Trump order seeks to upend elections - By New Mexico Political Report
As part of his wide-ranging use of executive orders, President Donald Trump turned his attention to state election administration, a move that quickly prompted voting rights groups and others to promise lawsuits.
The order seeks to compel states to require proof of citizenship to vote and takes aim at mail-in balloting in states that allow ballots to arrive after Election Day to be counted.
Critics say a provision requiring documentary proof of citizenship would disenfranchise millions of legal voters, including the majority of married women who adopted their spouse’s surname, as the name on the identification would not match the birth certificate.
Since 2016, Trump has pushed unfounded conspiracy theories about elections, which only increased after he lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.
Voter fraud is extremely rare, and, even when it does happen, is often caught before the votes are tabulated.
The executive order said the federal government would withhold federal funds for states that do not comply.
A spokesman for the New Mexico Secretary of State told NM Political Report Tuesday that the office was still digging into the executive order.
“It is important to emphasize, though, that elections are the constitutional purview of the states, except for narrowly focused congressional actions,” Secretary of State spokesman Alex Curtas said. “The public should anticipate legal efforts to oppose this executive order.”
Curtas said the SOS’ office is “working closely with the New Mexico Department of Justice to analyze the impact of this executive order on New Mexico’s voters and election administrators.”
Wednesday, the League of Women Voters of the United States slammed the executive order, with the group’s CEO Celina Stewart calling it “an assault on our republic and a dangerous attempt to silence American voters.”
The group’s chief counsel, Marcia Johnson, said the order is “plainly unlawful.”
“The League is committed to working with our partners and legal advocates to pursue all avenues in fighting back against this dangerous order, and we will use every tool at our disposal to defend voters from unjust restrictions on their freedom to vote,” Johnson said.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the executive order “a significant overreach of executive power” that “poses a direct threat to the fundamental right to vote.”
“We will do everything in our power to stop this unconstitutional attack on the right to vote to ensure that every eligible American can participate in our democracy,” ACLU Voting Rights Project Director Sophia Lin Lakin said. “We will see President Trump in court.”
Federal judge struggles with scope of relief for fired workers - By Brian Witte, Associated Press
A federal judge in Maryland said Wednesday he will at least briefly extend a temporary order requiring the Trump administration to bring back federal workers who were fired as part of a dramatic downsizing of the federal workforce, but the judge said he was struggling with the scope of a broad order.
U.S. District Judge James Bredar said he had "great reluctance" to issue a sweeping national preliminary injunction in the case, where 19 states and the District of Columbia contend they have been harmed by a large-scale reduction in the federal workforce without warning as required by law.
Bredar asked attorneys for plaintiff states and the federal government to submit supplemental documents by 10 a.m. Thursday on the question of the ramifications for the 19 states seeking relief and the 31 states that are not parties to the case.
During a federal court hearing in Baltimore, Bredar said "there's a lot of things wrong with national injunctions, just on a jurisprudential level, and courts and commentators are all over the issue."
"That doesn't mean the court won't enter one, if the circumstances and law on this case compel it, but I'm going to resist doing it," Bredar said. "You're going to have to show me that it's essential to remedying any harms that your clients are specifically experiencing."
The case is complicated by the fact that some federal employees may work a job in a state that is a party to the lawsuit, while they may live in a state that isn't. An example is in the Washington area, where an affected federal worker might live in Virginia, which isn't one of the states in the complaint, but work at a federal job in Maryland or the District of Columbia, which are parties in the lawsuit.
In the meantime, the judge said he planned to extend a temporary restraining order he issued last week that required the federal government to reinstate more than 24,000 federal workers. The order expires Thursday night, but the judge said he would extend it "at least briefly, because I think it's doubtful that given the work that still has to be accomplished that I could complete my opinion and any orders related to this before that TRO runs out."
The government is appealing the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court last week denied the administration's request for a stay of the temporary restraining order, since the district court held the Wednesday hearing. At the time, Judge Allison Jones Rushing took issue with the scope of district court rulings. She noted she was writing to "echo the growing concerns over district courts issuing nationwide injunctions to order redress for those who have not sought it."
The administration is already appealing to the Supreme Court a similar order to reinstate probationary workers from a judge in California. The Justice Department argues that federal judges can't force the executive branch to reverse its decisions on hiring and firing. Still, the government has been taking steps to rehire fired workers under those orders.
Both judges have found that the president can terminate probationary workers but determined the administration violated the law in the way they carried out the layoffs.
Bredar previously found that firings amount to a large-scale reduction in force that's subject to specific rules, including giving advance notice to states affected by the layoffs.
His ruling came in a lawsuit filed by 19 states that contend the Trump administration blindsided them with the layoffs, which could have devastating consequences for their state finances.
The Trump administration, on the other hand, argues that the states have no right to try and influence the federal government's relationship with its own workers. Republican President Donald Trump claims the cuts target fraud, waste and abuse in a bloated federal government.
Probationary workers have been targeted for layoffs across the federal government because they're usually new to the job and lack full civil service protection. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the mass firings.
The states suing the Trump administration include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The District of Columbia also is a plaintiff.
Proposed changes to NM reading instruction await governor’s signature - By Leah Romero, Source New Mexico
While efforts to pass a proposed overhaul to how New Mexico educators teach reading fell short during the legislative session, several elements were added to other successful bills, which the sponsor described as a “solid win.”
President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) sponsored Senate Bill 242, the Science of Reading Act, this session, which proposed amending the Public School Code to require new and established teachers be trained in what’s called “structured literacy,” and would have prohibited “balanced literacy techniques.” Structured literacy, a science-backed method of teaching students the foundations of reading through phonics, vocabulary and comprehension, is particularly used to teach children with dyslexia. Balanced literacy, contrastingly, uses context and visual clues.
“Forty-two other states have either already put this in their statute or they are working towards doing it now,” Stewart told Source NM of the push to require structured literacy. She also pointed to Mexico and Finland as examples of countries where using structured literacy has been successful.
New Mexico has provided a structured literacy course for elementary teachers called Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) since 2019. Stewart said “we are now seeing the results of this work in pockets around the state,” including in Gadsden and Roswell, where English language learners and children living in poverty — categories identified in the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit as at-risk in the state — are showing improved reading proficiency.
SB242 would have also required school districts to notify parents of their children’s reading performance twice a year for K-3 students, and to notify parents if their first grade child showed reading difficulty following a dyslexia screening.
The bill found support on the Senate side, but was held up in the House Education Committee due to concerns over biliteracy needs and what lawmakers saw as a lack of attention to English language learners. Stewart presented amendments to the bill, but the committee eventually voted to table it indefinitely.
The Senate later added provisions of the original bill as amendments to several other bills. These included House Bill 167, which would require the Public Education Department to cover the cost of high school equivalency tests for some students, and House Bill 156, which would increase each of the three minimum teacher salary tiers by $5,000. Both bills included provisions to establish structured literacy as the primary approach to teaching the foundations of reading and require colleges of education in New Mexico to teach the approach.
The bills were sent to the House floor for a concurrence vote, but representatives took issue with the amendments, particularly with HB167, saying the Senate was attempting to pass a bill despite it failing in committee. The House voted not to concur on SB167, sending it back to the Senate, whose members voted to rescind the amendments in the final hours of the session. HB167 as it originally stood awaits the signature of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
However, the House did vote to concur with the science of reading additions to HB156, which also now awaits the governor’s signature.
Stewart told Source NM that her original bill was 22 pages long, but she condensed it into three to four pages for the amendments, leaving out parental notification requirements, among other points. Nonetheless, she still said lawmakers made progress on this issue.
“Absolutely a first step, a good, solid win,” she said.
Stewart, a retired educator, said she has been working to address New Mexico’s approach to literacy education for 30 years, ever since the National Council on Teacher Quality gave all universities in the state a failing grade. This prompted her to introduce House Joint Memorial 16 in 2010, directing university deans and members of the Legislative Education Study Committee to study reading curriculum in teacher education programs.
“I will continue to work with the secretary of education and the governor,” Stewart said. “As we move forward, I will continue to work with them on ensuring that our teachers are well trained.”
Bernalillo County won’t collect on Trump campaign debt - By Matthew Reichbach, City Desk ABQ
After four years, Bernalillo County can no longer collect unpaid debts. This week, the Bernalillo County Commission voted to remove certain uncollectible debts from the books, including nearly $140,000 owed to the county by the campaign of Donald Trump.
The debt dated back to a 2019 campaign stop in Albuquerque for costs incurred by overtime and other costs from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. The county also had to shut down operations in downtown Albuquerque for security for the event.
The county sent an invoice to the Trump campaign as recently as March 3 of this year, but did not receive a response.
County commissioner Eric Olivas criticized the lack of payment from the presidential campaign.
“Despite raising billions of dollars for his multiple campaigns, we’re now writing off that debt. He hasn’t paid his bills,” Olivas said. “This isn’t surprising based on what we know about other past business practices and the various things that have been associated with this person.”
Olivas also floated an idea to make sure the situation doesn’t happen again.
“If they are using county services or in any way impacting county services for campaign-related activities, they should have to pay either up front or put down some sort of deposit,” he said.
The practice of removing uncollectible debt from the county’s books is in accordance with state law and legal opinions find it does not violate the New Mexico Constitution’s anti-donation clause.
The Trump campaign’s debt was part of $571,188.94 in delinquent accounts. Most of that money was owed to the Solid Waste Fund, including billed services and late fees.
Antonio E. Jaramillo, Operations & Maintenance Department Director noted that “solid waste is a mandatory service” and that the county cannot stop operations for lack of payment.
Jaramillo said that the county has other options and has put liens on properties.
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said last year that Trump still owed the city more than $200,000.
New Mexico to allow cyclists to roll through stop signs - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Starting on July 1, people riding bicycles in New Mexico will be able to ride through stop signs without coming to a full stop, and stop at red traffic lights and continue even if the light hasn’t turned green — as long as it’s safe to do so.
That’s according to a new state law Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed on Friday.
Senate Bill 73 changes New Mexico’s traffic law to allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, and to treat red traffic lights as stop signs and proceed if there are no other cars, cyclists or pedestrians.
While it may seem counterintuitive to people who don’t use bicycles, this is already common practice among bicycle riders in New Mexico because a cyclist wants to carry their momentum on the bike, said Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, who carried the bill, during a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Doing this gets the cyclist out of the blind spot of motorists who have stopped at an intersection, Sedillo Lopez told the committee.
Eric Biedermann, a board member at-large of nonprofit advocacy organization BikeABQ, told the committee being able to treat a stop sign as a yield sign and a traffic light as a stop sign enhances cyclist safety because it reduces their exposure to cars, increases their visibility to cars and reduces the risk of being “right hooked” if a car doesn’t see them or a “left cross” from oncoming traffic.
“There are a number of ways in which being able to proceed through an intersection with a head start before the cars move really enhances cyclist safety,” Biedermann told the committee. He was also speaking on behalf of Bike Santa Fe and Velo Cruces.
The so-called “Idaho stop” — taking its name from the first U.S. state to ease traffic laws for cyclists — resulted in a 14.5% reduction in cyclist injuries a year after the state of Idaho enacted a similar law in 1982, according to a review of Idaho Office of Highway Safety data.
In New Mexico, between 2019 and 2023, 1,457 cyclists had crashes, according to the University of New Mexico Geospatial and Population Studies Center. Of those, 39 were killed, 115 were seriously injured and 694 were able to walk away.
Lynn Pickard, a retired New Mexico Court of Appeals judge and member of Santa Fe Seniors on Bikes, told the committee data show that as many as half of collisions between cars and bikes happen within intersections.
“So anything we can do to get cyclists into and out of the intersections quickly — leaving of course, for us, to determine our own safety if there are other cars there or pedestrians there — would be really helpful for us,” she said.
Richard Pitino leaving UNM to take head coaching position at Xavier - Geoff Grammer, Albuquerque Journal
Men's basketball coach Richard Pitino will be leaving the University of New Mexico and has accepted the head coaching position at Xavier University in the Big East, the Journal confirmed on Tuesday night.
"Xavier is one of the great brands in all of college basketball," Pitino said in a news release from his new school. "It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the BIG EAST. The Cintas Center is going to be rocking. I can't wait to get to work."
Pitino takes over for Sean Miller, who left that job as head coach to coach at Texas on Sunday. Miller was reportedly being paid $4.5 million per season at the Big East school located in Cincinnati.
Pitino was being paid $1.2 million this season at UNM and the Journal has confirmed through UNM administrators and donors to the program that he was offered north of $2 million to stay on as the Lobos coach.
Following Miller's departure, former Xavier Coach Chris Mack talked with his old school about the position. At 7:18 p.m. on Tuesday, he posted on social media that he would not be returning to Xavier and was excited to announce he would stay at the University of Charleston.
The Journal confirmed Pitino was going to Xavier shortly after 8 p.m.
UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo, who will launch a national search for a new head coach, put out a statement late Tuesday on social media that read, in part:
"For more than a month, we have been engaged with Coach Pitino and his representatives in extensive contract discussions and made an extremely aggressive retention offer — reflective of our commitment to him, his staff, and our basketball program."
Lovo also said the search for a new coach has already begun.
Asked Sunday night in Cleveland if he had a timetable for a decision on his future at UNM since his name was so actively being linked to several job openings, Pitino said there was no decision to make because there was no offer he had at the time.
“We’re working on next season this week — me and the staff,” Pitino said.
Pitino, 42, completed his fourth season at UNM on Sunday night with a 71-63 loss to No. 2 seed Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament — two days after beating No. 7 Marquette for the Lobos' first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2012.
Pitino was hired in March 2021 after being fired at Minnesota following an eight-year stint at that Big Ten program.
He took over a Lobos team that had won just six games the previous season (only four vs. Division I opponents) and was rated No. 303 in the NCAA's NET rankings.
He had the Lobos back in the NIT in 2023 for the program's first postseason appearance of any kind in nine seasons and back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade in 2024. This season, the Lobos went 27-8 and won the Mountain West championship and an NCAA Tournament game.
The news of Pitino's departure came on a day star junior point guard Donovan Dent earlier in the day announced he will enter the NCAA transfer portal.
Pitino‘s name had been regularly coming up for jobs this offseason. He had turned down in previous offseasons a job at South Florida and interviewed for, but did not get, the job at Louisville last April.
The Journal has learned Pitino talked this offseason with Virginia, Villanova, VCU and West Virginia.
Pitino had a buyout of $750,000 that was reduced by 50% due to a clause stipulating it would be cut in half for an entire contract year if Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez left that post, which he did in August to become AD at Houston.
New Mexico allows unique water conservation districts to hold separate elections - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday signed an election reform bill into law allowing two local government entities focused on conserving water to hold their own elections separate from other local governments.
In 2018, the New Mexico Local Election Act consolidated all local contests into a single election. But special conservancy districts have never been included, because of the complexities of running an election in which people might not be registered voters, but own property in the counties where the districts lie.
The original law delayed implementation for conservancy districts until 2022, and New Mexico in 2023 again pushed back implementation for the districts, until this year.
House Bill 308 permanently exempts two local conservancy districts from the Local Election Act: the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District based in Albuquerque and the Arch Hurley Conservancy District based in Tucumcari.
County clerks, constituents and the six Pueblo governments in the Middle Rio Grande area in the central part of New Mexico have raised concerns about implementing the Local Election Act, HB308 Sponsor Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo) told the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 28.
Jason Casuga, chief engineer and CEO for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, explained to the committee that the two conservancy districts shouldn’t be part of the other local elections because their voters are landowners, not registered voters.
“That’s what makes the conservancy district unique, and what makes tribal participation within the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District elections unique, in that tribal members don’t necessarily have to be registered voters, but they own a stake in the land that’s being benefitted,” Casuga said. “That’s where the technical issues came in — and that what we’ve been working on for years trying to solve — is how do you create a unified voter database that doesn’t require the same kind of information for a registered voter database as you would for a land-based one.”
Lente called HB308 a “measure of last resort” to ensure that voters from those Pueblos can fully participate in the conservancy district’s election process.
In a Friday news release, the Secretary of State’s Office highlighted HB308 as one of three pieces of legislation that would “add stability, transparency, and safety to New Mexico’s elections,” along with proposals to make lobbying more transparent and allow ‘decline to state’ voters — aka independents — the ability to participate in primaries without changing their voter registrations.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver commended lawmakers for passing the bills, saying they “will further enhance the quality of New Mexico’s already top-ranked elections” and give election officials more tools and voters more ways to participate.
“I’m grateful for the hard work put in by the bill sponsors, advocates, and the members of my staff to support the passage of these bills,” Toulouse Oliver said. “I look forward to Governor Lujan Grisham signing these important pieces of legislation into law.”
HB308 was one of eight bills passed by both the House and Senate that required a signature or a veto by Saturday, because they landed on the governor’s desk in the session’s final 72 hours.
Two good government groups on Friday also applauded lawmakers’ passage of SB16, saying open primaries in other states have led to stronger voter turnout and more competitive elections.
Sila Avcil, executive director of New Mexico Open Elections and NM Voters First, said the new law represents a step toward hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans gaining more access to some of the most consequential elections.
“New Mexico made history today,” Avcil said. “New Mexico, and our democracy, is better for it.”
Measles cases hit 370 total in Texas and New Mexico. Kansas has an outbreak. Here's what to know - By Devi Shastri, AP Health Writer
The measles outbreaks in West Texas and New Mexico have surpassed a combined 370 cases, and two unvaccinated people have died from measles-related causes.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that's airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
Already, the U.S. has more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week. Here's what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.
HOW MANY MEASLES CASES ARE THERE IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO?
Texas state health officials said Tuesday there were 18 new cases of measles since Friday, bringing the total to 327 across 15 counties — most in West Texas. Forty people have been hospitalized since the outbreak began. Lamb County was new to the list, with one case.
New Mexico health officials announced one new case Tuesday, bringing the state's total to 43. Most of the cases are in Lea County, where two people have been hospitalized, and two are in Eddy County.
Oklahoma's state health department has nine total cases as of Tuesday, including seven confirmed cases and two probable cases. The first two probable cases were "associated" with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks.
A school-age child died of measles in Texas last month, and New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult last week.
WHERE ELSE IS MEASLES SHOWING UP IN THE U.S.?
Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington.
An outbreak in Kansas has grown to 10 cases across three counties — Grant, Morton and Stevens counties. A state health department spokesperson did not respond to emails about whether the outbreak is linked to the situation in Texas or New Mexico.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an outbreak as three or more related cases. The agency counts three clusters that qualified as outbreaks in 2025 as of Tuesday.
In the U.S., cases and outbreaks are generally traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. It can then spread, especially in communities with low vaccination rates. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.
DO YOU NEED AN MMR BOOSTER?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
People at high risk for infection who got the shots many years ago may want to consider getting a booster if they live in an area with an outbreak, said Scott Weaver with the Global Virus Network, an international coalition. Those may include family members living with someone who has measles or those especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases because of underlying medical conditions.
Adults with "presumptive evidence of immunity" generally don't need measles shots now, the CDC said. Criteria include written documentation of adequate vaccination earlier in life, lab confirmation of past infection or being born before 1957, when most people were likely to be infected naturally.
A doctor can order a lab test called an MMR titer to check your levels of measles antibodies, but health experts don't always recommend this route and insurance coverage can vary.
Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says.
People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don't need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from "killed" virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said. That also includes people who don't know which type they got.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF MEASLES?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
How can you treat measles?
There's no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
WHY DO VACCINATION RATES MATTER?
In communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called "herd immunity."
But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.
The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.
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AP Science Writer Laura Ungar contributed to this report.
More details emerge about suspects in Las Cruces shooting - By Justin Garcia, Albuquerque Journal
The lone adult thus far charged in Friday night’s Las Cruces shooting faced prior charges in Texas for human smuggling.
Texas court records show that the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office charged Tomas Rivas, 20, with four counts of smuggling of persons and evading arrest in January 2024. He was also arrested in 2021, when he was 17, and charged with transporting an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States.
Those past and pending charges are being used in court records as evidence that Rivas is dangerous and that no conditions of release can protect the community, as the 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office seeks to hold him in jail.
For years, teens in the El Paso-Sunland Park area have been recruited into smuggling operations, a phenomenon that persists across the U.S. Mexico Borderland and has resulted in deaths after high-speed chases through the desert or El Paso streets. Border Patrol has been working with El Paso high schools, and even middle schools, to get ahead of the problem for more than a decade. Court records suggest that Rivas may have been involved in such an operation.
Rivas is one of four people — including two 17-year-old boys and one 15-year-old boy — charged in Friday night’s shooting at Young Park that resulted in three people dead and 15 injured. The three unidentified teenagers have each been charged with three counts of open murder in the first degree, as has Rivas.
Rivas was booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center just before 3 a.m. Sunday. Jail records show he was arrested at a residence on Las Cruces’ north side. The other unidentified teenagers were booked into the juvenile section of the jail.
Third Judicial District Attorney Fernando Macias told the Journal he intends to charge all four defendants as adults.
“The first thing that we’re going to address, hopefully very quickly, is keeping them in custody,” Macias said. “That’s going to be kind of the first step.”
Macias said anyone over 15 can be charged as an adult.
Police said Rivas was one of at least four people who began firing guns into a crowd during an unsanctioned car show at the Las Cruces park, killing Dominick Estrada, 19, Andrew “AJ” Madrid, 16, and Jason Gomez, 17.
A statement of probable cause, filed in the Doña Ana Magistrate Court, did not provide insight into what might have motivated the shooting. However, a witness told police two groups pulled out guns and started shooting at each other.
Rivas and one of the other teens tried to stash four guns in a nearby dumpster, according to court documents. However, the statement noted that police ultimately found those guns, which were all semi-automatic pistols, including a 9mm pistol, a .40 caliber and a .45 caliber.
Police also said in the statement that one of the teens rang the doorbell of a nearby apartment complex. The tenant said the teen looked panicked, so he let him inside. Later, the tenant said he discovered another gun in his apartment that belonged to the teen, police said.
Prosecutors have filed an expedited motion for pretrial detention to keep Rivas in jail. In it, they note that he’s been living in Las Cruces for “a significant period of time” and works as a carhop at a local Sonic. The motion also states that Rivas “has a history of criminal activity which appears to be gang-related.”
Rivas was scheduled for a first appearance Monday as Macias and the 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s office filed their motion requesting Rivas remain in jail. The Journal contacted Rivas’ attorney, Thomas Clark, who said he anticipated the detention hearing would occur later this week.
Clark also said that attorneys had been assigned to the defendants.
Video and 911 calls played by police detail chaos from deadly shooting in New Mexico - By Rio Yamat and Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Police released video footage and 911 emergency calls Tuesday depicting chilling scenes of people running in panic as gunfire crackled in a New Mexico park where three people were killed and 15 others were wounded during an unauthorized car show.
One of the video recordings, taken by a bystander and shown by Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story at a news conference, captures a blue Mustang doing donuts in a parking lot Friday night just before gunfire erupts and people scatter.
The man recording the cellphone video is heard saying, "Oh my god, I just witnessed a murder!" before it ends. The police chief credited the man for putting his phone away and helping the wounded.
Authorities said the shooting at Young Park followed an altercation between two groups during a gathering of about 200 people. In court documents, prosecutors described it as one of the most horrific incidents to occur in Las Cruces, located about 40 miles (70 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Story said it was a massive and chaotic scene.
He showed police body camera footage of officers helping gunshot victims — one tends to a man shot in the arm and leg, while another wraps a bandage around a woman who is crying. An officer tells her to keep breathing and assures her things will be OK.
In one of the 911 audio recordings, the dispatcher asks a caller how many people were hurt. "I don't know, it looks like multiple," he says, trying to catch his breath.
Some of the wounded were bystanders who were not involved in the dispute between the two groups. Authorities said the groups had past personal issues.
"This is not a traditional active shooter event where the motive or motivation is to kill and injure as many people as you can, as quickly as you can," Story said. "Unfortunately, the results were the same."
Four people are facing murder charges, including three teenagers. The police chief said more arrests and charges are possible, but he did not elaborate because of the ongoing investigation.
Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez said during the news conference that hearts are heavy with sorrow in his community because of the shooting.
"Let me be clear, this incident will not be tolerated in our community," he said. "We stand united against violence in all of its forms."
The shooting is the latest instance of violent crime involving juveniles to rock New Mexico. From Las Cruces to Albuquerque, police chiefs and prosecutors have been pleading with the Democratic-controlled Legislature to reform the juvenile justice system and address widespread public safety concerns. Authorities say young people believe no consequences exist for criminal actions.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said lawmakers should expect a special session to address crime.
Those facing first-degree murder charges in the Las Cruces shooting are Tomas Rivas, 20, along with two 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old. The Associated Press typically does not name suspects younger than 18.
Investigators interviewed multiple witnesses who identified two of the shooters by name. They also said those two suspects allegedly dumped firearms at an apartment complex afterward. Officers followed Rivas and one of the teens there and detained them after watching the teen toss a bag into a dumpster, they said.
Story said investigators believe they've recovered all firearms connected to those arrested. He said three of the guns were reported stolen.
The dozens of shell casings found at the park matched the caliber of the guns recovered, according to court documents.
Rivas made a brief court appearance Monday, while the teens appeared Tuesday in children's court, where a judge ordered them to remain in custody. Prosecutors said they want to charge them as adults. They are also seeking to keep Rivas in custody pending trial, and a hearing was expected in the coming days.
At the time of the shooting, Rivas was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of a pending case in El Paso County, Texas, according to prosecutors. They said he's facing charges there of evading arrest and smuggling of persons.
Rivas' public defender has not returned messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. The state public defender's office is also representing the teens, but declined to comment.
Andrew Madrid, 16, and Jason Gomez, 18, died at the scene. Dominick Estrada, 19, died later at a hospital. The wounded ranged in age from 16 to 36 and were treated at the park or taken to hospitals.
New Mexico Housing opens up loans to landlords to incentivize affordable housing - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s housing agency is offering forgivable loans to private landowners who agree to improve their rental properties and lease them to tenants at an affordable rate for five years.
Housing New Mexico on Monday announced a pilot program to make more affordable rental properties available for tenants on rental assistance by offering forgivable loans to landlords to improve them.
The Rehab-2-Rental program is offering forgivable loans of up to $25,000 to landlords who currently lease or agree to lease their properties to renters who hold tenant-based housing vouchers like Section 8, Linkages and local government rental assistance, according to a news release.
The landlords would use the loan money to pay for needed improvements to rental units to make them ready to rent, the news release states.
Housing New Mexico’s Board of Directors in February approved $656,000 for the program. According to the notice of funding, landlords must commit to offering the lease at a rate affordable to the tenant for five years, and must commit to meeting the real estate inspection standards set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Whether it’s single-family homes or rental properties, New Mexico is in great need of affordable housing for its residents,” Housing New Mexico Executive Director and CEO Isidoro Hernandez said in a statement. “This program is a win-win in that it will help landlords with funding to bring rentals up to standards and will provide more opportunities for affordable housing in the state.”
According to the news release, private companies, public housing authorities and others are eligible to apply by submitting rehabilitation projects on behalf of private landlords.
There will be an informational webinar for applicants online at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 2. The link to the webinar is here. It will be recorded for those who can’t attend.
More states move to ban cellphones in school as Georgia is latest to act - By Jeff Amy, Associated Press
More states are moving to ban or restrict cellphones in school, a trend that continues to win bipartisan support in legislatures.
Senators in Georgia voted 54-2 on Tuesday to give final approval to a bill that would bans students in grades K-8 from using phones or other personal electronic devices during the school day. The measure goes to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto.
Currently, nine states ban phones in school, but that number will likely soon rise. Similar bills this year have passed by wide margins in New Mexico, Tennessee and Utah and await action by those states' governors. Measures are also progressing rapidly in other states.
The push for cellphone bans has been driven by concerns about the impact screen time has on children's mental health and complaints from teachers that cellphones have become a constant distraction in the classroom.
"This bill isn't just about academics, it's about students' well-being," Republican Georgia state Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas said during debate Tuesday on House Bill 340. "Studies link excessive phone use to mental health issues, decreasing social skills, and an increase in bullying. We want students engaged in school, socializing with friends during lunch and focusing in the classroom."
Nationally, 77% of U.S. schools say they prohibit cellphones at school for nonacademic use, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But that number is misleading. It does not mean students are following those bans or all those schools are enforcing them.
Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia have enacted measures banning or restricting students' use of cellphones in schools.
The specifics of the measures vary widely. Georgia's bill says students can't access their personal devices at any time during the school day, but enforcement is up to local school districts. Some Georgia districts are already using locking pouches, but schools could also just tell students to leave their phones in their locker, to turn them in to a teacher, or disable them using an online application. Students who need devices to monitor medical conditions or to help overcome intellectual disabilities would still be able to use them.
Some other states would still allow phones or other devices to be used in some situations. For example, the Utah bill lets schools permit classroom use under local policies.
Georgia isn't providing any extra funding, although supporters suggested districts might be able to use yearly school safety grants if they need to buy pouches or other equipment. New Mexico's bill sets aside $10 million in aid for local schools to help fund adoption
Objections to the proposal often center around concerns that students and parents won't be able to contact each other in case of emergency. In September, when a student killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School northeast of Atlanta, many students communicated with their parents and with emergency services using their phones.
Sen. Rashaun Kemp, an Atlanta Democrat, said he was voting for the bill. But he pleaded with Republican colleagues to restrict guns to stop school shootings.
"What if that phone could save lives in an active-shooter situation?" Kemp asked "These are true concerns as a parent that all of us will typically think about. What if that phone is the last opportunity for my child to communicate with me?"
But supporters of the bans have noted that students' phones could pose additional dangers during an emergency by distracting students or by revealing their location during an active-shooter situation.
Republican Sen. Randy Robertson of Cataula said a parent's job is to "sit down, be responsible and trust the school to follow their emergency action plan. Their calls will go unanswered because their children's phones will be locked away."
For others, though, the bill doesn't go far enough. They want to see the ban extended to high school. Republican Rep. Scott Hilton of Peachtree Corners, the bill's sponsor, said that was likely in a future session.
"This bill is a step in the right direction, but let it be the beginning and not the end," said Democratic Sen. Jason Esteves of Atlanta. "Let's ensure that every student from kindergarten to 12th grade has the opportunity to learn free from unnecessary distractions."
BernCo Treasurer takes dispute over deputy hire to court - By Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
Bernalillo County Treasurer Tim Eichenberg is taking the county to court over question of whether he can hire his choice for deputy, or if county ordinance should forbid the choice.
Eichenberg, elected in November, has filed a lawsuit seeking to declare a county ordinance invalid, which would allow him to have the sole authority in hiring a deputy treasurer.
Former County Clerk Linda Stover was sworn in Jan. 1 as Eichenberg’s deputy. Her term as clerk ended the previous day.
Eichenberg says commissioners have impugned Stover’s integrity and attempted to bully her into quitting.
County commissioners then launched an ethics investigation, claiming a violation of the county’s code of conduct, as it includes a requirement that former elected officials wait at least a year after leaving office before they accept employment or consulting work with the county.
The investigation concluded with commissioners voting to send a complaint against Stover to the Bernalillo County Code of Conduct Review Board. The board announced Tuesday that it will meet on April 4.
Eichenberg said Tuesday an opinion from the office of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez establishes that his ability to choose his deputy supersedes the “cooling-off period” included in the code of conduct.
However, he said, the commission’s actions have led him to try to get a judge to clarify the law in the dispute.
The board and Chair Eric Olivas are named as defendants.
The lawsuit states that Olivas, from the dais during a County Commission meeting, “instructed the Bernalillo County Manager to cease payment of Linda Stover’s salary and benefits in a transparent attempt to intimidate and harass Linda Stover into resigning her position, which would deprive Treasurer Eichenberg of his chosen deputy.“
Olivas said that statement is one of several in the filing that are “hyperbole, if not patently false.”
Olivas said that he has in the past noted that a former elected official could volunteer with the county within a year, but could not be an employee or paid consultant.
The lawsuit also says Olivas “publicly accused Linda Stover of breaking the code of conduct, and implied that her prior employment as elected county clerk made her subject to ‘bribery and corruption,’ in a transparent attempt to intimidate and harass Linda Stover into resigning her position.”
Olivas said the complaint was filed in response to a concern about a possible breach of ethics.
“I think Treasurer Eichenberg continues to flout the law and treat ethics as an option, and not a way of operating,” he told CityDesk ABQ Tuesday. “The average citizen of the county understands this is about good government and rational ethical safeguards.”
Olivas said the County Code of Conduct Review Board hearing and the court proceedings should resolve the issue.
“I respect the process,” he said. “I believe we, as the county, have a very strong case.”