WEDS: Federal SNAP eligibility changes to affect NM in January, +More
By KUNM News
December 17, 2025 at 8:41 AM MST
New federal mandates on SNAP may affect New Mexicans' benefits
-Jeanette DeDios, KUNM News
Starting in January, the New Mexico Health Care Authority will be implementing new federal mandates requiring food stamp recipients to adhere to new work requirements.
About 55 thousand New Mexicans may have to start working, volunteering, or attend training for 80 hours per month to keep their SNAP benefits. SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The work requirements are part of a new federal law that takes effect on January 1st.
Last July, Congress passed federal mandates to expand work requirements for all able-bodied adults which now includes ages 55 through 64.
This excludes Native Americans but now includes veterans, people experiencing homelessness and former foster youth. Parents or caregivers with dependents ages 14 and older most now meet work rules as well.
Some exemptions to the work requirement include individuals with physical or mental disabilities, students enrolled at least half-time, those that are pregnant, or people participating in a drug or alcohol recovery.
The Director of the state’s Health Care Authority Income Support Division, which runs the SNAP program, said in a statement that -- quote -- “these are federal requirements, not state policy.” Niki Kozlowski said her department is informing SNAP recipients so they don’t lose their benefits. She says the state can also assist in determining if any recipient qualifies for an exemption or how to report work hours.
Albuquerque City Council president raises alarm over alleged 'conflict of interest' involving City Attorney
—Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque City Council President Brook Bassan has called for an investigation into the City Attorney for an alleged conflict of interest.
According to Bassan, City Attorney Lauren Keefe recused herself from a lawsuit between the City Council and Mayor’s Office, but proceeded to secretly help Mayor Tim Keller’s outside counsel.
“In my personal life, if I hired a lawyer to represent me and then found out that that same lawyer told me I can't work for you, and then worked for somebody else to actually turn around and sue me directly — I would have a serious problem with ever retaining that lawyer again in the future,” Bassan said Tuesday.
Bassan claims that, if true, Keefe’s actions break City Charter code and could amount to a fireable offense.
Keefe did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The episode began in February with a disagreement between the council and Mayor’s Office over paramedic staffing on Albuquerque Fire Rescue ambulances, according to a document filed Friday.
After the City Council passed a resolution to ensure that there are two paramedics aboard each ambulance, lawyers representing the mayor filed multiple legal complaints against the City Council. Those lawsuits allege that the legislation interfered with labor union negotiations and was an overstep into the mayor’s authority over staffing.
As a result, both parties secured legal representation outside of the City Attorney’s office, as is required for conflicts between the two branches of government. However, Bassan believes that Keefe has continued to work with Mayor Keller’s outside counsel by participating in meetings, and drafting and reviewing legal documents.
Bassan said she made the discovery of potential misconduct when inquiring about records involving the mayor’s outside legal expenses.
“I feel like we found this information essentially by accident,” Bassan said.
Though she wouldn’t go into specifics, Bassan said what she found prompted “serious concerns.”
Bassan’s request will go before the council in the new year. Then the council will vote on whether to formally and collectively ask the Inspector General and City Auditor for an investigation into Keefe’s conduct.
Trump's push to make oil drilling cheap again squeezes some states more than others
—AP
A Republican push to make drilling cheaper on federal land is creating new fiscal pressure for states that depend on oil and gas revenue, most notably in New Mexico.
President Donald Trump’s signature spending and tax-cut legislation restored royalty rates to 12 and a half percent on new oil and gas leases. That’s more than four percent lower than royalty rates were under the Biden administration.
The change is a concern for New Mexico as it expands early childhood education and saves for the future. It's the largest recipient of federal mineral lease payments and recently raised its own royalty rates on prime land.
Family of inmate who died after being slammed on head to receive $5 million settlement
—Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
Bennie Jaramillo remembers taking his son off of life support.
His son, John Sanchez, had a brain bleed and fractures in his skull, spine and shoulder.
Four days before he’d lain comatose under hospital sheets, 34-year-old Sanchez was being escorted to his cell in handcuffs at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) when his head was slammed to the ground by a corrections officer.
“He was a good kid — didn't have to die the way he did,” Jaramillo said.
Now, years later, Bernalillo County has agreed to pay $5 million to Sanchez's family in a September settlement agreement, putting an end to a wrongful death lawsuit and a painful chapter in their lives.
“Even if MDC will never admit to liability, we all know what the $5 million means,” said Taylor Smith, an attorney representing Sanchez’s family. “It means that they did do something wrong.”
After the incident, Sanchez's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county and the guard who tackled him.
Though that suit has resolved, Sanchez’s family is still embroiled in a legal battle with the jail’s previous health care provider, arguing that medical staff failed to take a critically injured Sanchez to the hospital, which contributed to his death.
Still, Jaramillo said that money will never be enough.
“I don't care about money or nothing,” Jaramillo said. “I never wanted money. I want justice for my son.”
But Jaramillo's sense of justice may never come. This settlement marks not only the end of the family’s legal fight with the jail, but with the guard as well.
On June 12, 2023, Sgt. Stephen Gabaldon was escorting a handcuffed Sanchez, when Sanchez allegedly kicked him, according to an MDC incident report. Immediately after, Gabaldon is shown in an MDC surveillance video tackling the short-statured Sanchez to the ground head first.
Sanchez was checked by medical staff, then returned to his cell. He was found 45 minutes later vomiting and in the midst of a seizure, according to the report.
He was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where physicians found that he’d suffered a large brain bleed and cranial, spinal and shoulder blade fractures. He was brain dead.
Four days later, his family decided to take him off of life support.
“I want and need Gabaldon behind bars,” Jaramillo said.
Gabaldon and the county’s legal team could not be reached Tuesday. The Metropolitan Detention Center also did not respond to requests for comment.
Gabaldon was placed on paid administrative leave after the incident and now no longer works at MDC.
At the time of his death, Sanchez was in jail for unsubstantiated auto theft charges that were later dropped. Sanchez was also jailed in the detox unit, where many people have died in recent years.
“I do blame the justice system,” Jaramillo said. “He’d get in trouble, they’d let him out. Maybe if they were less lenient on people we could have forced him to get help.”
The last few years of his son’s life were rough, Jaramillo admitted, as Sanchez struggled with drug addiction and ended up bouncing in and out of jail.
Sanchez was the father of three, with one daughter who died as an infant. In the wake of his daughter’s death, Sanchez’s life spiraled out of control, Jaramillo said.
Despite the trouble his son would get in, Jaramillo can’t fathom why Gabaldon acted the way he did.
“There was no reason for him to have done that,” Jaramillo said. “My son was handcuffed. He was in jail. He wasn't trying to escape – so I want charges.”
An investigation into the death, with the possibility of criminal charges against Gabaldon, was forwarded to the Second Judicial District Attorney's Office by November 2023. In July, the DA's Office told the Journal no decision had been made whether to bring a criminal case against Gabaldon.
It is unclear where the case stands now.
Bernalillo Sheriff's deputies shoot and kill person in Albuquerque
— Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed a person Tuesday evening during a federal crime-fighting operation in Albuquerque’s International District.
The Albuquerque Journal reporIt marked the second time deputies have shot someone since Operation Triple Beam kicked off in early November. It is the first time the person they shot didn't survive.
BSCO Spokesperson Jayme Gonzales said deputies on Tuesday around 6p.m. stopped a motorcycle in the 300 block of Virginia, just southwest of Wyoming and Copper, while working an Auto Theft Operation. According to Gonzales, the motorcyclist fled on foot.
Sometime later, deputies “reengaged the individual” and "during the encounter" at least one deputy fired at the person, killing them.
Gonzales said in the release that no additional details, including the person’s identity, would be released until the deputies who shot were interviewed and the person’s family was notified.
Sen. Heinrich reintroduces act to strengthen tribal buffalo herds — Patrick Lohman, Source NM
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) announced Tuesday he is reintroducing legislation to improve federal support for tribal buffalo herds, an effort he said he hopes will return the buffalo within his lifetime “to the prominent place they once occupied as the keystone species on American shortgrass prairies.”
Co-sponsored with U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.,), the Indian Buffalo Management Act directs the federal Interior Department to work with tribes to develop, protect and grow buffalo herds across the country, authorizing up to $14 million annually. The bill seeks to spur more coordination and consistent investment at the Interior Department, which has provided only “nominal” funds over the last 20 years to tribes that want to start or expand buffalo herds, according to a news release from Heinrich’s office.
The InterTribal Buffalo Council, which has been pushing to return buffalo to tribal land for more than 30 years, endorsed the legislation. The council has 89 tribal members in 22 states, including at least 10 New Mexico tribes and pueblos, according to a recent membership list.
“Helping Tribes reestablish herds of buffalo on our reservations is a righteous thing for the Congress to do and will be thoroughly welcomed by Tribes and Indian people across the county,” council leaders, including Delbert Chisholm of Taos Pueblo, said in a statement.
At least 60 million buffalo once roamed throughout much of the United States before European settlers and the United States military destroyed all but a few hundred by the end of the 19th century. Indigenous people relied on the buffalo — “culturally and nutritionally” — for thousands of years, according to the council leaders’ statement.
Versions of the legislation have passed either the House of Representatives or the Senate, but not both, in recent years. Heinrich and Mullin (R-Okla.) also cosponsored the bill last year, and it passed the Senate in December but never received a hearing in the House.
“I’m proud to reintroduce this bipartisan legislation to strengthen federal support for Tribal buffalo programs and continue the growth of Tribal buffalo herds,” Heinrich said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Mullin to strengthen this federal partnership and secure future funding for this initiative.”
This story has been corrected to indicate that buffalo were nearly wiped out by the end of the 19th century.
ABQ City Council votes to rezone portion of UNM Campus — Nob Hill News
Albuquerque’s City Council unanimously approved a proposal to rezone approximately 35 acres on UNM’s south campus on Monday, Dec. 15. According to reporting by the Nob Hill News, the area, slated to be developed into the Lobo Crossing retail center, was changed from a Residential–Multi-family High Density zoning designation to Non-Residential–Commercial.
The change means that the land—which is located within the South Campus Tax Increment Development District (TIDD) —cannot have housing built on it. This conflicts with the original TIDD plan, which specified including 50,000 square feet of residential development.
The purpose of the change is to enable UNM to sell the land to a private owner for the development of the Lobo Crossing retail center. Jim Strozier, principal of the Consensus Planning architectural firm and the agent representing UNM on the request, spoke in favor of the change. He said the amendment would allow large retailers to build in the area, helping address what he described as a “food and retail services desert.”
-Jeanette DeDios, KUNM News
Starting in January, the New Mexico Health Care Authority will be implementing new federal mandates requiring food stamp recipients to adhere to new work requirements.
About 55 thousand New Mexicans may have to start working, volunteering, or attend training for 80 hours per month to keep their SNAP benefits. SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The work requirements are part of a new federal law that takes effect on January 1st.
Last July, Congress passed federal mandates to expand work requirements for all able-bodied adults which now includes ages 55 through 64.
This excludes Native Americans but now includes veterans, people experiencing homelessness and former foster youth. Parents or caregivers with dependents ages 14 and older most now meet work rules as well.
Some exemptions to the work requirement include individuals with physical or mental disabilities, students enrolled at least half-time, those that are pregnant, or people participating in a drug or alcohol recovery.
The Director of the state’s Health Care Authority Income Support Division, which runs the SNAP program, said in a statement that -- quote -- “these are federal requirements, not state policy.” Niki Kozlowski said her department is informing SNAP recipients so they don’t lose their benefits. She says the state can also assist in determining if any recipient qualifies for an exemption or how to report work hours.
Albuquerque City Council president raises alarm over alleged 'conflict of interest' involving City Attorney
—Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque City Council President Brook Bassan has called for an investigation into the City Attorney for an alleged conflict of interest.
According to Bassan, City Attorney Lauren Keefe recused herself from a lawsuit between the City Council and Mayor’s Office, but proceeded to secretly help Mayor Tim Keller’s outside counsel.
“In my personal life, if I hired a lawyer to represent me and then found out that that same lawyer told me I can't work for you, and then worked for somebody else to actually turn around and sue me directly — I would have a serious problem with ever retaining that lawyer again in the future,” Bassan said Tuesday.
Bassan claims that, if true, Keefe’s actions break City Charter code and could amount to a fireable offense.
Keefe did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The episode began in February with a disagreement between the council and Mayor’s Office over paramedic staffing on Albuquerque Fire Rescue ambulances, according to a document filed Friday.
After the City Council passed a resolution to ensure that there are two paramedics aboard each ambulance, lawyers representing the mayor filed multiple legal complaints against the City Council. Those lawsuits allege that the legislation interfered with labor union negotiations and was an overstep into the mayor’s authority over staffing.
As a result, both parties secured legal representation outside of the City Attorney’s office, as is required for conflicts between the two branches of government. However, Bassan believes that Keefe has continued to work with Mayor Keller’s outside counsel by participating in meetings, and drafting and reviewing legal documents.
Bassan said she made the discovery of potential misconduct when inquiring about records involving the mayor’s outside legal expenses.
“I feel like we found this information essentially by accident,” Bassan said.
Though she wouldn’t go into specifics, Bassan said what she found prompted “serious concerns.”
Bassan’s request will go before the council in the new year. Then the council will vote on whether to formally and collectively ask the Inspector General and City Auditor for an investigation into Keefe’s conduct.
Trump's push to make oil drilling cheap again squeezes some states more than others
—AP
A Republican push to make drilling cheaper on federal land is creating new fiscal pressure for states that depend on oil and gas revenue, most notably in New Mexico.
President Donald Trump’s signature spending and tax-cut legislation restored royalty rates to 12 and a half percent on new oil and gas leases. That’s more than four percent lower than royalty rates were under the Biden administration.
The change is a concern for New Mexico as it expands early childhood education and saves for the future. It's the largest recipient of federal mineral lease payments and recently raised its own royalty rates on prime land.
Family of inmate who died after being slammed on head to receive $5 million settlement
—Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
Bennie Jaramillo remembers taking his son off of life support.
His son, John Sanchez, had a brain bleed and fractures in his skull, spine and shoulder.
Four days before he’d lain comatose under hospital sheets, 34-year-old Sanchez was being escorted to his cell in handcuffs at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) when his head was slammed to the ground by a corrections officer.
“He was a good kid — didn't have to die the way he did,” Jaramillo said.
Now, years later, Bernalillo County has agreed to pay $5 million to Sanchez's family in a September settlement agreement, putting an end to a wrongful death lawsuit and a painful chapter in their lives.
“Even if MDC will never admit to liability, we all know what the $5 million means,” said Taylor Smith, an attorney representing Sanchez’s family. “It means that they did do something wrong.”
After the incident, Sanchez's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county and the guard who tackled him.
Though that suit has resolved, Sanchez’s family is still embroiled in a legal battle with the jail’s previous health care provider, arguing that medical staff failed to take a critically injured Sanchez to the hospital, which contributed to his death.
Still, Jaramillo said that money will never be enough.
“I don't care about money or nothing,” Jaramillo said. “I never wanted money. I want justice for my son.”
But Jaramillo's sense of justice may never come. This settlement marks not only the end of the family’s legal fight with the jail, but with the guard as well.
On June 12, 2023, Sgt. Stephen Gabaldon was escorting a handcuffed Sanchez, when Sanchez allegedly kicked him, according to an MDC incident report. Immediately after, Gabaldon is shown in an MDC surveillance video tackling the short-statured Sanchez to the ground head first.
Sanchez was checked by medical staff, then returned to his cell. He was found 45 minutes later vomiting and in the midst of a seizure, according to the report.
He was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where physicians found that he’d suffered a large brain bleed and cranial, spinal and shoulder blade fractures. He was brain dead.
Four days later, his family decided to take him off of life support.
“I want and need Gabaldon behind bars,” Jaramillo said.
Gabaldon and the county’s legal team could not be reached Tuesday. The Metropolitan Detention Center also did not respond to requests for comment.
Gabaldon was placed on paid administrative leave after the incident and now no longer works at MDC.
At the time of his death, Sanchez was in jail for unsubstantiated auto theft charges that were later dropped. Sanchez was also jailed in the detox unit, where many people have died in recent years.
“I do blame the justice system,” Jaramillo said. “He’d get in trouble, they’d let him out. Maybe if they were less lenient on people we could have forced him to get help.”
The last few years of his son’s life were rough, Jaramillo admitted, as Sanchez struggled with drug addiction and ended up bouncing in and out of jail.
Sanchez was the father of three, with one daughter who died as an infant. In the wake of his daughter’s death, Sanchez’s life spiraled out of control, Jaramillo said.
Despite the trouble his son would get in, Jaramillo can’t fathom why Gabaldon acted the way he did.
“There was no reason for him to have done that,” Jaramillo said. “My son was handcuffed. He was in jail. He wasn't trying to escape – so I want charges.”
An investigation into the death, with the possibility of criminal charges against Gabaldon, was forwarded to the Second Judicial District Attorney's Office by November 2023. In July, the DA's Office told the Journal no decision had been made whether to bring a criminal case against Gabaldon.
It is unclear where the case stands now.
Bernalillo Sheriff's deputies shoot and kill person in Albuquerque
— Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed a person Tuesday evening during a federal crime-fighting operation in Albuquerque’s International District.
The Albuquerque Journal reporIt marked the second time deputies have shot someone since Operation Triple Beam kicked off in early November. It is the first time the person they shot didn't survive.
BSCO Spokesperson Jayme Gonzales said deputies on Tuesday around 6p.m. stopped a motorcycle in the 300 block of Virginia, just southwest of Wyoming and Copper, while working an Auto Theft Operation. According to Gonzales, the motorcyclist fled on foot.
Sometime later, deputies “reengaged the individual” and "during the encounter" at least one deputy fired at the person, killing them.
Gonzales said in the release that no additional details, including the person’s identity, would be released until the deputies who shot were interviewed and the person’s family was notified.
Sen. Heinrich reintroduces act to strengthen tribal buffalo herds — Patrick Lohman, Source NM
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) announced Tuesday he is reintroducing legislation to improve federal support for tribal buffalo herds, an effort he said he hopes will return the buffalo within his lifetime “to the prominent place they once occupied as the keystone species on American shortgrass prairies.”
Co-sponsored with U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.,), the Indian Buffalo Management Act directs the federal Interior Department to work with tribes to develop, protect and grow buffalo herds across the country, authorizing up to $14 million annually. The bill seeks to spur more coordination and consistent investment at the Interior Department, which has provided only “nominal” funds over the last 20 years to tribes that want to start or expand buffalo herds, according to a news release from Heinrich’s office.
The InterTribal Buffalo Council, which has been pushing to return buffalo to tribal land for more than 30 years, endorsed the legislation. The council has 89 tribal members in 22 states, including at least 10 New Mexico tribes and pueblos, according to a recent membership list.
“Helping Tribes reestablish herds of buffalo on our reservations is a righteous thing for the Congress to do and will be thoroughly welcomed by Tribes and Indian people across the county,” council leaders, including Delbert Chisholm of Taos Pueblo, said in a statement.
At least 60 million buffalo once roamed throughout much of the United States before European settlers and the United States military destroyed all but a few hundred by the end of the 19th century. Indigenous people relied on the buffalo — “culturally and nutritionally” — for thousands of years, according to the council leaders’ statement.
Versions of the legislation have passed either the House of Representatives or the Senate, but not both, in recent years. Heinrich and Mullin (R-Okla.) also cosponsored the bill last year, and it passed the Senate in December but never received a hearing in the House.
“I’m proud to reintroduce this bipartisan legislation to strengthen federal support for Tribal buffalo programs and continue the growth of Tribal buffalo herds,” Heinrich said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Mullin to strengthen this federal partnership and secure future funding for this initiative.”
This story has been corrected to indicate that buffalo were nearly wiped out by the end of the 19th century.
ABQ City Council votes to rezone portion of UNM Campus — Nob Hill News
Albuquerque’s City Council unanimously approved a proposal to rezone approximately 35 acres on UNM’s south campus on Monday, Dec. 15. According to reporting by the Nob Hill News, the area, slated to be developed into the Lobo Crossing retail center, was changed from a Residential–Multi-family High Density zoning designation to Non-Residential–Commercial.
The change means that the land—which is located within the South Campus Tax Increment Development District (TIDD) —cannot have housing built on it. This conflicts with the original TIDD plan, which specified including 50,000 square feet of residential development.
The purpose of the change is to enable UNM to sell the land to a private owner for the development of the Lobo Crossing retail center. Jim Strozier, principal of the Consensus Planning architectural firm and the agent representing UNM on the request, spoke in favor of the change. He said the amendment would allow large retailers to build in the area, helping address what he described as a “food and retail services desert.”