WED: How Mayor Keller's proposed budget stacks up against last year’s, + More

How does the mayor’s proposed budget stack up against last year’s? - By Damon Scott, Carolyn Carlson and Elise Kaplan, City Desk ABQ 

This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller’s administration released a $1.4 billion proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 on Tuesday. The 2.3% increase overlast fiscal year focuses on big picture categories like public safety, housing, homelessness, behavioral health, jobs, the economy and more.

The city said in a news release that the budget takes into consideration post-pandemic recovery, inflationary pressures, the phasing-out of food and medical hold harmless payments and future revenue projections.

“We are focused on continuing to invest in public safety, and fully supporting our frontline workers and the programs and services they provide to help address our city’s challenges,” Keller said in a statement. “We’re implementing creative solutions to address homelessness and housing insecurity, and strengthening our neighborhoods to make our city better for all of our families.”

The city said a $5 million funding balance and 12% in reserves is similar to fiscal year 2024 and “ensures flexibility as we head into a tight economic year.

“The budget includes commitments to rank and file wage increases based on the city’s current collective bargaining agreements, as well as the millions in recurring funding added in the prior fiscal year to address pay equity,” the release said.

It said adjustments to planning, permitting and licensing fees are the first in more than 15 years and will allow for needed staffing.

“Golf course green fees, pool fees, and BioPark fee adjustments will help cover the inflation of expenses for maintaining these quality of life amenities,” the release said.

Advancing Public Safety

Key Investments in Jobs, Sustainability, and Quality of Life

Homelessness, Housing, and Behavioral Health

 
$4 million in federal funding awarded to Bernalillo County to reconstruct Atrisco Vista Boulevard- Jeanette DeDios, KUNM News

Bernalillo County has been awarded $4 million in federal funding to support the reconstruction of Atrisco Vista Boulevard from Double Eagle Road to Paseo Del Norte Boulevard.

Representative Gabe Vasquez and Senator Martin Heinrich led the request for the Community Project Funding which was included in the final funding bill for fiscal year 2024.

Bernalillo County is close to completing their design phase of the reconstruction project, according to a press release. The section will be reconstructed to realign the roadway that needs to be brought up to date. Improvements will also include an additional two driving lanes, a bike lane and a multi-use trail.

Representative Vasquez says that the funding will not only bring 13,000 jobs but also improve public safety and infrastructure.

Bernalillo County leaders hope the improvements will allow further economic activity, including the planned I-40 TradePort Corridor, which will be the first-of-its-kind trade port meant to simplify supply chain and ease backup goods from shipping ports to inland cities.

Stansbury hosts roundtable discussion about federal funding, energy transition efforts - By Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report

Small entities and communities need help to access federal grants. They may not have the resources to go after federal grants or even know what funding opportunities are available.

That was among the messages that a group of advocates, state officials and academics told U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, during a roundtable discussion on Tuesday in Albuquerque.

During the discussion, Stansbury asked the participants what the federal government could do better to support New Mexico’s transition to cleaner energy sources and she asked the participants about the challenges that they are facing in accessing funding.

Federal funding for projects aimed at combating climate change is available through various pieces of legislation including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

But various grants require different types of applications and participants expressed interest in making it easier for organizations and communities to apply for funding by making applications that have more elements in common. During the roundtable discussion, this was referred to as a base application. Participants said it might make it easier for entities to apply for funding from programs that are less familiar to them.

The challenges with accessing funding are especially pronounced in rural areas and tribal communities, including on the Navajo Nation where there is less access to information due to lack of broadband infrastructure and where language can prove a bigger barrier especially for older people.

Wendy Atcitty, a Diné activist who has been involved in energy transition efforts in the Farmington area, said that during an Energy Transition Act Committee meeting community organizations who had submitted proposals for state ETA funding were told that they may need to look for federal funding opportunities.

However, this posed a challenge.

“We reached out to consultants that made a nice, pretty page of all these resources to go down the bullet line list with, but it didn’t mean nothing when you put it in the hands of the community people, because it was just like, what more stuff do we have to get through,” she said.

Eventually, Atcitty said there a council delegate organized a workshop that brought together federal agencies, Navajo Nation officials and grassroots organizations to learn about funding opportunities. That workshop was then followed with a second workshop a few months later.

“At the end, we have at least, I would say, a handful of successful community projects that were able to get support from the tribal government,” she said. “But the thing is, it took a process and actually took people to visit their community to see on the ground what we have to work with.”

Atcitty highlighted some of the challenges including lack of cell service and roads that can become impassable during certain weather conditions.

But, she said, it isn’t enough to simply schedule a workshop.

Extra efforts should be made to let people know about the workshop. Atcitty said one thing that made the three-day event a success was that it was advertised in each of the Navajo agencies, or regions.

The participants also stressed the need for technical support such as grant writing and Stansbury said there is funding available for organizations to offer technical assistance. She gave the example of a $3 million grant that the University of New Mexico’s school of engineering received to provide technical assistance for water projects.

Camilla Feibelman, executive director of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, said one thing that her organization would like to see from the federal government is making sure the projects that receive funding are science-backed proposals. She criticized funding for hydrogen and carbon capture projects.

“I just worry that in our rush to find climate solutions, we’re kind of willing to take anything,” she said. “So I feel like it would be helpful…to really make sure that the projects that are ultimately funded, have a real chance of reducing our climate emissions.”

Another topic that the participants discussed was intersectionality and how an effort to address affordable housing might overlap with efforts to combat climate change. Stansbury spoke about the history of the electric grid and how anti-poverty programs led to expanded infrastructure.

She said the energy transition will require a similar type of community-centered effort.

Lawsuit accuses former Boys & Girls Club of Santa Fe employee of child sexual abuse – Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News

A woman has filed a civil lawsuit against the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Fe and its parent organization, alleging a former employee there sexually abused her as a child.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reportsthe complaint does not name the accuser, who is now 19. She was 6-8 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit.

It also doesn’t list the name of the music teacher accused of the abuse during a summer program more than a decade ago, because his identity is unknown. According to the suit, the accuser plans to learn his name through the legal process.

The national Boys & Girls Club and the local chapter are being accused of negligence that enabled the abuse, including a “lack of supervision and proper employee vetting protocols.”

Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe Executive Director Sarah Gettler declined to comment on the allegations to the New Mexican.

Balloon Fiesta announces free admission day for New Mexico residents – KUNM News

The Balloon Fiesta board announced Wednesday that New Mexico residents will be able to attend one day of the annual Fiesta for free.

On Monday, October 7, New Mexicans can arrive at the event and go to a ticket booth with a photo ID with a New Mexico address or a utility bill, to receive their ticket.

Board president Judy Nakamura said in a statement that the fiesta is, "so appreciative" of the support the event receives throughout the state, and that allowing residents in for free for a day is a way of saying thank you.

There is, however, still a $20 charge for parking.

Avian flu confirmed in NM dairy cows in two Curry County herds - Danielle Prokop and Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico 

For days, federal officials have said some New Mexico dairy cows were sick with bird flu.

On Tuesday, the state’s top veterinarian said that cows from two separate herds have been confirmed positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza and another herd has “presumptive positives,” meaning suspected positive cases.

All of the known cases are in Curry County.

“We don’t have an actual count of the cows individually,” said New Mexico State Veterinarian Samantha Uhrig. “We have a number of herds that have been confirmed.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday that one New Mexican dairy had confirmed cases of avian influenza, along with five more dairies in Texas.

Also, a Texas dairy worker tested positive Monday for avian influenza A(H5N1) after being in contact with infected cows. The symptom he showed was conjunctivitis or reddened eyes. It’s the second case recorded in the U.S., according to health officials.

The Texas Health Department issued an update Tuesday, finding that three cats on the dairy farms in Texas also tested positive for HPAI.

In statements, federal health officials have emphasized that most of the public is at low risk for contracting avian influenza, but people in contact with birds and livestock are at higher risk.

In a statement, officials said the New Mexico Department of Health is managing the diagnosis, treatment and prevention efforts.

The department is using local public health offices to test dairy workers who are showing symptoms, said spokesperson David Barre. Any confirmed or probable cases will be monitored, and treated with a generic antiviral Oseltamivir, an alternative to Tamiflu.

“To date, there are no laboratory-confirmed human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) in New Mexico,” the statement stated.

WHO’S IN CHARGE?

The New Mexico Department of Health said the New Mexico Board of Livestock is the lead agency in the state’s response on avian flu. Their website can be found here.

The department is providing personal protective equipment, such as N-95 masks and face shields to dairies, Barre said.

Uhrig said workers in contact with infected cows should use gloves, eye protection and masks.

Several other New Mexico dairy herds are undergoing tests after some cows appeared sick, Uhrig said Tuesday. This includes collecting nose swabs, and samples of blood, fecal matter and milk.

First, those are tested at state laboratories. Any positive samples are sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, operated by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at the USDA.

The federal labs can issue a “presumptive positive generally in a day or two,” Uhrig said, but the confirmed positive results will be delayed for several days up to a week.

“At this point, because it’s an emerging disease, they are doing whole-genome sequencing to actually confirm any positive, and that does take a longer period of time,” she said.

A USDA spokesperson declined to make anyone from the agency available for an interview, and referred Source NM to news releases.

WHAT IS AVIAN INFLUENZA?

This family of viruses usually only affects wild and domestic birds. Normally, these diseases do not spread to people or other animals, except when they come into direct contact with sick birds and carcasses.

The virus is shed through bird’s mucus, feces and saliva, so coming into direct contact, or touching a contaminated item, could pass the virus to people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The viruses can “spill” from domestic birds, into wild bird populations, and then into other animal species. Infectious disease researchers said the viruses’ ability to adapt to different hosts and change its genetic code increases its pandemic potential.

In 2009, the H1N1 variant (nicknamed the “swine flu”) was a new combination of genes from influenza viruses that infected pigs, people and birds. It infected 20% of the global population.

Since early 2022, an outbreak of the (H5N1) variant of avian influenza has killed more than 50 million birds across the U.S. Their deaths drove up egg and poultry prices. Only two people were recorded with infections, one person in the U.S. and the other in the United Kingdom.

Last November, a backyard flock in New Mexico’s San Juan County was confirmed to have contracted avian flu, killing 13 of 14 birds. Uhrig said that incident remained isolated.

“At this time, we have not had any other detections,” she said.

Judge sides with conservative group in its push to access, publish voter rolls online - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press

New Mexico election officials violated public disclosure provisions of the National Voter Registration Act by refusing to provide voter rolls to a conservative group and its public online database, a federal judge has ruled.

The opinion and order Friday from Albuquerque-based U.S. District Court Judge James Browning mostly sided with the Voter Reference Foundation and its efforts to expand a free database of registered voters so that groups and individuals can take it upon themselves to try to find potential irregularities or fraud.

Election officials in several states and privacy advocates have raised alarms about a push by several conservative groups to gain access to state voter rolls, saying the lists could find their way into the hands of malicious actors and that voters could be disenfranchised through intimidation, possibly by canceling their registrations to avoid public disclosure of their home addresses and party affiliation.

New Mexico election law bans the publication of voter registration data. It restricts the use of the data to political campaigning and noncommercial government purposes. But Browning ruled that system "severely burdens the circulation of voter data among the public" and violates federal disclosure requirements.

"The data sharing ban largely deprives individuals and entities of the ability to engage with disclosed records in such a way that facilitates identification of voter registration-related irregularities," Browning wrote.

His ruling builds on a federal appeals court ruling in February that Maine must release its voter list to another conservative-backed group, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, that's conducting independent audits by comparing voter rolls in one state against those in another.

The Voter Reference Foundation's VoteRef.com database so far includes information from 32 states and the District of Columbia. It is run by Gina Swoboda, an organizer of former President Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign in Arizona who was chosen in January as chair of the Arizona Republican Party.

"We are very gratified that the court has upheld the right of the public to have meaningful access to vote rolls," Swoboda said in a statement by email. "The intent of the public disclosure provision of the National Voter Registration Act is clear: namely, to allow the public to view the voter lists and associated list maintenance records to ensure proper voter list maintenance is being conducted. With this opinion the citizens of New Mexico can be assured of transparency in this key part of our elections process."

Swoboda did not say how soon New Mexico voter list might be posted online. The foundation obtained New Mexico voter rolls through a vendor and first posted the records online in 2021, leading to a referral for potential prosecution. The foundation took the information offline and sued.

The New Mexico secretary of state's office will appeal the order, said agency spokesman Alex Curtas.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, "will continue to do everything in her power to advocate for the protection of voters' personal information and ultimately encourage voter participation," Curtas said in an email.

Curtas praised portions of the judge's order that dismissed the foundation's allegations that New Mexico engaged in free speech violations under its restrictions on the use of voter information.

Baseless claims of widespread voter fraud largely fueled by Trump's insistence the 2020 presidential election was stolen are part of what's driving conservative groups' efforts to obtain the voter rolls, leading to lawsuits seeking voter registration data in several states, including Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records has refused to hand over voter information to the Voter Reference Foundation, saying that publishing it would put every registered voter at greater risk of identity theft or misuse of their information.

Pennsylvania officials prevailed in state court, and the foundation in February sued in federal court to obtain the voter rolls, citing provisions of the National Voter Registration Act.

John Davisson, director of litigation at the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the federal rulings in New Mexico and Maine preserve state voter confidentiality programs for assault and stalking victims that conceal home addresses but otherwise would "essentially eliminate" state discretion on the release of voter lists.

"States have until now adopted confidentiality safeguards around voter data that vary in their details," he said. "This is really cutting that all away and saying you can't place those kinds of restricts on data disclosure."

Be aware of Spring kittens! - Mia Casas, KUNM News

With the Spring upon us, you may see an uptick in neighborhood kittens. The Animal Welfare Department is asking for your help in keeping these little ones safe.

In an announcement today, Albuquerque Animal Welfare asked that you don’t panic when you see stray kitties near your home. They say to observe from afar initially, and don’t spring to action just yet.

If their mother does not appear, sprinkle flour around, NOT ON, the little guys. Check back in a couple of hours. If you see paw prints in the flour, that means momma has been there!

She may be away looking for food or a new home for her babies, and can’t take them all at once.

If mom is not around after some time, you can help save these kitties by fostering them. This could not only help them, but prevent your local shelter from reaching capacity.

If you can’t foster, call 311 to make an appointment to bring the little guys to a shelter.

Not in the path of totality? You can still watch Monday's total solar eclipse online - Associated Press

If you're nowhere near the path of totality or if clouds spoil your view, you can still catch the total solar eclipse online.

Weather permitting, tens of millions who live along a narrow stretch from Mexico's Pacific coast to eastern Canada can just look skyward Monday to glimpse day turn to twilight when the moon blots out the sun.

Eclipse glasses are a must to prevent eye damage. The only time it's safe to ditch protective glasses is during totality, or the few minutes of complete darkness.

Here are some alternatives if you're clouded out during the eclipse or if you can't travel to the path:

NASA goes live from different eclipse cities

NASA is offering several hours of streaming online and on NASA TV starting at 1 p.m. EDT from several cities along the totality path. The space agency will show telescope views of the sun and there will be appearances by scientists and space station astronauts. During the eclipse, small rockets will blast off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with science instruments into the electrically charged portion of the atmosphere near the edge of space known as the ionosphere.

AP hosts live show from totality path

Associated Press journalists will fan out along the path of totality to bring live coverage of watch parties and festivities. The AP livestream will start at 10 a.m. EDT with views from Mazatlán, Mexico, and other locations. Commentary will run from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT featuring interviews with organizers, scientists and live views from along the path.

Telescopes and experiments focus on the sun

The Exploratorium museum will feature live telescope images of the sun from Junction, Texas, and Torreón, Mexico. Researchers and students from the University of Maine will launch high-altitude balloons in an experiment that will be livestreamed from the stratosphere. Time and Date will show the sun from different telescope feeds. Slooh will broadcast from Texas and will have a network of partner telescopes along the path.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.