More than a dozen state attorneys general challenge Musk and DOGE's authority — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
Attorneys general from 14 states challenged the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to access sensitive government data and exercise "virtually unchecked power" in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., says the actions taken by Musk at the helm of DOGE can only be taken by a nominated and Senate-confirmed official. It sites constitutional provisions that delineate the powers of Congress and the president.
The attorneys general said the court should bar Musk from issuing orders to anyone in the executive branch outside DOGE and declare that his actions have no legal effect.
They asked the court to order Musk to identify ways that "any data obtained through unlawful agency access was used," destroy "such unauthorized access in his or DOGE's possession" and bar Musk and DOGE from ordering changes in the disbursement of public funds, canceling government contracts, taking steps to dismantle agencies and more.
"We are asking the court to invalidate his directives and actions and to issue a restraining order," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said during an online news conference alongside attorneys general from Arizona and New Mexico.
California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington attorneys general also joined the lawsuit.
Musk's team has roamed from agency to agency, tapping into computer systems, digging into budgets and searching for what he calls waste, fraud and abuse, while lawsuits pile up claiming President Donald Trump and DOGE are violating the law.
On Thursday, Musk called for the U.S. to "delete entire agencies" from the federal government as part of his push to radically cut spending and restructure its priorities.
Democratic attorneys general say Musk's approach is generating profound concerns among their constituents about the secure handling of sensitive information at agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the IRS.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said Trump is demonstrating "weakness" in deploying Musk rather than advancing his agenda through a Republican-controlled Congress.
"Move fast and breaking things may work in Silicon Valley for a tech company," Torrez said. "It's not good governance and it's unconstitutional."
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Associated Press reporter Jacques Billeaud contributed from Phoenix.
Lawmakers come together on alcohol tax increase – Marjorie Childress, New Mexico In Depth
An effort to curb New Mexico’s high rate of alcohol-related deaths by increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages gained momentum this week with the introduction of new legislation by a quartet of lawmakers who haven’t always agreed on the best approach.
The bill is co-sponsored by Democratic representatives Micaela Lara Cadena, D-Las Cruces, and Cristina Parajón, (D-Albuquerque), and senators Shannon Pinto, (D-Tohatchi), and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque.
In 2024, Cadena and Parajón advocated for replacing the wholesale levy on the volume of alcohol sold with a new sales tax, under the theory that the current wholesale tax by volume fell more heavily on lower-income people.
But Sedillo Lopez and Pinto, along with other lawmakers and a coalition of advocates argued that replacing the volume tax entirely would end up reducing the retail price of lower-cost alcohol products, even with a new sales tax added.
It appears that House Bill 417 would retain the current tax levied on the volume of alcohol sold, and add a 6% sales tax to alcohol purchased in restaurants, stores, and other places that sell alcohol to the public.
The idea is that the additional tax will inch up the price of alcohol for consumers. Studies have shown that higher alcohol prices reduce a range of behaviours and illnesses that contribute to the state’s high alcohol-related death rate, which leads the country. In 2023, such deaths in New Mexico tallied just under 1,900.
The bill also appears to change how revenues from the state’s alcohol tax are distributed. Currently, they are deposited in the state’s general fund and into drug court programs. That revenue from alcohol taxes is currently soaked up by the state’s bank account rather than targeted programs to reduce alcohol harms has long been criticized by public health advocates.
This bill would change that distribution, diverting tax revenue to programs designed to reduce alcohol harms, with a portion still funding drug courts. Most of the new sales tax appears to be designated for a tribal alcohol harms fund and a portion will also go to fund research at University of New Mexico and evaluation efforts.
New Mexico Senate committee advances combined bill designed to protect state surface water — Danielle Prokop and Lily Alexander, Source New Mexico
The Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced legislation that combines two bills that aims to increase water quality protections for much of New Mexico and regulate pollution discharged into state surface waters. Both Senate Bill 21 and Senate Bill 22 will now be merged into an amended SB 21. The updated version of the proposal was not yet available Thursday on the Legislature’s website.
The legislation, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) and Rep. Kristina Ortez (D-Taos), is a response to a U.S. Supreme Court 2023 Sackett v. EPA decision, which dramatically decreased federal Clean Water Act protections for intermittent waters, which accounts for nearly 95% of New Mexico’s streams and rivers. It would also add a state program to do the permitting in the New Mexico Environment Department.
Tannis Fox, a senior attorney with Western Environmental Law Center, said this bill reinstates protections from discharges from wastewater plants, mining, construction and other pollution sources that existed over fifty years, before being narrowed by court decisions.
“These are waters that formerly had protections from discharges and the sky didn’t fall,” Fox said. “Businesses were able to get permits, and conduct their business before.”
Supporters of the legislation, including Pueblo of Laguna Gov. Harry Antonio Jr., referenced the Sackett v. EPA decision.
“Passing SB 21 and SB 22 is a top legislative priority for Laguna,” Antonio said at the committee hearing Wednesday evening. “Achieving this goal is essential to begin to reestablish surface water protections that have ensured clean water for generations.”
Lobbyists in opposition expressed concerns about the bill’s impact on the farm, dairy and construction industries, and said the new permit requirements may duplicate existing permit requirements.
The combined bill now heads to its third committee: Senate Finance. If it advances through its final committee, the bill still requires a vote of the full Senate, and passage through House committees and a vote of the full House.
Even if the bill passes, sponsors and advocates said the state’s takeover of a surface water permitting program would take a few years to stand up.
The vote to advance the bill occurred along party lines. Sen. Crystal Brantley (R-Elephant Butte) objected to the bill, calling it a “great overreach” in establishing protections for intermittent waters — or arroyos and rivers that run dry — and questioned if the state’s environment department would have the personnel to take on a permitting program.
Senators approved the bill with amendments to allow penalties from water pollution violations to add to funding the quality permitting program. Sponsors added specific language laying out that state regulators have the authority to clean up groundwater and cut a $50 million dollar appropriation for groundwater pollution cleanup, noting that the money was adopted in the House’s version of the budget.
The combined version of the bill also addressed concerns raised in a previous hearing that it did not match all the exemptions — such as for farming — to Clean Water Act permit requirements, according to Jonas Armstrong, the Water Protection Division director at the NMED.
“This has been a long-term plan for New Mexicans to take control of protecting New Mexico’s waters,” Armstrong said. “Sackett accelerated and emphasized that need.”
Investigation turns up an Illicit drug in a dozen racehorses following the high-stakes All American — Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
New Mexico regulators have suspended two prominent horse trainers after tests turned up a banned medication in a dozen racehorses that competed in one of the world's most recognized and richest quarter-horse events.
Officials with the New Mexico Racing Commission described it as unprecedented to have so many top finishers test positive on such an important race day. The All American is equivalent to the Kentucky Derby for thoroughbreds.
More than $5 million in purse money for the All American Futurity and the other races run that September day had been withheld pending the outcome of the testing, which took months to complete.
Regulators announced the suspensions during a news conference Wednesday. The formal notices were issued Thursday.
"These poor innocent horses are being administered these illicit drugs to try to get an unfair advantage in our big races. And it was this commission's duty and job to try to discover that," said Ismael "Izzy" Trejo, the commission's executive director.
It was the distressed behavior of Hezgothelook Z, the winner of the All American and the Triple Crown, that caught the attention of veterinarians and race fans. That spurred an investigation to determine what exactly was in the horse's blood.
Lab tests discovered carmoterol in Hezgothelook Z and 11 other horses that ran in high-stakes races, including the $3 million All American Futurity and the $1 million All American Derby. The drug can improve breathing but also is known to build muscle.
It marked the first time carmoterol was detected in samples taken from horses racing in New Mexico. Commission officials said it also has been found recently by regulators in California and Texas.
The violations were linked to two trainers, Toby Keeton and Heath Taylor. The suspensions mean they will be barred from racing in North America pending further disciplinary proceedings. Keeton did not return phone messages, and Taylor said he had yet to see the formal notice.
The horses go on a list that will prevent them from being run in any licensed jurisdiction in North America until the adjudication process is finalized.
Keeton already was suspended in Texas, after the racing commission there reported positive tests of carmoterol in some horses he raced at Lone Star Park last September.
Noting that the trainers operated out of other states and have participated in races throughout the country, New Mexico Racing Commission Chairman Billy Smith expressed concerns that the latest positive test results could ripple throughout the horse racing industry.
"A lot of people are getting hurt over this. It changes pedigrees. There are so many things it changes," Smith said. "We're going to lose some owners, we're going to lose some trainers and participants. So it's definitely going to hurt. It is going to take time for this to heal over."
New Mexico's horse racing industry was rocked in 2012 by doping allegations uncovered by a New York Times investigation. Expanded testing and other regulations followed, with the commission now touting its aggressive program for ferreting out cheaters with testing done both immediately after races and when the horses are out of competition. The sanctions can be steep, with numerous violations leading to suspensions that can last decades.
Commission officials said Wednesday that the use of illicit drugs appears to have fallen even more over the last several years, dropping from 3.5% of samples resulting in violations in 2017 to just over one-half of a percent last year.
Trejo said the challenge is developing standards for emerging drugs that might boost a horse's performance.
"There's thousands and thousands and thousands of drugs in this world," he said. "And trying to find that needle in the haystack is very difficult."
BernCo board may have violated state law while investigating possible ordinance violation - Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
A watchdog organization focused on government transparency says the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners may have broken the state’s open meeting law while looking into whether the county treasurer violated the county’s hiring rules.
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government says commissioners failed to adequately describe their intentions on agendas for closed meetings purportedly focused on whether County Treasurer Tim Eichenberg is allowed to hire a former elected official.
Commissioners last year voted to keep in place a one-year “cooling-off period” in the county’s code of conduct for former elected officials before they can accept employment or consulting work with the county.
Tim Eichenberg, who in November was elected county treasurer, hired former county clerk Linda Stover as his deputy. Stover was sworn in Jan. 1, the day after her term as clerk ended.
Commissioners since then have held a number of closed-door meetings to consider whether Eichenberg is in the wrong. New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Legal Director Amanda Lavin said that’s where commissioners erred. The state’s Open Meetings Act (OMA) identifies circumstances under which a meeting may be closed. Lavin said Tuesday the description on the agendas didn’t justify conducting a closed meeting. The agendas stated commissioners would discuss “restrictions on employment and appointment after leaving office.”
Lavin said the agenda didn’t make it clear what commissioners were discussing or how they justified meeting in private.
“If they can’t tell us what they’re talking about, whether or not they’re in compliance is not clear,” she said.
Lavin forwarded to City Desk ABQ an email from attorney John Grubesic of the county’s legal department, in response to an inquiry from Lavin.
“OMA is applicable to ‘meetings subject to the attorney-client privilege,’ Grubesic wrote. “In this instance, suit has not been filed, but the matter is still subject to attorney-client privilege protections.”
OMA does cite “attorney-client privileged communication pertaining to threatened or pending litigation” as an allowed reason for public bodies to meet in private, but Lavin said the “threatened litigation” exception to OMA requires there to be a credible — not merely hypothetical — possibility that a public body will be engaged in litigation.
Lavin said she reached out to the county for clarification and did not receive a satisfactory response.
Lavin said the foundation filed the complaint after communicating with county legal staff. She said the county didn’t provide enough information, but that the New Mexico Department Department of Justice can compel the county to defend its position.
She said she learned Tuesday morning the matter had been assigned to someone with the New Mexico Department Department of Justice for evaluation. The Board of Commissioners has another closed meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Attorney at center of DWI police corruption probe in Albuquerque pleads guilty - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
An Albuquerque attorney who investigators alleged was at the center of a sweeping corruption scandal that allowed people arrested for driving while intoxicated to evade conviction has pleaded guilty to federal charges, according to a plea agreement filed Wednesday.
Thomas Clear III admitted to running what federal authorities have referred to as a "DWI Enterprise" in which his firm offered gifts and thousands of dollars in bribes to officers in exchange for having DWI cases dismissed. His plea comes a day after he was suspended from practicing law by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
A third former Albuquerque police officer, Neill Elsman, also pleaded guilty Wednesday. He was among 12 officers placed on leave after the allegations became public last year.
Clear pleaded guilty to racketeering, bribery and two extortion related counts. Elsman pleaded guilty to receiving a bribe and two counts of attempted interference with commerce by extortion.
Clear's former paralegal Ricardo Mendez pleaded guilty to a slew of federal charges last month that included racketeering and bribery.
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said Wednesday that his department worked with the FBI and federal prosecutors to expose the scheme and that the police force has worked internally to hold officers accountable. Aside from three former officers reaching plea agreements, Medina noted that 10 officers have left the department as a result of the investigation.
"As I have said, we will leave no stone unturned, even if it means going back 30 years to scrutinize the actions of officers," Medina said. "We are learning more details every day and we anticipate exposing more wrongdoing as our investigation continues."
In his plea agreement, Clear said he worked with numerous officers from the Albuquerque Police Department, New Mexico State Police and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office as part of the scheme, in which officers would receive money or gifts to not appear in court as a necessary witness to the driving incident, resulting in the dismissal of the case.
Clear said the enterprise evolved over the years, growing as more Albuquerque officers began referring cases to his law firm so they could secure and increase payments to themselves. He said some officers would help recruit and train the "next generation" within the police force's DWI unit so they also could participate in the scheme.
Clear also said Mendez was warned about which officers to stay away from, explaining there were some in the unit who would have reported the criminal activity had they known about it. Still, he said, generational participation in the scheme allowed it to "take root amongst almost the entire APD DWI unit over a lengthy period of time."
New Mexico jury convicts former officer in fatal shooting of Black man at gas station - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A former police officer was found guilty Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man during a 2022 confrontation at a New Mexico gas station.
Las Cruces police Officer Brad Lunsford's verdict in a jury trial is the latest outcome in cases that prosecutors have linked to systematic brutality against Black people by members of law enforcement, nearly five years after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
Lunsford, who is white, had pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Jose Coronado, said he will ask the judge to review the verdict for its legal sufficiency.
"While I respect the jury's verdict, I am extremely disappointed in it. I don't believe the state met its burden," he said in an email to The Associated Press.
Prosecutors said he shot Presley Eze at point-blank range in a scuffle after police responded to a 911 call from a gas station attendant who reported that Eze stole beer. Eze allegedly placed his hand on a second officer's stun gun before being shot.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the use of deadly force was not reasonable, noting that Lunsford immediately drew his service weapon and shot Eze in the back of the head.
"Today's verdict reaffirms a fundamental principle: no one is above the law — not even those sworn to uphold it. Officer Lunsford's actions were not just a tragic lapse in judgment; they were an egregious abuse of power that cost Presley Eze his life," Torrez said in a statement after the verdict was announced.
The charge of voluntary manslaughter with a firearms enhancement carries a possible sentence of up to nine years in prison. Evidence at trial included police body camera video of the confrontation, in which police pulled Eze from a vehicle and the struggle ensued.
Philip Stinson, a professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, said most fatal shootings by on-duty officers are determined to be legally justified under precedent stemming from two 1980s-era U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
"It is incredibly difficult for a prosecutor to obtain a conviction in a jury trial in one of these cases, and that's because jurors are very reluctant to second guess the split-second, often life-or-death decisions of an on-duty police officer in a potentially violent street encounter," Stinson said. "Anything can happen, but it's only in the most egregious cases."
Records compiled by Stinson, university colleagues and students through the Police Integrity Research Group show that 205 nonfederal law enforcement officers have been arrested on criminal charges of homicide or manslaughter over the past 20 years, resulting in 66 convictions, 27 convictions of them for manslaughter or homicide.
"If you do get a conviction, it's often for the lesser offense," Stinson said.
More than 900 fatal shootings by on-duty state and local law enforcement officers typically take place each year in the U.S., he said
In pursuing a criminal charge against Lunsford, Torrez described the killing of Eze as a tragedy and "yet another example of poor police tactics resulting in an unjustifiable use of force to subdue an individual resisting arrest for the commission of a minor crime."
Santa Fe County and its sheriff’s department won’t participate in federal immigration enforcement - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
The Santa Fe County Commission unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday confirming that the county supports residents without legal status and won’t participate in federal immigration enforcement.
The resolution from Commissioner Lisa Cacari Stone states that the county jail won’t house people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE) for violating immigration laws. Nor will it “honor administrative warrants or hold requests” from the agency.
It goes on to make clear that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office does not “directly enforce immigration laws” and that county resources cannot be used to gather residents’ immigration status “unless expressly required by law.”
According to the resolution, the county will create a resource page for local immigrants, train employees on the resolution, and create a team to “identify and explore potential solutions to service gaps for immigrant residents.”
The New Mexico Republican Party characterized the resolution as “instructing blatant defiance” against ICE and calling on Attorney General Raúl Torrez to challenge the county to uphold federal law.