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WED: Boebert looks to replace Haaland at Interior Department if Trump wins, + More

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, left, speaks with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland during Haaland’s visit to Grand Junction on July 23, 2021.
Sharon Sullivan
/
Colorado Newsline
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, left, speaks with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland during Haaland’s visit to Grand Junction on July 23, 2021.

Boebert looks to replace Haaland at Interior Department if Trump wins - By Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico

If U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) gets her way, she will be the next Interior Department secretary in another Donald Trump administration.

“I think Lauren Boebert needs to be the secretary of the Interior. President Trump, I would like to be secretary of the Interior,” she said on Native America Calling on Wednesday — the third day of the Republican National Convention.

She would replace Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna), who is the current leader for the department under President Joe Biden. Haaland was celebrated as the first Native American cabinet secretary, and she has ushered in more knowledge on issues affecting tribal governments.

Speculation on potential cabinet positions is early with the presidential election still a few months away.

Boebert has never publicly stated her interest in the job, her campaign confirmed, and the idea appeared to be spontaneous.

As Boebert walked by the Native America Calling radio show booth during its live broadcast Wednesday afternoon, she was quickly asked if she supports tribal sovereignty and her thoughts on the Interior Department’s policies.

Boebert said she would reverse Haaland-led efforts, like expanding Bears Ears National Monument, and she spoke in favor of expanding coal and “drilling” projects.

The U.S. Department of the Interior is responsible for managing public lands, mineral rights and all programs that meet the U.S. Trust obligation to Native American tribes for things like health care, schools and economic development.

Boebert said she supports tribal sovereignty. And she wants to move Bureau of Land Management offices out of Washington, D.C., and into other states, a fight that would continue where the last GOP Interior secretary, William Perry Pendley, left off.

She did not directly address any type of support for tribal nations that would want to work on land conservation projects or environmental protections measures. Instead she tried to argue that “drilling” on tribal lands is a means of environmental land management for tribes.

“I believe that that is a cleaner way to take care of the environment and extract those resources that we have been blessed with to use what’s given to us by the earth to produce this energy in a clean and efficient way, rather than just covering it up with solar panels and wind turbines.”

When she was asked about the Antiquities Act, an executive action that created the expansion of Bears Ears and other national monuments, she said “Ugh, the Antiquities Act, nope.”

“There’s been a lot of things through the Antiquities Act where we have had land grabs by the federal government. I do not want any land grabs. I do not want more wilderness areas. I don’t want these, these areas where we are unable to actually manage the land,” Boebert said.

The message goes directly to Boebert’s consistent position on energy exploration in the West, something that also aligns with Trump policies in his first term.

Boebert’s family has had financial ties to the oil and gas industry, according to reports during her first term in Congress. She has one of the lowest-rated records on the environment. Recently she blasted a new BLM rule meant to promote conservation as a “misguided land grab meant to prevent oil and gas production at a time when sky-high gas prices and inflation are looting the pocketbooks of the American people.”

“I am pro fossil fuels, oil and gas, and I especially want to explore nuclear,” she said during the interview. “But I think that our tribal lands are impacted severely when we are shutting down our coal-fired energy plants.”

This story is part of a collaboration between Koahnic Broadcasting, ICTNews.org and States Newsroom covering the Republican National Convention in 2024 with a focus on Native America.

Movie armorer seeks dismissal of her conviction or new trial in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin - By Morgan Lee Associated Press

A movie armorer has asked a judge to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin, alleging suppression of evidence and misconduct by the prosecution.

In a court filing Tuesday, defense counsel for armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed argued her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer last week brought Baldwin's trial to a sudden and stunning end based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."

"This court stated on July 12 that the integrity of the judicial system demanded that the court dismiss Mr. Baldwin's case with prejudice," said defense attorney Jason Bowles in the new court filing. "How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed's case, with this proven litany of serious discovery abuses?"

Kari Morrissey — lead prosecutor in both the Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed cases — said her written response would be filed in court next week, declining further comment.

The case-ending evidence at Baldwin's trial was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged they "buried" it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Judge Marlowe Sommer, who later assigned the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal pending in a higher court on the involuntary manslaughter conviction.

Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of "Rust," where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the "Rust" investigation. She also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited.

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for "Rust," was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Jon Jones fights charges stemming from alleged hostility during a drug test at his home - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a pair of misdemeanor charges stemming from a drug test at his New Mexico home in which he was accused of being hostile.

Jones appeared seated next to his attorney as the pleas were entered on his behalf during a virtual hearing. An Albuquerque judge granted the attorney's request that Jones remain free pending trial on charges of assault and interference with communication in connection with the March testing session.

Jones has vowed to fight the charges. When the allegations first became public, he called them baseless, posting on social media that he had been taken off guard by what he called the unprofessionalism of one of the testers and acknowledged cursing after getting frustrated.

"However, I want to emphasize that at no point did I threaten, get in anyone's face, raise my voice to anyone or engage in any form of assault," Jones said in a social media post.

Considered one of the top MMA fighters, Jones took the heavyweight title more than a year ago with a first-round submission over Ciryl Gane. It was Jones' first fight in three years and his first in the heavyweight division. He already was the best light heavyweight by winning a record 14 title fights.

Jones was suspended for a year in 2016 for a failed drug test and had his 2017 victory over Daniel Cormier turned into a no-contest after another drug test came up positive. Jones argued later that he would have passed under standards that were revised in 2019 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which changed the criteria for what constituted a positive test.

A woman who worked for Drug Free Sport International, which conducts tests for professional athletes, initially filed a report with police in April. She accused Jones of threatening her, taking her phone and cursing at her while she and a colleague were at Jones' home for a drug test.

A criminal complaint states that the woman described Jones as cooperative at first but that he became agitated.

Jones told police that he thought it was his phone that he picked up and that he apologized for swearing at the woman and her co-worker at the end of the test. He posted video from what appears to be a home camera system showing the woman giving him a high-five before leaving. He said neither appeared scared during the interaction.

‘Animosity building up’: Ruidoso mayor seeks more details about South Fork Fire investigation - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico 

Two weeks after a team of investigators issued a brief announcement that a lightning strike ignited the deadly South Fork Fire, calls for a fuller explanation are growing from local officials and members of the public.

Both Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford and Lincoln County Sheriff Michael Wood have, in recent days, called on the Bureau of Indian Affairs to release a report detailing findings from a multi-agency investigation into the fire’s cause.

Crawford, in an interview Tuesday with Source New Mexico, said he doesn’t think investigators are necessarily lying or covering anything up. But the lack of detailed information has meant rumors are circulating wildly, along with unfounded accusations directed at the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where the fires began, he said.

“If it is truly a lightning strike, an act of God, and they have satellite imagery, then we need to show the people,” Crawford said Tuesday. “So that there’s not speculation.”

Wood’s office posted on Facebook on July 11 that the sheriff had made a “formal request” to “personally review” the investigative reports into the fire origin. The sheriff did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls from Source NM about why he sought the report findings.

Both fires began June 17 on the northeast corner of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, and high winds and dry conditions carried both fires through the Village of Ruidoso and toward nearby Ruidoso Downs, causing thousands to flee their homes.

Both fires are now defeated, thanks to hundreds of firefighters and early monsoon rains, but the blazes destroyed or damaged at least 1,400 homes, killed two people and burned through an area of more than 30 square miles. The rains also caused additional havoc, creating floods on burn-scarred soil that have stranded drivers, destroyed bridges and swept away homes.

On July 3, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced that the South Fork Fire’s cause was a lightning strike, but provided no additional details of when the strike occurred and where. The same announcement said that an investigation was ongoing into the cause of the Salt Fire, and that the FBI was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the “person or persons responsible for starting the Salt Fire.”

Robyn Broyles, a spokesperson for the BIA, told Source NM that a report will be released with more information about the South Fork Fire investigation, but she would only say that it would be released “as soon as possible.”

The lightning report takes some time to compile, she said Tuesday, because it brings together Light Detection and Ranging data, known as LiDAR, along with lightning data and other sources of information, including field reports.

She did, however, confirm that the lightning strike investigators believe sparked the South Fork Fire occurred prior to June 17 and then “smoldered until very windy conditions spread the fire.” She declined to say, even approximately, when and where that lightning strike occurred that provided the spark for what became the 17,500-acre fire.

Broyles acknowledged in a brief phone interview that her office has heard much speculation and distrust about the fires’ cause from those still reeling from the fires and floods. She urged them to be patient, and stressed that, just because there were clear, blue skies the days the fire began, that doesn’t mean a lightning strike isn’t to blame.

“These are questions the community is asking. They are valid questions. We don’t have anything to hide,” she said. “People are not fire ecologists. They don’t know how a fire could start without lightning” the day the fire takes off.

Lightning data provided to Source NM by Vaisala Xweather, a firm that does lightning analyses for the National Weather Service, shows the last lightning strikes in the area of the South Fork Fire start occurred June 7, 10 days before the fire began. The closest strike was 1.03 miles from the fire’s ignition site listed in official reports.

Crawford said he’s asked repeatedly for additional proof of lightning being the cause since July 3. He hopes to present all of the findings at a town hall meeting for transparency’s sake and to quell rumors. Without more details, his constituents are increasingly angry about the devastating fire and are more inclined to pin the blame on somebody without evidence.

“There’s animosity building up,” he said. “And it doesn’t have to be.”

Adding to the vacuum is the disappearance of public dispatch records that provided details about a cluster of small fire starts that occurred around the same time and area of the Salt and South Fork ignition sites.

A Source NM review of Alamogordo Interagency Dispatch records for a story June 20 showed four additional confirmed fire starts discovered between June 16 and 18. All of the fires were between a tenth and a quarter of an acre in size. Those records no longer appear in the dispatch logs.

Those dispatch records were removed as part of ongoing investigations into the causes of those fires, Broyles said. Those investigations had not been previously announced.

Broyles said it is standard practice to remove those records from public view when an investigation commences.

The fires “are part of ongoing wildfire investigations,” Broyles said. “Information was removed from website publication as part of the investigations.”

The removal of those records, Crawford said, just adds to the haze of uncertainty.

“That’s what the public wants to know,” he said. “We knew all this before, and then all that’s just evaporated.”

Speculation and rumors about the fires’ causes started soon after the evacuations were announced, including unfounded arson rumors circulated by some elected officials and candidates.

Adding to the speculation were official incident reports approved by incident command that listed, for several days for each fire, the cause of the blazes as “human.” The BIA later told Source NM that the cause listed as “human” was an error resulting from a glitch that automatically converted text in that field entered as “undetermined” to “human.”

The day after Source NM’s story about the error, the records changed and listed the causes of both fires as “undetermined.” Following the July 3 announcement, the South Fork Fire cause was listed as “natural” in subsequent reports.

Crawford said the Forest Service and other agencies have sent “mixed messages” that are fueling confusion and rumor-mongering, including the single, brief announcement July 3 that deemed lightning as the cause of the South Fork Fire but also offered an FBI reward for information leading to an arrest on the Salt Fire.

The July 3 announcement said that a team of wildland fire investigators and law enforcement officers were involved in the investigation, including those the BIA, FBI, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with state and tribal officials. The BIA is the lead agency. 

APS board to discuss possible changes to strategic plan - Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ 

This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ

Gabriella Durán Blakey’s first official meeting as superintendent could include revisions to some of Albuquerque Public Schools’ short-term performance metrics.

The APS board will discuss its goals, and strategies for achieving them, at the regular meeting and possibly change the schedule for monitoring progress toward them.

The goals and “guardrails” come from the district’s Emerging Stronger strategic plan. It identifies as goals improving early literacy, math proficiency, post-secondary readiness and skills, habits and mindset for life success.

The agenda includes interim goals, which document APS’ progress toward the overall goals to be achieved by 2028. District administrators have presented updates to the board regularly, providing information on whether APS was on track to reach each goal.

The board will also evaluate the way it is spending time and its performance in maintaining a student-outcomes focused governance model.

The rest of the meeting will consist of approving grant applications and policy updates and completing administrative functions.

The board is meeting for the first time since June 5, as its next two meetings were canceled due to the Juneteenth and Fourth of July holidays.

Blakey officially took over as district superintendent July 1. She had been acting superintendent since March, with Superintendent Scott Elder taking less of a hands-on role pending his retirement.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

WHEN: 5 p.m. July 17
WHERE: John Milne Community Board Room at district headquarters, 6400 Uptown Blvd.
VIRTUAL: The APS board’s YouTube channel

June was wetter than usual, but drought is likely to persist - By Nash Jones, KUNM News  

June in New Mexico was significantly wetter than usual, according to a federal drought status update released Tuesday. While the extra moisture provided some short-term drought relief, the National Integrated Drought Information System predicts a drier end to the monsoon season.

New Mexico saw double the amount of precipitation it normally does in June, according to the update. Federal drought officials say that’s thanks to this year’s North American Monsoon getting a boost from Tropical Storm Alberto in the Gulf of Mexico.

New Mexico wasn’t alone, either. Parts of Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada also had a wet month, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – or NOAA — reports will improve, but not likely eliminate drought in the region.

That’s because forecasters are predicting a “mediocre end to the monsoon season,” according to the update. While July may stay at – or even above average for all but eastern New Mexico, NOAA’s three-month forecast shows drier and hotter conditions through September, especially in the Four Corners and areas south of there. That will likely increase drought again where it had been dampened.

With a 70% chance of La Niña emerging from August to October, NOAA officials say drought could build up even more throughout the fall and winter.

Top NM officials and Federal administrators meet to celebrate new venture funded by CHIPS act Daniel Montaño, KUNM News

Some of New Mexico’s top politicians met Monday with representatives from Washington to highlight a $24 million investment from the Chips and Science act that will progress the state’s position as an advanced manufacturing hub and create more than 100 high paying jobs.

U.S. Senators Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich, Representative Melanie Stansbury, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller met with Don Graves, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and Ryan Harper, the White House CHIPS Coordinator at SolAero by Rocket Lab to discuss the multi-million dollar investment.

The company will use the funding to expand production of semiconductors used by satellites and spacecraft. Specifically, the semiconductors are used in space-grade solar cells to convert light into energy that powers the devices.

In addition to the money from the CHIPS act, the state will provide more than $25 million dollars in financial assistance and tax incentives.

This is the second of ten awards from the CHIPS Act to come to New Mexico.

The first was an $8.5 billion dollar investment in Intel, which will use some of its award to upgrade two semiconductor production facilities into advanced packaging facilities at its Rio Rancho plant.