Lake Powell hits record low, threatening key water and electricity supply for millions - By The Associated Press
The water level at Lake Powell, the United States' second-largest reservoir, has fallen to a record low, heightening concerns about the ongoing crisis in the Colorado River system.
The alarming milestone at Lake Powell, reached Saturday, comes about a week after the river's other major reservoir, Lake Mead, also hit a historic low. Plummeting water levels pose a major threat to the Colorado River Basin, which is a key resource for wildlife, hydropower and more than 40 million people in seven U.S. states.
The historic lows come as the federal government and states that rely on the river — California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado — struggle to reach agreement on a long-term management plan for the dwindling resource. Persistent overuse combined with a record-dry winter and rising temperatures have been depleting both Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
Lake Powell's elevation dropped to 3,519.91 feet (1072.9 meters) above sea level on Saturday, dropping just slightly below a previous record set in April 2023, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The lake is more than 20 feet (6.10 meters) lower than it was at the start of the year, USBR data shows.
The reservoir is now about 30 feet (9.1 meters) away from the point at which turbines would stop producing hydroelectric power. Federal officials warned in April that a "major intervention" would be necessary to avoid reaching that threshold by the end of this year.
USBR in July proposed a 10-year plan that includes major potential water cuts for Arizona, California and Nevada.
The crisis has been in the making for years. Both reservoirs are at the lowest they have been in nearly seven decades, and levels may continue to drop, USBR data shows.
The last time their combined storage was this small was in May 1957 when Glen Canyon Dam that holds back Powell was being built, according to a recent paper published by a group of academics and retired water officials. Powell began to fill in 1963.
The depletion has also impacted Lake Powell's substantial tourism industry, forcing marinas in the reservoir to adapt. Boat ramps have closed or moved, new ones are being added and marinas have been temporarily relocated to deeper waters.
Keller pushes 'abundance agenda' in State of the City - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller on Saturday said he wants to combat the city’s scarcity mindset with an “abundance agenda" by making the local government work more for the people it is serving.
During the hourlong annual State of the City address — held Saturday at the Route 66 Visitor Center just southwest of Albuquerque — Keller said the government is adding to people’s frustrations during an already turbulent time by maintaining a mindset that adds, rather than removes, barriers in day-to-day life.
“Government is actually reducing your freedom,” he said. “It's reducing your set of decisions and it's not helping in any way. It's adding to the friction in everyday life and it's reinforcing a scarcity mindset.”
Prior to the address, an estimated audience of 350 people — including residents, public safety officials and a state senator — sat as Mariachi Herencia serenaded the crowd that could see the entirety of the city while atop Nine Mile Hill.
The address opened with each city councilor getting a moment to share a prerecorded video in which they highlighted new projects in their respective communities, while urging people to visit their district.
Councilor Dan Lewis was notably absent from the montage.
Before Keller was able to begin his speech, a woman began shouting in protest against the Albuquerque Police Department, calling police “murderers” as she was escorted away. A man shouted similar sentiments moments later, stating that people were getting arrested for sitting on sidewalks.
He was swiftly taken away as Keller spoke over the protesters. In total, four people were removed from the property.
“We’re a city at the crossroads,” Keller stated while giving a detailed historical background on New Mexico. “I would argue that our history is actually core to understanding who we are today and where we have to go.”
Keller said New Mexico is a demonstration of resilience that was built on the foundation of a scarcity mindset, hoarding resources with the idea that the state might need them again.
He said people in the state say "no" to infrastructure projects, noting plans like the Rail Trail and the placement of the New Mexico United stadium have been under constant scrutiny.
“When times are good, we have trouble keeping up because we cling to that scarcity mindset,” Keller said. “That’s what holds us back.”
But now, the mayor wants to focus on sharing every asset the city has to offer. With that in mind, he said the city will begin to take a new approach to how the resources will be shared.
Keller detailed initiatives like making it easier to receive a commercial or residential building permit, focusing on local labor agreements and turning city land into affordable housing at the top of his list.
Elected to a third term in November, Keller said he will focus on three key points for the remainder of his term: Public safety, making the local government provide help to those in need, and "building our civic muscle to be able to actually get things done.”
“Folks just want the city of Albuquerque government to help them a little bit, to help ease the pain of everyday life, even if it's in a small way,” he said.
Keller announced a facility rental program that will allow families to rent city-owned spaces, including community centers and theaters, for recreational use such as quinceañeras and anniversaries.
Rental fees will be based on the scale and purpose of the activity for the 20 locations currently available for booking. Certified childcare groups will be able to use the facilities for free, he added.
The mayor took a moment to boast about existing programs, such as Albuquerque Community Safety, the Gateway Center and the School-Based Violence Intervention Program — which he claimed was the most successful program in the state.
Keller said mayors from across the nation have visited Albuquerque to recreate ACS, saying New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani centered his campaign around copying the department. Keller mentioned how Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland said she would recreate ACS statewide, if elected.
Near the end of his address, Keller challenged the federal government and called out the Drug Enforcement Administration for allowing massive quantities of fentanyl onto New Mexico streets in pursuit of larger prosecutions.
As Keller ended his address, he said the city and state have an “opportunity that we haven’t seen in generations," noting that the University of New Mexico recently welcomed a new president just months before the state will elect a new governor.
“We have to push back against the scarcity mindset that is still with us from that history that was the other side of resilience because now we actually can demonstrate abundance,” he said.
Santa Fe National Forest officials issue temporary closure from Frijoles Fire - Santa Fe New Mexican
Because of the ongoing Frijoles fire in northern New Mexico, U.S. Forest Service officials have issued a temporary closure for a large central chunk of the Santa Fe National Forest.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports, the blaze has creeped above 9,000 acres burned and, as of Sunday night, was just 12% contained by firefighters – the first significant jump in substantial progress.
The lightning-caused fire has been burning since August 4th.
The U.S. Forest Service temporary closure order was issued Saturday for an area roughly bordered by the northern and western boundaries of the Santa Fe National Forest, the Santa Fe County line to the east, and the Rio en Medio to the south.
Unless it is rescinded, the temporary closure will last until September 15th.
For now, the only evacuation has been for 10 or so homes in Cundiyo’s Camino del Cañon.
Local officials have asked residents of Cordova, Cundiyó, and Cerro Piñon to be ready for an evacuation if needed.
New Mexico officials say they’re still at an ‘impasse’ with feds over spreading chromium plume - Patrick Lohman, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Environment Department officials said this week that the Los Alamos National Laboratory has not complied with its February demands aimed at quickly and safely stopping the spread of a massive underground chromium plume that recently reached the boundaries of a nearby Pueblo.
The NMED in February issued a$6 million fine against LANL, asserting the federal laboratory had failed to comply with state water standards and the terms of a discharge permit related to its handling of the decades-old plume of chromium. The toxic chemical can increase risk of certain cancers after long-term ingestion.
Lab workers historically used chromium as a way to prevent pipes from rusting in a power plant’s cooling towers and then periodically flushed chromium-contaminated water down Sandia Canyon between 1956 and 1972. The plume was discovered in the groundwater supply in 2005.
Since then, how to mitigate the plume has been the subject of ongoing andsometimes contentious debate between state and federal officials, namely the Environment Department and the U.S. Department of Energy.
In the meantime, the plume has continued to spread. State officials announced in November that the chemical spill had spread beyond LANL propertyto San de Ildefonso Pueblo land.
Federal and state officials have stressed that the plume’s spread does not pose imminent threats to drinking water in the Pueblo or in Los Alamos County because it is not near any known private or public wells.
Santiago Rodriguez, deputy director of NMED’s Resource Protection Division, told lawmakers on the interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee on Thursday that NMED and LANL are still at an “impasse.” The state and federal governments still differ on the best way to treat the contaminated water once it’s been pumped from the aquifer, among other disagreements, he said.
NMED officials contend the treated water should not be reinjected into its original aquifer, saying doing so actually propels the plume forward. They are urging the federal agency and laboratory to come up with alternative measures.
LANL officials stopped attending regular workshops between the Pueblo, state agencies and Los Alamos County shortly after the February lawsuit, Rodriguez said. The workshops were aimed at placing “key decision makers and impacted parties together in one room to discuss and develop plans for a path forward,” he said.
Stephanie Gallagher, a DOE spokesperson, told Source NM on Friday that the department was working on a response to Source NM’s questions regarding the Thursday meeting.
However, the department has held its own public meetings in recent months and also continued to pressure NMED to allow it to resume reinjecting treated water back into the aquifer. In late June, the DOE issued a statement arguing that injecting the treated water should begin as soon as possible.
“Groundwater well sampling data shows that the [reinjection] has a positive effect,” the June 25 statement reads. “Injection establishes a hydraulic barrier in the area of injection, which helps to control and reduce the plume, while also preserving aquifer water, a precious natural resource.”
The DOE also cites recommendations from an independent research team’s980-page report, released December 2024, that says its “single most important recommendation” is to restart injections while other studies and investigations move forward.
Still, NMED officials have pushed the DOE to find alternative uses for the water once the chromium is removed, while also ordering them to pump a minimum of 170,000 gallons per day of contaminated water.
One possible alternative the NMED has pointed to is to “land apply” the treated water, which would mean allowing the treated water to more gently reabsorb into the aquifer by spraying or sprinkling it onto the surface. The NMED’s lawsuit does not identify a preferred alternative to injection but instead seeks to spur federal officials to come up with a plan as soon as possible.
“We are using the tools that we have to hold them accountable,” Justin Ball, chief of the NMED’s Ground Water Quality Bureau, told lawmakers Thursday. “To me, it’s shocking that a world-renowned research institution can’t think of alternative options for disposing of this water, and that they, frankly, won’t even seem to consider alternative options.”
Sheryl Williams Stapleton found guilty on all counts - Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
A federal jury found former New Mexico House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton and a co-defendant guilty Friday on all counts following a trial that set out in detail an elaborate eight-year scheme to steal state and federal education funding.
Stapleton, 69, and her co-defendant, Joseph Johnson, 74, both walked out of the courthouse Friday after U.S. District Judge James O. Browning released the pair pending sentencing. Browning said he would set their sentences within 90 days.
“It has been shown by clear and convincing evidence that neither is a flight risk or a danger to the community,” Browning said.
A jury of five men and seven women found Stapleton and Johnson guilty on each count they faced, including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each was also convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In addition, Stapleton was convicted on three counts of fraud and false statements for failing to declare income on her personal tax returns. She was convicted of 31 felony charges in all, and Johnson on 28 charges.
"We're all emotionally taken aback with respect to the verdict that the jury came back with, and she obviously hasn't had the time to process that," one of her attorneys, Ahmad Assed, said after the verdict outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Albuquerque. Stapleton herself offered no comment as she exited the courthouse.
"It's a difficult thing, and quite frankly, any human being in her position would have a significant emotional impact processing that information," Assed said.
Stapleton showed little emotion as Browning read the lengthy verdict forms. Johnson turned in his chair at one point and looked at his wife, who sat behind him as verdicts were read.
Federal prosecutors declined on Friday to say the maximum prison time Stapleton and Johnson will face at sentencing.
Jurors found Stapleton, a former official at Albuquerque Public Schools, and Johnson, the owner of Washington, D.C.-based Robotics Management Learning Systems, guilty of conspiring to steal more than $2 million in state and federal education funding intended for technical education programs at APS from July 2013 through June 2020.
Jurors reached the verdicts by about 11 a.m. Friday after beginning deliberations late Thursday afternoon.
Stapleton still faces 28 criminal counts in state district court, including racketeering, money laundering, fraud and engaging in an official act for personal financial gain. She is scheduled for trial Oct. 5 in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge David Murphy.
Stapleton's other attorney, Ryan Villa, said the New Mexico Department of Justice should rethink its intention to prosecute Stapleton in state District
Court given her conviction in U.S. District Court. Johnson is not charged with any state crimes.
"We intend to ask the state if they still want to proceed with the taxpayers' money, time, and energy on a trial for essentially the identical charges for which Ms. Stapleton was just found guilty," Villa said. "We don't think it's in the state's best interest to go forward with a case like that."
Stapleton, a longtime Democratic state representative for House District 19, east of the University of New Mexico, resigned from her post in June 2021 after New Mexico Department of Justice investigators served search warrants at her home and offices. She was fired by APS in August 2021.
Stapleton’s attorneys told jurors during the two-week trial that Stapleton admitted stealing money from Johnson’s company but denied taking money from taxpayers, as prosecutors alleged.
“She did take money and she shouldn't have," Villa said last week during opening statements. "We're not here to tell you that she is 100% innocent."
Witnesses testified that APS mailed checks to Robotics to a post office box in Albuquerque in payment for the use of Robotics’ educational software, CyberQuest, which was intended to teach math skills to students in APS’s Career and Technical Education programs.
A former New Mexico Department of Justice agent testified that Stapleton personally retrieved the checks and deposited them in Robotics’ checking account at an Albuquerque bank.
Johnson’s office manager in Washington, D.C., mailed blank Robotics checks to Stapleton, who used 234 of those checks to deposit $1,152,506 into accounts that she controlled, including those of her family’s restaurant, her consulting business and a nonprofit foundation controlled by Johnson and Stapleton, according to the indictment.
Democrats' 2028 presidential calendar gives Black and Latino voters and union members an early say - By Mike Catalini and Bill Barrow, Associated Press
Democrats seeking the party's presidential nomination in 2028 will need to prove themselves early on in states where Black and Latino voters and union members are key supporters, under an election-year calendar approved Saturday.
The primary lineup pushes Iowa from the traditional top spot and makes South Carolina the leadoff state, voting on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1. New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia round out the early states, throughout February, according to the plan endorsed by the Democratic National Committee at its meeting in Texas.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin said that to win the general election, "You have to be battle-tested in a way that you already have campaigned in front of and for the support of various communities throughout the country." That is why the calendar designed by the party matters, he said in an interview.
Some potential candidates in what is expected to be a large field have visited early-voting states such as South Carolina. Party leaders have said the order give candidates the best shot at winning back the White House after Republican President Donald Trump's second term.
"They have to show that they can go to the South and talk to Black voters and rural voters, as well as out west, talking ranching and mining issues, to a border state, to union members," said party strategist Karen Finney, who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns. "Whoever survives will be battle-tested."
Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, a onetime Vermont governor, recalled his tenure as national party chairman, when Democrats solidified Nevada and South Carolina as early states behind Iowa and New Hampshire. The latest change is even better, he said.
"These states look more like the country," as a whole, he said, "whereas Iowa and New Hampshire don't."
Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said bypassing her state in the early going would sideline important voter voices and give a political edge to Republicans, who are expected to keep Iowa atop their calendar.
Nonwhite voters claim top billing
As the first-in-the-South primary, South Carolina was more decisive than Iowa and New Hampshire for nominees Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. All three dominated among South Carolina's large Black population, which can yield more than half the state's Democratic primary electorate.
With Nevada and New Mexico following, that will require candidates to court more Latino voters early in the process.
Shifting from Iowa and New Hampshire does not mean little-known candidates cannot catch fire, as Pete Buttigieg did in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020, when he was a 37-year-old former mayor. They just will not be able to do it with an almost entirely white audience.
"If you can't go to every part of this country and make your case, you should not be running for president," Finney said.
The progressive vs. establishment dynamics may shift
There is disagreement over how Democrats' split between progressives and mainstream liberals may or may not surface in the nominating calendar.
"I think our primary voters up north are probably a little different than primary voters in South Carolina," said Boyd Brown, a former DNC member from South Carolina. "It's not the woke ideologies that we just can't get away from" in other places.
Nina Smith, a former Buttigieg adviser who now works closely with progressive causes, disagreed. Smith said Black South Carolinians, especially, have gravitated to more moderate candidates – twice rejecting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in favor of Clinton and Biden.
But, she said, "Southern Black voters are more progressive than they're given credit for" on policy but also "realists" about what is possible.
"Living through Jim Crow and other oppressive structures will force you to be take that approach," she said.
Smith said that with South Carolina leading off and many Southern states following on Super Tuesday soon after the early lineup concludes, progressives will have to take the time to listen and then tailor their messages.
"A lot of Black voters don't necessarily see themselves in the ideas and arguments that progressives put forward," she said.
Unions will get a spotlight in the early-voting states
Nevada has the service industry unions because of Las Vegas; Michigan has the auto industry and associated manufacturing support industries; Virginia is home to more federal workers than any other state.
"Labor is still so important," Dean said.
Beyond seeking the backing of organized labor, the campaigns and the party will look to unions for help in spreading Democrats' message to voters and getting people to the polls.
More scheduling efficiency for candidates
Campaigns struggle to balance many demands such as meeting voters in person, raising money and the logistics of travel. As a result, places such as Nevada have gotten short shrift in the past because candidates, most from the eastern part of the country, have concluded the investment of time is not worth it.
An expanded calendar offers more clustering opportunities.
A swing to the West could hit two early states — Nevada and New Mexico — and include a fundraising stop in California, full of Democratic donors. A South Carolina trip could mean fundraisers and public appearances in Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh, both in North Carolina. Virginia offers proximity to donors and national TV studios in Washington; the same options are available by adding a New York City stop on the way to New Hampshire.
Bre Maxwell is a DNC member from South Carolina who said the state's smaller size and lower media costs are a financial equalizer, allowing not only the best-funded candidates to have an impact.
"They can campaign from the top to the bottom in a day," Maxwell said.
It's about primaries, with a clear look to November
Of the six early states, all but South Carolina have been competitive in general elections.
That means that even before Super Tuesday, the Democratic candidates will have spent significant time and resources in states worth a combined 43 Electoral College votes. That is not insignificant on the way to the 270 needed to win.
Television ads and news coverage can spill over, as well. Markets targeting parts of South Carolina also reach portions of North Carolina and Georgia.
After all, Brown said, the point is to put a Democrat in the White House.
"This is not a social or a debate club. It is a political party," he said.
___
Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.
