Authorities seize five guns in one day from Albuquerque Public Schools students - Noah Alcala Bach, Albuquerque Journal
A shaky cellphone video shows an Albuquerque Public Schools police officer at the front of a classroom with his gun drawn, ordering a student to the ground Wednesday morning. Two people who appear to be staff members run to him and exchange shoves with the teen as they try to corner him. Multiple students run from the room — following a teacher’s orders.
The video showed the first of several incidents across district high schools throughout the day involving a student with a firearm.
In total, APS police recovered five firearms by the time classes dismissed — two on the campus of Albuquerque High School, two at West Mesa High School, and one off campus at Del Norte High School.
Just hours after the firearms were recovered, APS Board President Danielle Gonzales addressed the situation at a board meeting.
“While this is deeply concerning, it also highlights that the systems that our district has put in place are indeed working as intended,” Gonzales said. “The safety of our students is our highest priority.”
Addressing the incidents at her campus, West Mesa Principal Michele Torres wrote in an email to parents: “In both instances, it was a member of our school community who learned that someone had a gun on campus and reported it. We are grateful to those individuals for coming forward.”
She added that the incidents at West Mesa were unrelated.
KOAT-TV obtained a roughly 25-second video of the first incident, which appears to have been recorded by a student.
The Journal sent a series of questions to the district, but APS spokesperson Martin Salazar said, “We’re still looking into the entire incident and can’t comment further at this time.”
Following the confrontation, the student was taken into custody, and the gun was found in his backpack.
“We notified our students and staff of the incident, at which point someone else came forward, and a second gun was recovered. That student was also taken into custody,” Torres said.
“To our knowledge, neither student found in possession of a gun expressed any intentions of harming himself or others, but the presence of any weapon on school grounds is a serious violation of our policies,” Torres said. “As a consequence, the students will face disciplinary measures, up to and including expulsion and prosecution.”
At Albuquerque High School, staff overheard that a student might have a firearm, then searched the student’s backpack and located the weapon, according to a district statement. The statement went on to say Albuquerque High staff then heard of another gun on campus, searched another student’s backpack, and found it.
“Clearly, these incidents are troubling for our school community, and we recognize the impact they can have on students and staff,” Albuquerque High Principal Cesar Hernandez wrote in a letter to parents. “But the willingness of individuals to alert us with potential concerns has been a huge help to our staff and police, allowing us to take proactive steps.”
In addition to the four guns found, APS officers “had been looking for a Del Norte student due to prior incidents and a report that she might be armed,” and spotted her with her boyfriend right off campus. Officers then took the two into custody and found a gun, according to the district’s statement.
The firearms are the first found on APS campuses this year. Last year, APS recovered 15 firearms across its campuses and one charter school, whose day-to-day operations the district does not oversee.
Two Democratic lawmakers quit NM redistricting task force amid national tumult - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
Two Democratic state legislators have stepped down from a task force focused on independent redistricting, citing a Republican-led push to redraw political boundary lines in Texas that’s drawn national headlines.
The decision by Rep. Cristina Parajón and Sen. Harold Pope Jr., both of Albuquerque, to step down from the Fair Districts for New Mexico task force drew criticism from at least one Republican member of the task force.
The task force’s membership includes legislators and representatives from several outside groups. It’s led by retired New Mexico Court of Appeals judges Roderick Kennedy and Linda Vanzi.
In their resignation letters, both Parajón and Pope cited the rare mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas and other GOP-led states. The redistricting has been undertaken at the urging of President Donald Trump’s administration and is likely to lead to more Republican-leaning seats.
In response, California has launched its own effort to redraw congressional boundary lines to create more Democratic-leaning seats.
Parajón said she still believes in fair redistricting but can’t ignore the national trends, adding that majority New Mexico Democrats were being asked to “play a professional baseball game with Wiffle ball bats.”
“It’s not right to move forward with state level independent redistricting without action at the national level,” Parajón said in her letter.
For his part, Pope expressed similar reasons for stepping down, saying that Trump and his allies were trying to “rig our democracy” by drawing gerrymandered congressional districts.
Fair Districts for New Mexico was launched in 2019 by the League of Women Voters, a nonprofit group, to advocate for an independent redistricting commission. Such a commission would be empowered to redraw the state’s political boundary lines based on once-per-decade U.S. census data.
While such a commission has not won approval at the Roundhouse, New Mexico lawmakers in 2021 created a Citizen Redistricting Committee that was tasked with recommending new maps for the state’s U.S. House districts and legislative seats.
The advisory committee’s proposed maps are not binding, however, and the Democratic-controlled Legislature in December 2021 made significant changes to one of the proposed congressional maps before approving it.
Since then, Democrats have swept all U.S. House races in New Mexico. They also control all statewide offices.
The state Republican Party filed a lawsuit in 2022 arguing the new U.S. House district boundary lines were drawn intentionally to chop up GOP voting strongholds, but a judge ultimately upheld the map’s legality.
Meanwhile, one of the Republican members of the Fair Districts for New Mexico task force accused the Democrats who resigned of hypocrisy in light of New Mexico’s current congressional map.
“This immature and lackluster stunt only draws attention to the need for transparency in our state’s redistricting,” said Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, while also citing Pope’s recent announcement he plans to run next year for lieutenant governor.
New Mexico officials unveil first wave of improvements for Las Vegas water treatment facility - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Environment Department’s installation of new pre-treatment equipment for the City of Las Vegas’ drinking water supply should offer at least some reassurance to residents the next time they see storm clouds gather on the horizon, a department official told Source New Mexico this week.
The Environment Department recently took over almost all the Northern New Mexico town’s work to replace its water treatment facility, a necessity after the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire in summer 2022.
During the fire, sediment turned the Gallinas River black as it flowed through town, and the city and other areas in and around the burn scar have seen repeated floods ever since the fire.
Because the United States Forest Service started the blaze, Congress approved more than $5 billion to compensate fire victims, and specifically included $140 million to the city for a brand new water treatment system. A year ago, the city received $98 million of that.
But repeated flood events last summer and earlier this year, as well as a complete water shutoff in the city this winter, prompted the city to enter into a “joint governmental agreement” with three state agencies in hopes of fast-tracking the new system.
The agreement, which all the parties signed off on early last month, empowers the state’s finance, disaster response and environmental departments to “plan, design, procure, construct, test, deliver, and close out a temporary water treatment facility and a permanent water treatment facility” in the city, according to a copy of the agreement.
The city keeps control of the $98 million it received, along with other federal and state grants and loans it has received as part of the replacement project. Its main job is to pay for all the work the state does, according to the agreement.
On Tuesday, state environment officials announced that they’d successfully completed a half-dozen projects that aim to improve the city’s water filtration system and ensure the public is kept in the loop on what they’re drinking.
One of the most important improvements is the installation of temporary “pre-treatment” equipment at the city’s water treatment plant, said Jonas Armstrong, director of NMED’s Water Protection Division, in an interview Tuesday afternoon with Source. The city procured the equipment, which removes extra sediment and debris in high-turbidity or runoff events, last year.
“[The city was] having some issues earlier this year with getting it connected and making sure it was operating correctly,” Armstrong said. “We’ve worked through that with them in the last couple months, and it’s connected now and ready to go. So that’s a big improvement.”
The state has also begun upgrades to filters at the existing facility; replaced a vacuum system that removes scum and floating debris from the Gallinas River; and built a sediment pond near a reservoir to reduce flooding and contamination risks, according to a news release Tuesday.
Armstrong deferred questions about the costs of the improvements to the city, including how much of the $98 million the city received last year has been spent. A spokesperson for the city*, in an email to Source on Wednesday, did not answer the question about the funds but noted that the city’s new manager, Robert Anaya, would be updating the City Council on numerous water-related matters at a meeting today at 5:30 p.m., including “an extensive discussion on current initiatives and updates related to the water treatment plant, water distribution and storage, and various concepts and recommendations under consideration.”
While the state does not expect to begin construction on the new facility until next year at the earliest, Armstrong said the changes should offer a measure of comfort to Las Vegas residents who’ve seen their drinking water supply repeatedly compromised due to floods and equipment failures.
“I think the pre-treatment system being brought online and ready to go at the flip of a switch is a big advancement, and an assurance that the shutdowns and the restrictions that have happened in the last couple of years should not happen again,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong said the joint agreement has been “really collaborative so far,” with the state drawing on local knowledge about how best to tailor the project to the city’s needs. When it’s finally built, the new water treatment system will be a “generational asset,” given the adequate funding and the state’s technical expertise, he said.
“This existing facility is 50-plus years old and needs to be replaced, and having the federal funds and the state funds to do it is a huge opportunity for the city and the people of Las Vegas,” he said.
Update Aug. 20 at 12:05 p.m.:This story has been updated with comment from the City of Las Vegas.
NM to release $40 million for projects to treat brackish water - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico officials told lawmakers Wednesday that they will unveil in the coming week the requirements for municipalities and private companies to seek funds to treat less-drinkable water from below ground.
Earlier this year, lawmakers passed House Bill 137 to establish the Strategic Water Supply, which includes $40 million to treat salty waters in aquifers and alleviate the stress from climate change shrinking rivers and depleting freshwater supplies in aquifers.
The bill represented a slimmed-down version of the project touted by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, which would have included efforts to treat wastewater from oil and gas projects and had a half-a-billion dollar price tag.
Leadership at the Office of the State Engineer and the New Mexico Environment Department, which manages the program, told lawmakers at the legislative Water and Natural Resources Committee meeting this week in Las Cruces that the $40 million will exclusively be used for grants for local governments or contracts with private companies.
“The goals for the program are to encourage communities to be able to withstand that potential future of less water supply available, and to allow them to diversify supplies that they have amongst service water, groundwater, recycled water elements,” said Deputy State Engineer Tanya Trujillo.
While no specific projects have been put forward, cities like Eunice are increasingly looking to desalination to increase water supplies.
For desalination to work, some of the water may have to be treated for more than just salt, in order to address contaminants such as arsenic or uranium. As part of the new initiative, the state is undertaking a yearslong process to determine the shape, size and quality of New Mexico’s aquifers. Researchers at New Mexico State University, in partnership with the environment department, the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and private owners say they have thus far sampled water from 19 aquifers to test for quality.
Pei Xu, one of the NMSU researcher in the civil engineering department, said further research will be needed.“The challenges and opportunities of developing brackish water is understanding the quantity and the quality of the water aquifers,” Xu said.
Officials said they would have feasibility studies to compare the costs of any proposed projects for treating brackish water with benefits to the community or impacts on the environment.
“We don’t want a science experiment,” Deputy Cabinet Secretary John Rhoderick told lawmakers. “We want results.”
Rhoderick said he anticipates requests for grant funding will “greatly outstrip” the $40 million allocated by the Legislature, and said the departments would likely seek further funding in the 2026 session.
Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Albuquerque) asked how the push to install expensive infrastructure for desalination is being balanced with cheaper policy options to conserve water.
Rhoderick and Trujillo said an “all of the above approach” is necessary.
“Nothing is more apparent than the reality that the only way we solve water problems in New Mexico is by utilizing 100 different methods,” Rhoderick said. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution.”