Mark Ronchetti awarded hundreds of thousands for leaked campaign website - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
When Mark Ronchetti ran for governor in 2022, his announcement got away from him thanks to his campaign website getting published before it was meant to. Ronchetti, who lost to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, sued the media firm that built and leaked the site, and has now been awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Go Big Media Inc. published Ronchetti’s campaign site before he’d put in his notice at KRQE, where he was a TV weatherman. As a result, he suddenly lost his job, had to pay $40,000 to break his contract, and had his future prospects in TV media damaged, according to his lawsuit.
While District Judge Lisa Chavez Ortega did not rule that the leak was intentional, she did order Go Big Media to pay Ronchetti more than $386,000 in damages, calling it “incomprehensible and inexcusable” for the company to be “ignorant of the requirements to maintain the confidentiality and security of individual pages of a campaign website.”
The company called the leak “an honest mistake” on behalf of a single employee. While the main pages of the site were password protected, the company says the employee “mistakenly failed to provide password protection to an internal page.”
It wasn’t the first time the company leaked a Ronchetti campaign site, either. It also prematurely published the site for his 2020 Senate campaign, though with fewer repercussions.
Suspect in Santa Fe carjacking murder arrested in Las Cruces - Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
The suspect in the murder of an elderly Santa Fe resident during a carjacking last week has been arrested in southern New Mexico and faces extradition to the capital city.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Las Cruces police arrested Zachary Babitz Saturday night following reports of an armed robbery and carjacking in that city. Babitz has been charged with first-degree murder and robbery in connection with the Santa Fe incident.
Santa Fe police Capt. Thomas Grundler announced yesterday/Sunday that Babitz will be extradited to Santa Fe “to answer for Gordon Wilson’s murder.”
Wilson, an 83-year-old retiree, was shot and killed after getting out of his car in the Best Buy parking lot. The homicide was only the city’s second this year.
When Babitz will be sent to Santa Fe depends on any charges he faces in Las Cruces, where he’s accused of robbing an Arby’s employee at gunpoint, stealing a car, and fleeing on foot after crashing it a few miles away.
Between Santa Fe and Las Cruces, police tracked Babbit to Albuquerque, according to an affidavit. The friend he stayed with told police Babbit said he’d shot someone in Santa Fe who had tried to grab his gun.
Working AC and a roof that doesn’t leak: City takes steps to improve, rebrand ‘deplorable’ Westside shelter - Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ
Amid ongoing criticism of the facility’s conditions, Mayor Tim Keller and city officials showed off new renovations at the Westside Emergency Housing Center (WEHC) on Thursday and used the occasion to rebrand it — Gateway West.
The upgrades are welcome news for the city, as the sprawling homeless shelter had been a target of substantial critiques for its jail-like atmosphere and deteriorating and subpar conditions — including bug infestations, roof leaks and faulty air conditioning.
The criticisms have not only been voiced by residents and advocates for the unhoused, but by city officials, too. The hope now is that improving conditions will blunt recent comments that the facility is “deplorable” and “horrific, disgusting and triggering.”
The city is also on the hunt for someone to operate the facility — a task that so far has not gone smoothly.
The new name connects a bridge to the city’s Gateway Center at Gibson Health Hub in the Southeast Heights — Keller’s flagship project that’s intended to provide a variety of services to those experiencing homelessness. Officials said another reason to use Gateway West instead of the WEHC, is that they no longer consider it an emergency housing center, but rather a “resource open year-round to connect the most vulnerable in our community to hope, healing and housing.”
“We know this shelter is not perfect, but instead of complaining about it, we’re improving it to better serve the hundreds of people who stay here every night,” Keller said. “We’re turning Gateway West into a place of hope that will be fitting of the name Gateway, to connect folks to the help they need.”
Three of 12 dorms and a kitchen have been renovated thus far for the scores of people who stay there — its capacity is about 660. Upgrades to seven more dorms are scheduled to be completed by the end of October.
‘GAME CHANGER’
The center got a funding boost earlier this year, when the City Council approved the sale of millions of dollars in gross receipt tax improvement revenue bonds. About $4.5 million was dedicated to the facility. The city’s homeless innovations officer, Maria Wolfe, said at the time that the funding was a “game changer.”
Approximately $6 million will be spent on Gateway West, officials said.
Improvements to the dorms include new floors, paint and LED lighting, and updates to bathrooms, showers and the aforementioned kitchen. The city has also acquired new beds in recent months that have a lockable storage feature.
About $1.7 million in exterior improvements are expected to begin after dorm renovations are completed. Those upgrades include new walkways and sidewalk ramps, shade structures, pet areas, outdoor furniture, storage, portable spaces for service providers, paving and improved accessibility for those with disabilities.
The WEHC has also been criticized for the lack of wraparound services available at the site, a situation that is particularly frustrating for critics due to its remote location from areas of the city that do provide services. Currently, residents have shuttle access available between the WEHC and Downtown and International District drop off points, as well as meals and limited medical services.
Officials said Thursday that Gateway West is providing case management for those 60 and older at the site and would soon offer it to all residents.
STILL NO OPERATOR
Meanwhile, the city has struggled to find an organization to run the site and provide services. The search for a new operator and service provider began earlier this year after Albuquerque Heading Home opted not to apply for another three-year contract to operate the facility.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, one councilor asked Health, Housing & Homelessness director Gilbert Ramírez if there was any progress on securing an operator.
“Our [request for proposals] that we put out in March didn’t go well,” City Councilor Nichole Rogers said. “Can you tell me where we are with the operations of the Westside shelter? Where are we at with that contract?”
Ramírez replied that there had been “no viable responses” to the RFP so far, and that HHH was in final negotiations to execute an emergency contract with Albuquerque Heading Home to continue its operations — in order to avoid “gaps in service” at the WEHC.
About a third of New Mexico counties characterized as ‘maternity care deserts’ - Leah Romero, Source New Mexico
New Mexicans are facing a lack of health care workers and difficulty accessing medical care, including maternity care.
According to the University of New Mexico’s College of Population Health, 33% of counties in the state are considered “OB deserts,” where there is little to no access to obstetric care providers.
For one single mother in Las Vegas, this means traveling several hours at a time for doctor appointments for herself as well as her newborn baby.
“It’s rough having kids out here in Vegas. My doctor had to help schedule out all my visits for my pregnancy so I could schedule time off,” she told a member of the College of Population Health.
She also had to find child care for her other children while she took care of her medical appointments.
Alta Vista Regional Hospital in Las Vegas closed its labor and delivery unit in 2022 due to a lack of care providers.
According to a 2023 report conducted by the March of Dimes in New Mexico, women living in counties with the highest travel times drove up to an average of 97.1 miles to the nearest birthing hospital. About 18% of New Mexicans do not have a birthing hospital within 30 minutes of their homes, which is above the national rate of almost 10% of people.
“The scarcity of OB care stems from various factors, including the geographic size of New Mexico, the challenging work schedules of health care providers, and the need for infrastructure development,” according to the university’s population health college. “In rural areas, professional isolation and limited health care development further exacerbate the problem.”
Lack of prenatal care can lead to pregnancy complications, birth complications for mother and baby and even death.
The New Mexico Maternal Mortality Review Committee reported to state lawmakers in late 2023 that maternal deaths in the state continue to be largely preventable and at a rate much higher than national numbers.
The March of Dimes report suggested states like New Mexico expand Medicaid coverage, further implement a midwifery model of care, establish reimbursement for doula care and increase telehealth availability throughout the state to include a wider range of specialties.
The report pointed to a program currently in operation in the northeastern part of the state called the New Mexico Rural Obstetric Access & Maternal Service. The program connects northern New Mexicans to providers virtually for prenatal care and postnatal support.
However, broadband access is a problem in many rural communities in the state, which the UNM department noted can delay the adoption of such technology.
Internal affairs cmdr. tied to DWI probe was fired for being ‘untruthful’ - By Elise Kaplan, City Desk ABQ
The highest ranking officer under internal investigation regarding the Albuquerque Police Department’s DWI unit — and the one-time head of the division that routinely conducts such investigations — was untruthful, did not cooperate with an investigation and shared confidential information, according to a misconduct report filed with the Department of Public Safety.
Cmdr. Mark Landavazo in the Internal Affairs Division was fired last week after he was found to have violated three policies, according to an APD spokesperson. He had been on administrative leave since Feb. 13 while under internal investigation related to allegations that DWI officers were working with a local attorney to make cases go away.
John D’Amato, an attorney for the police union, said Landavazo has not gotten the misconduct report — called an LEA-90 — but he intends to ask for a suspension of his law enforcement certification instead of revocation. The Law Enforcement Certification Board will make the determination.
APD’s internal investigation was launched after news broke that the FBI was investigating five officers — Harvey Johnson, Joshua Montaño, Honorio Alba, Nelson Ortiz and Justin Hunt.
No one has been charged in the federal investigation. But all five of those officers — plus Daren DeAguero and Neill Elsman — have resigned. Two other officers are still under internal investigation.
Although Landavazo was part of the DWI unit from December 2008 to December 2013, the internal investigation into him seems to center more on his conduct in the Internal Affairs Division after he received an FBI referral regarding allegations against other officers in June 2022.
Landavazo was the first officer the FBI notified when the agency received a tip that Attorney Thomas Clear III and his paralegal Rick Mendez told a young man who had been arrested for driving while intoxicated that he could pay them $10,000 to guarantee the charges go away. The FBI referral included the information that Montaño had taken the man’s driver’s license and he got it back from Clear and Mendez.
According to emails obtained by City Desk ABQ, Landavazo told the FBI he’d “be more than happy to assist” and he directed the special agent to the Civilian Police Oversight Agency. Gilbert Gallegos, an APD spokesperson, has not answered questions about whether Landavazo made any steps to investigate the referral but he did say Landavazo did not tell Chief Harold Medina about it.
Gallegos did not respond to questions Friday about what steps the department has taken since the allegations came to light to ensure that Internal Affairs staff are acting appropriately regarding investigations. He also did not answer questions about the specifics of Landavazo’s policy violations — including what he was untruthful about, what confidential information he shared and to whom and how he didn’t cooperate with an investigation.
“I can’t disclose any further details about the investigation,” Gallegos said. “Nor can I discuss the Internal Affairs Department until the FBI investigation is completed.”
The misconduct report was filed with the state’s Department of Public Safety on Aug. 1 — the same day Landavazo was fired. A department spokesperson said next the staff will review the report and contact APD to request additional information.
State wants to address drinking water issues at 138 local systems - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico environment officials put more than 100 drinking water systems on notice last week that they need to provide plans to address drinking water deficiencies by mid-August or potentially face steep fines.
The 138 letters sent on July 29 by the New Mexico Environment Department declare that those drinking water systems responsible for sending water to at least 100,000 New Mexicans still haven’t fixed current outstanding water quality violations.
Once they receive the letter, the parties have 15-days to send their plans to resolve their issues with the state.
The letters are part of a strategy from the newly-minted director of the Compliance and Enforcement division, Bruce Baizel.. The list of all 138 water systems was forwarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 office in Dallas, and both the state auditor and attorney general’s offices.
Baizel said that the problems with water systems range from quality issues such as excessive levels of fluoride in Lordsburg. There are also administrativefailures to submit testing or inspection paperwork and file public notices, like Pecan Park MDWCA in Luna county.
Failing to submit a plan means the water system could be fined $1,000 per day, the maximum penalty under state law.
Baizel said drinking water is facing both existential threats like climate change, weather disasters and fires. Water services in smaller places also have technical barriers, he said, in their responsibility to treat water and repair its infrastructure.
“This is a dry state generally, and we have a lot of small systems,” he said. “We thought this was a way to both draw attention, to get systems up to where they need to be, and to identify those that really need some effort and more work.
He said issuing the notices was sparked, in part, by the findings that the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) sent arsenic last year to thousands of New Mexicans in Sunland Park, Santa Teresa and Southern Doña Ana county – without telling the public or the state.
“The focus would have come regardless of CRRUA,” Baizel said. “But I think it did alert us that this should be a higher priority, sooner.”
Nearly half of the water systems, about 70, submitted responses to the letters, he said. At the end of the 15 days, mid-week or so in the third week of August, the department will release a list of all the utilities that sent in plans and also publicly name those that failed to comply.
When asked how to keep utilities from passing the fine onto customers, Baizel said water systems may not have to pay a full fine price, even if they fail to submit a plan, if they come to the negotiation table and settle for a smaller sum.
“Lawsuits take time and money,” Baizel said. “Sometimes it’s better to be talking and getting it done sooner, so that the water is safe sooner – that’s worth something.”
There was one error in an interactive map the New Mexico Environment Department released to track the letters, which showed that the City of Las Vegas municipal water system received a letter. Drew Goretzka, a spokesperson for the environment department, later confirmed it was an inaccuracy. The map has been updated as of Friday Aug. 9, at 11:30 a.m.
Messages and emails were sent to the City of Las Vegas for comment. We will update if we receive a response.
The agency said more than 100,000 people get their drinking water from the 138 water systems.
The letters are just the start of enforcement, Baizel said, adding that he expects to see stricter penalties levied at larger water systems in the coming weeks.
“There are a number of larger systems, or systems that have significant health risks that we didn’t send letters to, because we’re going to be taking administrative action against them,” Baizel said, adding that he could not provide very many details at this time.
‘WE’RE NOT GOING TO BE THE OUTLIER’
At least one small system operator said he’s planning his response.
Jason Smallwood, who operates water for the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch said the base camp is investing in a new treatment system that he said should eliminate water quality issues caused from byproducts of treatment chemicals called TTHM-1 and HAA5-1.
“The letter is what it is – it’s not that big of deal,” Smallwood said. “We’re going to address it and tell the state what we’re planning on doing to deal with it.”
“Hopefully, sending it out can help other people,” Smallwood added.
Beyond the base camp, which has had three drinking water violations, according toenforcement records and the drinking water watch records.
Smallwood, who’s held the position for two years, said Philmont is complicated, because it has 35 separate “systems” which can often just mean one sink and several spigots fed by a tank.
He said the state’s map shows that the systems have 92 violations in total, but added that most of them are not about the water quality, but inspection and paperwork issues regarding the far-flung water tanks.
Recently, he’s attended further trainings, and pointed to a record of decreased violations at the base camp’s water system. Smallwood said Philmont is spending money to put in new systems and working to address the contamination problems. He predicts a reckoning for water systems across the state.
“We’re not going to be the outlier,” he said. “We may look like it because of the state’s website, but there’s tons of water systems that are in way worse shape than ours.”
MORE OUTREACH
Source NM sought comment from 10 water systems that received a violation notice letter from the New Mexico Environment Department.
We called and left messages with the following water systems: Lordsburg Water Supply System, Pecan Park MDWCA in Luna County, the Otis MDWCA in Eddy County and the Doña Ana MDWCA.
Marlina Manzanares-Salazar at Santa Cruz Water Association could not be reached for comment.
When reached by phone, Matt Harrison with the Cassandra Water System in Moriarty agreed to an interview but did not respond to phone calls at the scheduled time.
Craig Pilley at Navajo Dam Domestic Water Consumers Inc. said he had been on vacation for the past two weeks and was unaware the state had sent letters. He agreed to an interview at a later date.
Oscar Diaz with the Belen Water System agreed to an interview at a later date.
We’ll publish updates as more drinking water systems respond.
Trump is putting mass deportations at the heart of his campaign. Some Republicans are worried - By Stephen Groves, Associated Press
"Mass Deportation Now!" declared the signs at the Republican National Convention, giving a full embrace to Donald Trump's pledge to expel millions of migrants in the largest deportation program in American history.
Some Republicans aren't quite ready for that.
Lauren B. Peña, a Republican activist from Texas, said that hearing Trump's calls for mass deportations, as well as terms like "illegals" and "invasion" thrown around at the convention, made her feel uncomfortable. Like some Republicans in Congress who have advanced balanced approaches to immigration, she hopes Trump is just blustering.
"He's not meaning to go and deport every family that crosses the border, he means deport the criminals and the sex offenders," Peña said.
But Trump and his advisers have other plans. He is putting immigration at the heart of his campaign to retake the White House and pushing the Republican Party towards a bellicose strategy that hearkens back to the 1950s when former President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched a deportation policy known by a racial slur — "Operation Wetback."
Trump, when pressed for specifics on his plan in an interview with Time Magazine this year, suggested he would use the National Guard, and possibly even the military, to target between 15 million and 20 million people — though the government estimated in 2022 there were 11 million migrants living in the U.S. without permanent legal permission.
His plans have raised the stakes of this year's election beyond fortifying the southern border, a longtime conservative priority, to the question of whether America should make a fundamental change in its approach to immigration.
After the southern border saw a historic number of crossings during the Biden administration, Democrats have also moved rightward on the issue, often leading with promises of border security before talking about relief for the immigrants who are already in the country.
And as the November election approaches, both parties are trying to reach voters like Peña, 33. Latino voters could be pivotal in many swing states.
Trump won 35% of Hispanic voters in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, and support for stronger border enforcement measures has grown among Hispanic voters. But an AP analysis of two consecutive polls conducted in June by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that about half of Hispanic Americans have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Trump.
Still, Peña, who described herself as a multiracial Hispanic person, has become a new and enthusiastic recruit for the GOP. She was drawn to Trump after seeing people debilitated by drugs in the public housing complex where she lives in Austin. She feels that government programs have failed low-income people and that the recent migration surge has put a pinch on public assistance like food stamps.
But Peña said she also feels concern when her fellow Republicans discuss ideas like barring children who don't have permanent legal status from public schooling.
"Being Hispanic, it's a difficult topic," she said. "I feel like we need to give these people a chance."
Still, GOP lawmakers have largely embraced Trump's plans. "It's needed," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a July interview at the conservative Hudson Institute.
Some, however, have shown tacit skepticism by suggesting more modest goals.
Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, pointed to over 1 million people who have already received a final order of removal from an immigration judge and said, "There's a difference between those that are in the process right now and those that are finished with the process."
Lankford, who negotiated a bipartisan border package that Trump helped defeat earlier this year, added that it would be a "huge" task both logistically and financially just to target that group.
Other Republicans, including Floridians Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz Balart, suggested Trump in the White House would prioritize migrants with criminal backgrounds.
Indeed, Trump entered office in 2016 with similar promises of mass deportation but only succeeded in deporting about 1.5 million people.
This time, though, there's a plan.
Trump has worked closely with Stephen Miller, a former top aide who is expected to take a senior role in the White House if Trump wins. Miller describes a Trump administration that will work with "utter determination" to accomplish two goals: "Seal the border. Deport all the illegals."
To accomplish that, Trump would revive travel bans from countries deemed undesirable, such as majority-Muslim countries. He would launch a sweeping operation by deputizing the National Guard to round up immigrants, hold them in massive camps and put them on deportation flights before they could make legal appeals.
Beyond that, Trump has also pledged to end birthright citizenship — a 125-year-old right in the U.S. And several of his top advisers have laid out a sweeping policy vision through the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 that would choke off other forms of legal migration.
The Trump administration, under those plans, could also grind to a halt temporary programs for over 1 million migrants, including recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Ukrainians and Afghans who fled recent conflicts as well as others who receive temporary protection due to unrest in their home country.
The policies would have far-reaching disruptions in major industries like housing and agriculture, including in key battleground states.
"If the 75,000-plus immigrants who perform the hardest of work in Wisconsin's dairy and agriculture were gone tomorrow, the state economy would tank," said Jorge Franco, the CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Florida Republican who has pushed legislation that would allow a path to citizenship for longtime residents, argued that large-scale deportations were now necessary because of recent surges in border crossings under President Joe Biden. But she also hoped that Trump could see the difference between recent arrivals and longtime residents.
"There is a group of congresspeople that will make sure that the new administration understands it because there's another aspect: the business community," she said. "The developers in construction … and the farmers, what are they going to say? They need hands."
Meanwhile, Democrats feel that Trump's threats are now motivating Latino voters.
"The mass deportation put a lot of people on high alert," said María Teresa Kumar, the CEO of Voto Latino, a leading voter registration organization that is backing Democrat Kamala Harris.
Like many other groups aligned with Harris, Voto Latino has seen an outpouring of interest since she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket. Kumar said the organization has registered nearly 36,000 voters in the weeks since Biden left the race — almost matching its tally from the first six months of the year.
In a heavily Latino House district on the southern tip of Texas, Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez said voters want to see better management of the border, but at the same time, many also have friends or family members who don't have their immigration documentation in order.
"Much more could be done, in terms of good policy, that would help control surges at the border," Gonzalez said. "But mass deportation, it just gives people heartburn."
Sentence overturned in border agent's killing that exposed 'Fast and Furious' sting - By Anita Snow, Associated Press
An appeals court on Friday overturned the conviction and life sentence of a man found guilty of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent whose death exposed the botched federal gun operation known as "Fast and Furious" has been overturned, a U.S. appeals court said Friday.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the convictions of Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, saying his constitutional due process rights had been violated, and sent the case back to the U.S. District Court in Arizona for further proceedings.
Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced in 2020 in the Dec. 14, 2010, fatal shooting of Agent Brian Terry while he was on a mission in Arizona.
Osorio-Arellanes was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges after being extradited from Mexico. He was among seven defendants who were tried and convicted in Terry's killing.
The appeals court said Osorio-Arellanes had confessed to "essential elements" of the U.S. government's case against him while being interrogated in a Mexico City prison.
On appeal, he argued that he was entitled to a new trial because his confession was taken in violation of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, as well as his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. He also argued that he did not have a fair trial, and his attorney said he is illiterate and didn't understand the proceedings.
The Obama administration was widely criticized for the "Fast and Furious" operation, in which U.S. federal agents allowed criminals to buy firearms with the intention of tracking them to criminal organizations. But the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lost track of most of the guns, including two found at scene of Terry's death.
Terry, 40 and a former U.S. Marine, was part of a four-man team in an elite Border Patrol unit staking out the southern Arizona desert on a mission to find so-called "rip-off" crew members who rob drug smugglers. They encountered a group and identified themselves as police.
The men refused to stop, prompting an agent to fire bean bags at them. Members of the group responded by firing AK-47-type assault rifles. Terry was struck in the back and died soon after.
"Our holding does not decide Osorio's ultimate responsibility for his actions. The Government can still retry this case," the appeals court said in its new ruling. "Nevertheless, his direct appeal reaffirms the potency of our Constitution's procedural protections for criminal defendants, which 'are granted to the innocent and the guilty alike.'"
Terry's killing sent shockwaves through the Border Patrol's ranks, and it remains a potent reminder of the dangers associated with the job.
The appeal court's ruling came the same day the Border Patrol's El Paso Sector announced it had recently seen a significant rise in nonfatal attacks on its agents, including 66 so far this year in that area along the entire southern border of New Mexico and part of west Texas.