UNM receives an estimated $55 million, its largest gift ever, from anonymous donor
– Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
For the second time this year, the University of New Mexico has received its largest donation in history. This time, it’s an estimated $55 million from the estate of an anonymous donor, which will fund a variety of initiatives across a range of disciplines.
The donation will provide scholarships, research, clinical training, student residencies and travel for the arts and sciences, nursing, medicine, dental medicine and graduate studies programs, as well as contributions for the Student Emergency Relief Fund for students with unexpected financial challenges. It will also fund endowments for the Harwood Museum of Art’s main location in Taos and its expansion to Santa Fe.
Since the contribution is from the estate of a living person, there’s no telling when the university will receive it or exactly how much it will be, but the estimated amount is $55 million, said Jeff Todd, CEO of the UNM Foundation.
“This is just a remarkable commitment to seven areas across the university,” Todd said. “I think the donors have shown great vision and insightfulness in their estate planning, and it is going to be of tremendous benefit to the state and the university.”
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico amends radiation safety rules to match federal guidelines
– Matt Mondschein, Source New Mexico
New Mexico recently amended state radiation safety rules for medical and industrial imaging equipment, such as X-rays, to match current federal standards, the state environmental department announced Monday.
The changes, approved by the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board last week, bring the equipment used in X-ray, CT scan or other medical imaging exams that use ionizing radiation up to par with current federal requirements, according to an agency news release.
Currently, the state radiation code cites an incorrect reference regarding exposure reports and radiation levels, according to an NMED document outlining the amendments. The amendments modernize requirements for reviewing patient and staff radiation protection plans, and update credentialing requirements for 3,500 professionals who operate medical radiation equipment statewide, as well as the 1,500 current X-ray registrations and all future applicants, NMED added.
“Whether you’re getting an X-ray at your local hospital or working around radiation equipment, you should be confident that the proper safety standards are in place,” Michelle Miano, NMED environmental protection division director, said in a statement. “These updates help ensure New Mexico’s regulations reflect today’s technology and the people using it understand their responsibility to protect patients, workers, and the public.”
The amendments also clarify registration and reporting requirements for industrial operations that use X-rays to inspect materials and equipment, which NMED says will help the department’s Radiation Control Bureau process applications and maintain public health oversight.
“Radiation-related technologies and professional standards continue to evolve, and our regulations must evolve with them,” Srikanth Paladugu, the chief of NMED’s Radiation Control Bureau, said in a statement. “These amendments give regulated professionals clearer requirements and help the Bureau administer an efficient, consistent and protective regulatory program.”
RFK Jr. visits New Mexico to honor actor, former child preacher Marjoe Gortner
– Tilly Robinson, Albuquerque Journal
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. flew to New Mexico on Tuesday for a gathering in honor of Marjoe Gortner, the child evangelist turned actor who died in Santa Fe in October.
Kennedy posted a photograph to X and Instagram on Wednesday morning, showing himself at the Legal Tender Saloon & Eating House in Lamy with his arms around country singer Lyle Lovett and billionaire John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Patrón Spirits Co. and the Paul Mitchell hair product line. They were “bidding a final farewell” to Gortner, Kennedy wrote in a caption.
Gortner, who lived in Santa Fe after his retirement in 2012, rose to fame after he was ordained at age 4. He traveled widely to deliver Pentecostal sermons to eager listeners, but he left preaching as a teenager and later accused his parents of training his act with physical abuse.
After a brief return to preaching in his 20s, Gortner became an actor. His screen debut was an Academy Award-winning documentary that aimed to expose how ministers on the evangelical revival circuit used deceptive methods to mesmerize crowds and rake in donations.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico Department of Transportation asks Legislature for speed cameras in highway work zones
– Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Transportation’s acting secretary told state lawmakers on Tuesday that he has one big ask of them for the upcoming legislative session: authorizing speed enforcement cameras in highway construction zones.
Acting Secretary David Quintana spoke before the interim Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee to present his department’s four legislative priorities for the lawmaking session beginning in January.
In addition to the speed cameras, he asked lawmakers to craft legislation that would increase the education needed for certain commercial licenses; rename one of the department’s bureaus to show that it’s no longer under Public Regulation Commission control; and transfer the responsibility of crafting ambulance safety standards to the state Department of Health.
“The safety of our workers at DOT…is No. 1,” he said in reference to the speed enforcement cameras. “If we do nothing else this legislative session, that’s the one thing I would love to see get passed.”
While Quintana was crafting his department’s annual budget request in July, he recalled, a motorist struck a state Department of Transportation worker on a highway near Hobbs. While no one died as a result of the crash, he said one injured person required an airlift to Texas for medical treatment. Episodes like that illustrate the need to discourage speeding and reckless driving in work zones by using enforcement cameras, he said.
One state lawmaker, Rep. Raymundo Lara (D-Chamberino), cited recent controversies over automated license plate readers from companies like Flock, and said he would want to closely review a camera and its capabilities before pursuing any legislation to that effect.
“Will they only be identifying speeders, or anybody and everybody that goes through that zone?” Lara asked Quintana, who said he’d investigate the question and follow up with Lara.
Earlier this year the Legislature adopted a law known as the Driver Safety and Privacy Act, which prohibits law enforcement agencies from using the cameras for general surveillance.
“If it’s mainly targeting speeders, then that’s awesome because it’s so important for the safety of the workers,” Lara said Tuesday. “At the same time, I’m very curious as to whether it’s going to be collecting everybody’s information, taking pictures of everybody’s license plates.”’
Trump administration to pursue public land sales and a decrease in federal ownership
– Matthew Brown, Associated Press
President Donald Trump's administration wants to sell public lands to states, tribes and local governments as part of an effort to “decrease the size of the federal estate," according to a new five-year plan presented by the Interior Department.
Agency officials said the sale of federal property would allow the government to focus resources on “nationally significant" lands. They offered no details on what lands could be sold, nor the scope or location of potential sales.
The proposal drew quick objections from some lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, who was Interior Secretary in Trump's first term.
The plan also calls for strategic land transfers and exchanges to support greater energy production, a centerpiece of the administration's pro-fossil fuel policies. It reflects the Trump administration’s view of most public lands as assets to be used, rather than to be set aside for preservation.
The Interior Department oversees more than 750,000 square miles (1.9 million square kilometers) of land — an area greater than Texas and California combined — along with vast underground mineral reserves. That puts the agency at the center of a contentious, decades-long debate over whether the government controls too much land.
The Associated Press sent emails to Interior officials Wednesday requesting comment and further details.
Most public lands are in Western states. In some, the government controls the vast majority of land, protecting it from potential exploitation but also hindering growth. Nevada, for example, is almost 80% under federal control.
Interior officials said that under the plan a portion of any land sale proceeds would go back to the buyer for conservation purposes elsewhere.
Yet it’s uncertain if Interior Secretary Doug Burgum can achieve the administration’s goals without cooperation from Congress.
Zinke’s office said in a statement that he “remains firmly opposed to the sale or transfer of public lands." He will vote against any legislation on the issue if it happens before the lawmaker leaves Congress at the end of this term, the statement said.
The ranking member of the Senate Natural Resources Committee also pledged to fight any federal land sales or privatization efforts.
“These lands belong to the American people, not private interests looking to cash in. Public lands belong in public hands,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat.
Some Western lawmakers last year sought to sell vast tracts of land in Utah and Nevada, saying that could generate revenue and ease growth pressures in booming cities. Among the proposals, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee suggested selling more than 2 million acres (8,000 square kilometers) to states or other entities.
Those efforts failed amid bipartisan opposition.
The plan sets out a road map for the Interior Department's priorities and actions between 2026 and 2030. Future administrations would not be bound by it.
The department regulates mining, drilling, grazing, recreation and other activities that many state and local officials want greater control over. Interior includes the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The agency's strategic plan was last updated four years ago under former Democratic President Joe Biden.
Doña Ana County Commissioners issue another notice of breach to Project Jupiter developers
– Robert Frederick, KUNM News
Tuesday evening, Doña Ana County Commissioners issued a notice of breach to the developers of Project Jupiter, a hyperscale data center campus in southern New Mexico.
Commission Chair Manny Sanchez made the motion, which passed 4-0 “…for failure by the Project Jupiter Companies to report jobs data in accordance with the requirements of those agreements.”
The agreements require quarterly job reports. The latest was due October 31.
In response to questions from KUNM, a spokesperson for STACK Infrastructure - one of the companies involved in Project Jupiter - wrote that the data center complex is “already exceeding its job creation benefits.”
But the number of jobs that STACK infrastructure provided are between 20 to 34% higher than numbers reported to Doña Ana County only a month ago.
This is the second time STACK Infrastructure has missed the quarterly deadline.
It’s unclear whether the state or county will take the corrective action specified in the agreements.
