89.9 FM Live From The University Of New Mexico
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

THURS: governor rescinds emergency health order that suspended gun rights in playgrounds, + More

Michael Rivera
/
Wikimedia commons

New Mexico governor rescinds emergency health order that suspended gun rights in playgrounds - Associated Press 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday that she has ended an emergency public health order that suspended the right to carry guns at public parks and playgrounds in New Mexico's largest metro area.

The original public health order in September 2023 ignited a furor of public protests, prompted Republican calls for the governor's impeachment and widened divisions among top Democratic officials. It also sought to strengthen oversight of firearms sales and monitor illicit drug use at public schools through the testing of wastewater — before expiring on Saturday without renewal.

"I have decided to allow the public health order to expire, but our fight to protect New Mexico communities from the dangers posed by guns and illegal drugs will continue," Lujan Grisham said.

She described strides toward reducing gun violence through gun buy-back programs, increased arrests, the distribution of free gun-storage locks and a larger inmate population at a county detention facility in Albuquerque.

The governor's initial order would have suspended gun-carry rights in most public places in the Albuquerque area, but was scaled back to public parks and playgrounds with an exception to ensure access to a municipal shooting range park. Lujan Grisham said she was responding to a series of shootings around the state that left children dead.

Gun rights advocates filed an array of lawsuits and court motions aimed at blocking gun restrictions that they say would deprive Albuquerque-area residents of 2nd Amendment rights to carry in public for self-defense. The implications for pending lawsuits in federal court were unclear.

The standoff was one of many in the wake of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights, as leaders in politically liberal-leaning states explore new avenues for restrictions.

The gun restrictions were tied to a statistical threshold for violent crime that applied only to Albuquerque and the surrounding area.

Judge says he’s leaning toward nixing FEMA rule denying fire victims payment for emotional losses - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico 

Hundreds of millions of dollars could be awarded to victims of the state’s biggest wildfire for the hardship they endured when the federally caused wildfire roared across their land in 2022, based on a judge’s comments Tuesday in federal court.

Judge James Browning said at the end of a hearing Tuesday afternoon he was “leaning” toward ruling on behalf of fire victims who sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency last year. He said he would issue a ruling as soon as possible, but likely not until next month.

If Browning does indeed side with the fire victims, which lawyers on both sides of the courtroom expect is likely, FEMA could be required to establish a system to quantify and compensate fire victims not only for the economic losses they suffered in the state’s biggest wildfire but also for the emotional harm.

For thousands of victims, that could mean additional compensation for the “annoyance, discomfort and inconvenience” of the “nuisance” or “trespass” the fire caused, victims’ lawyers said.

A few others could get sizable payments for their “pain and suffering” resulting from physical injuries they suffered in the fire, in addition to the medical costs. So far, the only recourse for those who were injured or for families of those who died in the fire or ensuing floods has been filing time-consuming and uncertain lawsuits in federal court.

Gerald Singleton, whose San Diego-based firm is representing about 1,000 fire victims, estimated these sorts of emotional harm losses could amount to about $400 million.

He also said the payments could result in a more-equitable distribution of fire compensation funding, as renters or those with low incomes would receive additional compensation beyond just the dollar value for their limited losses in the fire.

Even with the expected ruling, it’s not clear how quickly these payments could arrive in victims’ bank accounts. Because the legal battle centers around a regulation FEMA created, the agency’s lawyers said in court it would have to go through a whole new, formal rulemaking process. That could take months.

The money would come out of a nearly $4 billion fund Congress established in September 2022 that members hoped would “fully compensate” victims of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, started earlier that year by two federal prescribed burns that escaped and combined to destroy several hundred homes and scorched a 534-square-mile area.

As of Sept. 24, the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Claims Office had paid $1.35 billion of the fund in 10,417 different claims from households, nonprofits, businesses and local and tribal governments.

Jay Mitchell, director of the claims office, watched the half-day court hearing Tuesday. In a brief interview with Source New Mexico after the judge’s comments, Mitchell suggested the compensation required by the expected ruling could be challenging to administer.

Even though $4 billion might seem like a huge number, “It is a limited fund,” Mitchell said. He suggested the ruling could open the door to a flood of new claims seeking damages for “nuisance” or “trespass” from people whose properties were touched by wildfire smoke.

“Smoke goes where it goes,” he said as he walked into a meeting with lawyers representing FEMA after the hearing.

DID CONGRESS INTEND TO LIMIT DAMAGES?

Singleton’s was among four firms representing dozens of named plaintiffs who sued FEMA last October, alleging the agency improperly denied so-called “non-economic damages” to fire victims in a final set of regulations it published last summer. The rules limited compensation to only economic damages, which are the type of losses with a price tag: things like cars, homes, business expenses and cattle.

The rule was based on the agency’s interpretation of the Hermits Peak-Calf Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act, written and sponsored by U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, both Democrats from New Mexico.

Luján’s office did not respond to a request for comment. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s office said the senator would wait until the ruling to weigh in. Leger Fernandez’s office told Source NM she couldn’t comment due to the pending litigation, but she’s “following the issue closely.”

The victims’ lawsuit alleged the agency was wrong when it interpreted the act as excluding non-economic damage payments. To make their argument, lawyers parsed the act’s language to try to determine congressional intent and analyzed state law about what recourse victims would have under New Mexico law if a private company had started the fire and not the federal government.

Months of back and forth between lawyers centered on what Congress meant when they wrote the act. Browning on Tuesday questioned victims’ lawyers and the United States Attorney’s Office about what they think Congress intended by language such as “limited to,” “allowable damages,” “injured person” and “actual compensatory damages.”

For example, the law says payments “shall be limited to actual compensatory damages.” Victims’ lawyers argued, with numerous citations in New Mexico law and elsewhere, that “actual compensatory damages” historically means both economic and non-economic damages. FEMA’s lawyers interpreted the clause to mean that Congress was imposing a limitation: Only economic damages were allowed.

The lawsuit occurred after a Supreme Court ruling that removed deference to federal agencies when they write regulations based on ambiguous laws passed by Congress. It’s not clear how much the court’s ruling on the so-called “Chevron deference” precedent impacted the judge’s comments. But plaintiffs’ lawyer Tom Tosdal repeatedly cited Justice Neil Gorsuch’s ruling in his arguments Tuesday, and the judge wondered aloud whether it applied.

By the time the hearing started Tuesday, Browning said he’d already made up his mind on one important aspect of the lawsuit: He agreed that New Mexico law allows non-economic damages to be paid to victims in a scenario like the fire. That’s important because of a provision in the law requiring the calculation of damages to be based on what’s allowed under state law.

He cited an opinion from the New Mexico Attorney General that concluded emotional hardship payments are allowed for victims of “nuisance and trespass” here. An official at the New Mexico Department of Justicewrote the opinion after a request from two state lawmakers made shortly after a Source New Mexico and ProPublica article on the legal battle.

VICTIMS’ LAWYERS HAVE A ‘BETTER READING’ OF THE LAW, JUDGE SAYS

In describing his inclination to side with the fire victims over the government, Browning also cited one piece of language that lawyers on both sides argued showed congressional intent to either exclude or include emotional hardship payments.

One of the laws’ sections is titled “Allowable Damages” in capital letters and goes on to list three categories of payments: Financial, business or property. To FEMA’s lawyers, Congress was listing all the types of allowable payments, which they said in a legal brief was “implied” by the phrase “allowable damages.”

To the fire victims’ lawyers, Congress was just specifying some types of compensation the act allowed but not limiting payments to those categories of loss.

The judge agreed: “Plaintiffs have a better reading,” he said. He seized on the fact that FEMA’s lawyers wrote in their brief that Congress “implied” its intent to limit damages in that section of the law. An implication is not enough, he said.

Browning also said he would try to issue a ruling as quickly as he could, and discussed with lawyers the best way to avoid further delays in getting the compensation to victims. He cited previous delays in the claims office compensation as the reason for his urgency.

“I don’t live under a rock,” he said. “I know that there has been a lot of criticism of how slow the process was.”

New Mexico election officials promote guide to guard against voter intimidation  – By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico 

New Mexico’s election officials reminded voters Thursday that state and federal law protect their right to cast their ballots safely and free from intimidation.

The New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office and the New Mexico Department of Justice on Thursday morning published their updated General Election Voter Information Resource Guide, a week after early voting began statewide.

The guide contains dates and deadlines for the general election, for which voting concludes Nov. 5; information about in-person, mail-in or absentee voting; and who is or isn’t allowed at the polls.

“Clear, accessible voting information is key to boosting voter confidence and participation,” said Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat. “By teaming up with the New Mexico Department of Justice on this voter information resource guide, we’re making sure New Mexicans know all the ways to cast their ballot and the robust safeguards protecting their rights, their vote, and our election process.”

One of the most significant updates in the guide from previous years is a new prohibition on openly carrying firearms at polling places. In March, New Mexico joined at least 21 other states that ban guns where people vote.

The new law was inspired in part by Santa Fe poll workers, who faced harassment by people openly carrying firearms during the 2020 presidential election, Rep. Reena Szczepanski (D-Albuquerque) told Source NM partner publication Stateline, for a March story.

“Our national climate is increasingly polarized,” Szczepanski, one of the bill’s sponsors, told Stateline. “Anything we can do to turn the temperature down and allow for the safe operation of our very basic democratic right, voting, is critical.”

The guide asks the public to call the Secretary of State’s Voter Hotline if anyone interferes with their vote through threats, intimidation, or coercion, or if they become aware of any interference with others’ right to vote. That number to call is 1-800-477-3632.

“Ensuring every New Mexican can exercise their right to vote freely and without fear is one of our top priorities,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “This guide provides the critical information voters need to understand their rights, and it reinforces our commitment to protecting those rights from any form of interference or intimidation.”

The guide urges people to use trusted sources for voting information, including the Secretary of State’s Office and the 33 county clerks across the state.

“Be wary of misinformation being promoted or repeated by varying sources on television, online, or on social media,” the guide states.

It also includes information about hotlines to call with voting concerns, disabled voters, and ballot drop boxes, along the roles of election board members, precinct judges, challengers, watchers, media and police, said Alex Curtas, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office.

The Secretary of State’s Office usually publishes similar advisories for every presidential election, Curtas said in an interview. The new one follows the same format as the last one published in 2022, he said.

Mayor on homelessness: ‘We just have to do more’ - By Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ

Those experiencing homelessness who are also battling drug and alcohol addiction will soon have a new option — a roof over their head and an opportunity for recovery. City officials broke ground Wednesday on a pallet home micro-community near Pan American Freeway and Candelaria Road NE called Recovery Gateway.

Officials say the subset of the unhoused community is struggling and in great need of long-term help. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimates at least 38% of people experiencing homelessness also abuse alcohol, while 26% abuse other drugs. Nearly two-thirds report lifetime histories of substance abuse.

Mayor Tim Keller, who estimates there are nearly 5,000 people living on the street in Albuquerque, acknowledged the problem at the groundbreaking event.

“I think everyone at the city and county agrees we are doing good things … on a number of fronts,” he said. “We just have to do more — that’s what this is about.”

Recovery Gateway is the first project of its kind by the city. It will house up to 50 people in 46 pallet homes — 42 single-occupancy units and four double-occupancy units for couples. Residents can stay up to 24 months or until they are connected to longer-term recovery housing. Officials expect to welcome the first residents sometime this winter, with a full project completion early next year.

Health, Housing & Homelessness Department director Gilbert Ramírez said the micro-community would provide “a safe place without temptation.”

“When you have a safe place to live and lay your head at night you remove a major barrier,” he said. “When you can provide a recovery space for 18-to-24 months, individuals are less likely to recidivate and fall back into a pattern of substance use — that’s vital.”

The campus is set to feature two community rooms for behavioral health treatment, case management and housing navigation, as well as three community bathrooms, laundry facilities, a dog park and a community garden.

The city said it is in contract negotiations with San Antonio, Texas-based nonprofit Endeavors to administer support services at the site — including meals, laundry and transportation. The Albuquerque City Council will have the final say on a contract approval, however.

The pallet homes will be purchased from Everett, Washington-based Pallet Shelter. The city of Santa Fe used the company on a 10-unit pallet home micro-community that opened earlier this year.

Recovery Gateway is being funded from $5 million in city opioid settlement funds, with another $800,000 pitched in by Bernalillo County. City officials said the $5.8 million is enough to cover infrastructure costs and two years of operations.
The city’s Gateway facilities are part of the Metropolitan Homelessness Initiative that Keller announced at his State of the City address in August. Recovery Gateway joins the Gateway Center, Gateway West (formerly the Westside Emergency Housing Center), Family Gateway (formerly the Family Housing Navigation Center) and the forthcoming Youth Gateway — which is still in the early stages of development.

State’s ‘Breaking Bad Habits’ beautification push includes iconic Breaking Bad character - By Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ

Walter White is back from the dead and he’s got no tolerance for litterbugs.

The Breaking Bad character is at the center of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s new beautification campaign, rolled out Thursday in Santa Fe.

Lujan Grisham’s news conference at the Jean Cocteau Cinema included the premier of two new television ads featuring the mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin, played by Bryan Cranston.

The ads, directed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, depict an exasperated White picking up trash under a New Mexico desert sun and angrily tossing it into a 55-gallon drum.

“Keep litter out of my territory,” the fictional White growls into the camera at the end of each ad, before crushing a drink cup from Los Pollos Hermanos, the fictional eatery in the series and its spin-off, Better Call Saul.

Lujan Grisham is calling the new campaign “Breaking Bad Habits.” It also includes billboards across the state, advertising on city buses in Albuquerque, social media ads and T-shirts depicting a “Heisenberg” police sketch and the words “keep litter out of my territory.”

Also part of the effort is a new website where people can report illegal dumping, sign up for a volunteer cleanup event and learn more about the promotion. Lujan Grisham plans to ask state lawmakers to approve anti-litter and state beautification initiatives in the 2025 legislative session.

During the 2024 session, the New Mexico Tourism Department received a $2 million special appropriation to promote statewide beautification and litter reduction.

“New Mexico is the most beautiful state in the nation, but I’m saddened and disappointed by the amount of litter I see carelessly tossed along roadways, (and in) public parks and other places,” she said. “It’s time for all of us to commit to breaking bad habits and do our part to eliminate litter and preserve our great state’s spectacular beauty. I’m grateful to Bryan and Vince, who both love New Mexico.”

 Commissioner Gloria Nevarez says Mountain West finally has firm footing - By Mark Anderson AP Sports Writer

It was just more than a month ago when the Mountain West's future was very much in doubt, and even though realignment seems to be never-ending, commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday she feels the conference is finally in a good place.

The decisions by UNLV and Air Force to remain in the conference, the addition of UTEP and making Hawaii a full member will give the Mountain West the minimum eight full-time programs beginning in 2026 to remain in good standing with the NCAA as an FBS conference.

That was not such a sure thing after five schools departed for the Pac-12 Conference last month.

"I do feel a lot better because we are secure till '32," Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at conference basketball media days. "We have a core membership, and I think everyone in the core membership is committed and in it to win it. The buy-in is really strong."

Nevarez had to act quickly to keep the league together after Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State announced Sept. 12 they would leave in 2026 to join Oregon State and Washington State in helping rebuild the Pac-12.

Then the Mountain West was really rocked when Utah State also said 11 days later it would leave for the Pac-12, which also invited UNLV. But UNLV announced Sept. 25 that it would stay, which prompted Air Force to make the same commitment to give the Mountain West a much-needed lifeline.

"All the (athletic directors) and all the presidents were able to cut through to the core issues and what makes us good for all of us," Nevarez said. "We got to a great place. I think everyone's happy with it."

The work was still not done because the Mountain West needed two more full-time members. The conference got those by announcing Oct. 1 that UTEP would join in 2026 and by making Hawaii — which has played football only in the league since 2012 — a full-time member as well.

Hawaii has helped pay for travel expenses to conference football teams, but Nevarez said there will be no more subsidies to visiting teams in any sport. She said most sports won't be affected because they either have events on the mainland or travel to Hawaii every other year, which can be offset by how nonconference schedules are assembled.

Basketball and volleyball are trickier, Nevarez said, because those are annual trips.

"We really need to think about how to balance those out," Nevarez said. "But we have been an airplane league forever. It's just the nature of the Western region."

The Mountain West could look to add more schools or even look for a basketball-only member, such as regional power Saint Mary's. Nevarez wouldn't discuss what potential plans the conference might be considering.

The conference appears to be in a secure spot for now — member schools committed until 2032 — but Nevarez acknowledged realignment is an ever-changing landscape.

"Whatever's happening, I think it starts on the East Coast like this current realignment did," Nevarez said. "We have to be ready to react for that because I think it's being pulled by conferences that aren't in the Western region."

Navajo leader calls for tribal vice president's resignation amid political upheaval Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press

The president of one of the largest Native American tribes in the U.S. announced Tuesday he has removed responsibilities from his vice president, saying she no longer represents his administration and should consider resigning from the highest office within the Navajo Nation to ever be held by a woman.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren made the announcement in a news conference that was broadcast on social media. The tribe has been mired by political upheaval since April, when Navajo Vice President Richelle Montoya publicly outlined allegations of intimidation and sexual harassment within the administration.

An independent investigation of Montoya's claims was initiated while other opponents of Nygren began collecting signatures from voters across the reservation — which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah — as part of an effort to recall the president.

Nygren took aim at the recall effort and outlined his reasons for terminating Montoya's authority during the news conference. He accused his detractors of failing to focus on issues affecting Navajo families, such as housing and employment needs along with access to drinking water, electricity and other basic services.

"We will not be hindered or delayed by self-seeking power-chasers who do not want to be held accountable for their actions and care more for their own promotion than they do for the betterment of the Navajo people," Nygren said.

In a memo sent to Montoya on Tuesday, Nygren said her decision to "do nothing productive must come with consequences."

Montoya was preparing a response to the president's announcement Tuesday afternoon. In July, she sent her own six-page memo to Nygren, accusing him of deviating from their collective vision and "betraying the trust of the people who voted for us as equals." She said her ideas and recommendations were no longer sought after the inauguration and that she was removed from critical communications and planning.

She also said in the memo that the president's actions had exacerbated the rift but that she continued to work on behalf of the Navajo people despite the lack of support.

An ardent supporter of Nygren during his campaign in 2022, Montoya took to social media in April and reported that she was intimidated and sexually harassed during an August 2023 meeting in the president's office.

Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch confirmed last week that the investigation into Montoya's claims was ongoing. Branch acknowledged frustration that the process has yet to be completed but noted that numerous interviews were required along with the review of what she described as significant documentation.

Montoya made history in 2023 when she took office along with Nygren. At the time, she paid tribute to women on the Navajo Nation Council and in the matriarchal society while encouraging tribal members to speak the Navajo language and always think seven generations ahead.

"For the next four years, I will give you my very best," she told a crowd as the pair was sworn in during a gathering in Fort Defiance, Arizona.

Nygren has accused Montoya of failing to make progress on the priorities he had set out for her, saying she has refused requests to submit daily schedules and reports and has instead made travel requests that don't align with the administration's priorities.

"Everyone in my administration is held accountable, including myself. The vice president is no exception," he said.

Nygren said Montoya's decision in September to sign the recall petition targeting him was "her announcement to the Navajo people of her formal break from this administration."

The organizers of the recall effort include Debbie Nez-Manuel, who was dismissed earlier this year from her role as director of the tribe's human resources department. Nez-Manuel disputed Nygren's accusations that she had bullied employees and told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she was following the law and that employee complaints followed personnel actions.

A well-known Democratic Party organizer, Nez-Manuel said Nygren has fallen short of voters' expectations and suggested that he has not given the vice president the tools needed to succeed. She said many of those who have signed the recall petition have raised concerns about elder Navajos not trusting the younger generation to serve as leaders.

"He needs to resign, and that will balance out what's happening," Nez-Manuel said.

Nygren said his administration has been successful in meeting the needs of Navajos, pointing to the connection of more homes to water and electricity services and the recent negotiation of historic water rights settlements.

NM environment secretary wants to ban nonessential PFAS - KUNM News

New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney told a panel of lawmakers Tuesday that banning nonessential PFAS is a priority for his department.

Kenney urged members of the Legislature’s Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee to pursue the ban in the next legislative session in January.

“There’s still vast amounts of these chemicals that are getting into commerce and therefore into people’s houses,” he said.

Known as “forever chemicals,” because they don’t break down, PFAS can be found in products like nonstick pans, fabric protectants and firefighting foam.

Kenney told lawmakers they’ve been linked to a host of health problems.

“Everything from high cholesterol to reproductive issues to certain types of cancers,” he said.

The hazardous chemicals have been found in New Mexico water sources. Kenney said it costs $50 to $100 to create PFAS and millions to clean it up.

Much of the contamination has come from U.S. Air Force bases. In one case, a farmer near Cannon Air Force Base had to euthanize his stock.

“Frankly, I'm so frustrated with the Department of Defense, I think we could send any cow carcasses to the Pentagon at this point,” Kenney said.

He said his department will request $24 million to continue to pursue litigation around PFAS cleanup involving the federal government.

Fire Rescue prepares for increase in outside fires - Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ

The fall and winter seasons pose a fresh set of challenges to those experiencing homelessness on Albuquerque’s streets, including hypothermia, frostbite and a greater spread of colds and viruses.

To stay warm and often to cook food, some turn to lighting small illegal fires outside, which can result in significant injuries, property damage and property loss.

In February, Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) officials said the Wash Tub Laundromat fire at 1105 Central Ave. NW looked to have been set by campers trying to keep warm. The fire destroyed the building, but no injuries were reported.

The seasonal increase in 911 calls puts an added strain on AFR personnel.

To help, the department is bringing back an initiative it launched as a pilot project last year — Brush 3 — using a lightweight and agile brush truck to respond to calls. The truck was dispatched to more than 1,700 of 3,700 outside fire calls from Dec. 30 to April 19. The remaining 2,000 calls were handled by the closest unit or engine, AFR spokesperson Lt. Jason Fejer said.

“The entire premise of the outside fire pilot was to have a response model to handle these smaller fires that are typically extinguished with a water can and don’t require the capabilities of a full-size fire engine with a 500-gallon water tank and a 2,000-gallon-per-minute pump,” Fejer said.

While housing status is not officially tracked by AFR when documenting the fire responses, Fejer said the calls typically come from areas of the city where people living on the street are more visible.

For the majority of the pilot period, crews used Brush 3 to respond to outside fires in the East Central corridor and an area of the Northeast Heights near Juan Tabo Boulevard and Central Avenue. Fire Station No. 5 in the International District was one of the most active with 797 outside fire calls. Other frequent locations included the San Mateo Boulevard and Kathryn Avenue area and at San Mateo and Menaul boulevards.

The unit was AFR’s busiest in January and February — calls started to decrease in March and then the initiative concluded in April as the weather started to warm up.

“There is talk about putting a second outside fire truck in service to be available in other areas of the city, and to provide coverage Downtown and along West Central,” Fejer said, adding that it would depend on budgets and overtime availability.

AFR also hopes to start the initiative sooner this year — in November instead of December. Brush 3 is also used to proactively patrol areas with high call activity.

Fejer said there are steps commercial and residential property owners can take to better safeguard businesses and homes during the colder months.

“The best way to prevent an outside fire from extending to a structure is maintaining a defensible space around the structure — keeping stacks of pallets, compacted cardboard and other combustibles away from businesses if possible,” he said.

Fejer said that residences adjacent to alleys or other areas that experience a high number of outside fires should keep yards manicured and keep vegetation away from structures.

AFR has 22 fire stations and responded to 97,404 calls in 2023. It is one of the busiest fire departments in the country with about 760 full-time firefighters.

Missing in New Mexico Day set for Saturday in Shiprock - By Bella Davis, New Mexico In Depth

An event meant to connect people who have missing loved ones with police and other resources is scheduled for Saturday at Shiprock High School.

Officials are required by a 2022 state law to host Missing in New Mexico Day every year. The idea came from a now-defunct task force on missing and murdered Indigenous people, although the event is open to anyone who has a loved one who went missing from the state.

“While I recognize this event is not solely for Indigenous people, but rather for all of New Mexico’s missing persons, I would be remiss to note that Native people continue to be murdered or go missing at numbers far too great,” said Josett Monette, who is now secretary of the Indian Affairs Department, at last year’s gathering.

There are 197 Native Americans missing from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, according to an FBI list last updated earlier this month.

For the past two years, the event has been held in Albuquerque and has included numerous law enforcement agencies and nonprofit groups. Family members have been encouraged to bring any information that could be helpful in either reporting or updating cases.

The event is set to run from 9 a.m. t0 3 p.m.