New Mexico governor’s Cabinet candidates to face confirmation votes- Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Among the first items on the New Mexico Senate’s agenda when the Legislature meets in the new year will be choosing whether to confirm the governor’s picks to lead state agencies.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, will likely see her nominees approved because her party holds a majority in the Senate.
Lujan Grisham has designated five people since the last legislative session to serve in her Cabinet:
- Manny Barreras is the secretary-designee for the Department of Information Technology.
- Rob Black is the secretary-designee for the Economic Development Department.
- Emily Kaltenbach is the secretary-designee for the Aging and Long-Term Services Department.
- Melanie Kenderdine is the secretary-designee for the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
- Mariana Padilla is the secretary-designee for the Public Education Department.
Two additional agency leaders are in acting roles, but Lujan Grisham has not officially nominated them to the Cabinet:
- Gina DeBlassie is the acting secretary for the Department of Health. She replaced former secretary Patrick Allen last month.
- Anna Silva is the acting secretary for the General Services Department. She will replace outgoing secretary Robert Doucette, who steps down at the end of the year.
Three other high-ranking state official appointments that are not Cabinet positions are also in the queue for Senate confirmation: Heather Jordan is the director of the Workers’ Compensation Administration, Chris Hefner is the state mine inspector and Elizabeth Anderson is the state engineer.
In total, there are 27 positions in the governor’s Cabinet.
Cabinet secretaries are considered for confirmation by the nine-member Senate Rules Committee, and if they get voted in, their nominations go to the full Senate for a vote.
The Rules Committee’s staff initiates background checks for all appointments, said Chris Nordstrum, a spokesperson for the Senate majority.
A private vendor will verify the nominees’ identity, credit and loan information, liens and judgements, court records and property ownership, Nordstrum said
The New Mexico Department of Justice checks for criminal records, he said.
Of the 42 members of the Senate, 16 will be newly elected. That means all of the legislative committees in the upper chamber are expected to change membership, Nordstrum said.
Committee assignments will be announced as soon as the Committees’ Committee meets and then the full Senate approves their decisions, Nordstrum said. The Committees’ Committee is an administrative panel that picks the leadership and members of all committees in the Senate.
That typically occurs on the session’s first day, Jan. 21.
Two water-related bills head to Pres. Biden- Susan Morée, NM Political ReportTwo water-related bipartisan bills passed the U.S. Senate this week and are headed to President Joe Biden’s desk in the final weeks of his presidency.
America’s Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act of 2024 passed both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate this month. It includes a reauthorization of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act through 2030. Both chambers of Congress also passed the Water Resources Development Act, with the Senate sending that legislation to Biden’s desk this week as well.
The Water Resources Development Act is comprehensive legislation that authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study and build projects to enhance U.S. rivers and harbors.
In New Mexico, the act is expected to help restore the Middle Rio Grande Bosque, support a collaborative management approach to the Upper Rio Grande Basin, renew and expand the Tribal Partnership Program, initiate feasibility studies for new water projects, increase federal support for acequias and increase funding for Western drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, both Democrats, said they welcomed the final passage of the Water Resources Development Act in the Senate this week and they both championed the sections of the bill to provide additional water resources to New Mexico.
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act helps the federal government to acquire, restore and enhance wetlands in all 50 states. Heinrich cosponsored the wetlands act along with Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana.
Wetlands are important for waterfowl and migratory birds, as well as fish and other wildlife. They also recharge aquifers and mitigate soil erosion and flooding.
Peabody sued in death of worker at Grants coal mine- Albuquerque JournalThe family of a 23-year-old man killed in 2022 after he was crushed by a 13-ton steel door filed a lawsuit alleging negligence by the mining company that owned the equipment.
David Warren, a contract welder, was pinned at the waist while he was making repairs to a huge earth-moving shovel at the El Segundo Coal Mine near Grants, the lawsuit said.
Warren was not killed immediately and suffered painful injuries when a plastic block gave way and the giant door crushed him, the suit contends.
“Warren shrieked in pain, the door pinning him in half,” the suit said. Warren’s “legs hung outside the steel door but his torso and upper body were trapped inside the closed bucket.” When workers were able to reopen the door, Warren fell seven feet to the ground, it said.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed Dec. 9 in 1st Judicial District Court, seeks unspecified damages from defendants Peabody Energy, a multi-national mining giant, and its subsidiary El Segundo Coal Co. LLC.
A spokeswoman for Peabody Energy did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment about the lawsuit.
The suit alleges the companies were negligent for failing to develop proper safety procedures for repairing a huge electric shovel used at the mine.
It also alleges the companies were negligent in their response to the injury, causing needless delay in evacuating Warren. Mine officials also failed to call 911 to report the injury, it said.
“I work a lot of sad cases,” said the family’s attorney, Tyson Logan of Wyoming. “This one is especially hard.”
Warren’s parents and sisters sought legal representation seeking answers about Warren’s death.
“We know this should not have happened,”
Warren’s family said in a written statement. “It’s not right. It’s been devastating for our family. We want more answers and justice — and we want to help other families avoid what we’re going through.”
Warren and two co-workers went to the El Segundo Mine in the high country north of Grants on Aug. 22, 2022, to repair the latch on a giant door of an electric shovel with a bucket payload of 56 cubic yards.
Peabody Energy had developed a system for propping open the door of the bucket using what the suit described as a “single large plastic block, like a square doorstop.”
Warren was standing at the edge of the bucket “when the plastic block suddenly shot out with a bang,” it said. “The door slammed shut, crushing Warren at his waist.”
The suit also alleges that the mine didn’t have a clear rescue plan for coordinating a helicopter rescue after Warren’s injury at 1:57 a.m. Aug. 23, 2022.
“We just know that no one called 911,” Logan said. Instead, mine officials called a private air ambulance company but provided inaccurate coordinates that made it difficult for the medical helicopter crew to find the proper location, he said. The flight crew contacted 911 directly seeking directions to the mine.
“The 911 operator actively investigated, calling local authorities, and working to coordinate and determine an appropriate response to the El Segundo Mine,” the suit said.
When the helicopter arrived at 3:20 a.m., more than two hours after the injury, “it was too late,” the suit said. “Warren was pronounced dead at 3:23 a.m.”
Western New Mexico University president resigns after audit citing improper use of public funds — Associated Press
Western New Mexico University's president, who has faced scrutiny over his spending on overseas trips and his wife's use of a university credit card, resigned Friday as part of a deal that guarantees him a new job and $1.9 million.
Joseph Shepard's resignation comes after an investigation by the New Mexico state auditor's office found top university officials and regents had failed to uphold their fiduciary responsibilities. The audit made public last month cited more than $363,000 in spending that didn't comply with university rules.
Shepard's last day will be Jan. 15, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. He will get a one-time payment of $1.9 million, or what he would have earned in five years as president, according to the newspaper.
Shepard, 60, also secured a teaching job for five years at the university's business school. The position pays at least $200,000 annually.
The university's board of regents approved the deal in a 5-0 vote. At the meeting, Shepard said the accusations against him were lies, according to the newspaper.
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on," he said.
State lawmakers started raising questions last year about Shepard's spending on international travel and high-end furniture. Despite the scrutiny, regents threw their support behind Shepard.
University officials said in a statement at the time that WNMU takes its fiduciary responsibility seriously.
"The university adheres to rigorous fiscal standards to ensure that all dollars are maximized for the benefit of its students, faculty, staff, community and the citizens of New Mexico," the university stated
Although its name has changed multiple times over the years, Western New Mexico's history dates back to the 1890s, before statehood.
Shepard was appointed president in 2011, following a 16-year career at Florida Gulf State University that included several administrative roles. His wife, Valerie Plame, is a former CIA operations officer who ran unsuccessfully for New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District in the 2020 Democratic primary.
A Native American tribe is closer to acquiring more land in Arizona after decades of delay — Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Federal officials have joined with the state of Arizona to begin fulfilling a settlement agreement that was reached with the Hopi Tribe nearly three decades ago, marking what tribal officials described as a historic day.
Government attorneys filed condemnation documents on Friday to transfer dozens of square miles of state land into trust for the Hopi. The tribe will compensate the state nearly $4 million for more than 31 square miles (80 square kilometers) of land near Winslow.
It could mark the first of more transfers of land into trust to help eliminate the checkerboard of ownership that characterizes much of the lands used by the tribe for ranching in northeastern Arizona.
A long time coming
Friday's filing was born out of the 1996 passage of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act, which ratified an agreement between the Hopi and federal government that set conditions for taking land into trust for the tribe.
The wrangling over land in northeastern Arizona has been bitter, pitting the Hopi and the Navajo Nation against one another for generations. The federal government failed in its attempt to have the tribes share land and after years of escalating conflict, Congress in 1974 divided the area and ordered tribal members to leave each other's reservations.
The resulting borders meant the Navajo Nation — the country's largest reservation at 27,000 square miles — surrounded the 2,500-square-mile Hopi reservation.
Since the 1996 settlement, the Hopi Tribe has purchased private land and sought to take neighboring state lands into trust in hopes of consolidating property for the tribe's benefit.
A historic day
There have been many roadblocks along the way, including in 2018 when the tribe sought the support of local governments in northern Arizona to back a proposed transfer for land south of the busy Interstate 40 corridor. Those efforts were stymied by the inclusion of national forest tracts in the Flagstaff area.
Hopi Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma said in a statement Friday that he was grateful for everyone who worked to make the condemnation filing a reality and that the timing for this historic moment was fitting.
"Within Hopi, it is our time of the soyal'ang ceremony — the start of the New Year and the revitalization of life," he said.
Gov. Katie Hobbs, who first visited the Hopi reservation in 2023, acknowledged that the tribe has been fighting for its rights for decades and that politicians of the past had refused to hear the voices of tribal communities.
"Every Arizonan should have an opportunity to thrive and a space to call home, and this agreement takes us one step closer to making those Arizona values a reality," she said Friday.
More transfers and economic opportunities
In November, the Navajo Nation signed a warranty deed to take into trust a parcel of land near Flagstaff as part of the federal government's outstanding obligations to support members of that tribe who were forcibly relocated as a result of the Navajo-Hopi dispute.
Navajo leaders are considering building a casino on the newly acquired land, saying such a project would provide significant economic benefits.
For the Hopi, bringing more land into trust also holds the promise of more economic opportunities. The state lands near Winslow that are part of the condemnation filing are interspersed with Hopi-owned lands and have long been leased to the tribe for ranching and agricultural purposes, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Federal officials said Friday's filing is the first of an anticipated series of condemnation actions that ultimately would result in the transfer of more than 170 square miles (440 square kilometers) of state land into trust for the Hopi Tribe.
NMED releases draft Clean Transportation Fuels Program rule — Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
The New Mexico Environment Department on Thursday released a draft rule intended to reduce emissions from the transportation sector.
This rule comes as a result of legislation passed earlier this year and is a part of the clean transportation fuels program. It would do so by allowing producers and importers of low-carbon fuels to generate credits that could then be sold to those who produce or import fuels with higher carbon footprints.
“Our clean fuels program is based on the principle of rewarding businesses for helping New Mexico safeguard its air,” Environment Department Secretary James Kenney wrote in a statement. “The release of this draft rule signals that we’re close to bringing this initiative, which is poised to be a key factor in meeting our ambitious climate goals, to fruition.”
In a news release, the department stated that New Mexico could “generate millions in wages and capital investment in new and cutting-edge industries like clean hydrogen, syngas, and renewable propane.”
Those are controversial sources of energy that some advocates say are “greenwashing” and will not lead to meaningful declines in emissions.
The Environment Department is hosting public meetings in January to help educate the public about the draft rule and to get feedback. The first meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 6, 2025, at the Albuquerque International Public Library. The second meeting will be a virtual meeting from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 10.
“New Mexico continues to lead on strategies to protect our planet from climate change while also creating the dynamic new clean energy jobs of the future,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “This new clean fuel program will help New Mexico continue to make progress toward our ambitious climate goals.”
Council passes proposal to crack down on illegal parking — Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
Albuquerque may have fewer people parking illegally now that a new automated parking enforcement system is coming to the city.
The City Council Monday approved a proposal to implement the new technology aimed at preventing people from evading parking meter charges or staying over the time limit.
The proposal, sponsored by Councilor Joaquín Baca, comes from a controversial Downtown bill that city councilors voted down in October. Baca was the only councilor who voted for the bill, which suggested putting more pressure on vacant property owners and banning people from sitting or lying on sidewalks.
“Folks may remember this as part of my Downtown renaissance bill,” Baca said during the meeting. “Several councilors asked that the bill be broken up and voted on individually. This is the first part of that bill…This will allow for dynamic, new and efficient parking throughout our city and at no cost to the city.”
The legislation states that the city’s traffic code requires officers “to physically place citations on vehicles, which limits enforcement on city metered spaces.”
The new system can track which vehicles are in violation. A citation will then be mailed to the owner, which could lead to “reducing instances of illegal parking.”
If the ticket is not paid within 20 days, the owner will receive a warning letter that a complaint will be filed with the Metropolitan Court. The fine will also be doubled and continue to be raised.
“[Fines] if not paid within 30 days of the issuance of the violation, shall be three times the amount of the fine, unless the person cited has initiated court proceedings to answer the charges within 20 days of the issuance of the citation,” the legislation states.
Albuquerque Public Library announces new app — Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
The digital revolution continues in Albuquerque, with the public library introducing its new smartphone app.
Albuquerque has introduced a new smartphone app — the Public Library ABQ-BernCo app — to allow users to use a digital library card to find the nearest or preferred library branch, search the catalog and place holds, edit or cancel existing holds, renew checked-out materials or check out materials while in a brick-and-mortar location.
“We understand our patrons lead busy lives,” acting Library Director Kelli Murphy said. “We’re thrilled to offer an app that allows them to search, hold and renew materials whenever it’s most convenient for them.”
Future updates will introduce additional features that further enrich the user experience, according to a library news release.
“We all use our phones now for nearly everything, so we’re modernizing to create seamless access to library resources anytime, anywhere,” Mayor Tim Keller said in the news release. “This innovation makes things easier for everyone and strengthens the connection between the library and the families and institutions who depend on it.”
The Public Library ABQ-BernCo app is now available for download on iOS and Android devices. Search for “The Public Library ABQ-BernCo” in the App Store or Google Play to download the app and explore its features.
More information is available at abqlibrary.org.
Giant sloths and mastodons lived with humans for millennia in the Americas, new discoveries suggest — Christina Larson AP Science Writer
Sloths weren't always slow-moving, furry tree-dwellers. Their prehistoric ancestors were huge — up to 4 tons— and when startled, they brandished immense claws.
For a long time, scientists believed the first humans to arrive in the Americas soon killed off these giant ground sloths through hunting, along with many other massive animals like mastodons, saber-toothed cats and dire wolves that once roamed North and South America.
But new research from several sites is starting to suggest that people came to the Americas earlier — perhaps far earlier — than once thought. These findings hint at a remarkably different life for these early Americans, one in which they may have spent millennia sharing prehistoric savannas and wetlands with enormous beasts.
"There was this idea that humans arrived and killed everything off very quickly — what's called 'Pleistocene overkill,'" said Daniel Odess, an archaeologist at White Sands National Park in New Mexico. But new discoveries suggest that "humans were existing alongside these animals for at least 10,000 years, without making them go extinct."
Some of the most tantalizing clues come from an archaeological site in central Brazil, called Santa Elina, where bones of giant ground sloths show signs of being manipulated by humans. Sloths like these once lived from Alaska to Argentina, and some species had bony structures on their backs, called osteoderms — a bit like the plates of modern armadillos — that may have been used to make decorations.
In a lab at the University of Sao Paulo, researcher Mírian Pacheco holds in her palm a round, penny-sized sloth fossil. She notes that its surface is surprisingly smooth, the edges appear to have been deliberately polished, and there's a tiny hole near one edge.
"We believe it was intentionally altered and used by ancient people as jewelry or adornment," she said. Three similar "pendant" fossils are visibly different from unworked osteoderms on a table — those are rough-surfaced and without any holes.
These artifacts from Santa Elina are roughly 27,000 years old — more than 10,000 years before scientists once thought that humans arrived in the Americas.
Originally researchers wondered if the craftsmen were working on already old fossils. But Pacheco's research strongly suggests that ancient people were carving "fresh bones" shortly after the animals died.
Her findings, together with other recent discoveries, could help rewrite the tale of when humans first arrived in the Americas — and the effect they had on the environment they found.
"There's still a big debate," Pacheco said.
Scientists know that the first humans emerged in Africa, then moved into Europe and Asia-Pacific, before finally making their way to the last continental frontier, the Americas. But questions remain about the final chapter of the human origins story.
Pacheco was taught in high school the theory that most archaeologists held throughout the 20th century. "What I learned in school was that Clovis was first," she said.
Clovis is a site in New Mexico, where archaeologists in the 1920s and 1930s found distinctive projectile points and other artifacts dated to between 11,000 and 13,000 years ago.
This date happens to coincide with the end of the last Ice Age, a time when an ice-free corridor likely emerged in North America — giving rise to an idea about how early humans moved into the continent after crossing the Bering land bridge from Asia.
And because the fossil record shows the widespread decline of American megafauna starting around the same time — with North America losing 70% of its large mammals, and South America losing more than 80% — many researchers surmised that humans' arrival led to mass extinctions.
"It was a nice story for a while, when all the timing lined up," said paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner at the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. "But it doesn't really work so well anymore."
In the past 30 years, new research methods — including ancient DNA analysis and new laboratory techniques — coupled with the examination of additional archaeological sites and inclusion of more diverse scholars across the Americas, have upended the old narrative and raised new questions, especially about timing.
"Anything older than about 15,000 years still draws intense scrutiny," said Richard Fariña, a paleontologist at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay. "But really compelling evidence from more and more older sites keeps coming to light."
In Sao Paulo and at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, Pacheco studies the chemical changes that occur when a bone becomes a fossil. This allows her team to analyze when the sloth osteoderms were likely modified.
"We found that the osteoderms were carved before the fossilization process" in "fresh bones" — meaning anywhere from a few days to a few years after the sloths died, but not thousands of years later.
Her team also tested and ruled out several natural processes, like erosion and animal gnawing. The research was published last year in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
One of her collaborators, paleontologist Thaís Pansani, recently based at the Smithsonian Institution, is analyzing whether similar-aged sloth bones found at Santa Elina were charred by human-made fires, which burn at different temperatures than natural wildfires.
Her preliminary results suggest that the fresh sloth bones were present at human campsites — whether burned deliberately in cooking, or simply nearby, isn't clear. She is also testing and ruling out other possible causes for the black markings, such as natural chemical discoloration.
The first site widely accepted as older than Clovis was in Monte Verde, Chile.
Buried beneath a peat bog, researchers discovered 14,500-year-old stone tools, pieces of preserved animal hides, and various edible and medicinal plants.
"Monte Verde was a shock. You're here at the end of the world, with all this organic stuff preserved," said Vanderbilt University archaeologist Tom Dillehay, a longtime researcher at Monte Verde.
Other archaeological sites suggest even earlier dates for human presence in the Americas.
Among the oldest sites is Arroyo del Vizcaíno in Uruguay, where researchers are studying apparent human-made "cut marks" on animal bones dated to around 30,000 years ago.
At New Mexico's White Sands, researchers have uncovered human footprints dated to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, as well as similar-aged tracks of giant mammals. But some archaeologists say it's hard to imagine that humans would repeatedly traverse a site and leave no stone tools.
"They've made a strong case, but there are still some things about that site that puzzle me," said David Meltzer, an archaeologist at Southern Methodist University. "Why would people leave footprints over a long period of time, but never any artifacts?"
Odess at White Sands said that he expects and welcomes such challenges. "We didn't set out to find the oldest anything — we've really just followed the evidence where it leads," he said.
While the exact timing of humans' arrival in the Americas remains contested — and may never be known — it seems clear that if the first people arrived earlier than once thought, they didn't immediately decimate the giant beasts they encountered.
And the White Sands footprints preserve a few moments of their early interactions.
As Odess interprets them, one set of tracks shows "a giant ground sloth going along on four feet" when it encounters the footprints of a small human who's recently dashed by. The huge animal "stops and rears up on hind legs, shuffles around, then heads off in a different direction."