New Mexico Medicaid will expand to ensure continuous coverage for young children – KUNM News
Over 92,000 children from birth to age six in New Mexico will benefit from an expansion of continuous health insurance coverage under the Medicaid program.
The state Human Services Department announced New Mexico Medicaid has received federal approval to extend the coverage starting January 1. This will eliminate the need for annual renewals for this age group.
HSD announced the Medicaid Home Visiting Program will also be expanded to more providers to support additional families with services. Those include prenatal and postpartum care, infant care, health and nutrition guidance, and child development support.
HSD officials say the federal approvals are part of a larger effort to improve maternal and child health in the state.
According to a recent report by the Department of Health, New Mexico has nearly double the national rate of pregnancy-related mortality. And the United States already has the highest rate of maternal mortality among wealthy nations.
Santa Fe approves the first site for a safe outdoor sleeping space – KRQE-TV, Santa Fe New Mexican
Santa Fe is moving forward with a planned controlled encampment site for people experiencing homelessness.
KRQE-TV reported the city approved $1 million in funds last March from the American Rescue Plan Act to buy 25 pallet homes. Last week it approved the first contract to put 10 of the pallet homes in the parking lot of a local church for the next year.
Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said there are an estimated 350 people living on the streets in the capital city. He said the project should cost less than $1 million to operate. The units will be at Christ Lutheran Church and each can house two people. The units will have electricity, heating and cooling.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that The Life Link will provide case managers to connect residents to services, including permanent housing. The site is expected to open in February.
In contrast, the Albuquerque City Council last month rejected an effort to make it easier to create safe outdoor spaces by limiting the number of appeals. Landowners like churches and nonprofits can apply to create a space, but City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn said many do not have the resources to pay for attorneys for a lengthy appeals process.
State Supreme Court rules it’s unconstitutional for police to search a car parked at owner’s home without a warrant - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
The State Supreme Court ruled Monday that police in New Mexico violated the constitution when they searched a vehicle parked in front of its owner’s home after arresting the driver during a traffic stop.
The Justices heard the case of Andrew Ontiveros, who got pulled over in front of his grandmother’s house while driving her car. While police said they pulled him over for a broken windshield and taillight, he was arrested for driving on a revoked license without an ignition interlock he was required to use after a past DWI.
Following his arrest, the police had the car impounded, which involved taking an inventory of items in the car. They discovered methamphetamine in the trunk and charged Ontiveros with felony possession.
The state Court of Appeals threw the convictions out, finding the search was unconstitutional. The high court has now affirmed that ruling.
The Justices ruled that police can legitimately impound cars after arresting a driver if no one else immediately takes possession to protect the vehicle from being stolen or damaged, and to protect themselves from liability if that were to happen. However, they said that rationale “evaporates” when police know the vehicle is legally parked at the registered owner’s home, as it was in this case.
Leaders seek to expand crime-fighting net of cameras and sensors beyond New Mexico's largest city - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
New Mexico's largest city is blanketed with 10,000 cameras, license plate readers along some of the busiest roadways and special listening devices that hone in on the sound of gunfire — all part of a technological net of sorts that Albuquerque authorities say has been an integral part of addressing high crime rates and record homicides.
With the push of a button, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller revealed the city's Real Time Crime Center behind what had been a wall of opaque glass just moments earlier.
Video feeds from city intersections and bus stops played out simultaneously on a massive screen that covered one wall as individual stations were outfitted with numerous smaller monitors. There were feeds from local news stations and social media streaming as well as access to databases that included criminal records and facial recognition.
It's meant to be one-stop shopping for Albuquerque police officers, providing real-time information as they respond to calls throughout the city.
The police chief and mayor say it's working, They want state lawmakers to double down on the investment and expand its reach to neighboring communities. With more than $50 million already spent over several years, Albuquerque wants the Legislature to put in another $40 million so authorities will have eyes on more parts of the metro area and other police agencies can access and share data.
Keller said during a tour Friday that the technology and the ability of police and prosecutors to build better cases is helping make the community safer.
"We have a long, long way to go, but we're going the right direction," Keller said.
Albuquerque is one of many cities that have been pouring money in crime-fighting technology, with dozens of real time crime centers popping up in recent years and surveillance systems being expanded to more locations.
Keller pointed to the massive screen, highlighting a map with dozens of yellow markers on it — each one denoting gunshots detected by ShotSpotter. Authorities said those detections are cross referenced with live video from the area and license plate data that is captured to give responding officers a better idea of what they might be heading into or who they might be looking for.
"It not only enables us to catch people, but it keeps our officers safe day in and day out," Police Chief Harold Medina said.
Medina touted the capabilities in solving some of the city's most notable crimes over the last two years — from a hit-and-run that left a 7-year-old boy dead to the shooting deaths of four men that rocked Albuquerque's Muslim community and a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of elected officials.
Weapons violations increased by 21% for the first nine months of 2023 compared to the previous year, according to data released by the Albuquerque Police Department. Authorities say that's due to an increase in the ShotSpotter technology, which covers about 15% of the city.
Still, some have criticized reliance on the technology. A 2021 Associated Press investigation, based on a review of thousands of internal documents, confidential contracts and interviews with dozens of public defenders in communities where ShotSpotter has been deployed, identified a number of flaws in using the technology as evidentiary support for prosecutors.
There also are privacy concerns, said Daniel Williams, a policing policy advocate with the ALCU in New Mexico.
"There's a balance between the very real risks to the privacy of all of us in our community when this sort of mass surveillance is employed and the legitimate need to solve crimes and keep us safe," he said.
For lawmakers, Williams said the time has come for them to think about crafting data retention and reporting policies.
In Albuquerque, city councilors recently amended an ordinance that lengthens the retention policy from two weeks to a year, with Williams suggesting that's too long.
"Our tradition in this country, our values are that we don't engage in surveillance of people or intrude into the lives of people by law enforcement in case they might one day commit a crime," he said.
Medina acknowledged those concerns, saying technology comes with a responsibility and that his department will use the tools where it can to ensure public safety.
N.M. cities and towns outline 2024 legislative priorities - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
From Santa Fe to Gallup, leaders in New Mexico’s municipalities want to see state lawmakers next year provide more money for firefighters, police, medics and local infrastructure.
The New Mexico Municipal League outlined its legislative priorities for the upcoming session in a Dec. 5 hearing held by the Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee.
The municipal league, which lobbies on behalf of towns and cities in the state, said its first priority for public safety is emergency medical services, its Public Safety Director Tim Johnson said.
Medics save lives, transport people to hospitals, and respond to disasters, said Johnson, a former New Mexico State Police chief. The municipal league said in a written presentation the state’s emergency medical services are “chronically underfunded.”
The state Emergency Medical Services Fund gets about $2.8 million each year, according to the municipal league.
The group wants lawmakers to put 10% of health insurance premium tax revenue into the fund to pay for local EMS services’ supplies, equipment and vehicles. Johnson said this would allow medics to respond to overdose calls that could free up police officers to do other work.
The New Mexico Municipal League second public safety priority is for lawmakers to expand workers’ compensation by entitling public sector workers to benefits if they’re diagnosed with conditions “linked to their service.” This is specific to breast, lung and prostate cancer for firefighters, and hearing loss for police.
Many public safety agencies are unable to communicate with each other, Johnson said.
The municipal league’s third public safety priority is for lawmakers to set aside money to the New Mexico Department of Information and Technology to cover the fees for municipal, county and tribal police departments to participate in a statewide public safety radio network.
Police departments must pay a monthly subscription of $20 to $30 per radio “which can be prohibitive, especially for smaller agencies,” the municipal league wrote to lawmakers.
There are 16,000 radio users statewide, Johnson said, and every firefighter has three radios while police have two.
Cleaning up cities
Santa Fe and Gallup are two examples of local governments struggling with wastewater treatment, said New Mexico Municipal League Policy Director Alison Nichols.
The New Mexico Finance Authority estimates it has $133 million in available funding for water projects in the next year and received about $275 million in project applications.
The municipal league officials said they support fully funding vetted water infrastructure projects which meet the Water Trust Board’s requirements. The board, part of the New Mexico Finance Authority, recommends which water projects lawmakers should fund through grants or loans.
Municipal lobbyists are also asking lawmakers to send more money for road projects directly to local governments.
About 60% of the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax goes to the state General Fund, about 22% goes to the State Road Fund and about 18% goes to the Transportation Project Fund for local roads, the organization wrote.
The municipal league wants lawmakers to direct all the revenue to road funds, breaking it down by sending 60% to the State Road Fund and 40% to the Transportation Project Fund. State roads cost more per mile, Nichols said.
This would generate about $140 million for roads and would help address more than $5 billion in unfunded transportation projects, according to the municipal league.
More road funding would also alleviate the financial impacts on New Mexicans from poor quality roads like vehicle operating costs, safety costs and congestion costs, the organization wrote.
Over half of the state’s roads “are rated as poor or mediocre,” Nichols said.
The New Mexico Municipal League also wants lawmakers to eliminate a 3% fee charged to local governments by the state Taxation and Revenue Department. They want lawmakers to make it based on costs instead of a flat fee, Nichols said.
She said the fee generated more than $50 million for the General Fund in 2022, equivalent to nearly 80% of the department’s entire operating budget.
“It is extremely unlikely that administration of local government taxes accounts for nearly 80% of TRD’s general fund expenditures,” municipal lobbyists wrote to lawmakers.
Huge conservation agreement would protect elk and mule deer migration routes - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
A massive conservation deal has been struck between a private landowner and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation that will preserve just over 3,500 acres of key migration route land for elk and mule deer.
As the Albuquerque Journal reports, the agreement between landowner Stan Ruyule and the RMEF will prevent the division and future development of the acreage located in Amargo Canyon.
Offering aspens, open meadows, and coniferous forests, the land hosts 50-75 elk year round, but every winter large herds of the animals use it to migrate south from Colorado in their search for food.
The land borders other protected areas like the W.A Humphries State Wildlife Area, U.S. Forest Service land and the Jicarilla Apache Nation.
Founded in 1984, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation aims to preserve the North American elk. The organization has around 240 conservation agreements with private landowners across the nation.
Senate border security talks grind on as Trump invokes Nazi-era 'blood' rhetoric against immigrants - By Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves Associated Press
Time slipping, White House and Senate negotiators struggled Sunday to reach a U.S. border security deal that would unlock President Joe Biden's request for billions of dollars worth of military aid for Ukraine and other national security needs before senators leave town for the holiday recess.
The Biden administration, which is becoming more deeply involved in the talks, is facing pressure from all sides over any deal. Negotiators insist they are making progress, but a hoped-for framework did not emerge. Republican leaders signaled that without bill text, an upcoming procedural would likely fail.
The talks come as Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner in 2024, delivered alarming anti-immigrant remarks about "blood" purity over the weekend, echoing Nazi slogans of World War II at a political rally.
"They're poisoning the blood of our country," Trump said about the record numbers of immigrants coming to the U.S. without immediate legal status.
Speaking in the early-voting state of New Hampshire, Trump, drew on words similar to Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kempf" as the former U.S. president berated Biden's team over the flow of migrants. "All over the world they're pouring into our country," Trump said.
Throughout the weekend, senators and top Biden officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have been working intently behind closed doors at the Capitol to strike a border deal, which Republicans in Congress are demanding in exchange for any help for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs. Mayorkas arrived for more talks late Sunday afternoon.
"Everyday we get closer, not farther away," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., as talks wrapped up in the evening.
Their holiday recess postponed, Murphy and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona independent, acknowledged the difficulty of drafting, and securing support, for deeply complicated legislation on an issue that has vexed Congress for years. Ahead of more talks Monday, it is becoming apparent any action is unlikely before year's end.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said senators don't want to be "jammed" by a last-minute compromise reached by negotiators.
"We're not anywhere close to a deal," Graham, whose staff has joined the talks, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Graham predicted the deliberations will go into next year. He was among 15 Republican senators who wrote to GOP leadership urging them to wait until the House returns Jan. 8 to discuss the issue.
Top GOP negotiator Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell also signaled in their own letter Sunday that talks still had a ways to go. Lankford said later that the January timeline was "realistic."
The Biden administration faces an increasingly difficult political situation as global migration is on a historic rise, and many migrants are fleeing persecution or leaving war-torn countries for the United States, with smugglers capitalizing on the situation.
The president is being berated daily by Republicans, led by Trump, as border crossings have risen to levels that make even some in Biden's own Democratic Party concerned.
But the Biden administration, in considering revival of Trump-like policies, is drawing outrage from Democrats and immigrant advocates who say the ideas would gut the U.S. asylum system and spark fears of deportations from immigrants already living in the U.S.
The White House's failure to fully engage Latino lawmakers in the talks until recently, or ensure a seat at the negotiating table, has led to a near revolt from leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
"It's unacceptable," said Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., chair of the Hispanic Caucus, on social media. "We represent border districts & immigrant communities that will be severely impacted by extreme changes to border policy."
Progressives in Congress are also warning the Biden administration off any severe policies that would bar immigrants a legal path to enter the country. "No backroom deal on the border without the involvement of the House, the House Hispanic Caucus, Latino senators is going to pass," said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Fox News.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, along with Mayorkas, heard from leading Latino lawmakers during a conference call with the Hispanic Caucus on Saturday afternoon.
The senators and the White House appear to be focused on ways to limit the numbers of migrants who are eligible for asylum at the border, primarily by toughening the requirements to qualify for their cases to go forward.
The talks have also focused removing some migrants who have already been living in the U.S. without full legal status, and on ways to temporarily close the U.S.-Mexico border to some crossings if they hit a certain metric, or threshold. Arrests of migrants have topped 10,000 on some days.
There has also been discussion about limiting existing programs that have allowed groups of arrivals from certain countries to temporarily enter the U.S. while they await proceedings about their claims. Decades ago, those programs welcomed Vietnamese arrivals and others, and have since been opened to Ukrainians, Afghans and a group that includes Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Haitians.
Meanwhile, Biden's massive $110 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other security needs is hanging in the balance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a dramatic, if disappointing, visit to Washington last week to plead with Congress and the White House for access to U.S. weaponry as his country fights against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion.
Many, but not all, Republicans have soured on helping Ukraine fight Russia, taking their cues from Trump. The former president praised Putin, quoting the Russian leader during Saturday's rally while slamming the multiple investigations against him as politically motivated — including the federal indictment against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election that resulted in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
Ukraine's ambassador to the United States said Sunday she believes in "Christmas miracles" and won't give up hope.
Of Biden's package, some $61 billion would go toward Ukraine, about half of the money for the U.S. Defense Department to buy and replenish tanks, artillery and other weaponry sent to the war effort.
"All the eyes are on Congress now," the envoy, Oksana Markarova, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"We can just only pray and hope that there will be resolve there, and that the deal that they will be able to reach will allow the fast decisions also on the support to Ukraine," she said.
The House already left for the holiday recess, but Republican Speaker Mike Johnson is being kept aware of the negotiations in the Senate.