Amid administrative shakeup, state opens special forensic audit at New Mexico Highlands— John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
A special forensic audit is underway at New Mexico Highlands University following the ouster of President Neil Woolf and other top university officials last month.
State Auditor Joseph Maestas notified Board of Regents Chair Frank Sanchez of the special audit in a letter issued Tuesday, when the board officially terminated Woolf's contract. Vice President of Student Affairs Kimberly Blea was appointed interim president.
The 11-page notice states that the investigation was launched after an inquiry on May 12 raised "substantial concerns indicating systemic failures in procurement, contracting authority, financial management, and governance" at the university.
The audit comes on the heels of a lawsuit Woolf filed against the university, alleging he was terminated after refusing to cancel an out-of-state contract and spend more than $600,000 to hire a local contractor at Sanchez's direction. Woolf claims that Sanchez and his brother-in-law, Sen. Pete Campos, have personal ties to the in-state contractor.
University representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding special adult at the state-owned school, which enrolls roughly 2,800 students.
Several other key administrators were placed on administrative leave in May, including Provost Daniel Brown and basketball coach Zach Settembre.
Albuquerque City Council passes minimum wage bill, with some tweaks — Matthew Resien, Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque City Council passed a whittled-down ordinance Monday night that raises the city's minimum wage from $12 to $15 over three years with future annual adjustments tied to inflation.
The amended bill also cut tipped workers' percentage of the minimum from 60% to 50% and gave city workers, making less than $80,000 a year, the same percentage wage increase as the minimum in annual adjustments.
Councilors voted 5-4 on the ordinance, which will raise the minimum hourly wage to $13 in 2027 and an additional dollar every year until reaching $15 in 2029. Annual adjustments tied to inflation would begin in 2030.
Councilors Dan Champine, Brook Bassan, Dan Lewis and Renée Grout voted against the measure.
Council President Klarissa Peña, who sponsored the majority of amendments, was the lone "yea" vote outside the bill's sponsors.
In a statement Tuesday, Peña congratulated the bill sponsors and said, "My grandfather taught me that standing up for workers is one of the most important things we can do, and I have done it my entire adult life."
The original bill, sponsored by Councilors Tammy Fiebelkorn, Joaquín Baca, Nichole Rogers and Stephanie Telles, would have raised the minimum wage to $15 in 2027 and in 2028 began an annual living adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index but also Fair Market Rent — measured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — for a two-bedroom home in Albuquerque.
In statements, the sponsors applauded the passage.
Fiebelkorn said "every worker in Albuquerque deserves to be paid enough to live here, and tonight the Council took a meaningful step toward making that a reality. I’m proud we got it across the finish line because this is about dignity, and our workers have earned it.”
Rogers said, “While the original bill was amended, I am still so proud that Council supported a policy that puts working people first.”
During Monday's meeting, Baca said there’s always a reason not to change things but that the only thing he had seen change recently was the cost of gas and other crucial commodities.
Four amendments to the ordinance saw city workers wrapped into annual increases, spread minimum wage raises across three years, removed FMR from consideration in annual adjustments and reduced the percentage of the minimum paid to tipped workers.
After the amendments passed and before the final vote, Lewis said, "The fact is this will have a negative effect on job creation in the city; this will have a negative effect on our economy."
Champine and Grout spoke in opposition and cast minimum wage jobs as necessary — a place for someone to begin before they build their talents and move onto a career path.
A spokesperson for Mayor Tim Keller's Office said Keller planned to sign the ordinance into law but that "we always cross check all amendments first and will do so once we receive the final legislation from council."
In a statement, Keller said the City Council “took a sensible step to help working families keep up with the rising cost of living, but they missed a major opportunity to fix the indexing formula to more accurately reflect inflation."
"Burqueños are paying more for housing, groceries, and everyday basics, and increasing the minimum wage is how we help with that reality,” Keller said.
During a robust 2-hour public comment session, those opposing the bill asked councilors to take their time and spoke of the ordinance leading to layoffs and businesses shutting down. Supporters expressed a struggle to afford basic supplies amid rising costs of rent and other goods and services.
One woman said the ordinance seemed “inflationary,” saying costs would be passed on to consumers, including minimum-wage workers. She added, “These entry-level jobs are fine, they are not designed to support a family.”
A man striking a similar tone said minimum wage shouldn't be a career or a living wage, but a “starter job.” He said the ordinance would raise the standards of entry-level jobs, affecting availability for those living on the streets and others getting on their feet.
A small business owner said the ordinance “deserves serious discussion” and asked councilors to study how it will affect businesses and workers before implementing.
A supporter scrolled a Zillow map showing dozens of Albuquerque rentals on a $15 an hour budget. On a $12 an hour budget, it appeared the closest available rental was in Portales.
A woman in a sling, who said she injured herself hiking, pointed out how a misstep can undo a low-income worker, with missed shifts leading to missed rent. She said, “One accident means falling into a hole you can't climb out of.”
The owner of Taqueria Mexico, in a statement read aloud, supported the ordinance and said when workers struggle to cover basic needs, they also suffer stress, which can lead to less productivity and low morale. Another employer said she was paying $15 already but was concerned about tying annual adjustments to housing costs. She asked for something more staggered and easier to sustain, adding, “We can't have these increases be unknown; we have to plan.”
Presbyterian Healthcare Services to drop most Medicare Advantage plans, cut 150 jobs - Matthew Narvaiz, Albuquerque Journal
Presbyterian Healthcare Services said Tuesday it will discontinue most of its Medicare Advantage plans beginning in 2027 and eliminate 150 administrative positions, the latest moves by a health system that has in recent years grappled with mounting financial losses and a failed merger attempt.
The Albuquerque-based health system said the moves are proactive steps to preserve its financial footing and its status as an independent provider of healthcare across the state.
Rishi Sikka, Presbyterian CEO, said in an interview with the Journal that the health system plans to keep its Medicare Advantage Dual Plus Special Needs Plan, which serves about 13,000 people who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The cuts to its other plans, effective next year, will impact 30,000 members.
In moving to cut those plans, Presbyterian will void about $59 million in annual losses, which was “the loss profile last year” tied to Medicare Advantage, Sikka said.
A staff meeting was held earlier Tuesday, when the affected staff of the health system’s insurance arm, Presbyterian Health Plan, were informed of the layoffs. Sikka said cuts to those teams — spanning Medicare Advantage sales, IT configuration, project management and operational roles — were effective immediately.
Sikka said Presbyterian will offer severance and transition support, as well as the opportunity for terminated employees to apply for other open roles within the organization. The health system overall employs about 14,000 workers.
“This decision is not impacting any clinical roles, nor is it impacting anything around the delivery of care,” Sikka said. In a separate statement from the company, Presbyterian noted it is actively trying to fill about 870 open clinical positions across its nine hospitals and scores of clinics.
Sikka added that Presbyterian is not yet able to “engage in a proactive outreach process” with affected Medicare Advantage members until fall open enrollment, which begins in October.
“That is going to be the opportunity where we will be able to proactively talk with all of our current members who receive their care with us and show them all the other alternatives that our organization contracts with, so that they can have continuity of care,” Sikka said. “There will be several alternatives for them in that regard.”
The announcement comes against a backdrop of recent financial strain for New Mexico’s largest health system.
Presbyterian posted back-to-back losses in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 — spending roughly $157 million more than it brought in during 2022, followed by a $159 million net loss the following year. Its most recent tax filings for the 2024 fiscal year showed the health system had a bit of a turnaround with a net income of $84 million, meaning it brought more money in than it spent.
The announcement also comes following a failed merger between Presbyterian and Iowa-based UnityPoint Health in October 2023, just over half a year after the two health systems made the announcement in what they said was a consolidation of administrative services.
Sikka on Tuesday downplayed any connection between that merger and its cutting of staff and Medicare Advantage plans, saying the recent moves are “very forward-facing” and “proactive” decisions to “ensure we have the ability to increase access to care.”
But the combination of the collapsed merger, its recent losses and the retreat from offering Medicare Advantage plans next year will likely give more ammunition to Presbyterian’s critics.
Sikka disagrees.
“I think it is (viable), and I think it’s also the best thing for the communities we serve, and for our state,” Sikka said, referring to keeping Presbyterian independent. “What we’ll start to communicate in the coming weeks and months ahead is the investments we will be making to expand access.”
Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and ex-Mayor Gregg Hull to face off for New Mexico governor - Susan Montoya Bryan and Savannah Peters, Associated Press
Deb Haaland will try to defend Democratic dominance in New Mexico in a race that could make her the first female Native American governor of any U.S. state as she faces off with Republican nominee Gregg Hull in November.
Haaland easily clinched the Democratic nomination Tuesday, putting the citizen of Laguna Pueblo on a path to yet another potential first. She was one of the first two Native women elected to Congress and was the first Native American to hold a Cabinet secretary position in the U.S. government.
She celebrated her win at a historic plaza in Albuquerque's Old Town neighborhood, where supporters gathered among a mariachi band and traditional Native hoop dancers. The event began with a prayer in Tiwa, one of many Native languages spoken among tribes in the state.
Both Haaland and Hull, the former three-term mayor of one of New Mexico’s largest cities, recognize the challenge in leading a state that is grappling with high rates of violent crime, chronically underperforming in schools and facing cuts to federal safety net programs.
“Our challenges today are not new, but we must come to the table with new solutions,” Haaland said. “Everything is getting more expensive. The state will step up to put more money back in your pockets.”
Hull said he knows families are struggling, but one-party control in New Mexico is not the answer. He vowed to give voters a “real choice.”
“This fall, we will face Deb Haaland in the general election, and we’re going to win,” Hull said. “And I respect that she has served in various positions over her career, but New Mexico families are hurting, and the policies of the last eight years under one-party control of this state have failed.”
The next governor will succeed Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, who reached her term limit. Democrats have won every statewide elected office since 2017.
Haaland’s campaign resonated with votersOn the campaign trail, Haaland focused on reducing costs for families while emphasizing her ancestral roots in the state, being a single mother, relying on government assistance and overcoming addiction. She also touted experience in the nation's capital.
She made her first stop Tuesday at San Felipe Pueblo, a Native American community north of Albuquerque.
Meredith Ansera, a project coordinator with the pueblo, said she worked with Haaland during her tenure as a tribal administrator who helped oversee education and childcare programs.
“She knows what our needs are and she’s been there,” Ansera said.
Ann Chavez Barudin traveled 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Santo Domingo Pueblo to attend Haaland’s event Tuesday. She said she has followed Haaland’s ascent in national politics and supports her run for governor because of her promises to fill gaps left by Trump administration cuts to social safety net programs.
“I have confidence that she will stand up for Medicare,” said Chavez Barudin, who is a Medicare recipient herself and cares for her older mother who relies on the program.
Under President Joe Biden, Haaland championed public lands conservation and oversaw a first-of-its-kind federal investigation into the abuse of Native American children at government-run boarding schools. In 2018, she and Sharice Davids of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin made history as the first two Native women elected to Congress.
Haaland defeated Sam Bregman, an Albuquerque-based district attorney and the father of Chicago Cubs All-Star Alex Bregman, who campaigned on a promise to curb violent crime.
“This campaign may be over, but my commitment to the people of New Mexico is not,” he wrote in a statement to The Associated Press.
He criticized Haaland after her name appeared in the Jeffrey Epstein files. She flew on a private jet chartered by one of Epstein’s companies during her 2014 unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor. That flight to a fundraising meeting in Washington, D.C., was paid for by Gary King, her running mate at the time. King’s family had sold Epstein a ranch in New Mexico two decades earlier.
Haaland said she was unaware of Epstein’s role in arranging the flight and never met him.
Republican candidate faces an uphill battleHull was mayor of fast-growing Rio Rancho and has pointed to his leadership there as a blueprint for how he would govern. He has promised to promote economic growth and attract large employers to New Mexico, where poverty rates are among the highest in the nation and wages among the lowest.
“We ran a campaign that focused on the issues, a campaign that focused on who we were and not a campaign that attacked or tore people down,” Hull told a crowd that gathered to watch the results roll in. “We did it right.”
He defeated public relations professional Doug Turner and former state Cabinet secretary Duke Rodriguez.
A.J. Rodriguez cast his ballot for Hull, the candidate he sees as most likely to defeat Haaland, and rein in violent crime and government spending.
“The state keeps voting blue and we’re getting hammered by policies that aren’t working. We need someone who can actually put up a good fight,” said Rodriguez, a retired sheriff's office lieutenant.
Surging oil prices have translated into an influx of tax revenueThe next governor will inherit the oil windfall in the state budget that has led to competing ideas on how best to use it — from cutting one-time checks for taxpayers to funding tax credits that would mostly aid low-income residents to eliminating the state’s income tax.
The state’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel revenues to fund its programs has also created political difficulties for Democrats, as some of that income was tied to oil prices that spiked during the Iran war. New Mexico is the nation’s second-largest oil-producing state behind Texas, and the industry’s revenue funds an array of progressive social programs that include universal childcare.
For the first time, the primary was open to the nearly 23% of voters who are registered as independent. Lujan Grisham signed the semi-open primary system into law last year.