Gene Hackman and his wife tested negative for carbon monoxide, sheriff says - By Susan Montoya Bryan And John Seewer Associated Press
Authorities investigating the deaths of Oscar-winner Gene Hackman and his wife said Friday they have found the two tested negative for carbon monoxide, but the cause of death is still unknown.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said he spoke with the pathologist from the New Mexico office of the medical investigator, who said that both Hackman and Arakawa tested negative for carbon monoxide.
The two apparently had been dead for days or even a couple of weeks when investigators found their bodies while searching the couple's Santa Fe home on Wednesday. Investigators are trying to figure out the last time anyone saw or spoke to them, Mendoza told NBC's "Today" show on Friday.
"That is a challenge because they were very private individuals," the sheriff said, noting that the autopsy and toxicology testing results could take months.
Hackman, 95, was found Wednesday in an entryway of the home and Arakawa, 65, was found lying on her side in the bathroom. A dead German shepherd was found in a kennel near Arakawa, Mendoza said Thursday.
There was an open prescription bottle and pills on a countertop near Arakawa, according to the search warrant. According to court records filed Friday, authorities who searched the home retrieved medication that treats high blood pressure and chest pain, thyroid medication, Tylenol, two cellphones, a monthly planner and records from medical diagnostics testing.
There was no indication of foul play, according to the sheriff's office. Detectives wrote in a search warrant affidavit that investigators thought the deaths were "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation."
No gas leaks were discovered in and around the home, but a detective noted in the affidavit that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning.
A space heater was next to Arakawa and may have fallen when she abruptly fell to the floor, according to the affidavit. The sheriff's office planned a Friday afternoon news conference to provide updates.
A maintenance worker who showed up to do routine work at the house discovered their bodies, investigators said. The worker said he was unable to get inside when a 911 operator asked whether the people in the house were breathing.
"I have no idea," the subdivision's caretaker said on the call. "I am not inside the house. It's closed. It's locked. I can't go in. But I can see she's laying down on the floor from the window."
He and another worker later told authorities that they rarely saw the homeowners and that their last contact with them had been about two weeks ago.
Mendoza told "Today" there were several conflicting stories about which doors were locked at the house. Several were unlocked and a rear door was open, which allowed two dogs that survived to go in and out. He also said he thought the front door was closed but unlocked.
Hackman was among the most accomplished actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for "The French Connection" in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for "Unforgiven" two decades later. He also won praise for his role as a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite "Hoosiers."
He met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist, at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They moved to Santa Fe by the end of the decade. Their Pueblo revival home, sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
In his first couple of decades in New Mexico, Hackman was often seen around the state capital and served on the board of trustees for the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum from 1997-2004.
In recent years, he was far less visible. Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired from acting about 20 years ago.
Hackman had three children from a previous marriage. He and Arakawa had no children but were known for having German shepherds.
This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of the Santa Fe County Sheriff.
NM Gov fire-insurance proposal ‘won’t happen this session’ - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
After announcing a proposal to create a state-sponsored fire insurance program in her State of the State address a month ago, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will instead commission a study on the idea because her office failed to find a sponsor, according to a spokesperson for her office.
Citing the wildfires in Los Angeles and ones here in New Mexico, the governor dedicated part of her speech to announce the creation of a state-run fire insurance program separate from the private market.
“Fires spurred by climate change have also ravaged communities in our state, testing our patience and resilience as we struggle under the weight of natural disasters in our backyards,” Lujan Grisham said in her speech. “As if the fires themselves aren’t difficult enough, getting insurance protection is becoming impossible, either because it’s simply no longer available or exorbitantly expensive.”
The program would also be separate from the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, governor’s spokesperson Michael Coleman said after the speech, which was created by the Legislature in 1969 to serve as an insurer of last resort primarily in fire-prone areas.
The governor’s program would be structured similar to the state’s workers’ compensation fund, requiring initial state funding and “limited liability” to the state, with the ultimate goal of providing coverage to anyone who needs it, Coleman said.
But the governor’s office could not find a sponsor for the legislation, Coleman told Source New Mexico on Thursday afternoon. Instead, the governor will commission a study on the issue, a spokesperson said.
“The governor will keep pursuing this idea, but it won’t happen this session,” Coleman said in an email.
Several bills making progress this session aim to spur mitigation of fire-prone communities and homes, and revamp the FAIR plan. Senate Bill 81, which the state Office of the Superintendent of Insurance endorses, would increase coverage limits from $350,000 to $1 million for homes and also change the makeup of the FAIR plan board, which is now made up of insurance industry leaders, to include a climate scientist, a consumer advocate, a catastrophic risk management expert and others.
Since 2022, average premiums have increased 60% across the state, the OSI chief actuary recently testified, and insurers are increasingly canceling policies or refusing to renew them. The increases come as wildfires in New Mexico are occurring with more frequency and ferocity, including the state’s biggest-ever wildfire in 2022 and the most destructive, in terms of structures destroyed, last summer.
Texas measles cases rise to 146 in an outbreak that led to a child's death - By Jamie Stengle Associated Press
The number of people with measles in Texas increased to 146 in an outbreak that led this week to the death of an unvaccinated school-aged child, health officials said Friday.
The number of cases — Texas' largest in nearly 30 years — increased by 22 since Tuesday. The Texas Department of State Health Services said cases span over nine counties in Texas, including almost 100 in Gaines County, and 20 patients have been hospitalized.
The child who died Tuesday night in the outbreak is the first U.S. death from the highly contagious but preventable respiratory disease since 2015, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The child was treated at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, though the facility said the patient didn't live in Lubbock County.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation's top health official and a vaccine critic, said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services was watching cases but dismissed the outbreak as "not unusual."
But on Friday afternoon, Kennedy said in a post on X that his heart went out to families impacted by the outbreak, and he recognized "the serious impact of this outbreak on families, children, and healthcare workers."
Kennedy went on to say in the post that his agency will continue to fund Texas' immunization program and that ending the outbreak is a "top priority" for him and his team.
The virus has largely spread through rural, oil rig-dotted West Texas, with cases concentrated in a "close-knit, undervaccinated" Mennonite community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton has said.
Gaines County has a strong homeschooling and private school community. It is also home to one of the highest rates of school-aged children in Texas who have opted out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% skipping a required dose last school year.
Texas law allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. Anton has said the number of unvaccinated kids in Gaines County is likely significantly higher because homeschooled children's data would not be reported.
The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years. Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
Vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic, and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks.
The U.S. had considered measles, a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours, eliminated in 2000, which meant there had been a halt in continuous spread of the disease for at least a year. Measles cases rose in 2024, including a Chicago outbreak that sickened more than 60.
Eastern New Mexico has nine cases of measles currently, but the state health department said there is no connection to the outbreak in West Texas.
Statewide single-use plastic bag ban moves forward in the Legislature - Leah Romero, Source New Mexico
New Mexicans use at least 330 million single-use plastic bags a year, according to the New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. These bags are used for 12 minutes on average, but have a life expectancy of 1,000 years.
House Bill 392, the Single-Use Plastic Bag Act, proposes establishing a statewide ban on the bags, moving the entire state to join Carlsbad, Las Cruces, Silver City, Santa Fe and Taos in reducing plastic waste. The bill, carried by Rep. Tara Lujan (D-Santa Fe), passed through the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee Thursday on a party line vote of 7-4. It will head to the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee next.
“This bill would drastically reduce the amount of litter in the Land of Enchantment by banning single-use plastic bags with some common sense exceptions,” Lujan said the first time the bill was discussed by the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 20.
The bill would require stores to charge a 10-cent fee per paper bag, with 3 cents going to the store and the rest going to the municipality or county for litter reduction and outreach. Lujan explained to committee members that municipalities have the choice to “opt into” the program and adopt an ordinance to do so. If they choose not to join, the seven cents per bag will go to the Environment Department for litter reduction programs.
Exceptions to the bag ban include ones used: for takeout food; separating produce for sanitary reasons; prescription drugs; drycleaning and several other situations. HB392 also allows municipalities or the Environment Department to collect fines from a retail establishment if they do not comply. If passed, the bill would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
The fiscal impact report notes that in addition to creating microplastics, plastic bags are considered “contaminants” by materials recovery facilities. They can shut down facility operations for hours if they get wrapped around sorting equipment and it can be dangerous for workers to remove the bags from machinery. The report estimates facilities could save $3.8 million a year if plastic bags were banned.
Rep. Jonathan Henry (R-Artesia) asked why the Legislature wouldn’t allow municipalities or counties to take the time to make their own decision about adopting a plastic bag ban.
“This has been on the table for quite a while, if you will, and communities have had the opportunity to opt in,” Lujan responded. “We’re at a critical place where we need to take the action and that’s what this bill delivers.”
Lujan co-sponsored a similar bill in 2023, Senate Bill 243, but it died in committee before it could be discussed on the Senate floor. Albuquerque also established a single-use plastic bag ban in 2020, but the City Council repealed the ban in March 2022, after overriding a veto from Mayor Tim Keller.
Danielle Prokop contributed to the reporting and writing of this article.
Two city councilors propose making the appeal process for city developments more affordable - Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
Two Albuquerque city councilors are pushing to nix a requirement that could cost some neighborhood associations in legal fees if their appeals of commercial or residential developments are denied.
Councilors Nichole Rogers and Renée Grout are sponsoring a measure that would amend a controversial measure the City Council passed during a Jan. 6 meeting — which made multiple changes to the city’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO).
“This is in direct response to my constituents who were upset about several things in the original bill,” Rogers told City Desk ABQ. “Specifically about how whoever the losing party is has to pay the other party’s legal fees. I heard loud and clear from my neighborhoods that that would be a detriment to them.”
The city’s IDO outlines zoning and development rules for how city land can be used. The approved changes to the IDO included a requirement that if a development application is approved and the appeal is denied, the party who appealed is responsible for paying legal fees for both parties. If a development application is denied, then all parties would pay their own costs.
Rogers and Grouts’ measure would remove the requirement because of how it “disproportionately affected neighborhood associations.” Councilors approved the measure during a Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee meeting on Wednesday.
“That [requirement] would stop them from being able to put it in an appeal because they don’t have that amount of funding…this is just amending it so that everybody takes care of their own legal fees,” Rogers said.
A handful of residents urged councilors’ support of the effort during the committee meeting — including attorney Leslie Padilla, who said there are very few laws requiring “only one side of an appeal to pay the cost of the other side if they lose the appeal.”
“Requiring the appellant to pay the attorney’s fees of the applicant when the appellant loses, would dissuade any challenge in the first place, not just frivolous appeals, it discourages all appeals,” Padilla said. “Most individuals and neighborhood associations have very little or no ability to pay for their own attorneys, much less the legal fees of the other side. I think this provision, if allowed to stand, will have the effect of allowing land use decisions, however badly reasoned or poorly decided, to go unchallenged.”
Another resident, Jordon McConnell, spoke against the legislation and told councilors that it does not help the housing crisis. McConnell said that “appeals shouldn’t be a free tool for blocking housing.”
“A fair appeals process allows communities to have a voice, but this bill removes accountability, shifting the cost of failed appeals onto home builders, renters and taxpayers, instead of those who chose to file them,” McConnell said. “That’s not fairness, It’s obstruction…Many Burqueños, myself included, are rent-burdened, spending over a third of our income to keep a roof over our heads. Yet this proposal asks us, those struggling to afford housing, to bear the cost of appeals that delay or block homes.”
Grout said not all appeals have to do with housing, but she knows that it can be frustrating for developers to get through the process. She said she thinks the council needs to be “more thoughtful when we consider appeals and really think about both sides.”
Council President Brook Bassan was the only councilor to vote against the measure because of the difference between an appeal on an approved application and a denied application. Bassan said she agreed with how the original bill was written.
“If by the end of that process, there is an approval and then there’s an appeal, I do think that at some point in the judicial system, sometimes it is required that if you are on the losing end, you have to pay attorney’s fees,” Bassan said. “To me, that is the differentiating factor that I think is very significant: the difference between an approved or a denied land use matter.”
The full City Council is expected to consider the measure during its March 17 meeting. If approved, each party would be responsible for their own legal fees, regardless of whether the development application is denied or approved.
New Mexico governor signs crime and behavioral health bills - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed three pieces of legislation on Thursday that she called a “monumental achievement” and a thoughtful effort to address crime, “the most serious issue our state is facing.”
At a packed signing ceremony and news conference on the Roundhouse’s fourth floor on Thursday morning, Lujan Grisham signed into law House Bill 8, known as the crime package, along with Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 3, known as the behavioral health package.
Lujan Grisham said the new laws come as the result of atypical cooperative legislative work, where lawmakers in both the House and Senate committed to making them the first priority for the 60-day session.
The new laws follow a failed and contentious special session on public safety last summer, after which the governor embarked on a statewide tour of town halls, gathering public support for her agenda.
House Speaker Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) said lawmakers promised last summer to listen to various interests, and worked with both parties and both chambers to come up with “the best path possible” to care for the most vulnerable and keep communities safe.
“I’m not one of the older dudes in the room, but from what I understand from my Senate colleagues, this is the first time that this level of cooperation has happened,” Martínez said. “And keep in mind: it happened over the course of 30 days on a set of very, very difficult issues.”
Senate Majority Floor Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) said the new laws are the commitment lawmakers made when the special session in 2024 “did not go the way I know the governor wanted it to go.”
“With Senate Bill 3, the stars really aligned when you take on something this big, doing it in any session would be challenging, but doing on an expedited basis was something that I am very proud of,” Wirth said. “This is a little different. I guess I am the old dude on this.”
The governor on Thursday did not sign Senate Bill 2, which would give $140 million to 13 state agencies for grants and improvements from housing service providers to reading clinics and paying for treatment, because the money proposed in that bill was included in House Bill 2, the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Wirth said.
House Judiciary Chair Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) said House Bill 8 contains vetted approaches to deter crime worked on for hundreds of hours, and she is particularly proud of the provisions dealing with competency, which Lujan Grisham “really elevated for us.”
Chandler said the new law creates two pathways: one for people who are seriously ill and potentially dangerous, and the other for those who may get treatment and have their issues addressed more appropriately than in the past.
Senate Bill 3 makes the state court system responsible for making plans for what the specific behavioral health needs are in each region, and for providing case management. With the bill signed into law, New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice David Thomson said the judicial branch will immediately start implementing it.
“Both the Supreme Court and the Administrative Office of the Courts are committed to doing that,” Thomson said. “The government works when the branches come together.”
Lujan Grisham also outlined her priorities for the remainder of the session, including pretrial detention, civil commitment, changes to the Children’s Code and gun violence.
“I don’t know if I’m willing to say it’s like a step on the moon but we’re in a rocket,” she said. “Now I need us to land and do more stuff.”
FUTURE SPECIAL SESSION WOULD DEPEND ON FEDERAL ACTION
The U.S. House GOP’s budget resolution, which President Donald Trump has endorsed, calls for the federal House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the Medicaid and Medicare health programs, to find at least $880 billion in cost savings to aid Republicans in paying for other parts of the bill.Congressional Democrats have argued that Medicaid would bear the brunt of those cuts because there’s no other way to find those savings.
Lujan Grisham said at an event in Albuquerque on Wednesday she is likely to call a special session in October, depending on whether the federal government cuts Medicaid.
When asked on Thursday how she envisions what New Mexico could do about possible federal budget cuts, she said she would expect a “great deal of agreement” if New Mexico needs to adjust its budget before a federal budget would take effect.
“I’m not worried about the willingness of this body to protect New Mexicans from draconian, unfair federal changes,” she said.
Medicaid is how most New Mexican children get health care, she said, and cuts to the program would be catastrophic.
“You take out Medicaid, it all collapses,” she said. “Every hospital, every behavioral health clinic, every federally qualified health center.”
She said she and legislative leaders have New Mexicans’ backs “to the highest degree that we can.”
“We have to wait and see what that is, when that is, where that is,” she said. “Special sessions, right now, are for emergencies. These are very serious issues that the federal government is creating, that we would attend to.”
What to know about the lives and deaths of Hollywood icon Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa - By Jesse Bedayn, Associated Press/Report For America
Gene Hackman, a Hollywood giant and two-time Oscar winner, was found dead along with his wife and dog in their New Mexico home Wednesday, though investigators believe they may have been dead for some time and the cause of death has yet to be revealed.
Hackman, 95, was a prolific actor who performed as an array of heroes and villains in films including "The French Connection," "Hoosiers" and "Superman" from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
Questions swirl around the deaths as details of the scene trickle out. Here is what we know:
What we know about the deaths
Investigators in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have not said whether they have determined the cause of death.
According to a search warrant affidavit, a maintenance worker called police after finding the bodies Wednesday. He reported the home's front door was open when he arrived to do routine work.
In a 911 call, the maintenance worker said he could see Hackman's wife, 63-year-old Betsy Arakawa, laying on the floor through a window but he was unable to get inside.
Hackman's body was discovered in the home's entryway and Arakawa was found dead next to a space heater in a bathroom. On a countertop near Arakawa, pills were scattered next to an open prescription bottle, according to the search warrant.
Police said they found the body of a German shepherd in the bathroom closet. Two other dogs were found alive on the property.
No foul play was suspected, authorities said, though a search warrant showed investigators thought the deaths were "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation."
The New Mexico Gas Co. tested gas lines at the home but didn't find any signs of problems at the time, according to the warrant.
An investigator noted people may not show signs of poisoning if they are exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide, but also there weren't signs of a leak.
Results of autopsies conducted on both bodies were not available Thursday, authorities said.
What was Hackman famous for?
Hackman appeared in a broad range of movie roles dating back to 1961, when he debuted in "Mad Dog Coll." Through the next four decades, his roles including arch nemesis Lex Luthor in the "Superman" movies and the iconic coach in "Hoosiers" helped put Hackman on a Hollywood pedestal.
Hackman's performance as an obsessed and amoral cop in the 1971 film "The French Connection" earned an Oscar for best actor in a leading role and was considered one of his defining roles. Hackman swung another Oscar for playing a sadistic sheriff in 1992's "Unforgiven."
Hackman demurred from the pomp of celebrity and was considered an actor's actor who focused on the job and not on his image, dodging social circuit appearances beyond some award ceremonies.
As a boy, films offered Hackman an escape from a tumultuous homelife with an abusive father who left the family when Hackman was 13.
How is Hollywood reacting?
Sympathy and admiration for Hackman poured in from Hollywood legends including director Francis Ford Coppola, actor-director Clint Eastwood and actor Bill Murray.
Murray worked with Hackman on director Wes Anderson's 2001 film "The Royal Tennenbaums." Hackman gave young directors such as Anderson a hard time but brought skill to the set, Murray said.
"I watched him once do, like, 25 takes where he did it perfectly with an actor who kept blowing it every single time," Murray told The Associated Press. "He was a great one. He was a great actor."
Actor Cary Elwes called Hackman a "force of nature."
"Growing up on his movies was an absolute thrill for me," Elwes said on Instagram. "To observe his remarkable facility and humanity in every role was something to behold."
Everything you ever wanted to learn about acting can be found in any of Hackman's performances, actor Steve Toussaint posted on Instagram.
"'The French Connection.' 'Crimson Tide,' 'The Conversation.' Gosh! I could go on," Toussaint wrote.
Who was his wife?
Arakawa was born in Hawaii in December 1959 and grew up in the state. She studied piano while growing up in Honolulu and, as an 11-year-old sixth grader, performed in youth concerts in front of thousands of first and second graders at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported in 1971.
Arakawa attended the University of Southern California from 1981 through 1983, the university said in an email.
While in Los Angeles, she was a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Aztecs, a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League, and worked as a production assistant on the television game show "Card Sharks," the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported in 1981.
The classically trained pianist met Hackman while working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They soon moved in together and relocated to Santa Fe by the end of the decade.
Arakawa was vice president of Pandora's, a home decor and furnishing store in Santa Fe, according to New Mexico business records.
Where were Hackman and his wife living?
Their Southwestern-style ranch sits atop a hill with views of the Rocky Mountains far from Hollywood. The area is known as a preferred location among artists and a retreat for celebrities.
The home was featured in a 1990 article by Architectural Digest. The four-bedroom, 8,700-square-foot (808-square-meter) structure on 6 acres (2.4 hectares) had an estimated market value of a little over $4 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records.
Hackman often was seen around the historic state capital. His hobbies included painting, deep-sea diving and, later in life, writing novels. The couple enjoyed watching DVDs that Arakawa would rent, Hackman told the film magazine Empire in a 2009 interview.
In his later years, Hackman was seen far less in public. Papers reported sightings of Hackman in mundane scenarios, such as when The New York Post detailed the former actor pumping gas and getting a chicken sandwich at Wendy's in 2023.
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Associated Press reporters Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.
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Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Heinrich and Vasquez ask attorney general to investigate clinic for denying care – KUNM News
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez want the New Mexico Department of Justice to investigate a health center in southern New Mexico that turned away people who could not provide proof of citizenship.
The lawmakers sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Raúl Torrez asking him to look into whether the Ben Archer Health Centers violated federal or state law and “to take appropriate legal action pursuant to those findings.”
The company operates 11 clinics in Southern New Mexico. At least three are based in schools. On Wednesday morning, an employee at a Las Cruces clinic posted a sign warning that “any ineligible alien who entered the United States illegally or is otherwise unlawfully present in the United States does not qualify for federally funded services at Ben Archer Health Center.”
It cited an executive order that President Donald Trump signed directing all members of his cabinet to identify ways in which federal funds are being spent on “illegal aliens.”
Heinrich and Vasquez note the clinics are funded by federal, state and county money and are thus obliged to provide quality primary care to all New Mexicans. The letter notes a diabetic patient was unable to refill their insulin and another could not get their psychotropic medication.
Heinrich and Vasquez write that the clinic removed its signs after receiving calls from the New Mexico Department of Health and the Primary Care Association of New Mexico. But they add that Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Ignacio Ruiz talked with Ben Archer’s chief financial officer, who said the clinics will continue to demand proof of citizenship.
Ruiz told KUNM on Wednesday he worried these actions would make families fearful of seeking care. A call to Ben Archer Health Centers by KUNM for comment was not immediately returned.