UNM's Neurosurgery Residency Program To Lose Accreditation – Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
The University of New Mexico School of Medicine's neurosurgery residency program is going to lose its accreditation next summer.
The Albuquerque Journal reports the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education recently announced it is withdrawing the school's accreditation for the program effective June 30. The council says the University of New Mexico is the only neurosurgery residency program in the country to lose its credentials this school year.
The loss of accreditation means eight resident physicians in the program will have to leave the university to complete their training at an accredited program.
University of New Mexico Health System vice chancellor for clinical affairs Michael Richards says the school will have to pay the resident doctors' salaries even after they leave to finish their training.
New Mexico Adopts SAT As Requirement For High School Juniors – Associated Press
New Mexico Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart has announced the SAT will become the official statewide standardized test for high school juniors.
Stewart said Friday all New Mexico high school juniors will be required to take the SAT in the spring of 2020. He says the exam administered by the non-profit organization College Board is aligned with New Mexico academic standards and all New Mexico colleges and universities accept the test.
The move comes after a task force convened by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said any new assessment should have meaning beyond high school.
Lujan Grisham called for the taskforce after announcing days into her term her administration was scrapping student assessments developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC.
New Mexico Governor Probes For Tax Inequities – Associated Press
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is seeking advice on how to make the state's tax system more fair and efficient.
The first-year Democratic governor on Friday announced the appointment of a new committee to evaluate New Mexico's tax code.
A second appointed committee will examine tax enforcement and auditing by the state.
New Mexico's corporate income tax rate was lowered to 5.9% under Lujan Grisham's Republican predecessor. Reforms this year increased tax rates on vehicle sales, nonprofit hospitals and personal income for top earners.
Lujan Grisham says this year's changes chipped away at some inequities and that more reforms may be needed.
State government spending relies heavily on gross receipts taxes on sales and business transactions. Critics of the system says it is rife with exemptions and loopholes.
Judge Orders New Mexico Compound Suspect Hospitalized – Associated Press
A federal judge has ordered a woman charged with kidnapping, firearm and terrorism-related counts to be hospitalized, saying she suffers from mental illness.
The decision Thursday orders up to four months of hospitalization for Jany Leveille, with plans to reevaluate later whether she might be competent to stand trial.
Leveille has been among five suspects awaiting trial in the case after officers raided their Taos County compound last year. Authorities say they found 11 hungry children there living in filth, and the remains of a missing Georgia boy who had suffered from untreated disabilities.
The boy's father, Leveille and the three other suspects are accused in court documents of conspiring to attack officers, military members and government employees.
All, except the father, are charged with kidnapping the boy.
Santa Fe Schools Chief Quickly Ends Bid For Legislative Seat – Associated Press
The superintendent of the Santa Fe Public Schools district has ended her bid for a state Senate seat a week after announcing her candidacy.
Veronica Garcia said Thursday she doesn't have time to run the school district and campaign.
Garcia had planned to run as a Democrat for the Albuquerque-area seat held by Republican Sen. Mark Moores where she lives. District 21 leans Republican.
She told The Santa Few New Mexican she had been inspired to run by a state district judge's ruling that said vulnerable students are denied the right to an education because schools are underfunded. She says she wanted an opportunity to respond as a lawmaker.
Garcia's contract as superintendent in Santa Fe ends in June 2021.
She served as state education secretary under former Gov. Bill Richardson.
Proposal Seeks To Modernize Campgrounds At National Parks – Associated Press
Food trucks. Wi-Fi. Hot showers.
Those campground upgrades could be coming to a national park near you.
The Interior Department is considering recommendations to modernize campgrounds within the National Park Service.
The recommendations posted this week come from an advisory committee created under former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. It has been looking at ways for private businesses to operate on public lands.
Derrick Crandall is the vice chairman of the Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee. He says many campgrounds fail to meet visitors' expectations and allowing the private sector to run them would free up money for maintenance elsewhere in the parks.
National parks have more than 1,400 campgrounds combined. About 6% are operated by concessionaires.
Environmentalists say the proposal would price out some visitors and benefit special interest groups.
Bernalillo Educator Wins New Mexico Teacher of the Year – Associated Press
A third-grade teacher in the Bernalillo school district who got her start volunteering at an after-school program teaching English as a second language in a low-income housing community has been named the New Mexico Teacher of the Year.
State Public Education Secretary-Designate Ryan Stewart announced Mandi Torrez as the winner Friday based partly on her efforts to focus on cultural responsiveness, inclusivity and equity in the classroom.
For the first time in the 56-year-history of the award, a one-year, paid sabbatical is being financed by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. Torrez also gets up to $10,000 in professional development opportunities and will represent New Mexico in the National Teacher of the Year competition.
Torrez has been teaching for 10 years, including eight at Placitas Elementary School where she's worked to organize annual cultural celebrations.
'The Casagrandes' Extols Mexican American Life Via Animation – Associated Press
Nickelodeon's "The Casagrandes" premiered this week and became one of the first cartoons in U.S. history to feature a multigenerational Mexican American family.
The long awaited spin-off from the network's popular animation series, "The Loud House," comes as more networks take chances on Latino-themed shows.
The series centers around an 11-year-old Mexican American, skateboarding girl trying to survive in the fictional town of Great Lake City. Her apartment is above The Casagrandes bodega, owned by grandpa and in front of a subway track.
Unlike some previous cartoons with Latinos, "The Casagrandes" seeks to tackle family-oriented themes like love, friendship, and jealousy.
Supervising director Miguel Puga says creators wanted to show how normal and relatable Latino families are.
Nursing Residency Program To Tackle Rural Health Care Needs - Associated Press
One of the state's largest health care providers is partnering with the University of New Mexico's college of nursing to expand access to health care in rural communities by creating a new residency program.
The program will be paid for by a $3.2 million grant awarded to Presbyterian Healthcare Services by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
The program will focus on providing care in medically underserved areas.
The clinics that will be part of the residency are in Capitan, Carrizozo, Corona, Ruidoso, southwest Albuquerque, Socorro, Belen, Los Lunas and Tucumcari.
Officials say all but one of the communities served through the grant also have higher than average poverty rates.
The priorities for the residents who will participate in the program include combating the opioid crisis and addressing mental health issues.
O'Keeffe Museum Wins Grant For 'Spring' Conservation - Associated Press
The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum has won a grant from Bank of America that will support conservation of the artist's pivotal painting entitled "Spring."
In addition to supporting research and conservation, the funding will enable the museum to share its work online.
Officials say "Spring" marks a turning point in O'Keeffe's life.
Her husband, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz, died in 1946 and for three years, she suspended her trips to New Mexico to stay in New York and settle his estate. "Spring" is one of her few creations from that period.
The conservation work will address cracks, flaking paints and darkening surface stains.
The painting also has a history of water damage caused by a leak in O'Keeffe's Abiquiú home. The conservation and research into the painting's past treatments are expected to take about a year.
3 Men, 1 Boy Indicted In Slayings Of 2 Albuquerque Teenagers – Associated Press
Authorities say three men and a 15-year-old boy have been indicted in the slayings of two Albuquerque teenagers near Rio Rancho last year.
Bernalillo County prosecutors announced Thursday that 43-year-old Stephen Goldman Sr., his 20-year-old son Stephen Goldman Jr., 23-year-old Jimmie Atkins and the teen remain jailed.
They say Atkins, the teenager and the younger Goldman each are facing charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and tampering with evidence.
Prosecutors say the older Goldman is accused of tampering with evidence.
Authorities say 14-year-old Ahmed Lateef and 15-year-old Collin Romero were reported missing last Dec. 16 after allegedly being kidnapped from a home in the Northeast Heights.
Their bodies were buried in shallow graves a few weeks later.
Authorities say the two teens had been shot, beaten and stabbed.
Trump Grants Extension For Nuclear Fuel Recommendations – Associated Press
A U.S. task force has been given more time to recommend ways to revive domestic uranium mining as it lags amid low prices and global competition.
The Nuclear Fuel Working Group had been expected to deliver recommendations to President Donald Trump last week. But the Commerce Department says Trump granted a 30-day extension.
Uranium mining interests say the global market for uranium ore is vulnerable to political turmoil.
They want Trump to boost U.S. demand to help domestic suppliers. But the president rejected a requested quota during the summer and gave the task force 90 days to come up with other ideas.
One of the richest known reserves of uranium ore spans parts of northwestern New Mexico. Previous booms in what was once known as the uranium capital of the world occurred during the 1950s and again in the 1970s. Environmentalists have been fighting to prevent future mining in the region and in Arizona around the Grand Canyon.
Hundreds of uranium mines that dot the Navajo Nation, for example, have not been cleaned up. The tribe, whose reservation extends into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, banned uranium mining and transport on its lands in 2005.
J&J Agrees To $117M Settlement Over Pelvic Mesh Devices – Associated Press
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to a $117 million multistate settlement over allegations it deceptively marketed its pelvic mesh products, which support sagging pelvic organs.
Ohio's attorney general said an investigation found J&J, the world's biggest health products maker, violated state consumer protection laws by not fully disclosing the devices' risks.
Numerous patients who had the once-popular, hammock-like devices implanted claim they caused severe pain, bleeding and infections.
The settlement, which covers 41 states and the District of Columbia, including New Mexico, requires the company to fully disclose risks and stop making inaccurate safety claims.
It comes as J&J is swamped with thousands of lawsuits claiming patients were harmed by products including baby powder, opioid painkillers and prescription drugs.
J&J said that the settlement doesn't include admission of any misconduct.
Singer Gretchen Wilson Forced To Leave New Mexico Hotel – Las Cruces Sun-News, Associated Press
Country singer Gretchen Wilson was removed from a New Mexico hotel after she performed at a weekend music festival.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reported Wednesday that police were called to Hotel Encanto in Las Cruces around 3 a.m. Sunday after numerous noise complaints about Wilson's room.
Police spokesman Dan Trujillo says she and her team left voluntarily.
Wilson took to her Twitter account on Tuesday to criticize the hotel.
According to the "Redneck Woman" singer, she got to her room at 12:30 a.m. and was reprimanded for talking.
She says she was later kicked out "for no reason."
In a 911 call, a hotel employee said Wilson's volume level for talking was the equivalent of yelling.
A representative for Wilson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.