statewide.
Voters in Bernalillo County had asked for the most absentee ballots by far with 15,918 requests — nearly half of all the absentee ballot requests in the state. Following behind was Santa Fe County with 4,364 requests, Doña Ana County with 2,827 requests and Sandoval County with 2,379 requests.
All of the other counties had fewer than 1,000 absentee ballot requests.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS
New Mexico doesn’t require any reason for someone to request an absentee ballot.
There are only really benefits to that, said Mason Graham, policy director for Common Cause, a nonprofit that works to uphold voter rights. He said it started up with the COVID-19 pandemic. He said absentee ballots allow for more convenience in voting and can help people do more research on candidates.
Despite baseless misinformation around mail-in voting, it’s just as secure as in-person voting. Graham said there are extensive integrity and security measures with absentee ballots.
For example, voters receive two envelopes with absentee ballots, he said. One is the actual ballot and another is a security envelope inside the ballot, Graham said, and the officials counting the votes verify that the security envelope is closed.
Fraudulent ballots also don’t come through because election officials check names, social security numbers and addresses, Graham said.
“It’s the exact same level of security that you would get if you were to go to your own voting location,” he said.
There is 24-hour monitoring on drop boxes.
“Any kind of tampering of ballot drop boxes would immediately be flagged, and election officials will be notified. So there isn’t any issue when it comes to the integrity of the ballot drop boxes,” Graham said.
He said the U.S. has historically used absentee ballots, like sending them to U.S. citizens who are overseas or those who can’t vote on the mainland because of things like military service or working internationally.
DROP BOXES
There’s a new requirement this year that every county have at least two ballot drop boxes, which comes from the 2023 Voting Rights Act.
How many ballot drop boxes are in each county still varies, though, since counties can request exemptions through the Secretary of State’s Office due to “geographic or security constraints.”
For this election, multiple counties only have one drop box, and some don’t have any at all, according to county clerks around the state.
Lea County has no drop boxes after asking the state for a waiver in July. Chaves County also doesn’t have any, despite not sending an exemption request to the state. The county sent two proposed locations to the Secretary of State’s Office in August but said they wouldn’t be available for this local election.
Areas with only one drop box include Grant County, Mora County and Union County.
Larger counties like Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties have many containers, with drop boxes scattered throughout the more densely populated areas.
HOW TO VOTE
New Mexicans can only register to vote in person, even on the same day as voting, at this point in time for the local election.
Early voting is ongoing, and polling locations nearby can be found at the Secretary of State’s Office website here.
The last day to request an absentee ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 24. Voters can mail absentee ballots, put them in drop boxes or return them in person to their local county clerk’s office or any Election Day polling location. Absentee ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
It’s historically been more difficult to vote in rural or tribal areas in New Mexico, where residents often have to drive hours to reach a county clerk’s office or drop box, if there is one.
Graham said he thinks the biggest improvement with the Voting Rights Act is that people can list government and official buildings on tribal land as an address to get an absentee ballot, something that can help people who don’t have traditional addresses.
“That’s an improvement that I think is going to do leaps and bounds for people who live in those communities,” he said.
OTHER ACCESSIBILITY MEASURES
The Voting Rights Act also gave people formerly convicted of felonies on parole the right to vote.
For Graham’s father, who was convicted of a nonviolent felony back in the 1990s, that meant he regained his right to vote after 19 years, by the time his son was also old enough to vote.
Barriers still remain. People with this newly granted right to vote are limited to only registering to vote in person, Graham pointed out.
For anyone who doesn’t register immediately upon release when presented with that information, they have to figure it out later on.
“You might not have reliable transportation. You might not know where the county clerk’s office is,” Graham said. “You might be just trying to get back on your feet and you’re not really thinking too much about, ‘What do I need to do to register to vote?’”
Common Cause is talking about this with the Secretary of State’s Office, trying to figure out a path forward to change this rule, Graham said. He said it might require additional legislation, and the upcoming 30-day legislative session in 2024 will be focused on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s priorities.
Graham pointed out that the Voting Rights Act also made Election Day a school holiday, so students and anyone working for the school system get that day off.
“This is another step to make sure that Election Day is going to be accessible for everybody,” he said.
He said it would be nice to take it a step further and make it a state holiday, so government workers also get the day off.
Graham anticipates with the Voting Rights Act and same-day voter registration, which is also relatively new in the state, that New Mexico will see a higher voter turnout for this local election.
NM Tourism Department reports record $8.3 billion in 2022 visitor spending - Alice Fordham, KUNM News
Thestate Tourism Department reports that visitors spent a record $8.3 billion in New Mexico last year, sustaining more than 70,000 jobs statewide.
The money was spent by a record number of visitors. The departmentestimates that more than 40 million trips were made to New Mexico last year, of which about 17 million were overnight visits.
There was a slight increase in business travel, but most people visited for leisure, with more than half of them including an outdoor activity during their time in the state.
The influx of visitors spent nearly $3 billion on lodging and about $2 billion dollars on food and drink.
The department's new report notes that New Mexico benefited from being included in the Lonely Planet's list of 30 places to visit in 2023, with the guide suggesting visitors take the opportunity to learn about Indigenous culture.
And, the report states that nearly of that half of the tourism cash was spent in rural communities.Earlier this year, the Tourism Department awarded millions of dollars in grants to rural communities to advertise their unique cultural and environmental features.
Overall, the industry makes up about 7% of the state's total economy.
Heinrich joins call for U.S. to contribute to UN’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
New Mexico’s senior U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich joined over 30 of his Democratic colleagues Wednesday in calling for the U.S. to support the United Nations’ efforts when it provides humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank.
Ina letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the senators cited a UN appeal for $294 million in emergency aid for Palestinians, urging the Biden Administration to “join the international community in answering the call,” as well as helping with distribution.
Biden Wednesdayannounced $100 million in humanitarian aid for Palestinians, including emergency needs in Gaza. The White House confirmed to reporters atthe Messenger that these are existing funds that won’t need Congressional approval.
A spokesperson for Heinrich’s office told KUNM it’ll be at Biden’s discretion whether to allocate those funds to the UN’s appeal, as the senators are urging.
In a statement, Heinrich wrote, “As we continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself, we must also state clearly that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad do not represent the Palestinian people.”
The senators cited UN estimates that Gaza will be without water and food within days, and that medical supplies are “running desperately short.” Of the over 1 million people who have fled Gaza, nearly half have turned to UN facilities for shelter, according to the letter.
Forest Service cancels prescribed burn near Santa Fe - Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
The U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday that it canceled a prescribed burn near the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed.
The cancellation comes after two community meetings, including one earlier this month, which “came at the request of more than one community group,”according to the Forest Service.
The North Aztec Springs burn was going to occur on the northwest corner of the watershed, alongside the communities of Hyde Park Estates, Paseo Segundo, High Summit, Los Cerros Colorados, Cerro Gordo and Upper Canyon.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the cancellation came after evaluations of weather patterns and fuel moisture, which showed they didn’t comply with criteria set out in the prescribed fire plan.
Fire managers say they will plan to reschedule the burn for sometime next year when conditions improve.
State to decide before 2024 where to send $6 million for northwestern NM economic development - By Megan Gleason,Source New Mexico
Setting up solar. Making housing more accessible. Boosting local food production. Starting up hydrogen energy productions. Expanding educational opportunities at local colleges.
These are all projects local, out-of-state and even international organizations are vying to set up in northwestern New Mexico to help communities recover from a massive coal plant shutdown that happened in 2022.
It’s up to the New Mexico Economic Development Department now to decide which initiatives to fund.
Dozens of community members, including Indigenous residents and environmental activists, waited hours at a public meeting on Oct. 12 for a chance to speak up about which of these organizations they want to see receive the money in San Juan County.
Many expressed support for very local, Indigenous-led projects.
They spoke to a community advisory committee that was formed by the 2019 Energy Transition Act to help recommend how the state should spend funds the Public Service Company of New Mexico legally had to make available due to the closure of its coal plant.
There’s a total of $20 million energy transition funds available. From that, the New Mexico Economic Development Department has about $6 million to distribute for non-fossil fuel-related development.
The community advisory committee recommended four companies for the state to reward the funds. These proposals are focused on either hydrogen, energy storage or coal ash reuse.
Many members of the public spoke against these projects.
The New Mexico Economic Development Department will consider the recommendations of the committee and reach out to lawmakers, stakeholders and the governor’s office to figure out how to best use the funds, said agency spokesperson Bruce Krasnow.
He said the department plans on choosing before the end of the year which projects will get funding.
THE PROPOSALS
Source NM reviewed the project proposals submitted in 2020 that the state economic agency posted online. Funding requests range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars.
Twenty-six separate initiatives are seeking different ways to boost the local economy in the Four Corners county.
At last week’s public meeting, many community members said they want to see funding go to hyper-local, Native-led organizations.
About a dozen of the 26 projects are Indigenous-led or have collaborations with Native leaders or organizations.
Even fewer are actually based within 100 miles of the inoperative San Juan Generating Station — the area supposed to reap the benefits of the energy transition funds — though many of the proposals have worked in or near San Juan County before.
Multiple projects propose pursuing renewable energy initiatives, educational opportunities that would create college courses or new teaching positions, or ways to boost food security, like creating local markets and co-ops.
The four organizations the community advisory committee recommends to equally split the $6 million are Big Navajo Energy, Kinetic Power, Libertad Power and SonoAsh.
Libertad, partly based in San Juan County, and Big Navajo Energy, based about 50 miles away in Red Valley, Arizona, would create hydrogen energy facilities.
Santa Fe-based Kinetic Power is focused on hydroelectric energy storage, and Canada-based SonoAsh proposes reusing coal ash. All four projects would operate in San Juan County.
It’s still up to the state at the end of the day where to send the $6 million, and it could still pick from the other proposals the committee didn’t recommend.
Community members and activists argued against the hydrogen-involved projects, bringing up the potential for greenhouse gas emissions or substantial water usage.
Eleanor Smith is a community organizer with Tó Nizhóní Ání (Sacred Water Speaks). She voiced concerns about the negative impacts hydrogen would have on the environment and climate. Smith (Diné) said they would support renewable energy developments like wind and solar instead.
“Here on Navajo, we have been decimated by the fossil fuel industry for decades,” she said.
The tragedies continue today.
State-appointed convener Jason Sandel, an oil executive, said everyone has different interpretations if hydrogen energy is a form of fossil fuels. This echoes an ongoing national debate about potential negative environmental consequences following the Biden administration’s announcement last week dedicating $7 billion to hydrogen hub projects around the U.S.
New Mexico did not receive any of this funding for federally subsidized hydrogen hubs.
How clean hydrogen actually is depends on how it’s produced, and most hydrogen is made from fossil fuels, according to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
However, the hydrogen companies the committee recommended last week have committed to using water rather than natural gas.
Many public commenters asked, where is that water coming in the southwest from during a drought?
Joseph Merlino, managing partner at Libertad Power, told Source NM that Libertad’s project wouldn’t actually be taking up that much water because the proposed system, which would produce around 15 to 30 tons of hydrogen per day, isn’t that big. He said the company is also exploring possibilities of pulling from non-freshwater sources, like municipal wastewater systems or greywater.
“It’s not that big a water contract. It won’t be a problem sourcing that water,” he said.
It’s understandable that people are unsure about hydrogen, Merlino said, especially since it’s a new technology.
“We certainly welcome scrutiny,” he said. “We’re always happy to have reasonable conversations with folks and answer questions about what we’re trying to do.”
A few different proposals not recommended by the committee would set up more solar energy in the Four Corners region. Native Renewables is one initiative multiple people supported last week. The proposal aims to set up solar for 500 families on the Navajo Nation using $12 million.
Wendy Atcitty is the Indigenous energy program manager for Naeva, a Native-led rights advocacy organization. Atcitty (Navajo) told Source NM a lot of people in northwestern New Mexico are living without electricity, despite living somewhere labeled as a “sacrifice zone.”
Many homes on the Navajo Nation, which takes up a majority of San Juan County, historically have lacked access to electricity.
“After decades of helping build the energy economy out here, it just doesn’t make sense,” Atcitty said.
Another proposal the committee didn’t choose to recommend was from Navajo Technical University, which had a goal to set up a program to train displaced coal plant workers in advanced manufacturing, transferring skill sets developed at the generating station.
An employee with the university said at the meeting that although Navajo Tech wasn’t chosen, the school can find other avenues of funding.
The much smaller, local organizations can’t, and that it is a “disservice to underfund” other community projects, he said.
Multiple community and committee members questioned how the four projects were chosen in the first place.
Sandel said these initiatives have a strong potential for leveraging the $6 million effectively for the community. He said the goal is to create long-term jobs, and he’s concerned that there isn’t longevity in other proposals submitted, like with the solar industry projects.
“I fully recognize and acknowledge and embrace there is an active conversation about what type of economic development is needed and wanted inside of the community, and that consensus might not be possible,” he said.
Kimberly Simpson, a committee member from the city of Bloomfield, tried to table action on deciding which projects to recommend, but nobody seconded the motion so it didn’t move forward.
The final vote to recommend the four projects was 5-2.
THE VOTE
State-appointed conveners Sandel, Tom Taylor and Glojean Todacheene as well as San Juan County Commissioner Steve Lanier and San Juan College board member John Thompson voted to recommend the four companies.
Simpson and Joseph Hernandez voted against it.
Jeff Blackburn, Aztec city manager, and Warren Unsicker, city of Farmington director of economic development, abstained.
Feds object to judge’s nod to settle Rio Grande SCOTUS case - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Whether the water is low or high, the Supreme Court fight over Rio Grande water stretches on.
The latest iteration of the legal fights that span decades, is the Texas claim before the U.S. Supreme Court that New Mexico groundwater pumping below Elephant Butte Reservoir shorts the downstream state its rights to the river’s water.
This would be a violation of the 1938 Rio Grande Compact, which splits the water between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
A recent settlement proposal between the three states was accepted by a federal judge overseeing the case as special master in July.
Not everyone is on board.
The federal government officially laid out its objections to the special master’s recommendation that the U.S. Supreme Court adopt a compromise to end the lawsuit over the Rio Grande’s water between Texas and New Mexico.
In a 96-page document, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and other Department of Justice attorneys lay out three legal arguments arguing why the high court should reject the deal.
First and foremost, they argue, settlement is impossible without the federal government’s consent.
A settlement requires consent from each party, and the agreement adds a “host of obligations,” on the federal operation of the Rio Grande Project, which delivers water in a series of canals and ditches to two regional irrigation districts and to Mexico.
Finally, the federal government argues the settlement violates the compact by moving the location of water deliveries, and fails to recognize a “1938 baseline,” of minimal groundwater pumping.
The proposed settlement uses a mathematical model to determine splitting the water, based on drought conditions from 1951 until 1972, when drought and development pushed pumping to increase significantly. Much of the region’s agriculture and its entire residential use is pumped from groundwater.
The federal government argues using the model violates the Compact.
“But the baseline on which the Compact was predicated was the baseline that existed when the Compact was signed — not decades later, after groundwater pumping in New Mexico had greatly increased and drawn water away from the Project,” the federal government wrote.
The region is already expecting the state government to curb pumping – with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer announcing the need to cut 17,000 acre feet to meet the settlement using the proposed model.
TheElephant Butte Irrigation District and El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 supported the federal government’s position in legal briefs of their own.
They agreed that the state compacts have no authority over the operation of the Rio Grande Project.
The Supreme Court has accepted the federal government’s arguments over a special master’s recommendation in this case before. In 2018, justices unanimously admitted the Department of Justice as a party into the case.
Additional responses and replies from the party will be collected into 2024, and there’s no expectation of scheduling a hearing with the Supreme Court until then.
Most in the US see Mexico as a partner despite border problems, an AP-NORC/Pearson poll shows - By Adriana Gomez Licon And Linley Sanders Associated Press
Most people in the U.S. see Mexico as an essential partner to stop drug trafficking and illegal border crossings, even as they express mixed views of Mexico's government, according to a new poll.
The poll from the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about two-thirds of Americans see their southern neighbor as having at least a friendly relationship with the U.S. Relatively few within that group, or 16%, consider Mexico a close ally. Meanwhile, U.S. adults are more likely to have an unfavorable (38%) view of Mexico's leadership than a favorable (12%) one. The remaining responded they did not have an unfavorable or favorable view or were not sure.
The poll captures the different perceptions Americans have of Mexico, its leadership and the estimated 10 million immigrants living in the U.S. Mexico is the largest trade partner of the U.S. and both countries have deep diplomatic and cultural ties. But both Washington and Mexico City are under immense pressure to reduce unauthorized migration at their shared border and to stop the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that killed around 75,000 people in the U.S. last year.
"For two countries that are such close neighbors, so intertwined in each others' lives, and have been for so long, there's still room to grow," said Benjamin Lessing, an associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago and faculty affiliate of the Pearson Institute.
Americans see a shared responsibility for the two countries to address their international problems, including illegal immigration and drug trafficking. About two-thirds of Americans say the U.S. government and Mexican government should both be responsible for preventing immigrants — from Mexico or from other countries — from getting into the U.S. illegally through Mexico. An even larger share, or about three-quarters of Americans, say the governments should both be responsible for preventing illegal drug trafficking from Mexico to the U.S.
"We need as best relations as possible," said Kris Bennefield, 41, of San Augustine, Texas. "We should be working hand in hand with Mexico to take the cartels down."
The results come as several of the Republican presidential candidates say they would use military force against Mexico in response to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, some in the GOP field are suggesting without evidence that militants may be taking advantage of the mass arrivals of migrants to come through the U.S.-Mexico border.
Americans place a high level of importance on preventing illegal immigration across the border between the U.S. and Mexico: 53% of U.S. adults call this an important foreign policy goal. Republicans (80%) are more likely than Independents (50%) and Democrats (35%) to call this important.
Slightly fewer (43%) Americans say it's important to create more opportunities for legal immigration from Mexico to the U.S., with Democrats (57%) being more likely than Republicans (25%) to prioritize this.
"There's a big part of the population that recognizes the importance and the big effort that the two nations are making to work together," said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor at George Mason University who specializes in U.S.-Mexico relations.
Bennefield, a Democrat, said he feels the U.S. needs to create a better system for people to arrive in the U.S. legally. The last extensive package on immigration came under President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and a more limited effort was signed by President George H.W. Bush four years later.
"We need to boost our economy with people," said Bennefield, adding he also feels it is equally important to prevent illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border.
That emphasis on stopping illegal immigration is also reflected in how Americans view Mexican immigrants differently depending on whether they live in the U.S. legally or not. About two-thirds of Americans say they have a positive view of Mexican immigrants who are living in the United States legally, compared to just 20% who say that about those who reside in the U.S. illegally.
Dan Allstun, a retired utility company worker who lives in Los Angeles, said he thinks it is a problem when people reside in the U.S. and do not pay taxes. Experts have said that immigrants who are in the country illegally pay sales taxes and that very significant numbers of them also have federal and state tax withholding in their paychecks.
Allstun, who is a Republican, said he thinks the vast majority of immigrants are fleeing poor economic conditions in their countries.
"It's not that these people are bad. They're coming here for economic reasons. However, it becomes quite difficult for our country to control," he said. "So there could be people who are coming here to take advantage."
Hispanic Americans were more likely than Americans overall to say it's important to create more opportunities for legal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. They were also more likely to have a favorable view of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
The poll also reflected that about two-thirds of Americans (65%) say they have a positive view of Mexican culture. Three in five say they have personally engaged with Mexican culture within the United States such as through festivals or cultural events.
"Mexico is part of the American culture," said Correa-Cabrera. "The politicization of the issues of immigration and border security and how they are used to divide and conquer in elections differentiates from the realistic perspective of who Americans are in their day-to-day lives."
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Sanders reported from Washington.
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The poll of 1,191 adults was conducted Sept. 21-25, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.