Cochiti Lake To Temporarily Be Off-Limits To Motorboats – Associated Press
A boat ramp at Cochiti Lake will be closed for a couple of days next week.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says a permitted special event Thursday and Friday will leave the lake off-limits to motorboats.
The closure won't impact the day-use swimming area or access for paddle craft and other recreation on the shore.
The boat ramp will reopen Saturday, Nov. 20.
The lake in Sandoval County is within Cochiti Pueblo and is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers to control floods and sediment on the Rio Grande.
Energy Companies Push For Proposed Merger In New Mexico – Associated Press
New Mexico's largest electric provider and global energy giant Iberdrola say they're committed to customer protections as they push for regulatory approval for a multibillion-dollar merger.
PNM Resources, the parent company of Public Service Co. of New Mexico, and Iberdrola subsidiary Avangrid filed additional arguments with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Friday.
The filing aims to address the concerns of a hearing examiner who recently recommended that the commission reject the merger. The official had found that the potential harm outweighed any benefits of the proposed deal.
The filing disputes some of the official's findings and states that the companies would include $10 million more in economic development benefits and additional commitments to corporate governance and other financial protections for customers.
According to the filing, PNM would delay its next rate case filing by six months to Dec. 1, 2022.
The companies also suggested that if reliability metrics and penalties for falling short are adopted as part of the merger, the commission should also consider developing reliability standards and penalties that would apply to all utilities in New Mexico equally "to avoid a discriminatory approach."
The commission will have the final say. If the merger is rejected, the companies could submit a revised proposal. Also, the commission's decision can be appealed to the New Mexico Supreme Court.
"Our filing with Avangrid today shows that our companies together are truly committed to moving New Mexico forward and bringing benefits to PNM's customers and the community," Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNM Resources chairwoman, president and CEO, said in a statement to The Associated Press. "We look forward to bringing all the commitments to our customers and New Mexico into reality."
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is among the parties in the case. He acknowledged Friday that the proposal has been hotly contested but remains supportive of the merger with the additional terms.
"As the sole voice elected by and accountable to consumers in this negotiation, I'm optimistic the commission will agree with the majority of the stakeholders that the merger is in the public interest," Balderas said in a statement.
Under the merger, Connecticut-based Avangrid and its parent firm, Iberdrola of Spain, would acquire PNM Resources and its New Mexico and Texas power subsidiaries. If approved, the $4.3 billion transaction would affect about 800,000 homes and businesses.
New Mexico customers earlier this year sounded the alarm over the proposal, citing a sordid track record of reliability and customer service among utilities owned by Avangrid in other states.
Spanish officials also announced in June that Iberdrola executives would be investigated over alleged bribery, breach of privacy and fraud. The company has maintained that the executives did nothing wrong.
The PRC hearing examiner, Ashley Schannauer, had blasted Avangrid and Iberdrola earlier this year for failing to disclose information about the problems elsewhere. Schannauer's recommendation cited missteps and problems, including incomplete responses and overly extensive confidentiality requests.
Mariel Nanasi with New Energy Economy, a consistent critic of PNM, pointed to the millions of dollars in penalties racked by up Avangrid in other states, its handling of rooftop and community solar programs elsewhere and other concerns outlined by the hearing examiner.
"Customers are entitled to a utility that is reliable, trustworthy, has technical prowess, and complies with law and regulation," she said. "Allowing Avangrid here ... seems extremely risky and potentially harmful to ratepayers and New Mexicans. New Mexicans deserve more and we can do better."
Experts have suggested that New Mexico could serve as a platform for producing power that could be exported to larger markets. But critics worry that the state's customers would be reduced to a secondary consideration for Avangrid and Iberdrola as they look to expand their renewable energy holdings.
California, Colorado And Nm Expand Virus Booster Access - By Don Thompson, Associated Press
California is among three U.S. states now allowing coronavirus booster shots for all adults even though federal health officials recommend limiting doses to those considered most at risk.
The nation's most populous state, along with Colorado and New Mexico, instituted their policies to try to head off a feared surge around the end-of-year holidays when more people are gathering inside.
Colorado and New Mexico have among the nation's highest rates of new infections, while California — lowest in the nation earlier this fall — now joins them in the "high" tier for transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order Friday expanding eligibility for COVID-19 booster shots. Her state health department's acting secretary, Dr. David Scrase, said rising case numbers have some hospitals in New Mexico overwhelmed.
"COVID-19 is incredibly opportunistic and it's our job to ensure that the virus has fewer and fewer opportunities to spread," Scrase said. "If it's time for you to get a booster, please do so right away."
President Joe Biden's administration had sought approval for boosters for all adults, but U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers in September decided it isn't clear that young healthy people need another dose. They instead recommended boosters only for those over 65 and younger people with certain underlying health conditions or whose jobs are high risk for the virus.
In California, state Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón sent a letter to local health officials and providers saying they should "allow patients to self-determine their risk of exposure."
"Do not turn a patient away who is requesting a booster" if they are age 18 and up and it has been six months since they had their second Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or two months since their single Johnson & Johnson shot, he wrote.
He told pharmacies to prioritize boosters to those in skilled nursing or assisted living facilities due to waning immunity from the earlier shots. But generally, providers "should not miss any opportunity" to give vaccines to the unvaccinated or boosters to everyone else anytime they visit a drug store, hospital or medical office.
Many states are now experiencing rising cases and more hospitalizations. Nationwide in the last week there were about 73,000 new cases daily, roughly 10,000 more than three weeks ago.
In Colorado, where some hospitals are stretched to the breaking point, Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order on Thursday to expand use of booster shots. A day later he had a dire warning for the roughly 20% of eligible people in his state who have yet to get a single dose.
"We wouldn't even be here talking about this if everyone was vaccinated," the Democratic governor said at a news conference. "If you are not vaccinated, you're going to get COVID. Maybe this year, maybe next year."
Officials in Colorado, California and New Mexico said they have ample supplies of vaccines to provide initial vaccinations and boosters to all who want them.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said the Biden administration continues to advise health leaders across the country "to abide by public health guidelines coming from the federal government."
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly earlier in the week said California's decision doesn't conflict with federal guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was "very clear that they had two categories — groups that should get a booster and groups that may." he said.
"We know that a number of Californians work in crowded public settings," Ghaly said. "Because of your work-related risk or even you live with people who have underlying conditions (and) are at higher risk themselves, or you're a member of a community that's been ravished and hard-hit by COVID ... it's permissive by the CDC and the FDA to go ahead and get the booster."
Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a professor of epidemiology at University of California, San Francisco, said boosters have lagged. That's worrisome as winter approaches and the highly contagious delta variant, which caused a summer spike, continues to circulate.
The delta variant is "really good at finding people, including people who got vaccinated at the beginning of the year and now that vaccination is wearing off a little bit," she said. "Delta is a powerful force and everybody needs that third dose."
Hopis Reelect Chairman, Vote Out Incumbent Vice Chairman – Associated Press
The chairman of the Hopi Tribe in northeastern Arizona has won another term in office and will have a new vice chairman, according to unofficial results from Thursday's election.
Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma had campaigned on reforming the tribal constitution to give Hopi citizens a larger voice in tribal government, to create a separation of powers and to remove the requirement for chairman and vice chairman candidates to speak Hopi to open up the opportunity for younger Hopis who don't speak the tribe's language.
Nuvangyaoma will have an ally in Vice Chairman-elect Craig Andrews, who beat incumbent Clark Tenakhongva. The candidates don't run on a ticket, but Nuvangyaoma and Andrews campaigned together.
Nuvangyaoma received 841 votes in the election, beating David Talayumptewa, a retired U.S. Bureau of Indian Education official who represents Kykotsmovi on the Tribal Council, by 254 votes. The two had faced off in the 2017 election but were separated by a wider margin than on Thursday.
Talayumptewa said Friday he has no reason to challenge the election results, which won't be final until the tribal elections board certifies them.
"Right now, the Hopi people have apparently spoken," he wrote in an email.
The Hopi chairman presides over the Tribal Council but doesn't vote except to break a tie. All other authority is delegated by tribal lawmakers who either are elected or appointed from some of the 12 Hopi villages. Other villages don't recognize the Tribal Council as the governing body.
Turnout was low with about 1,430 ballots cast, about 200 less than four years ago. Andrews received 802 votes to Tenakhongva's 628, unofficial results show.
About half of the 14,000 enrolled Hopis live on the reservation that's completely surrounded by the much-larger Navajo Nation.
The Hopi Tribe has been hampered by a loss of revenue from the closure of a coal mine in 2019. At recent forums for the candidates, Hopis indicated they want the leadership to create jobs, secure access to clean water, communicate better with the sovereign villages, and improve health care and public safety while upholding Hopi values.
The new administration will take office in December.
New Mexico Education Plan Gets Feedback On Race, Economics - By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America
Critics of New Mexico's proposed overhaul of the social studies curriculum decried the standards as racist and Marxist Friday in an online hearing and on the street outside the offices of the state education department.
Holding signs like "My children identify as American," a few dozen protesters including Republican gubernatorial candidates took turns criticizing standards, which include adding ethnic studies and introducing children to social group identity starting in kindergarten.
One protester outside the education department offices said he would homeschool his 7-year-old if the race and ethnicity portion of the curriculum is implemented.
"My daughter won't be part of it," said activist Phillip Munson, of Rio Rancho, adding that identifying group identity starting in kindergarten, as the standards propose, "take away from the common values we're trying to instill."
The education department's proposed social studies curriculum updates topics in history for the first time in 20 years, and is based on recommendations from educators it convened this summer. It plans to publish final standards this spring to implement a new curriculum in fall of 2023.
Friday marks the final day of the public comment period, culminating with oral feedback in an online forum. Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said Thursday that the department won't extend the public comment period, which at least a dozen school districts have asked for.
Many letters express concern over resemblances between new standards that require students to learn about racial identity groups and so-called "critical race theory."
An Albuquerque grandmother read her letter out loud at the protest Friday.
"This is blatant, ugly racism," said Ruth Ann Peterson, arguing that the proposed standards teach critical race theory by using words like "inequity" and "racism" and phrases like "unequal power relations."
Public Education Department officials insist that they have no intention of having K-12 teachers teaching critical race theory, dismissing it as a college-level legal concept.
State Republican leaders have planned a protest outside education department offices, in opposition to the focus on race in objection to the education officials' decision to hold the oral comment forum online instead of in person.
Others support the expanded focus on Native American history, as well elements of the plan they see as "anti-racist."
Sylvia Miller-Mutia, an Albuquerque reverend and parent of three, wrote in support of the proposal to expand ethnic studies in the curriculum and other elements aimed at "humanizing oppressed people to avoid perpetuating racism and stereotypes. Thank you for working to make history education in New Mexico more just and anti-racist."
In over 1,000 pages of public comment received by the education department in the past 45 days, there's an issue that has received more mention than race: personal finance.
The letters stem from a lobbying effort by Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan education policy group that wants money matters updated in the social studies standards, which include economics. They want students to learn more about debt, savings and investment.
New Mexico's conservatives are finding new energy in the critical race theory debate after it was credited for tipping the scales toward a Republican winner in the recent governor's race in Virginia.
"Virginia should be a wakeup call," said Elisa Sanchez, speaking against the proposed standards in the Zoom meeting.
Outside the education department offices, one Republican candidate handed out flyers billing herself as the only candidate who can beat Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in a heavily blue state.
Candidate and businesswoman Karen Bedonie, who is Navajo, decried parts of the social studies standards that ask students to discuss privilege based on social group identity.
"We are said to be victims consistently," Bedonie told the crowd of around two dozen, adding that educated "many-paper-degrees" people are "telling us how we need to think."
Native American intellectuals across the state disagree and say the proposed standards are crucial to providing education to Indigenous children that allow them to see themselves.