NM Higher Education Department proposes fund to help feed and house students in need - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
For New Mexico college students, paying tuition and getting good grades aren’t the only things they have to think about. Most are also facing food and housing insecurity, according to a recent survey. Now, the state’s Higher Education Department is including these basic needs in its efforts to see more students graduate.
The statewide Basic Needs Survey showed 58% of New Mexico college students don’t always know where their next meal is coming from and 62% have had unstable housing.
In its budget request to lawmakers, the department proposes creating a $4 million Student Retention Fund to support campuses in building out nutrition and shelter programs.
University of New Mexico Professor Dr. Sarita Cargas directs the Basic Needs Consortium, a group born out of the survey project, which recently toured campuses across the state. She said every one of them was doing something to address the issue, but that “only a coordinated response will get at systemic needs.”
The department pointed to a recent analysis showing 3,500 more New Mexico college students would see graduation day if they consistently had enough to eat and somewhere to rest their heads.
New Mexico receives millions in federal criminal justice grants - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
New Mexico’s congressional delegation announced Wednesday a long list of projects that will get a boost from nearly $3.5 million in federal criminal justice funding.
The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office will receive the biggest infusion, with $1.5 million going to its Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. The group of attorneys, investigators and victim advocates is working through Albuquerque’s backlog of rape kits, building cases and supporting survivors.
The investment from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant will also help equip law enforcement agencies across the state. Rio Rancho plans to buy more traffic cameras that recognize license plates, while Valencia County will purchase rugged laptops called Toughbooks and the City of Clovis will spend its share on officer recording equipment.
The only state agency to receive a piece of the pie, the Children, Youth and Families Department, will put around $650,000 toward support programs for young people involved in the Juvenile Justice System.
Meanwhile, some of the funds will go towards related research. The University of New Mexico will get $400,000 to look at improving parole and reentry for people given long or life sentences as juveniles.
Former New Mexico State player agrees to plea deal in sexual assault case - Associated Press
A former New Mexico State basketball player has agreed to a plea deal in a sexual assault case against teammates that led to the shutdown of the team's 2022-23 season.
Kim Aiken Jr. agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to two felony counts of false imprisonment and one count of conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.
Aiken agreed to testify against another former teammate, Deshawndre Washington, whose trial in the assault case is set for February. If the deal holds up, Aiken would be sentenced to 4 1/2 years probation. He was originally charged with 11 crimes that carried up to 24 years in prison.
Aiken's plea comes about two months after a teammate, Doctor Bradley, also agreed to testify against Washington in exchange for pleading guilty to disorderly conduct. If Bradley cooperates, he'll receive probation after initially facing up to 27 years in prison.
The charges against Washington also carried a sentence of up to 27 years in prison.
Separate civil lawsuits in this case described a "humbling" ritual in which the defendants would pull down the victims' pants and sometimes grab their genitals. The descriptions were in line with findings in the school's Title IX investigation into the same players.
The indictments against the players detailed episodes in 2022 in which the defendants were accused "of holding younger players and student staff against their will while they violated them. Alleged acts included multiple incidents in which they forcefully restrained victims while violently grabbing their genital area."
Last year, the school paid out $8 million to settle a lawsuit brought by two of the victims, former players Deuce Benjamin and Shak Odunewu, who went public with the stories of their abuse.
Heinrich’s ‘Good Samaritan’ abandoned mine cleanup bill clears Congress - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
New Mexico U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich has been advocating to make it easier for organizations to clean up polluting, abandoned mines. A bill that makes that possible passed the U.S. House with bipartisan support on Tuesday. It now heads to President Biden for his signature.
Heinrich said “good samaritans” have been disincentivized from rolling up their sleeves at the mines because they could be held responsible for the site’s pollution, even from before their cleanup effort began, under federal regulations.
The bill, co-sponsored by Heinrich and Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, would waive that liability.
The act would establish a pilot program for 15 “low-risk” cleanup projects that could have a hand in improving water quality. Private “good samaritan” groups could partner with public agencies on the projects with oversight from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The act passed Senate unanimously earlier this year and boasts broad support among conservation, mining and outdoor recreation organizations, along with the National Congress of American Indians.
NM Higher Education Department asks for more money to improve state’s dismal adult literacy rate - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
As state agencies begin making their cases to lawmakers for bigger slices of the state’s surplus, the New Mexico Higher Education Department released its budget request Tuesday. It seeks to put significantly more resources toward growing the number of adults in New Mexico who can read and write.
New Mexico has the lowest adult literacy rate in the nation, according to World Population Review. Nearly 30% of New Mexicans over the age of 15 have low literacy skills.
Higher Education Department spokesperson Tripp Stelnicki said in a statement that the department is asking lawmakers to help it change that by “dramatically increasing funding” for programs that target the problem.
The agency is seeking $3 million for adult education programs — a nearly 80% bump for the line item, according to the request. It’s also asking for an additional $2 million specifically for new adult literacy initiatives.
The agency’s more than $186 million total request would also maintain funding levels for the Opportunity Scholarship, which allows adults without a college degree to attend New Mexico’s public colleges and universities tuition-free.
State announces almost $5M in funding opportunities to fight homelessness — Daniel Montaño, KUNM News
The state’s housing authority announced Tuesday almost $5 million in grant funding for organizations serving people experiencing homelessness.
The money is coming from a program aimed at identifying people without shelter or at risk of losing housing and providing any necessary services to regain stability quickly and permanently, according to the announcement
Applications are now open for $4.7 million in funding available to nonprofits, along with local and tribal government entities, with at least two years of proven experience providing services to the population.
The state’s Chief Housing Officer Donna Maestas-De Vries said she encourages as many eligible service providers as possible to apply because, “it’s imperative we work together to help address homelessness across the state.”
Applications will be accepted until September 30, 2029, or until there is less than $500,000 in funding left.
Housing New Mexico, also known as the Mortgage Finance Authority, was created in the mid-70s by the state Legislature to provide “quality affordable housing opportunities for all New Mexico residents.”
Albertsons sues Kroger for failing to win approval of their proposed supermarket merger - By Dee-Ann Durbin, Associated Press Business Writer
Kroger and Albertsons' plan for the largest U.S. supermarket merger in history crumbled Wednesday, with Albertsons pulling out of the $24.6 billion deal and the two companies accusing each other of not doing enough to push their proposed alliance through.
Albertsons said it had filed a lawsuit against Kroger, seeking a $600 million termination fee as well as billions of dollars in legal fees and lost shareholder value. Kroger said the claims were "baseless" and that Albertsons was not entitled to the fee.
"After reviewing options, the company determined it is no longer in its best interests to pursue the merger," Kroger said in a statement Wednesday.
The bitter breakup came the day after two judges halted the proposed merger in separate court cases. U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson in Oregon issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday blocking the merger until an in-house judge at the Federal Trade Commission could consider the matter.
An hour later, Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle issued a permanent injunction barring the merger. Ferguson ruled that combining Albertsons and Kroger would lessen competition and violate consumer-protection laws.
The companies could have appealed the rulings or proceeded to the in-house FTC hearings. Albertsons' decision to pull out of deal instead surprised some industry experts.
"I'm in a state of professional and commercial shock that they would take this scorched earth approach," said Burt Flickinger, a longtime analyst and owner of retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group. "The logical thing would have been for Albertsons to let the decision sink in for a day and then meet and see what could be done. But the lawsuit seems to make that a moot issue."
Albertsons is unlikely to find another merger partner because it has significant debt and underperforming stores in most of its markets., Flickinger said. Consumers will feel the most immediate impact of the deal's demise, he said, since Albertsons charges 12% to 14% more than Kroger and other grocery rivals.
"They had so much debt they had to pay it off it's reflected in their pricing and promotional structure," Flickinger said.
Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran testified during the federal hearing in September that his company might consider "structural options" like laying off employees, closing stores and exiting certain markets if the merger with Kroger didn't go through.
"I would have to consider that," he said. "It's a dramatically different picture with the merger than without it."
But in a statement Wednesday, Sankaran said Albertsons would "start this next chapter in strong financial condition with a track record of positive business performance." In the company's most recent quarter, Albertsons' revenue rose 1% to $18.5 billion and it reported $7.9 billion in debt.
Kroger said it would also move forward in a strong financial position, with revenue down slightly to $33.6 billion in its most recent quarter. The company announced a $7.5 billion share buyback program Wednesday after a two-year pause.
Kroger and Albertsons first proposed the merger in 2022. They argued that combining would help them better compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, which are gaining an increasing share of U.S. grocery sales. Together, Kroger and Albertsons would control around 13% of the U.S. grocery market. Walmart controls around 22%.
Under the merger agreement, Kroger and Albertsons — who compete in 22 states — agreed to sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.
But the Federal Trade Commission and two states — Washington and Colorado — sued to block the merger earlier this year, saying it would raise prices and lower workers' wages by eliminating competition. It also said the divestiture plan was inadequate and that C&S was ill-equipped to take on so many stores.
On Wednesday, Albertsons said that Kroger failed to exercise "best efforts" and to take "any and all actions" to secure regulatory approval of the companies' agreed merger transaction.
Albertsons said Kroger refused to divest the assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignored regulators' feedback and rejected divestiture buyers that would have been stronger than C&S.
"Kroger's self-serving conduct, taken at the expense of Albertsons and the agreed transaction, has harmed Albertsons' shareholders, associates and consumers," said Tom Moriarty, Albertsons' general counsel, in a statement.
Kroger said that it disagrees with Albertsons "in the strongest possible terms." It said early Wednesday that Albertsons was responsible for "repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process."
Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Ralphs, Smith's and Harris Teeter. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw's. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.
Kroger sued the FTC in August in federal court in Ohio, claiming that the federal agency's in-house administrative hearings were unlawful because the FTC was also able to challenge the merger in federal court in Oregon. In paperwork filed Wednesday, the FTC said it expected to update the court on its next steps in that case by Dec. 17.
In Colorado, which also sued to block the merger, Attorney General Phil Weiser said Tuesday that he still was awaiting a decision from a state judge. In that case, Colorado also was challenging an allegedly illegal no-poach agreement Kroger and Albertsons made during a 2022 strike.
Shares of Albertsons fell 1.5% Wednesday, while Kroger's stock was up 1%.
Proposed merger of supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons is halted by federal, state judges - By Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Business Writer
The proposed merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons floundered on Tuesday after judges overseeing two separate cases both halted the deal.
U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued a preliminary injunction blocking the merger Tuesday after holding a three-week hearing in Portland, Oregon.
Later Tuesday, Judge Marshall Ferguson in Seattle issued a permanent injunction barring the merger in Washington after concluding it would lessen competition in the state and violate Washington's consumer-protection laws.
Kroger and Albertsons said Tuesday they are disappointed in the decisions and are reviewing their options. The companies could appeal, although the deal could fall apart in the time it would take for those cases to be considered.
"For the parties, the road gets steeper from here, just given the costs of keeping a deal together and the significant doubts about its viability given today's opinion," said Jeffrey Oliver, a partner specializing in antitrust law at the law firm Baker Botts.
Kroger and Albertsons in 2022 proposed what would be the largest grocery store merger in U.S. history. The companies said a merger would help them better compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and Amazon.
But the Federal Trade Commission sued earlier this year, asking Nelson to block the $24.6 billion deal until an in-house administrative judge at the FTC could consider the merger. Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Wyoming and the District of Columbia joined the FTC's lawsuit.
Nelson agreed to pause the merger, saying that the FTC had shown it was likely to prevail in the administrative hearing.
"Any harms defendants experience as a result of the injunction do not overcome the strong public interest in the enforcement of antitrust law, especially given the difficulty in disentangling a premature merger," she wrote in her opinion.
The FTC called Nelson's decision "a major victory for the American people" that will protect them from higher grocery prices. In Washington, Governor-elect Bob Ferguson, who brought the case against Kroger and Albertsons as the state's attorney general, called the state court's decision "an important victory for affordability, worker protections and the rule of law."
Federal regulators argued that combining the two chains would be bad for consumers and workers by eliminating competition.
A coalition of United Food and Commercial Workers local unions representing more than 100,000 Kroger and Albertsons employees applauded the court decisions Tuesday.
"This mega-merger would be bad for workers who deserve a workplace where they can be paid well for their labor, be safe and be respected," the unions said.
Kroger had promised to invest $1 billion in lower grocery prices, an additional $1 billion in higher grocery worker wages and $1.3 billion to improve Albertsons stores. But Nelson wasn't swayed.
"The promise to make a price investment is not legally binding, and the court must give limited weight to a non-binding promise made during these proceedings," she wrote in her decision. Nelson added that the companies can still invest in lower prices if the FTC approves the merger in its administrative hearings.
The federal case now moves to the FTC, although Kroger and Albertsons have asked a different federal judge to block the in-house proceedings. Colorado is also trying to halt the merger in its own state trial.
On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump named Andrew Ferguson, an FTC commissioner, as the next head of the FTC. He replaces Lina Khan, who was an aggressive enforcer of antitrust law. Still, it's not clear what impact the change in administrations will have on Kroger and Albertsons' proposed merger. High grocery prices have been a significant issue for voters, and in past hearings, lawmakers from both parties were skeptical that the merger would lower prices.
Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. The FTC and the state of Washington argued that a merger would eliminate that competition and raise prices for already struggling consumers. The FTC also said the merger would hurt workers since Kroger and Albertsons would no longer compete to hire them.
But Kroger and Albertsons argued their merger would preserve consumer choice by allowing them to better compete against its growing rivals. In its testimony, Albertsons warned Nelson that it might have to lay off workers, close stores and even exit some markets if the merger weren't allowed to proceed.
Under the merger agreement, Kroger and Albertsons would sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.
The FTC and the state of Washington argued that C&S is ill-prepared to take on the stores and may want the option to sell or close them. Both judges agreed.
"The current competition between Kroger and Albertsons' stores is fierce in the state of Washington," Ferguson said in court before his ruling was released. "Wholesaler C&S, with its limited retail experience and infrastructure, will not be able to replicate the ferocity of that competition or compete effectively in Washington against the colossus that is a merged Kroger and Albertsons."
Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Ralphs, Smith's and Harris Teeter. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw's. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.
Shares in Kroger Co. rose 5% in trading Tuesday, while those in Albertsons Co. fell 2%.
Mediation starts in Rio Grande legal fight among New Mexico, Texas and Colorado — Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
A new chapter in the decade-long lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court over Rio Grande water is set to begin.
After a close, 5-4 ruling from the Supreme Court dashed a proposed deal to end the litigation, the federal government and states of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas have been ordered back to mediation, which begins Tuesday in Washington D.C.
In addition to the parties, there will be attorneys for groups including farming interests, the cities of Albuquerque and Las Cruces, water utilities and irrigation districts, joining the talks.
In 2013, Texas sued New Mexico, alleging that groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico diverted water out of the Rio Grande owed to Texas violating the 86-year old agreement called the Rio Grande Compact. Signed in 1938, the compact divided use of the Rio Grande between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
Only the Supreme Court has the power to rule on disputes between states.
A DISPUTE OVER BASELINES FOR GROUNDWATER
One of the core disagreements between the federal government and the three states is determining how much groundwater pumping needs to be cut along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico. In the arid region, water is crucial for growing crops like chile and pecans, and both groundwater and water from the Rio Grande are used for irrigation.
In the rejected settlement agreement, the states requested a baseline adjusted to more groundwater pumping and drought conditions determined by an equation called the “D2 curve.”
The D2 curve was used as part of a 2008 settlement ending a fight between the irrigation districts and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over drought concerns.
Alternately, the federal government has previously asked for the states to adopt restrictions from when the compact was first signed.
The states will continue to argue for the D2 curve baseline, said James Grayson, the chief deputy for the New Mexico Department of Justice.
“In 1938, there was essentially no groundwater being used, and so the United States is essentially advocating to go back to that time and that way of using only surface water,” Grayson said.
The City of Las Cruces and the New Mexico Attorney General have urged federal officials in recent months to make a deal with the states before the start of Donald Trump’s presidency in January and compromise on its position to drastically limit groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico.
In a Nov. 14 letter, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, appealed to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Halaand to drop the objections.
“Time is running out,” Torrez wrote. “And I am pleading with you to resolve this issue for the benefit of all parties, but especially for the people of southern New Mexico, rather than leaving the matter to become a political bargaining chip for the next administration.”
In an October letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the City of Las Cruces stated that cutting pumping to a 1938 level would reduce the city’s groundwater use by 93%.
This action “would cripple farmers, families and communities in southern New Mexico,” and would require the state’s second-largest city to find a new source of water, requiring a $1 billion investment and take about 15 years to put into place.
In 2023 testimony before lawmakers, state officials said New Mexico would need to cut groundwater use in southern New Mexico by at least 17,000 acre-feet to meet the deal set by the D2 curve baseline, by reducing pecan and chile fields. If the 1938 standard was required, cuts would need to be in the hundreds of thousands of acre-feet.
HOW WE GOT HERE
The contours of the dispute have changed since the case was first brought in 2013. Drought conditions in the early 2000s sparked a protracted series of water lawsuits in lower courts between the federal government, states, cities and counties and irrigation districts along the Rio Grande.
In 2019, the high court unanimously allowed the U.S. federal government to intervene as a party in the case, arguing that a series of federal dams, irrigation canals and ditches were threatened by New Mexico’s groundwater pumping. That federal infrastructure is used to deliver Rio Grande water to Mexico under a 1906 treaty and also meets agreements with two regional irrigation districts.
While the federal government initially sided with Texas in the lawsuit, a series of compromises eventually put the states in one camp and the federal government (and the regional irrigation districts) in another.
Colorado, New Mexico and Texas came to an eleventh-hour settlement in 2022, but the federal government objected and said that the deal couldn’t be made without their agreement.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the federal government’s objections, rejecting the proposed deal.
Earlier this year, justices appointed a new special master, who oversees the progress of the case.
After an October hearing, Judge D. Brooks Smith ordered the parties into mediation, which starts Tuesday and will end Thursday, but could continue to be extended. If mediation talks break down entirely, the parties will resume going to trial.
Experts anticipate oil price slowdown after record-breaking year — Hannah Grover, City Desk ABQ
Despite volatile oil and gas prices over the past five years, production in New Mexico remained strong. However, experts say this trend is unlikely to last and the industry is already showing signs of slowing down.
According to information presented to the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) on Monday, global oil supply in 2025 is expected to outpace demand. This will likely lead to a decrease in the price of oil.
Oil and gas production is a key contributor to the state’s revenue, which means the amount of money New Mexico has to spend on infrastructure, public safety, schools and other projects depends largely on how the oil and gas industry is doing.
“We did see the (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) meet on Thursday and choose to delay production increases, which was good news for prices, but prices didn’t budge much despite that action,” said Ismael Torres, the chief economist for the LFC.
Torres said there’s still concern about growing supplies that is causing prices to drop.
According to the presentation, oil prices in fiscal year 2024 averaged $78.50 per barrel and experts estimate it will average $70.50 per barrel in fiscal year 2025.
Torres said there are 99 rigs operating in New Mexico, which is a decrease from 100 to 110 earlier this year. These rigs represent areas where drilling is occurring.
“We are seeing that pace of drilling slow down in the Permian, across the Permian, including on the Texas side, but also in the New Mexico side,” Torres said. “Eddy and Lea [counties] now represent almost a third of our gross receipts taxes. Any weakness in that industry, we can also expect to weigh on our gross receipts tax collections at the state level.”
Oil production in New Mexico reached a record high of 710 million barrels in fiscal year 2024.
While the state has benefited from strong revenues, those are now plateauing.
This is particularly pronounced in counties where oil and gas production is most prevalent.
The tax base in Eddy and Lea counties — which are in the Permian Basin — is “very much tied to oil activity and natural gas extraction,” said Stephanie Schardin Clarke, the secretary of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.
The natural gas industry in New Mexico is also beginning to slow, however foreign demand for U.S. natural gas is expected to lead to a gradual increase in natural gas prices.