New Mexico, Albuquerque To Adopt 'Clean Car Rules' By 2022 – Associated Press
New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque will begin taking steps to ensure more climate-friendly cars take to the road.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday that the state and Albuquerque will collaborate on an effort to adopt "New Mexico Clean Car Rules" by spring of next year.
"A 'Clean Car' rule will combat climate change, improve air quality, makes more inexpensive cars available to New Mexicans and stimulate our economy," Grisham said in a statement.
Under the proposed measures, car dealers will have to sell a certain percentage of low-emission and zero-emission cars. Grisham's office says these changes could mean getting rid of almost 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, or the equivalent of 200,000 cars off the roads for one year.
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller also praised the move, saying it will put the city in the driver's seat when it comes to cleaner standards for new cars.
State environmental officials say they will seek input from the auto industry and environmental groups to craft the rules. The New Mexico Automotive Dealers Association says its members are willing to work with state and local policymakers.
A virtual public meeting on the matter is scheduled for July 21.
US Officials Double Down On Push For Nuclear Modernization - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
A top U.S. nuclear security official and the leaders of three key national laboratories doubled down Friday on the push to modernize the country's nuclear arsenal and the science and technology that back it up.
During a virtual forum, the officials acknowledged global pressures that include more investment by Russia and China in nuclear weapons and advanced laser capabilities. They said the United States is at a "tipping point" when it comes to maintaining its own arsenal and that boosting production capabilities cannot be put off.
The United States has an opportunity to re-imagine its entire nuclear enterprise — from how weapons are designed, engineered and produced to how related business systems are managed, said Kim Budil, the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. She said new technology and tools are being developed that will be key for speeding that process along and keeping costs down.
She pointed to three-dimensional simulations that can be done in a day now, rather than months.
Budil and the directors of Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, which are both in New Mexico, also talked about the global race to attract the next generation of scientists.
"It's true in computing, it's true in materials, AI, machine learning — you name a critical technology and the competition in the (science and technology) arena is extraordinary on the international stage today," Bidul said. "So it is something we think about, and it's important that the U.S. establish not just our production infrastructure, which is critically important, but that we sustain that intellectual leadership that really is a vital part of our deterrent."
There has been a flurry of hiring at the labs, partly to meet the demands of deadlines imposed by the federal government to deliver a certain number of the plutonium cores that are used to trigger nuclear weapons in the coming years. That work will be split between the Los Alamos lab and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Critics have argued that new plutonium cores are not needed. Concerns about inflated budgets and security problems have been raised by nuclear watchdog groups and others during recent congressional hearings.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm testified Thursday before a U.S. Senate committee that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the U.S. must maintain the effectiveness of its arsenal.
While President Joe Biden has proposed a budget increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration, the administration is conducting a formal review of the modernization efforts that started under the Obama administration and were continued by President Donald Trump. The review is expected to take months.
Explainer: Will New Mexico Do Enough To Limit Evictions? - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions of tenants in their homes in many states. Many of them lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and had fallen months behind on their rent.
Landlords successfully challenged the order in court, arguing they also had bills to pay. They pointed out that tenants could access more than $45 billion in federal money set aside to help pay rents and related expenses.
Advocates for tenants say the distribution of the money has been slow and that more time is needed to distribute it and repay landlords. Without an extension, they feared a spike in evictions and lawsuits seeking to boot out tenants who are behind on their rents.
As of June 7, roughly 3.2 million people in the U.S. said they face eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. The survey measures the social and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic every two weeks through online responses from a representative sample of U.S. households.
Here's the situation in New Mexico:
WHAT'S THE STATUS OF EVICTION MORATORIUMS IN THE STATE?
New Mexico is one of several states that enacted a moratorium last year halting eviction proceedings. It covers evictions for tenants who are unable to pay rent. Evictions continue for other reasons. The state Supreme Court will decide when to lift the state moratorium and has not set an expiration date yet.
WHAT'S BEING DONE TO HELP PEOPLE FACING EVICTION?
New Mexico and two major counties have set aside $171 million to help tenants with outstanding rent, utility payments and other expenses. Last year, the state dedicated $13 million from the federal CARES Act to mortgage and rental assistance. This year, the state has access to $157 million in federal emergency rental assistance. The money can go toward 15 months of rent and other expenses, including internet access. So far, the state estimates it has distributed about $3 million, acknowledging that many eligible tenants have not applied.
HOW ARE THE COURTS HANDLING EVICTION HEARINGS?
State and municipal judges are under orders to halt the final step in the eviction process for an inability to pay rent. Tenants must provide courts with evidence of their current inability to pay rent.
Statistics from the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts say evictions fell by 40%, or 1,977 annual evictions, for the 12-month period ending in February from the same period immediately before the pandemic struck.
WHAT IS THE AFFORDABILITY IN THE STATE'S MAJOR RENTAL MARKETS?
Housing affordability is in line with the national average across much of New Mexico. Prior to the pandemic, New Mexico was just below the national average in its share of cost-burdened housing renters who devote at least 30% of income to housing costs.
New Mexico's current vacancy rate is similar to the roughly 7% national average, though the housing market is much tighter in the state capital city of Santa Fe.
State housing authorities say that overcrowding and poor housing conditions have contributed to the high rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths among New Mexico's Native American population.
ARE EVICTIONS EXPECTED TO CREATE A SURGE IN HOMELESSNESS?
It's hard to say how much homelessness will increase in New Mexico. One indication of the scope of the problem is census data showing 12,560 state residents concerned that they could be evicted over the next two months.
Maria Griego, an attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, fears that some landlords may be reluctant to pursue emergency rental assistance as property and rental prices surge and current lease agreements expire.
New Mexico Lawmakers Turn Attention To Horse Racing - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Legislative analysts say New Mexico horse racing regulators have more to do if they want to further reduce the number of racehorse fatalities at tracks around the state.
They also warned during a meeting Thursday that more challenges are likely as tracks, horse owners and others in the business look to recover from the effects of the pandemic and deal with uncertainty stemming from a new federal law aimed at regulating the industry.
The Legislative Finance Committee is in the process of reviewing the New Mexico Racing Commission as required by state statute. The committee must hold a public hearing and take testimony before recommending to the rest of the Legislature before next year whether the agency should continue operating.
In January, legislative officials pointed to the racehorse deaths, drug violations and the inability of the Racing Commission to collect penalty fees as issues that needed further review.
Democratic Sen. George Munoz of Gallup said the commission needs to make more progress or lawmakers may have to resort to enacting new legislation that would force the agency to follow through.
"We've got to get it figured out," he said.
According to a briefing by legislative staff, New Mexico has seen high rates of racehorse injuries and fatalities. An investigation in 2012 found that five of the seven tracks with the nation's highest incident rates were in New Mexico and that four of the state's five tracks had incident rates double the national average.
While all five tracks saw declines in their fatality rates over recent years, the report states 112 horses died as a result of race-related injuries between 2018 and 2020.
The Racing Commission has been increasing out-of-competition testing since 2016 and plans to do more. However, the agency has only one staff veterinarian.
The commission has indicated it needs two more vets to effectively conduct drug testing and other oversight activities. That would include meeting a goal of examining all horses scheduled to race each race day. Currently, fewer than 30% of horses are inspected before a race.
Virgin Galactic Gets FAA's OK To Launch Customers To Space - By Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer
Virgin Galactic finally has the federal government's approval to start launching customers into space from New Mexico.
Richard Branson's rocketship company announced the Federal Aviation Administration's updated license on Friday.
It's the final hurdle in Virgin Galactic's yearslong effort to send paying passengers on short space hops.
The company is working toward three more space test flights this summer and early fall, before opening the rocketship's doors to paying customers. The original plans called for company engineers to launch next to evaluate equipment, followed by a flight with Branson and then a science mission by Italian Air Force officers.
In the meantime, Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos earlier this month announced plans to ride his own rocket into space July 20 from Texas.
Virgin Galactic officials acknowledged the growing chatter over whether Branson will try to beat Bezos into space.
"Clearly, Sir Richard Branson's flight date has been subject to speculation for some time. At this time we do not have any further details on the upcoming flight dates," company spokeswoman Aleanna Crane wrote in an email.
Unlike Blue Origin's and SpaceX's fully automated capsules launched from the ground by reusable rockets, Virgin Galactic uses a winged spacecraft that launches from the belly of an airplane and requires a pair of pilots. It's reached space three times since 2018. The second trip carried a third company employee.
A review of the company's third flight to space in May — which reached an altitude of 55 miles (89 kilometers) — showed everything went well and paved the way for the necessary FAA permission.
"Today's approval by the FAA of our full commercial launch license, in conjunction with the success of our May 22 test flight, give us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer," chief executive officer Michael Colglazier said in a statement.
More than 600 people already have reserved a ride to space. Tickets initially cost $250,000, but the price is expected to go up once Virgin Galactic starts accepting reservations again.
Blue Origin has yet to sell tickets to the public or say what it will cost. Bezos is taking his brother and two others along for the ride on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the first human moon landing.
Child Welfare Workers File Whistleblower Suit In New Mexico - Cedar Attanasio, Associated Press
Two former officials with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department are suing the state under whistleblower protection laws.
Debra and Cliff Gilmore announced the lawsuit Thursday after filing it with a state district court earlier this week. It’s the latest fallout from the use of the Signal messaging app by the Children, Youth, and Family Department.
The couple moved to New Mexico last year to take high-ranking posts; she led the Office of Children’s Rights and he was the top spokesman.
The couple have said before that they were fired only months later after raising issues, including concerns that a Signal feature that automatically deleted messages ran afoul of state record retention laws. Debra Gilmore said she also raised concerns over a massive software upgrade she consulted on.
The lawsuit for the first time claims that their firings are covered by whistleblower protection laws set to prevent employees from being sacked for raising legal or ethical concerns. They believe that the use of self-deleting messages violated open records laws.
CYFD Secretary Brian Blalock has disagreed, arguing that the messages count as “transitory" and can be deleted. He has said that the move to the free, encrypted app was a cheap and safe way to switch sensitive communications online when the pandemic hit.
The agency eventually dropped the use of the Signal app altogether citing concerns from the public.
The lawsuit also accuses the highest ranks of Children, Youth and Families Department leadership including Blalock of pressuring Cliff Gilmore to advance a specific job candidate at an intermediary stage of the hiring process.
“While CYFD appreciates the opportunity to clarify misinformation, CYFD cannot discuss personal personnel matters or threatened litigation," said acting spokesman Charlie Moore-Pabst.
NBCUniversal Celebrates Opening Of New Mexico Studio - Associated Press
Executives with NBCUniversal celebrated the opening of a new production facility in New Mexico on Thursday, as state and local officials touted efforts by the film and television industry to find ways to work through the challenges that stemmed from the coronavirus pandemic.
The executives were joined at a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller.
“Despite the pandemic, we’ve had one of our best and most productive years — if not our very best year ever — with the film and television industry,” the governor said in a statement. “This industry has leapt back to life because they have put safety first — and they will help our state recover economically as we put the pandemic behind us.”
NBCUniversal had announced in 2019 that it would build a state-of-the-art television and film studio in a warehouse district just north of downtown Albuquerque as part of a plan to expand its footprint in one of the fastest growing film production hubs in the country. The company also committed to $500 million in direct production spending over 10 years.
The media giant received more than $10 million in state and local economic development funds as incentives for locating the production facility in New Mexico.
This summer, MacGruber, a comedy series for Peacock by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, will begin filming in the facility through August 2021. It will star Will Forte, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe.
Meanwhile, Netflix is moving ahead with plans to expand its operations on the southern edge of Albuquerque.
Navajo Nation Reports 2 More COVID-19 Cases And 1 More - Associated Press
The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported two new cases of COVID-19 and one more death.
Tribal health officials say the sprawling reservation that stretches into New Mexico, Arizona and Utah now has seen 30,976 known cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began more than a year ago.
The known death toll is at 1,348.
Last week, the Navajo Department of Health lifted the tribe’s stay-at-home order, easing restrictions to allow in-person meetings and ceremonies of 25 people or fewer and drive-thru gatherings of up to 100 vehicles.
Face masks are required by everyone on the Navajo Nation, whether or not they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.