Malicious prosecution lawsuit by Alec Baldwin in 'Rust' shooting moves to federal court - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A lawsuit by actor Alec Baldwin alleging malicious prosecution in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie "Rust" has been reinstated and moved to federal court by the defendants.
Baldwin initially filed the lawsuit in state court in January, claiming civil rights violations and seeking damages after a charge of involuntary manslaughter against the actor was dismissed at trial in 2024 on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.
A petition to move the malicious prosecution case to federal court was filed Monday by the defendants — special prosecutor Kari Morrissey and Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, along with three investigators from the Santa Fe County sheriff's office and the county board of commissioners.
The change of court venue raises the stakes in Baldwin's yearslong conflict with New Mexico authorities. Here are some things to know.
Cinematographer's death
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
Few people testified at Baldwin's July trial before it was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office in March 2024 by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing.
Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers say investigators "buried" the evidence in a separate case file and filed a successful motion to dismiss. A judge threw out the charge against Baldwin and later refused a request from prosecutors to reconsider.
Multiple lawsuits
"Rust" movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has fulfilled a 1.5 year prison sentence on an involuntary manslaughter conviction in Hutchins' death in a jury trial. An appeal of the conviction to a higher court has been initiated.
"Rust" assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe handling of a firearm and was sentenced to six months of probation.
A settlement agreement was reached in 2022 in a wrongful-death lawsuit against Baldwin and other "Rust" producers by Matthew Hutchins, widower of Halyna Hutchins, and their son.
But the parents and younger sister of Hutchins are still pursuing damages and compensation from Baldwin and "Rust" producers in New Mexico civil court. Those claims could result in a deposition by Baldwin under oath in November, according to recent court documents.
Baldwin's tort claim
The allegations in Baldwin's tort claim include defamation, with his attorneys saying that prosecutors and investigators targeted the actor and co-producer for professional or political gain.
Defendants say it is a matter for federal authorities to resolve under terms of the Constitution and other U.S. laws.
Baldwin's lawsuit for damages initially lingered with little activity. It was dismissed in July, only to be reinstated in September at Baldwin's request. Attorneys for Baldwin say they have approached state and county officials about the prospects for a settlement.
Prosecutors and an attorney for Baldwin did not immediately respond to requests Wednesday for comment.
National Nuclear Security Agency confirms 152 furloughed at offices in Albuquerque, Los Alamos - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The federal government this week sent home more than 150 federal New Mexico employees charged with overseeing national laboratories’ nuclear weapons work, with only 14 employees across two sites remaining at work, the National Nuclear Security Agency confirmed to Source NM.
The furloughs include 71 employees at NNSA’s Los Alamos field office and 81 at the Sandia National Laboratories location, NNSA Deputy Director of Communications Laynee Buckels told Source NM in an email. Seven employees remain at each site, working without pay, she said.
The field offices are responsible for “ensuring compliance with federal contracts to manage and operate the national security assets,” according to the NNSA website.
Buckels did not respond to follow-up inquiries about the job descriptions for the employees who remain working.
The New Mexico furloughs come as a part of a larger hit to the agency, announced earlier this week by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. During a news conference in Nevada on Monday, Wright confirmed that 1,400 employees across the nation had been furloughed as part of the ongoing federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
“We did everything we could to keep our federal workers here employed as long as possible,” Wright said during the news conference. “But unfortunately, today is the day our ability to deploy funds to pay those workers ended.”
The furloughs are the agency’s first since its creation in 2000, as none occurred during previous shutdowns.
The NNSA, charged with overseeing and maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile and development, also oversees the transportation of nuclear weapons and materials.
Wright said on Monday that NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation, which trucks nuclear weapons and materials within the U.S., had enough funding to operate until Oct. 27.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) called the furloughing of NNSA workers a “manufactured crisis” in a statement to Source NM.
“President Trump did not have to furlough 80% of the workers who maintain our nuclear weapons stockpile — he chose to. Just like he chose to fire workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration earlier this year and cancel billions of dollars in clean energy projects that lower Americans’ energy bills. President Trump is simultaneously risking our national security and actively tanking our economy,” Heinrich said. “Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House, but they refuse to come to the table and work with Democrats to lower skyrocketing costs and health care premiums. This is Trump’s manufactured crisis. It’s time Republicans get serious, come to the negotiating table, and work with Democrats to lower costs and protect working families’ livelihoods.”
The NNSA outsources the management of the national laboratories to private contractors, meaning that the labs themselves may not see furloughs for at least another month.
A spokesperson for Los Alamos National Laboratory told Source via an emailed statement last week that LANL “has funds in place to continue operations. We focus on maintaining the safety and security of our employees and facilities.”
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who represents New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, told Source NM in an interview Monday that Sandia Labs officials confirmed “they have enough operational funds to get through November,” in a meeting with her staff after the announcement about furloughs.
Unlike federal employees, contractors will not receive back pay for work during furloughs. Earlier this week, Senate Democrats, including New Mexico’s Sens. Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján introduced legislation to allow for contractors to collect lost wages and benefits.
Luján, co-chair of the Senate National Labs Caucus, also provided a statement to Source NM regarding the furloughs: “In New Mexico and across the country, NNSA workers at our National Labs or other defense-related facilities are crucial for our national security. Furloughs to NNSA workers at Los Alamos and Sandia could threaten the labs’ ability to deliver the cutting-edge research, technologies, and capabilities that keep our nation safe. Secretary Wright and the Trump administration must prioritize this vital workforce to protect our national security. It is vital that Republicans work with Democrats to reach a bipartisan agreement that ends this government shutdown, addresses the Republican health care crisis, and gets all NNSA employees back to work.”
NM Supreme Court declines Albuquerque’s appeal in encampments case – Colleen, Heild, Albuquerque Journal
The city of Albuquerque, backed by the city of Rio Rancho and the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, hoped to convince the state Supreme Court to intervene in a pending lawsuit alleging the unconstitutional enforcement of public camping laws against the involuntarily homeless population.
Lawyers for the city argued that a lower court ruling in the case was “egregiously flawed” and should be reversed because it would result in “significant and immediate harm.” But the judge in the case cautioned that he hadn’t ruled on the merits and only issued a pre-trial ruling while the case proceeds.
The state Supreme Court denied the city’s request last Thursday, without explanation. The next day, the city appealed another order of state District Judge Joshua Allison to the state Court of Appeals, protesting his Oct. 2 decision certifying the lawsuit as a class action.
“We are so grateful for the outcome of the Supreme Court decision,” said Kristin Greer Love, an attorney representing eight plaintiffs who are or have been homeless. “It allows the case to proceed to trial in October 2026 so that the court can hear all the evidence and make a decision.”
An attorney for the city of Albuquerque didn’t have an immediate comment for this story Tuesday.
The ruling that spurred the city’s emergency request to the Supreme Court was Allison’s decision earlier this year to permit attorneys for the unhoused to argue at a future trial that the city’s policy violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment when the homeless person has no place else to stay.
The plaintiffs “and thousands of other people exist outdoors with their belongings on public property in Albuquerque because they have no means to pay for housing and the City of Albuquerque lacks adequate and sufficient shelter,” stated the plaintiffs’ response to the Supreme Court.
“The City orders people to move from place to place, threatening to destroy their life-sustaining belongings — wheelchairs, tents, blankets, food, water and clothing — without a warrant or adequate notice, a pre-or-post-deprivation hearing, or an opportunity to reclaim what is theirs,” the response stated.
The city of Albuquerque asked the Supreme Court to reverse Allison’s ruling, in which he denied the city’s motion to dismiss the cruel and unusual punishment claim from the lawsuit.
“If allowed to stand, the district court’s decision will leave the City of Albuquerque and cities and towns throughout New Mexico, with no means to prevent the proliferation of encampments within their borders. Because the district court’s opinion is egregiously flawed and will result in significant and immediate harm, the city asks this court to exercise its power to take superintending control over this matter...,” stated the city’s request.
Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman’s office filed a response supporting the city of Albuquerque, as did the city of Rio Rancho.
They contended Allison erred last March in agreeing with the lawyers for the unhoused that a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, was flawed in concluding that local governments could enforce use-of-space ordinances against the unhoused without violating their Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment protections. That ruling was lauded by cities and other municipalities around the country.
But Allison found that New Mexico’s state Constitution provides for greater protection against cruel and unusual punishment claims than was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The judge filed a response to the Supreme Court stating that his ruling did not adopt a “specific legal standard.” He added that the city’s suggestion that he would side with the plaintiffs on the issue in the future was “premature.”
In the new request to the Court of Appeals, lawyers for the city allege that Allison certified three classes of unhoused plaintiffs without conducting the “rigorous analysis that New Mexico law demands.”
The approved classes are all current and future unhoused people involuntarily living outdoors in the city of Albuquerque; all current and future unhoused people living outdoors; and all persons living at the now-closed Coronado Park north of Downtown between Aug. 3, 2022, and Aug. 17, 2022, whose property was seized by the city and not returned.
Prescribed burn ignited near San Cristóbal - Taos News
A prescribed burn in Northern New Mexico has been attracting some attention from people around the area.
The blaze in Carson National Forest is located near Arroyo Hondo, San Cristobal, Turley Mill and Gallina Canyon.
The National Forest Service first ignited what’s being called the Kiowa-San Cristobal Prescribed Fire Project on Oct. 14.
The smoke plume has been visible by day and a glow from the fire is visible from some locations by night.
The Taos News reports Carson National Forest crews will be managing and monitoring the fire, which, depending on weather and other factors, could burn for up to several months.
Building permit moves San Mateo tower redevelopment project forward - Kylie Garcia, Albuquerque Journal
Redevelopment of a long-vacant tower near the intersection of San Mateo and Central is inching closer to fruition.
The city of Albuquerque recently approved a building permit for the project, slated to transform a 10-story vacant office building known as Two Park Central Tower at 300 San Mateo NE into mixed-income apartments. The development is called Serenade by Park Central.
“That means they can begin to move dirt on the project; that means their contractor is on board and ready to go, so we’re hoping by November,” said Terry Brunner, the city’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency director.
The building permit comes two years after the building was sold to Houston-based Silverstone Equity Partners.
Silverstone couldn’t be reached for comment.
Brunner said the two-year delay between the property’s purchase and building permit approval is due to the developer evaluating both Two Park Central and One Park Central, a much larger tower also on the property purchased by Silverstone.
Brunner said it took the developer a while to decide whether to do both towers at once or start with one and work on the other later, as well as how to approach financing for the project.
The developer ultimately decided to start with Two Park Central, Brunner said. He added that the developer’s plans and timeline for redeveloping the second tower are currently unknown.
It will cost $23 million to redevelop the smaller, 10-story tower. The city awarded Silverstone $2 million for the project in August, Brunner said. The project will also benefit from a tax abatement the city approved in June, providing more than seven years of tax breaks valued at nearly $750,000, Brunner said.
The Serenade by Park Central redevelopment will feature 110 studios and one-bedroom units, 41 of which will be affordably priced for families making at or below 80% of the area’s median income. The remaining units will be market rate, Brunner said.
The apartments will also offer amenities including a fitness center, an outdoor pool and shared community spaces, city officials said.
“These are two really iconic mid-century buildings in Albuquerque,” Brunner said. “These were very prominent for many years as banking buildings that have just gone vacant for a while. They’re on everybody’s mind, so it’s great that they’re taking this on.”