89.9 FM Live From The University Of New Mexico
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

FRI: New Mexico Mandates Vaccination Or Testing For State Workers, + More

Ian Hutchinson via Unsplash
/
Creative Commons

New Mexico Mandates Vaccination Or Testing For State Workers - Associated Press

New Mexico will require that all state government employees get the coronavirus vaccine or face weekly COVID-19 testing, moving in sync Thursday with federal authorities to shore up rates of immunization.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced at a news conference that New Mexico will join the federal government, California and New York City in requiring immunization or regular testing for their public employees.

The changes for New Mexico take effect Aug. 2 under a newly signed executive order. Employees who flout the rules can be disciplined, including job termination. 

Lujan Grisham emphasized inconveniences that await state employees who are eligible for vaccination but unwilling.

"In addition to being masked, you will be required to prove routine testing," she said. "Our goal is to get every state employee vaccinated."

She said that people who are eligible for vaccination and opt out are giving the virus an opportunity to mutate and spread.

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new pandemic requirements for millions of federal workers. He denounced a tragedy of rising-yet-preventable deaths among unvaccinated U.S. employees and others.

In other COVID-19 precautions, New Mexico's largest school district is requiring all students, employees and visitors to wear masks when in school facilities and school buses, whether individuals are vaccinated or not.

The Albuquerque Public Schools board's 5-1 vote Wednesday to impose the requirement follows new federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.

"We've said all along that we've tried to follow the science," Superintendent Scott Elder said.

The blanket policy is to avoid dividing students into groups of vaccinated and unvaccinated and not have principals and teachers serve as "the vaccination patrol," Elder said.

In another development, the University of New Mexico announced that effective Monday it will require that all people wear masks while indoors on the main campus in Albuquerque and satellite locations in Los Lunas, Taos and Rio Rancho.

The requirement applies to all people regardless of vaccination status, the university said.

New Mexico Education Secretary Replaced, New Top Cop Named - By Cedar Attanasio And Morgan Lee Associated Press

New Mexico Education Secretary Ryan Stewart is the latest cabinet secretary to call it quits during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The education post will be filled by former Los Alamos Superintendent Kurt Steinhaus starting Aug. 20, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday.

Alongside the governor at a Thursday news conference, Steinhaus said he'll emphasize overall student well-being, including mental health, as fall classes resume in August amid a surge in coronavirus infections.

He wants New Mexico to surpass all other states when it comes to improvement in academic achievement across diverse subjects including music, and said the state will encourage school districts to spend roughly $1 billion in new federal coronavirus relief funds on education.

It's a lofty goal for New Mexico, where the state's graduation rates and other education measures have improved so slowly over the past decades that it ranks  last in the country.

"The short-range goal is to jump on the energy of the first day of school," Steinhaus said. "The middle-range goal is about the federal money that has just been approved."

There will also be a new top cop.

Lujan Grisham named Deputy Chief of the Rio Rancho Police Department Jason Bowie as the next secretary of the Public Safety Department, which oversees the New Mexico State Police. 

Lujan Grisham has seen a wave of retirements among department heads, with some citing the pressures of the pandemic. 

She said that Education Secretary Stewart is stepping down for personal reasons, after serving in the position for two years. 

"The simple fact for all of us is that family comes first, and I know he is looking forward to a change of pace that will allow him more time with his family at an important time for them," she said of Stewart's departure.

The governor is still looking to fill top positions such as the Department of Workforce Solutions and the Department of Health.

Governor Says Lawmaker Must Go If Charged In Kickback Probe - By Morgan Lee And Cedar Attanasio Associated Press

A leading New Mexico legislator should be prepared to resign if she is indicted in an investigation into possible racketeering, money laundering, kickbacks and violations of a law governing the conduct of state lawmakers, said New Mexico's Democratic governor.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was "horrified" by details of the investigation into Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton's connections to a company that had contracts with the school district where the Albuquerque-based Democrat works, she said Thursday. 

The governor has not yet read through a search warrant affidavit outlining allegations, but "if there's an indictment, she should immediately resign and her colleagues should call for that very same thing," Lujan Grisham told a news conference at her offices in the state Capitol building.

Williams Stapleton has been placed on paid administrative leave by Albuquerque's school district and could not be reached immediately for comment Thursday by phone or email. Her district salary is about $80,000 per year.

Albuquerque Public Schools placed on administrative leave 11 additional staff who are subjects of the investigation, district spokeswoman Monica Armenta said in a news release. Employees placed on paid leave include administrators, teachers and clerical staff. They were not named, and salary information was not made available.

The probe examines activities dating back to 2006, meaning other staff who had already left the district might be investigated as well.

Authorities executed search warrants at the Albuquerque Public Schools offices and Stapleton's home this week as part of an investigation into criminal allegations.

No charges have been filed against Stapleton, the No. 2 Democrat in the state House and a member of the chamber's education committees. 

Stapleton, a former teacher, began serving in the Legislature in 1995.

She also oversees career technical education for Albuquerque Public Schools, the largest school district in the state and the top employer in Albuquerque. The district serves about 20% of public school students in New Mexico.

Ruling Upholds Dismissal Of Charges Against Former Sheriff - Associated Press

A state appeals court on Thursday upheld a trial judge's dismissal of charges accusing a former New Mexico sheriff of embezzlement, fraud and other financial crimes.

A Court of Appeals panel disagreed with parts of now-former District Court Judge Charles Brown's decision dismissing the case against Heath White but said prosecutors failed to provide evidence that probable cause existed to warrant making the ex-Torrance County sheriff stand trial.

After New Mexico State Police investigators found guns and other sheriff's office-owned items on White's property during a raid, White was accused in 2019 of using taxpayer dollars to buy personal items.

However, the Court of Appeals said there was evidence that White after he left office had contacted the sheriff's department about returning items that had been stored at his home and that it was "a regular practice for county equipment to be stored at other deputies' homes."

Also, purchase orders presented as evidence by prosecutors during a preliminary hearing in White's case had all been approved by the purchasing department, the Court of Appeals said.