Afghan refugee pleads no contest to 2 murders in case that shocked Albuquerque's Muslim community - Associated Press
An Afghan refugee convicted of first-degree murder in one of three fatal shootings in 2022 that shook Albuquerque's Muslim community pleaded no contest Tuesday to two homicide charges stemming from the other killings.
Prosecutors said Muhammad Syed, 53, entered the pleas to two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Naeem Hussain.
A jury had convicted Syed in March in the shooting death of Aftab Hussein, 41, in July 2022.
The three ambush-style killings happened over the course of several days, leaving authorities scrambling to determine if race or religion might have been behind the shootings. Investigators soon shifted away from possible hate crimes to what prosecutors called the "willful and very deliberate" actions of another member of the Muslim community.
Syed, who settled in the U.S. with his family several years earlier, denied involvement in the killings after being stopped more than 100 miles from Albuquerque. He told authorities he was on his way to Texas to find a new home for his family, saying he was concerned about the killings in Albuquerque.
Bernalillo County prosecutors say Syed faces a life prison sentence in Aftab Hussein's killings and will serve 30 years behind bars for the no-contest pleas. A sentencing date hasn't been set.
Authorities said Afzaal Hussain, an urban planner, was gunned down Aug. 1, 2022, while taking his evening walk. Naeem Hussain was shot four days later as he sat in his vehicle outside a refugee resettlement agency on the city's south side.
After Syed's conviction in March, prosecutors acknowledged that no testimony during the trial nor any court filings addressed a possible motive. Prosecutors had described him as having a violent history, but his public defenders argued that previous allegations of domestic violence never resulted in convictions.
Summer camp, first property burned in NM’s biggest wildfire, sues over lack of compensation - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
More than two years after the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, a vital bridge to El Porvenir Christian Camp has yet to be rebuilt, and the camp’s director said the nonprofit will run out of money in six months.
The camp, a short hike from Hermits Peak overlooking Las Vegas, N.M., was the first private property to sustain damage, based on the timeline of events and the camp’s proximity to the fire’s origin. The Hermits Peak Fire grew from an escaped prescribed burn that a team of firefighters ignited on a dry, windy day in northern New Mexico on April 6, 2022.
Within a day or two of the fire escaping containment lines, it spilled into the 480-acre Christian summer camp, where director Nate Stafford and his family live. The fire went on to burn 12 major structures, destroy four bridges and damage the camp’s baptismal pond, among many other losses.
But 890 days after the fire began, the camp has yet to receive a payment offer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is overseeing a nearly $4 billion fund Congress established to compensate wildfire victims, according to a lawsuit filed late last month in federal court.
“We’ve been here since day 1,” Stafford told Source New Mexico. “We’re still here. We haven’t gotten anything from FEMA.”
The lawsuit, filed by California-based lawyer Tom Tosdal, notes that the camp’s claim is far past the 180-day legal deadline for the FEMA claims office to make a payment offer after a claim is filed.
The camp filed a completed claim for damages in late January 2024, along with an “extensive evidence package” containing pre- and post-fire photos and disaster estimates, according to the lawsuit.
After more than two dozen requests by the office for more documentation, even some that “have nothing to do with the claim,” the office has yet to provide the camp with an offer of full compensation, Tosdal said.
“They have people who are inexperienced and poorly trained trying to adjust complex cases that just go over their heads,” Tosdal said.
A claims office spokesperson declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to require the claims office to “promptly and without further delay determine” a payment offer for the camp “in full,” as well as pay for costs of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit comes a few weeks after the claims office and other law firms representing thousands of fire victims settled seven lawsuits, including one about dozens of claims that have taken more than 180 days to process. Tosdal did not sign the settlement agreement, saying it didn’t have “enough teeth.”
FEMA agreed in the settlement that it would “continually monitor and increase staffing as needed” to prevent cases from going beyond 180 days. It noted that the office planned to roughly double the number of claims reviewers on staff.
The claims office so far paid about $1.1 billion in more than 8,900 claims, as of Aug. 27, according to its latest figures, equaling about 28% of the total awarded by Congress. It also recently announced $98 million for the City of Las Vegas to replace its water treatment facilities damaged by post-fire flooding.
The deadline to file a claim with the office is Nov. 14.
The Christian camp has been around for more than 60 years, but it’s been struggling since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, Stafford said. They haven’t had a full roster of campers since that year, he said, thanks to government-ordered bans on gatherings and the wildfire that began just before camp season in 2022.
Since the fire, Stafford’s biggest frustration has been a single bridge that crosses Beaver Creek leading up to the camp from El Porvenir. It was destroyed in the fire, and has yet to be replaced. A couple weeks ago, Stafford and his family were stranded for four days in camp, thanks to monsoon rains that swelled the creek.
The bridge replacement is unrelated to the $4 billion compensation fund. It is a long-delayed project the Forest Service is in charge of, Stafford said. But it’s just another example of the federal bureaucracy he’s relying on, frustrated by and reminded of every day.
“We have other issues as far as erosion and soil loss in other parts of the burn scar, but the way it affects our day-to-day life is just that entry,” Stafford said of the stream crossing. “We can’t get through the river when the water is high, and then once the water goes down, we have to fix it.”
Based on the latest estimates from the U.S. Forest Service, the bridge will be completed at the earliest by the end of 2025, Stafford said.
Without any compensation offers, the camp is running on fumes, he said, and can last another six months financially. The camp did get some insurance money and loans from the Small Business Administration. But, to fully rebuild without getting compensation from the claims office, the camp would need to dip into its reserve funds, “which is unacceptable from an operations standpoint,” Stafford said.
The lawsuit is on behalf of the camp and also Trout Springs Ranch, a property in Gallinas Canyon that has belonged to the same family for more than a century. The ranch, along with a creek that flows into the town of Las Vegas’ water supply, was heavily damaged in the fire.
Trout Springs Ranch also filed a completed claim with FEMA in January 2024. In April, the claims office provided a partial payment offer to fund replacement of lost forest and vegetation, but the offer was for an “incorrectly described property,” according to the lawsuit. Some of the Trout Springs Ranch was in the payment offer, but so was property belonging to others, the lawsuit alleges.
Tosdal’s firm alerted the office to its error, and the offer was rescinded. But the office has yet to come back with a correct payment offer, according to the lawsuit.
As temperatures rise, most vulnerable communities are often the hottest - Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
Summer 2024 in Albuquerque is on track to be one of the hottest on record — adding to a string of high temps in recent years that have packed a punch. But heat in the metro isn’t evenly distributed — it tends to be most intense in historically underserved areas, in part due to an urban heat island effect and a lack of trees.
The city and its partners like Tree New Mexico are working to level the playing field by planting more trees in such neighborhoods and in the process cool down the entire city.
The initiative joins other city efforts — including a pledge to add 100,000 trees across Albuquerque by 2030. So far, the city said a little over a quarter of that goal has been achieved.
Mitigating the higher temperatures is also important because heat islands produce more air pollution and higher energy costs and contribute to heat related illnesses and death, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“Trees are a crucial element to combat heat island effects,” said Dave Simon, the city’s Parks & Recreation Department director. “Not only do we need to maintain our urban tree canopy, we need to rebuild it and expand it in many places in the city.”
City forester Sean O’Neill said heat islands generally pop up in areas with high amounts of hardscape like parking lots and buildings — surfaces that absorb heat during the day and cause temperatures to stay higher at night. He said areas in Albuquerque with some of the most pavement and lowest tree counts are also some of the city’s most underserved — Downtown, much of the Southwest quadrant and the International District.
100,000 BY 2030
In 2019, Mayor Tim Keller’s administration launched the ambitious program to plant 100,000 saplings in the city by 2030.
Simon said the program slowed down during the pandemic, but that at least 26,000 have been planted so far. Officials want to plant more trees at city-owned sites like parks, open space and medians, but also on private land, which accounts for as much as 80% of the city’s plantable area.
While the Parks & Recreation budget for tree planting averages about $600,000 a year, the effort recently picked up steam after the department landed a $5 million federal grant for tree planting in the underserved neighborhoods — a project called ABQ NeighborWoods. Under the program, homeowners choose native trees from an approved list. A landscaper then approves the tree’s location in front of the home and on its planting strip — city property located between the sidewalk and the street that is typically managed by the homeowner.
Once in the ground, the responsibility for watering and maintaining the tree is handed over to the homeowner.
COMPOUNDING EFFECT
O’Neill said the NeighborWoods program is essential for neighborhoods because the value of tree shade can’t be overstated. He said trees can drop surface temperatures by as much as 20 degrees.
“Instead of engineering shade, we’re trying to create more shaded spaces with something that’s living,” he said. “The shade underneath a tree is cooler than the shade underneath a shade structure.”
The more active a neighborhood is in the program, the more compounding the effect, O’Neill added.
“As more and more trees are closer together and wind goes through those trees, it’ll also kind of do its best to cool the entire area, not just like the shade underneath it,” he said.
Simon said Downtown’s Wells Park neighborhood is one of the areas that’s benefitting from the program, in part to mitigate recent losses at the former Coronado Park. He said the area could see as many as 400 new trees planted in the coming months.
“The canopy coverage needs augmenting,” he said. “Most of those trees were already at the end of their natural lifespan.”
Simon said the park had contained large elm trees that were likely planted in the 1930s and 1940s.
The park was the site of a controversial homeless encampment that precipitated its closure and a later decision by the city to auction it off — a move opposed by the Wells Park Neighborhood Association and others.
SHOVELS IN THE GROUND
Simon and O’Neill are tasked with motivating homeowners to get involved, whether through providing resources or directing them to incentives like the “Tree-Bate” program by the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority that helps offset planting and maintenance costs.
“There are compounding returns over the lifetime of a tree,” Simon said. “Having your house shaded can save you thousands of dollars in its lifetime.”
He said if a resident notices their neighborhood is lacking trees, they can contact their City Councilor to inquire about the NeighborWoods program.
“I can’t go plant a tree in someone’s front yard, but working with the NeighborWoods program, that’s where a neighborhood association or a neighborhood group can reach out to their City Councilor to express their interest,” Simon said.
He said the community has responded well so far and he’s confident the city will reach its goal of 100,000 trees by 2030 — perhaps exceeding it.
“It gives us great optimism that we can keep this rolling,” Simon said. “If everybody took a pledge to plant one tree on their property we would blow away our goal.”
From bonds to balloons: retired county manager has a new job - Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
Recently retired Bernalillo County Manager Julie Morgas Baca has a new job.
She will start Tuesday as executive director of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta — about a month before the annual event kicks off.
“Leading the Fiesta is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Morgas Baca said. “I am honored and delighted to begin this new journey with such an influential board and accomplished team who are instrumental to the success of Fiesta.”
The Balloon Fiesta is a non-profit organization, spokesperson Tom Garrity said, declining to discuss the terms of Morgas Baca’s employment contract and salary. He said the job description is being crafted.
Morgas Baca made $215,000 her final year as county manager.
Morgas Baca was chosen after a nationwide search to replace Paul Smith, who had been with the organization for 27 years and announced his retirement last year, according to a news release.
“We are so pleased to welcome Jule Morgas Baca,” said Judy Nakamura, president of the board of directors. “Her leadership track record, her impressive background (and) her contacts in community and government, make her the right choice for AIBF.”
Los Angeles executive search firm Berkhemer Clayton helped with the search. The release touted Morgas Baca’s experience, which includes CEO of the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation and fiscal services director with the Second Judicial District Court.
Morgas Baca was county manager from 2015 until the end of June. Previously, she was deputy county manager for community services.
The 52nd Balloon Fiesta will run from Oct. 5-13, at Balloon Fiesta Park. The event includes 550 balloons and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists and balloonists annually.
Indigenous advocates want to take push for RECA expansion to D.C. - Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
Indigenous advocates who have been impacted by radiation exposure are ramping up the pressure they’re putting on U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to allow a vote on legislation that will help radiation survivors pay for health care related expenses.
These advocates, including the Sawmill Diné Warriors, Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition Post-71 and Navajo Uranium Victims Committee, are raising money to travel to Washington D.C. to protest Johnson’s refusal to bring expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to the floor for a vote. The legislation passed in the U.S. Senate earlier this year on a bipartisan vote.
The advocates started a GoFundMe, which had raised more than $11,000 as of Thursday.
The goal is to bring in at least $30,000, which will allow them to book a bus and pay for food and water. If the group exceeds its goal, the money would go towards hotel rooms for the radiation exposure survivors who are making the trip. The advocates also hope to be able to pay for advertisements to run in the D.C. area while the survivors are there.
The original RECA legislation expired this year and had excluded New Mexico downwinders as well as people who worked in uranium mining and milling after 1971.
Loretta Anderson, a member of Laguna Pueblo, and Maggie Billiman from Sawmill, Arizona, are among the activists.
Billiman’s community was impacted by the nuclear weapons testing in Nevada. Up until this year, Sawmill residents were able to submit claims if they became sick with a disease associated with radiation exposure. But, since RECA expired, no more claims are being accepted.
Billiman’s father was among those who died of cancer due to the fallout from nuclear weapons testing. The Navajo Code Talker passed away in 2001 after being diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer.
Billiman said they are going to D.C. “to try to let Johnson hear our voices.”
She said the communities impacted by radiation exposure are suffering.
Like Billiman, Anderson has lost family members to radiation exposure. Her community is near the Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine site. Anderson founded the group Southwest Uranium Miners’ Coalition Post ‘71.
Both of Anderson’s parents worked in the mines and were later diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, which occurs when the tissues in the lungs are scarred and damaged. Her father passed away in 2020 from cancer and her mother died two years later.
Both Anderson and Billiman have been telling their stories for years and advocating for expanding compensation. They say they haven’t been heard.
“Mike Johnson has not listened to our voices, our testimonies,” Anderson said. “He has totally just ignored us. He says that we are not a priority. So as Indigenous people, the Navajo Nation, Laguna, Acoma, the Hopi reservations, we’re all going united. We’re going to stand together and make noise, we’re going to lobby, we’re going to pray.”
She said that they will do a three-day sitdown at the U.S. Capitol building and across from the U.S. House of Representatives.
“(Johnson) needs to know that our people are sick, suffering and dying,” Anderson said.
The advocates previously protested when Johnson visited New Mexico to campaign for former U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, who is running as a Republican to retake New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District seat.
Anderson said Johnson did not even look at them as his car drove by.
She said RECA should be a bipartisan issue.
“It’s not about the Democrats or the Republicans, it’s about all people. And he’s even walking away from his own people, the Republicans,” she said.
Anderson said that it’s also about people who served the United States, including those in the armed forces.
The activists are upset that Johnson has expressed concerns about the price tag associated with RECA expansion.
Anderson said that Congress can send billions of dollars to other countries but is unwilling to pay to compensate the people who got sick because of government actions.
4 people fatally shot in Albuquerque in apparent triple murder-suicide - Associated Press
Four people were fatally shot outside a northwest Albuquerque apartment building in an apparent triple murder-suicide early Sunday, authorities said.
Albuquerque police originally said four men were found dead. But at a news conference Sunday afternoon, they said three men and one woman died, including a father and son.
Police said witnesses told officers that the deceased knew each other. Their names were being withheld until relatives can be notified.
The four people were found at an apartment building parking lot and all were pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds, according to police.
They said a young man shot and killed a man and woman in their 20s and a man in his 50s after a confrontation, then turned the gun on himself.
When the shootings occurred, police said nearby residents were urged to stay inside and lock their doors before the area was declared secure just before 1 a.m. ___ This story has been corrected to show that police now say the fatal shootings appear to be a triple-murder and a suicide. Earlier, authorities said that there were four fatalities and one person was in custody in connection with the deaths.