Anyone ready for a high-stakes Friday night in Vegas?

New Mexico United are rested and ready for some serious action at the table — the USL Championship Western Conference table, that is.

United (11-9-10) open the final four-game sprint of the season on Friday with Las Vegas Lights FC (11-13-7), and it’s certainly fair to say that both clubs have a lot to do. NMU is sixth in the confusing conference race (seven teams advance to the playoffs), while Las Vegas is tied at three for eighth.

Precarious is an apt description of New Mexico’s playoff position. NMU and fifth-placed El Paso each have 43 points, Sudden Rio Grande Valley has 42, while Las Vegas, Monterey Bay and Oakland have 40 each.

Depending on the outcome of Friday’s contest and several other weekend clashes, United could wake up Monday morning anywhere from fifth place to below the playoff line.

The stakes are not lost for New Mexico players.

“It’s the time of year you live for,” said midfielder Justin Portillo. “Every game is important, but those end-of-season games where you fight for the playoffs mean more. I can’t wait.

Curiously, United had to wait a while to start their home stretch. NMU has not played since its 1-1 draw at San Antonio on September 17.

Meanwhile, the conference standings have tightened around coach Zach Prince and his players. Still, Prince believes the 13-day break between games has been beneficial.

“We’ve had good training sessions, our energy has improved and our team is getting better and better,” Prince said. “Now we have to take that energy and use it in the right way. Every game is like the cup final now. We have only one direction to follow.

United are hoping to build on their last outing, when they topped first-place San Antonio in the second half and narrowly missed coming away with three points at Toyota Field. The 1-1 draw snapped NMU’s three-game losing streak.

Las Vegas also has some momentum after a 4-0 loss to Monterey Bay on Wednesday night. Prior to that, Lights FC had lost four straight to slip below the playoff line. Prince said Las Vegas, which has an affiliate partnership with MLS Los Angeles FC, has changed dramatically since visiting Albuquerque for the regular season opener in March.

“They have different players on loan from LAFC,” he said, “and they changed their roster to 4-2-3-1. They sort of found their groove against Monterey Bay, so we expect a battle. Las Vegas is a quality team.

After its recent hiatus, New Mexico has an advantage over most clubs vying for the final three Western Conference playoff spots. United and Rio Grande Valley have four games left to play, while El Paso, Las Vegas, Monterey Bay and Oakland have just three to play.

Midfielder Sam Hamilton believes New Mexico has overcome the three-game slump that culminated in an uninspired 3-1 loss at RGVFC on September 10.

“The RGV game was a low for us,” Hamilton said, “but we came together after that and just realized that everything was still there for us. We played well in San Antonio and I like where we’re at. We are as a group. Going into these last four matches, we still have all the cards in hand.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

New Mexico (11-9-10): Defender Austin Yearwood has been limited to 12 games due to injury this season, but returned to the roster against San Antonio FC on September 17 and made the difference. In

in addition to assisting on Chris Wehan’s tying goal, Yearwood recorded five tackles, three interceptions and won seven of 11 games. He helped solidify United’s back line, which gave up just one significant scoring chance. Midfielder Harry Swartz also returned from injury, winning eight of 10 duels and drawing four SAFC fouls. Wehan tied with Neco Brett for the team lead by scoring his seventh goal and needs just one more to reach 50 regular season goals for his career.

Las Vegas (11-13-7): After scoring a total of five goals in their last eight games, Lights FC escaped in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Monterey Bay. As expected, Daniel Trejo and Cal Jennings scored three of the goals. Trejo (13 goals) and Jennings (10) accounted for 23 of Las Vegas’ 36 goals and had 11 assists and 86 shots. Las Vegas ranks 25th in shot attempts with 299. (United has 364.) Two players also stood out on the Lights FC backline. Defensemen Alejandro Lara and Dekel Keinan rank second and third in the league with 143 and 130 clearances, respectively. Abraham Romero (47 saves, 22 goals conceded) is the main goalkeeper.

NOTE: Anyone who thinks New Mexico’s 2022 season has progressed hugely like 2021 isn’t mistaken. United had an identical record of 11-9-10 in 30 appearances last season with 41 goals scored and 37 conceded. NMU has 41 goals scored and 35 allowed in 2022. … United will wear unique alternate white shirts for Friday’s game. The jerseys feature the NMU shield as well as “Omega Mart” – the name of Meow Wolf’s Las Vegas facility – on the front above an elongated “soccercow”.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Alexander MM Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Field Office in Albuquerque, announced that Nicholas Pinto has been charged with assault causing bodily harm serious bodily injury and discharge of a firearm in a violent crime in Indian country. Pinto, 23, of Zuni, New Mexico, and a registered member of Zuni Pueblo, appeared for a detention hearing Sept. 26 and will remain in custody pending trial, which has not been scheduled.

According to a criminal complaint, on September 17, Pinto and another person arrived at the home of a Zuni resident, identified as John Doe. Pinto allegedly had a conflict with one of the people in the residence. To avoid any fighting in the residence, John Doe forced Pinto to leave.

Later, in the early morning of September 18, Pinto reportedly returned to the residence. John Doe answered a knock on the door to find Pinto with a shotgun. As John Doe tried to walk away, Pinto allegedly shot him in the leg. Pinto reportedly tried to shoot John Doe again, but the shotgun did not fire.

John Doe, who is an enrolled Zuni Pueblo member, received emergency treatment at the scene and was transported to University of New Mexico Hospital for treatment.

A complaint is only an allegation. An accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted, Pinto faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison.

The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated the matter with the assistance of the Zuni Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Nayback is prosecuting the case.

# # #

Major cities and metropolitan areas have long been centers of economic activity and prosperity in the United States. Large employers who can pay enough to attract top talent from across the country often have operations in places like Austin, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. As a result, these cities, and many others like them, have a high concentration of high-income residents. But while some American cities stand out for the economic opportunities they offer, many others stand out for the opposite reason.

There are 384 metropolitan areas in the United States, and in dozens of them incomes are well below average and severe financial hardship is widespread.

The typical household in the Las Cruces metropolitan area of ​​New Mexico earns $45,178 a year – the eighth lowest among the 384 U.S. metro areas for which data is available, and about $24,540 less than the national median income households of $69,717.

Las Cruces also has an above average poverty rate. An estimated 19.4% of the metro area’s population lives below the poverty line, compared to 12.8% of all Americans nationally.

In large populations, income tends to rise with education, and in the Las Cruces area, only 30.1% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 35.0% of all Americans of the same age group.

All data in this story is based on one-year estimates from the US Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.

Published on September 21, 2022 at 5:23 p.m.

The police culture in New Mexico is changing. The days of officers drinking quietly to drown out their trauma after a particularly horrific day on the job are fast receding. Peer support and mental health resources are at the forefront of this change.

Discussions about the mental health of officers have become more frequent in recent years, and the data is startling. The 2008 Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study found that 23% of male and 25% of female police officers reported more suicidal thoughts than the general population (13.5%). In a previous study, suicide rates were three times higher among police than among other municipal workers, researchers found. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926105029.htm)

And PoliceChief magazine analyzed various sources to find that in 2019 more officers in the United States died by suicide than in the line of duty. (https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/the-le-suicide-data-collection/)

The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act was passed by Congress in 2017. It provided funding for the Department of Justice to publish case studies of programs designed primarily to address health and psychological well-being of officers.

The shift in national attention to officer welfare reflects efforts within the state.

What is vicarious trauma?

Acting director of the Law Enforcement Academy Benjamin Baker said that when talking about the trauma faced by first responders, it’s more than just trauma related to a single incident.

“I’ve often described some of the work I’ve done over the years as a constant stream of vicarious trauma,” Baker said in an interview. “Based on the things you see, the things you feel, the things you experience, that repetitive nature and the need for power (especially in law enforcement) to push those things into a space so you can keep moving forward. seems to have a cumulative and aggravating effect on people’s well-being.

Baker is talking about something officers and other first responders have known for years. Being close to trauma or being involved in traumatic situations day in and day out can leave deep scars.

It’s not just frontline workers who see the impact of trauma on their own lives.

Baker, who previously led the Internet Crimes Against Children division of the New Mexico attorney general’s office, said even the process of investigating such crimes can harm the mental health of investigators.

“There is no safe space in and around these traumatic events,” Baker said. “For the purposes of mental well-being, you regularly experience things. By proxy, I’ve been through a lot during my time supervising people who carry out Internet crimes against children in child pornography and child exploitation investigations.

Baker is open about the trauma he has endured during his long career in law enforcement and he said he is opening up for a reason. In his current role at the LEA, he uses his experience teaching officers attending the police academy for the first time, or those taking a refresher certification course, to help new officers understand the importance to ask for help.

“I visited each of our classes,” Baker said. “I share with them, in a very intimate way, my experiences… with the aim of hopefully creating an environment that is not only fertile for us to continue to evolve and do better. Most importantly, however, it can contribute positively to a police officer’s well-being and not go down one of those roads we talked about earlier regarding substances, addiction, suicide, and conflict.

Baker’s hope is that by reaching out to every class, he can quickly reach departments across the state. Comprised of cadets sent from smaller agencies, each class offers the opportunity to ameliorate the stigma around seeking mental health treatment. By standing up and sharing her personal story, Baker hopes to reduce that stigma.

Change the culture

New Mexico State Police Sgt. Janice Madrid is the commander of the Crisis Negotiation Team, Peer Support Team (POST), and Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) for the state police. His work focuses on the mental health of officers.

“I think a lot of people don’t see the day-to-day operations that a law enforcement officer would go through,” Madrid said. “The New Mexico State Police is a very large department. We have several areas [in which] agents can experience different things in the course of their duties.

Madrid used changes in stress levels during the day for the many NMSP patrollers as an example of hidden stressors.

“They operate between extremely high stress levels and low stress levels. They could do a traffic stop, where they talk to an elderly person and it could be a low-stress encounter,” she said. “Their next call for service may be a servant [violence incident] going on, or someone was shot or injured…so their stress levels fluctuate.

Police found that a peer support team, made up of fellow officers who shared their law enforcement experience, helped reach officers who would otherwise be uncomfortable asking help.

“We use an officer peer support team to mitigate the adverse effects of critical incidents, such as duty events, personal events, staff events, confidential structured meetings, informal meetings; and we do it after major events, critical incidents,” Madrid said.

The CIT and POST teams intervene in all kinds of situations, including as family relays in stressful situations.

“Currently we are rolling out a mobile app,” Madrid said. The app will allow NMSP officers to seek help with everything from drug addiction and suicidal ideation to divorce and personal struggles.

“It’s completely confidential,” Madrid said. “None of their personal information is retained.”

Madrid says the new app simply builds on what is already an evolving culture and proactive approach to officer wellbeing. Whenever an officer needs help, the Madrid team is activated.

“Either I am informed of an event that has occurred, or if an officer in a specific district is going through personal issues or struggling with something he may have seen or been involved in,” he said. said Madrid. “I would then in turn deploy a member of the POST team. I would identify someone in this district, then deploy them.

Madrid noted that ultimately it’s up to each officer in need to accept the help offered, but she sees the culture changing.

“I think we’re going in the right direction in terms of educating our officers about what they could go through or experience with different types of events,” Madrid said. “We provide our officers with the basic skills to intervene with people who have mental health problems, as well as to provide them with the help they may need at some point in their career, whether it is today. today, tomorrow, or if it’s ten years from now.

New Mexico’s first annual Public Safety Resilience Summit is scheduled for October. Baker said the LEA will take a proactive role in the summit, which is hosted by the Public Safety Psychology Group led by Dr. Troy Rodgers, a prominent state police psychologist. The summit will focus on vicarious trauma, overcoming life-threatening injuries, PTSD, suicide and active wellness, including meditation and yoga.

“The goals are to proactively care and roundtable, discuss, train and learn things related to suicide prevention, as well as mental health and wellness awareness for professionals public safety,” Baker said.

(JTA) – The Jewish Federation of New Mexico is nearly cash-strapped and short-staffed, and all of its programs have been suspended or are being transferred to other community entities, according to interviews and court records.

The dysfunction is the result of growing acrimony at a 74-year-old institution charged with serving the state’s roughly 24,000 Jews. After board resignations, lawsuits, and the flight of many long-time donors over the past two years, the board discussed disbanding the federation altogether.

“All the programs are gone,” said federation board member Marina Rabinowitz, who agreed to join the struggling board in January in hopes of turning things around. “The federation provided grants to almost all Jewish institutions in the state. But not anymore.”

Among the programs and beneficiaries involved are the Jewish Care Program, which helps the elderly, including Holocaust survivors, and is moving to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque; PJ Library, which provides free books to Jewish families; the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival; and the University of New Mexico Hillel Chapter.

“The situation in New Mexico is unacceptable and we will do everything in our power to ensure that the federation can continue to serve the Jewish community, support Jewish infrastructure, elevate Jewish life and serve the most vulnerable,” said Eric. Fingerhut, President. and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, which represents 450 communities across North America.

What the future holds for New Mexico’s Jewish community is unclear. For now, all “core” programs traditionally supported by federation funding are still operating, according to a JFNA spokesperson.

But even if the federation folds, donors could materialize to keep programs afloat independently and programs that have lost staff could be staffed again under new arrangements.

The dispute in New Mexico, which the Jewish Telegraphic Agency first revealed in March, centers on the tenure of Rob Lennick, the federation’s former executive director, who recently left. He has since been hired to lead the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties, serving the Daytona Beach, Florida area, a JFNA spokesperson confirmed.

Several staff members began complaining in late 2020 that Lennick was prone to fits of rage and was intimidating and hostile at times. Lennick denied the allegations, finding support in the executive committee of the federation’s board of directors.

The executive committee offered to offer Lennick a loan and a contract extension and the board approved the offer in a vote in February 2021. But soon after, several board members accused the executive committee of concealing the complaints against Lennick before the vote.

About half of the board quickly resigned, and four members who remained sued. They are now asking a New Mexico court to take over the federation to ensure its management structure can be overhauled.

Lennick is now considering filing his own lawsuit because he says he has been unfairly slandered, according to his attorney, Daymon Ely, who declined to say who might be targeted in the lawsuit.

“I’m not going to name names, but you have people who have a bit of power and, in my opinion, have abused that power,” Ely said. “We’re considering taking legal action because he’s gone and they keep blaming him for things that aren’t his fault. They always talk about acrimony being his responsibility, but I think he really tried to lower the volume and I think the facts will show that he tried to do a good job.

Current members of the executive committee did not respond to requests for comment. David Blacher, who resigned as president of the federation, declined to comment.

In January, with many board seats vacant, the executive committee recruited Rabinowitz. An economist by profession, she agreed and saw an opportunity to help sort through what appeared to be messy financial accounting.

But she says that when she asked for access to the federation’s books, she was rebuffed by the executive committee. After repeatedly “begging” she says she was eventually given numbers, like a profit and loss statement, but no documentation that would validate the numbers.

“I have no confidence in the veracity of anything presented there,” Rabinowitz told JTA.

What she was able to establish was that federation coffers recently dwindled to around $22,000, a miniscule amount for an organization with a proposed budget of around $1 million in 2020, and a massive drop compared to three years ago, when the federation reported that it had 18 months of operating expenses on its reserves.

Rabinowitz doesn’t know where the money went. At least one party will pay for the lawyer representing the executive committee members in court, according to court records.

“I don’t know what mismanagement is and what fraud is,” Rabinowitz said. “The only thing I can tell you is that an organization that has been around for over 70 years has been destroyed in the last three years.”

Shelly Prant, executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Albuquerque, said she believes the community will rally together to ensure essential programs continue and that her organization and others are ready to pick up the slack created by the issues of the Federation.

“There’s a core group of people in Albuquerque and across the state who are truly caring, passionate and philanthropic,” Prant said. “And they really take it all very seriously and try to help, and so at the end of the day it’s going to be fine even if right now it’s difficult.”

Toyota Field in San Antonio, Texas hasn’t exactly been a house of horrors for New Mexico United.

Yes, NMU got beaten up there (3-0) on national television once last season, but there were some moments to remember as well. United cruised to a 1-0 win on their other visit to Toyota Field last season, and the club’s only USL Championship playoff victory came there in 2020.

Perhaps that’s partly why United manager Zach Prince and his players are looking forward to Saturday’s away game against Western Conference leaders San Antonio FC. Based on recent results, it doesn’t seem likely to be a pleasant walk in the grass.

San Antonio (20-5-3) has been the conference’s top dog most of the season and has already clinched a playoff berth. SAFC is coming off a 1-0 victory over second-placed San Diego and is closing in on a regular-season title and a first-round bye.

New Mexico, meanwhile, is desperate to regain its midseason form and improve its playoff positioning with five games remaining in the regular season. United (11-9-9) sit in fifth place, but their place above the playoff line has become precarious during the club’s recent 1-6-1 funk.

United manager Zach Prince and his players were far from happy after last week’s 3-1 loss at Rio Grande Valley, a game in which they were thoroughly outplayed after taking a 1- 0 on Amando Moreno’s goal in the eighth minute.

“We’re not happy with our position in these last games,” Prince said, “especially the way we played in Rio Grande Valley. … We challenged ourselves this week. Yeah, we created ourselves a lot chances in recent games, but we’re tired of saying it, we need results.

Prince and his players are well aware that goals and points have been hard to come by against San Antonio this season. The SAFC are 9-1-3 at home and have allowed a total of 22 league goals.

Yet United came up against San Antonio earlier this season at Isotopes Park, eventually losing 1-0 on a 67th-minute penalty from Justin Dhillon.

“As a group we are very excited about this game,” said midfielder Sam Hamilton. “Regardless of the opponent, we are optimistic. There are five games left in the season and it’s time to tighten our concentration.

It’s a different challenge for United as San Antonio’s attack is unusual among Western Conference clubs. SAFC rank eighth in the league in goals scored (46), but last by a wide margin in assists.

“They’re a very direct team, big in size, and they just like to serve the ball and attack,” said NMU midfielder Justin Portillo. “We have to stay behind them defensively and capitalize when we have opportunities.”

United could get a boost as some of their injured players (striker Jerome Kiesewetter, midfielder Josh Suggs and defender Austin Yearwood) have had full weeks of training, Prince said.

ACADEMY CLINCHER: New Mexico United‘s academy team earned a division championship and a berth in the USL Academy Playoffs with a 5-1 win over San Diego at Mesa del Sol on Friday.

Former Santa Fe High star Alex Wagoner scored twice in his first NMU appearance. Denilson Velasquez, Miles Merritt and Ivan Moore also scored for New Mexico (11-1-1), which avenged its only loss, a 1-0 loss to San Diego earlier this season.

By winning the Southwest Division, United earns one of 12 automatic berths for the 16-team Championship Tournament, scheduled for mid-November in Tampa, Florida. New Mexico qualified as a wild card last season and finished third.

“I’m really proud of these boys,” said NMU academy coach Luke Sanford. “They’re the best team in the division because they’ve worked so hard in practice every day. Our goal was to get to the playoffs and we did, so now the goal is to go out and win. Representing our state outside of that environment against the best teams in the country is a big deal.

NEW MEXICO UNITED at SAN ANTONIO FC

Saturday, 6:30 p.m., espn+ (streaming), 101.7 FM

PLAYERS TO WATCH

New Mexico (11-9-9): United’s struggling offense (four goals in their last five games) will face a tough challenge against the USL league’s best defense at San Antonio. New Mexico was unable to find a regular finisher, especially since forward Neco Brett was injured. The best hope for a breakthrough on Saturday may rest with Chris Wehan, who had notable success at Toyota Field. Wehan scored the only goal in NMU’s 1-0 victory at SAFC last season and his extra-time tally in 2020 was the difference in United’s first and only playoff victory. Striker Amando Moreno will be looking to build on his first goal of 2022 – scored last week on his 27th birthday.

San Antonio (20-5-3): Predictably, several players have had stellar seasons for the USL Championship Western Conference leader. Goalkeeper Jordan Farr

was stellar with 14 clean sheets (including one against New Mexico), 62 saves and just 20 goals against. The SAFC as a team have conceded 22 league goals in 28 matches. Striker Samuel Adeniran leads the club with nine goals and 51 shots, and midfielder Mohammed Abu has a team record 43 created chances to go with five assists. Still, striker Justin Dhillon will undoubtedly be high on United’s radar. The well-rounded Dhillon has six goals, seven assists, 36 shots and 24 chances created this season.

NOTE: San Antonio FC have been particularly good at home this season (9-1-3) and haven’t lost at Toyota Field since a 2-0 loss to Phoenix on April 2. … New Mexico goaltender Alex Tambakis will get his first look at SAFC this season after missing the first game with an injury. Cody Mizell starred in San Antonio’s 1-0 win April 23 at Isotopes Park. … With two home dates remaining, NMU continues to lead the USLC in home attendance average (10,474 per game). San Antonio (5,870 per game) ranks 10th.

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY, Sept 13 (Reuters) – As border crossings hit record highs, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is quietly pressuring Mexico to accept more migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and from Venezuela under a COVID-19 deportation order that the White House has publicly sought to end, seven U.S. and three Mexican officials said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns about an increase in the number of migrant crossings from the three countries during a visit to Mexico City on Monday, two US and two Mexican officials told Reuters, but Mexico did not promise any specific action.

A US official said trying to convince Mexico to agree was “an uphill battle”.

All sources requested anonymity to discuss internal government matters.

Mexico is already accepting US returns of migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. So far this fiscal year, around 299,000 people from these countries have been deported at the border, compared to around 9,000 returning from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The US effort to pressure Mexico over these three particular nationalities illustrates the depth of concern within the Biden Democratic administration over their border crossings. Most migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela crossing into the United States are allowed to stay to apply for asylum, as they are difficult to deport due to frosty diplomatic relations with their governments.

The Mexican Foreign Ministry declined to comment. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council declined to discuss “diplomatic conversations” but said countries in the region “have already begun to collectively assume responsibility for managing migration flows, including through the repatriation bias”.

US border agents have made a record 1.8 million migrant arrests so far in fiscal year 2022, many of whom have attempted to cross multiple times, creating humanitarian challenges and political liability for Biden ahead of the November 8 midterm elections.

Of those apprehensions at the southwest border, nearly a quarter of migrants were from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, up from 8% in 2021 and 3% in 2020. Most were allowed to enter the United States for pursue immigration cases.

The Biden administration has publicly sought to end the COVID health order, known as Title 42. Issued in early 2020 under former Republican President Donald Trump, it allows US border officials to quickly remove migrants to Mexico or other countries without the possibility of seeking American asylum. . A Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana blocked the administration from ending the order earlier this year, even as US health officials said it was no longer necessary to protect against the spread of COVID. Read more

But behind closed doors, some Biden officials still view expanding deportations as a way to deter passers-by, one of the US officials said, even as it contradicts the Democratic Party’s more welcoming message to migrants.

Advocates and many Democrats fiercely oppose Title 42, saying it has exposed migrants to dangerous conditions in Mexico, including kidnapping and extortion.

“I think it really betrays their commitments to refugee protection,” said Robyn Barnard, associate director for refugee advocacy with the New York-based nonprofit Human Rights First.

MEXICO HESITANT

Two Mexican officials told Reuters that Mexico does not want to take in Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans deported from the United States because those countries also refuse to accept deportation flights from Mexico.

Instead, Mexico aims to step up internal migrant flights from its northern border to its southern border to relieve pressure on the shared border, one of the officials said.

Mexico would like Washington to ease economic sanctions against Venezuela to help curb exodus from the country and facilitate legal labor for migrants in the United States, two Mexican officials have said.

Meanwhile, US border officials in El Paso, Texas, said they were forced to release hundreds of migrants onto city streets near shelters and bus stations to ease overcrowding at their facilities.

Many Venezuelans arriving do not have family members or sponsors, further straining the charities and government organizations helping them, said Mario D’Agostino, deputy city manager of El Paso.

The Democratic-controlled city has contracted charter buses to ferry migrants north to New York, an effort that comes after Republican governors of Texas and Arizona drew national attention by transporting thousands migrants to northern cities run by the Democrats. Read more

PRESSURE ON OTHER NATIONS

Biden officials are also exploring ways to hold other countries accountable beyond Mexico, sources said.

For example, the White House wants Panama to accept deported Venezuelans if they pass through the Central American nation en route to the United States, two of the US officials said.

Nearly 70,000 Venezuelans entered Panama from its Colombian border this year through August, compared to 1,150 in the same period last year, according to official data.

Panamanian government officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Separately, the Biden administration had sent a small number of Venezuelans to the Dominican Republic on commercial flights, two of the U.S. officials said, continuing a Trump-era practice.

But the program was halted after a pushback earlier this year from the office of Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, according to one of the US officials and a person familiar with the matter. In February, Menendez described as “extremely worrying” the deportation of migrants fleeing Venezuela’s “cruel regime” to third countries.

Reporting by Ted Hesson, Matt Spetalnick and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington and Dave Graham and Daina Solomon in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez in Ciudad Juarez and Elida Moreno in Panama City; Editing by Mica Rosenberg and Aurora Ellis

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In what has become an annual fall tradition at the University of New Mexico, the 2022 UNM Gives United Way campaign kicks off in New Mexican style with the 4th Annual Salsa Showdown Competition scheduled for Tuesday, October 4.

Register to Submit Recipes is ongoing and is limited to the first 10 entries. The deadline to enter the contest is Tuesday, September 20 at 3:00 p.m. The prize for the winning salsa recipe is one year of free parking, equivalent to an existing parking permit (courtesy of PATS).

Despite a global pandemic, each of the past two years the University has still managed to launch its annual UNM Gives campaign to raise funds for the United Way of Central New Mexico with the salsa test. All students, faculty and staff are invited to participate with the best salsa recipe on campus. If you have an old family favorite – or maybe it’s that “famous salsa” you’re always asked to bring to picnics and parties –submit your recipe by Tuesday, September 20.

Entrees (10) will be prepared by UNM’s Chartwells Catering, and on Tuesday, October 4, Lobos can grab a bag of chips and a sample of the competing salsas in the SUB atrium, then vote online for their favorite. The winner will get more than bragging rights; UNM Parking and Transportation (PATS) will also waive the cost of your parking for the remainder of the academic year. It’s a great way to satisfy that salsa craving while raising awareness for a great cause.

Sponsored by the Office of the President, this year’s Grab N’ Go Salsa Showdown event will have a similar format to last year, including limited attendance (10 attendees) and online voting, all due ongoing health and safety guidelines related to COVID-19.

Participants taking part in the Salsa Showdown will register and submit their favorite homemade salsa recipes while Chartwells Catering will prepare the salsa on the day of the event. Participants will pick up a “Grab N’ Go” bag of chips and salsa, taste the location of their choice and vote for their favourite.

The tasting takes place on Tuesday, October 4 at the SUB from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. or while supplies last. The event will be competitive, tasty and will once again help kick off this year’s UNM Gives United Way campaign. Voting will be available from October 4 at 12:30 p.m. to October 7 at 5 p.m.

The annual Salsa Showdown has become a huge sweepstakes that generates excitement for the UNM Gives United Way campaign. In 2019, over 200 people attended the inaugural event, the in-person event and cast over 700 votes for the 20+ entries. The winner was determined by popular vote.

After the success of the 2019 event, UNM Gives United Way campaign organizers were determined to hold the event in 2020 and found a fun way to conduct it within the state’s COVID-19 health guidelines. with the Grab N’ Go concept. While state health guidelines have relaxed a bit over the past two years, campaign organizers felt it was still prudent to run the event with the most great health safety in mind.

“With the take-out approach, we can kick off our annual fundraising campaign to support United Way’s important work with a tasty, fun and competitive showdown while adhering to COVID-19 guidelines,” said Bridget, Coordinator of the UNM Gives campaign. Midday.

The University of New Mexico has proudly supported United Way of Central New Mexico (UWCNM) for over 30 years. Last year’s UNM Gives campaign raised over $516,000. UNM’s involvement in the United Way campaign goes well beyond supporting the annual campaign. Many faculty, staff, and students volunteer with UWCNM, participate in events, and help out throughout the year through service and volunteerism.

For more information on the annual campaign, visit United Way of Central New Mexico.

New Mexico United coach Zach Prince opened his latest media session with a trip to the condiment aisle.

Prince, his players and United fans are eagerly waiting for a flood of goals to start piling up in their favour. For the past few weeks, that’s been a trickle at best, leaving New Mexico stranded in the hunt for the USL Championship Western Conference playoffs.

Prince remains confident the barrage will break, especially after United fired a 19-shot barrage towards the frame in last week’s 2-1 loss to El Paso. But instead of using a descriptive analogy of flood control, Prince opted for ketchup.

“It’s like trying to get ketchup on a plate,” he said. “You shake the bottle, shake it, shake it and get nothing. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a pile of ketchup on your plate. I have the impression that we are in this kind of situation. The ketchup will arrive at some point.

United are hoping for a red plate on Saturday when they visit Rio Grande Valley FC for a key Western Conference game. New Mexico (11-8-9, 42 points) enters in fifth place, one point behind Sacramento and two ahead of El Paso. United have six games left to play.

Rio Grande Valley (9-12-6, 33 points) sits in 10th place, but just four behind seventh-place Las Vegas, which currently holds the last conference playoff spot. RGVFC still have seven games to play.

It’s been a tough season overall for the Toros, but with no team advancing to secure the final playoff spots, RGVFC are making a tough final effort. The Toros are 2-1-3 in their last six outings, including a 2-0 win over El Paso on Wednesday.

“RGV is a well-drilled team fighting to make the playoffs,” Prince said. “It’s a big game for both teams. We have to go into it with a ton of confidence.

On the pitch, United haven’t received many breaks lately. Shots to the woodwork and controversial calls changed the momentum of several games and prevented the scoring breakthrough that Prince and his players were looking for.

Midfielder Daniel Bruce prefers not to dwell on such things.

“You can’t,” he said. “We have to keep our wits about ourselves, how we approach training and be as prepared as possible. If we do that, the goals, the points and the results will come flooding in.

New Mexico received good fortune in terms of outdoor results. Sacramento, El Paso, Las Vegas and LA Galaxy II – in contention with United for a fourth place finish that comes with a home playoff – also spun their wheels.

Despite going 1-5-1 in their last five matches, United still have plenty to play for in the final weeks of the season.

“There’s always a sense of urgency when you’re approaching the end of the season,” Prince said, “but it’s not so much about rushing things as it is about having a cool head. Even after a match as frustrating as El Paso, where you dominate the game and get no results, we have to focus on the moment.

United went 1-0-1 in back-to-back home games against Rio Grande Valley in June, coming painfully close to a two-game sweep. NMU won the first game 1-0 and trailed by the same scoreline in game two, only for Toros defender Jesus Vazquez to equalize in the 90th minute.

“They’re a good team,” Bruce said of the Toros. “They will work hard and cover the pitch, but it’s nothing we haven’t faced before. What we have to understand is that every game is vital now. We have to come out and show it early in the game. .

Albuquerque Navy Week brings together Sailors from across the fleet in the region to highlight the importance of the Navy to Albuquerque, the State of New Mexico and the nation.

Participating Navy organizations include USS New Mexico (SSN 779), USS Santa Fe (SSN 763), USS George Washington (CVN 73), University of New Mexico NROTC, Navy Talent Acquisition Group Phoenix, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, Naval History and Heritage Command, Fleet Weather Center, US Naval Academy, US Navy Ceremonial Guard Drill Team, Office of Small Business Programs, and Navy Band Southwest.

More than 40 Sailors will participate in education and community outreach activities throughout the city, including attending the New Mexico State Fair. All participating orders will follow DOD, CDC, state, and local guidelines for safety during the current pandemic.

The Navy’s top executive host is Rear Admiral Gene Price, Vice Commander Naval Information Forces. During Albuquerque Navy Week, he will participate in community engagements, meet with students, and speak with local businesses, civic, educational, and government leaders.

Navy Weeks are a series of outreach events coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach designed to give Americans the opportunity to learn more about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity. Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort in areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, providing the public with first-hand insight into the importance of the Navy to cities like Albuquerque.

“We are thrilled to bring Navy Week to Albuquerque,” ​​said NAVCO Director Cmdr. John Fague. “Navy Weeks gives us the opportunity to help connect Americans to their Navy. We look forward to building those connections safely and responsibly in the Albuquerque area and showing everyone why their Navy is so important.

Throughout the week, Sailors will participate in various community events in the area, including engaging with students from several high schools and volunteering for the City of Albuquerque, Cuidando Los Ninos, Roadrunner Food Bank, Ronald McDonald House, Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity. Residents will also be able to enjoy free live music from Navy Band Southwest at venues throughout the week.

Albuquerque Navy Week is one of 13 Navy Weeks in 2022, which brings together a variety of assets, equipment and personnel in one city for a series of week-long engagements designed to bring the U.S. Navy closer to the people it protects. Each year, the program reaches more than 140 million people, or about half of the US population.

Media organizations wishing to cover Albuquerque Navy Week events should contact Lt. Joel Borrelli-Boudreau at (901) 874-5804 or [email protected] For more information on events in Albuquerque, visit the Navy Outreach website at https://outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks-2022/Albuquerque-2022/.

NEW MEXICO (Stacker) — It is estimated that the annual contribution of the honey bee to the United States economy is at least $15 billion. Beyond profitable products and by-products harvested directly from honey bee colonies such as honey, beeswax, propolis and royal jelly, more than 90 different crops – around a third of total crop production in the United States – depend on these prolific pollinators for their survival and prosperity.

A world without bees would be bleak; there would be less food for human consumption, less variety among the fruits, vegetables and nuts that are left over, and the impacts of their absence would ripple throughout the entire food web.

While the dystopian future is distant, honey bees are nevertheless under threat. Habitat loss, diseases like colony collapse syndrome, herbicides, pesticides, and pests like the aptly named varroa destructor mite all contribute, often in concert, to high rates of colony decline across the country.

Between 2020 and 2021, beekeepers lost around 45% of their managed honey bee colonies. The expected or acceptable rate of colony turnover due to natural environmental factors such as winter weather conditions is 20%. Stacker compiled statistics on honey bee populations in New Mexico using the most recent annual data from the United States Department of Agriculture.

So far in 2022, settlements are down 22% according to the most recent data from the United States Department of Agriculture. Beekeepers, researchers and scientists take great care to mitigate the loss of managed colonies by moving honey bees seasonally, feeding them sugar water when flowers are not in bloom to prevent death, renovating or by replenishing colonies when a queen bee dies and expanding existing colonies. to keep them healthy and productive. Still, there is little improvement from year to year, according to colony data.

The dystopian world without bees is not imminent, but the battle for their protection and prosperity is difficult.

New Mexico honey bee population health:

• Maximum total colonies, April-June 2022: 7,000
  — 27.3% increase since 2021, 6th largest increase nationally
• Colonies lost, April-June 2022: 1,600
  — 138.8% increase since 2021
• Colonies added, April-June 2022: 4,200
  — Increase of 650.0% since 2021
• Colonies renovated, April-June 2022: 2,200
  — 4.3% decrease since 2021

States with the highest increase in honey bee colonies from 2021 to 2022:

• 1. Missouri: 118.8% increase
• 2. Arkansas: 76.0% increase
• 3. Louisiana: 48.3% increase
• 4. Mississippi: 34.3% increase
• 5. North Carolina: 30.4% increase

States with the greatest decrease in honey bee colonies from 2021 to 2022:

• 1. Kansas: 38.8% drop
• 2. Illinois: 26.9% decline
• 3. Wyoming: 23.3% drop
• 4. Indiana: 23.1% drop
• 5. Colorado: 22.0% decline

EL PASO, TX – El Paso Locomotive FC announced on Thursday that it has acquired midfielder Chris Garcia on loan from Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake for the remainder of the 2022 USL Championship season. As per club policy, details of the season-long loan have not been made public.

The El Paso native will be available for selection when Locomotive FC visit New Mexico United on Friday night in the latest edition of the Derby del Camino Real.

“First of all, I’m happy to be back home. It’s a dream come true to play for my hometown, when I was little I played on these grounds,” said Garcia. “It’s a great opportunity and I know we only have a few games left so I want to make the most of it and I’m happy to be back.”

The 19-year-old joined the professional ranks with Real Salt Lake from the RSL Academy in February 2020 and has already made three appearances in the USL Championship for Real Monarchs SLC during the 2021 season. This season, Garcia has made two appearances for Real in MLS, while also competing for the Monarchs in MLS NEXT Pro.

Garcia also spent time on loan with Swedish club Ljungskile SK, having impressed during his time at the RSL Academy. In the 2018 season, Garcia scored 18 goals in 38 games, starting in 30 games. During the 2019 US Soccer Development Academy season, Garcia scored seven goals in six appearances.

TEXAS COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE SID MILLER MEETS WITH MEXICAN ECONOMY MINISTER TO SAFEGUARD PLANNED RAILWAY EXPANSION THROUGH TEXAS (08/29/2022)

AUSTIN– Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller met with Mexican Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier Carrillo last week via videoconference to urge the Mexican government to reconsider its plan to reroute rail and port expansion from the T-MEC corridor away from Texas. This new rail line will connect the Mexican port of Mazatlán to the Canadian city of Winnipeg and create new economic opportunities for cities along the route. Originally, the route was to pass through Laredo.

In early May, Minister Clouthier announced that the T-MEC corridor would take an indirect route to pass through Santa Teresa, New Mexico, instead of Texas, after Governor Greg Abbott ordered additional truck inspections along the route. the border between Texas and Mexico. The order resulted in more than $4 billion in economic losses for U.S. and Mexican businesses due to massive delays and product losses caused by the governor’s action.

Commissioner Miller urged that the original plan for routes through Texas be reconsidered.

“Texas has the number one port for commerce in the United States at Laredo, followed by Pharr and Eagle Pass,” Miller said. “This will have a long-term effect on trade and the revised plan will be much more costly with far-reaching economic and logistical impacts.”

Miller highlighted the positive relationship Texas has with Mexico through agriculture at the four export facilities operated by the Texas Department of Agriculture.

“We have a great working relationship at the border, and I always believe the best route for goods from both countries is through Texas because of our existing infrastructure for rail and road transportation,” Miller said.

Minister Clouthier was very positive during the meeting, expressing that she understood Miller’s reasoning and really appreciated having the conversation, emphasizing that Texas and Mexico should talk to each other.

Miller agreed with Clouthier on the success of the reunion.

“We both agreed that this was a good first step and that we needed to keep talking. I appreciate the time and attention of the Minister for the Economy on this very serious matter. There is much more to discuss and I know we can demonstrate the benefits of the Texas route for both countries.”

“These decisions will impact the United States and Mexico long after any current officials have left. Both nations need to get it right,” Miller said.

Miller plans to hold additional meetings in Texas and Mexico to further advocate for routing the T-MEC corridor through Texas.

What’s on the ballot?

Competitive statewide races on the general election ballot include governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, and auditor.

In the redesigned Congressional District 3 which still includes the northern New Mexico Democratic strongholds of Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Taos counties but now also incorporates parts of Republican counties in the southwestern part of the state, incumbent Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez faces off for second time with Republican Alexis Martinez Johnson, whom she beat 59-41% in her first race of 2020. (Voters in other parts of the state also contested races: In Congressional District 2, Republican incumbent Yvette Harrell will try to fend off a challenge from Democrat Gabe Vazquez; District 1, Democrat incumbent Melanie Stansbury faces GOP Michelle Garcia Holmes.)

Many local races were decided in the June 7 primary election. As for the state legislature, the only contested seat in the Santa Fe area is Rep. Andrea Romero, an incumbent Democrat facing a challenge from Republican Jay Groseclose in House District 46.

Judiciary power :

• In the Supreme Court, Justice Nominees Brianna Zamora and Julie Vargas, both Democrats, are on the ballot against Republicans Kerry J Morris and Thomas C Montoya, respectively. The New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission plans to release its recommendations in the Supreme Court races and for seven Metropolitan Court judgeships (for Bernalillo County voters) next month. Judge Michael Vigil is awaiting detention.
• On the Court of Appeal, 2021-appointed Justice Gerald E. Baca, a Democrat, is running for office against Republican Barbara Johnson and Libertarian Sophie Cooper for No. 1; and Democrat Katherine Anne Wray, also nominated last year, is taking on Libertarian Stephen Curtis and Republican Gertrude Lee for the Position 2 seat. Judge Jane Yohalem is pending retention.

Three Statewide Constitutional Amendments: Read One legislative analysis of the pros and cons here.

• Permanent Land Grant Fund: Should the state send more money from the extractive industries to early childhood education, public schools and other programs? The proposal would increase cash disbursements from the investment of this fund from 5% of the product to 6.25%.
• Re-election of appointed judges: Should a judge appointed to fill a vacancy be elected at the first general election one year after his appointment? The state constitution now stipulates that these judges must be elected in the next general election after their appointment.
• Modify the anti-donation clause: Should the state add an exception to the anti-donation clause to allocate public funds to infrastructure that provides essential services such as internet, energy, water or wastewater?

Three general duty bonds for 1) $24.47 million for seniors’ centres; 2) $19.3 million for public libraries; 3) $215 million for public higher education, public special schools, and tribal schools? These debts are paid off by property tax revenues.

See the full list of Secretary of State nominees for office in New Mexico here.

When does voting start?

Mail-in ballots will first be mailed to voters on Oct. 11, the same day voters can vote for the first time in person at the county clerk’s office. (Santa Fe’s is at 100 Catron St.)

Santa Fe County voters can also visit all other voting locations from the third Saturday before the election, Oct. 22, through the Saturday before the election, Nov. 5. “In general, the earliest sites are located at the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds, Pojoaque Satellite Office, Abedon Lopez Community Center, Christian Life Church, Southside Library, Max Coll Corridor in El Dorado, and Edgewood City Administrative Office. Exact locations and times will be posted and announced,” according to the county clerk’s website. Election day is Tuesday, November 9. Polling stations are open that day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

How can I register to vote?

Register by mail and on line before October 11. Or, use same day registration at the county clerk’s office until Election Day, and at polling places on Election Day and expanded early voting sites. Bring a New Mexico driver’s license or New Mexico ID card issued by the Motor Vehicle Division of the Department of Taxes and Revenue; any document containing a county address and photo ID; or a valid student photo ID from a post-secondary institution in New Mexico along with a current student fee statement showing the student’s county address.

What is the procedure for voting by post?

First, request a postal ballot by filling out the form here and return it to the clerk’s office. Then, complete your ballot when it arrives after October 11 and return it to a drop box or by mail. November 3 is technically the last day to request an absentee ballot (to return the form, not to request it), but officials say that rolls the dice with the United States Postal Service and does not recommend you to wait that long.

What is the required age to vote?

18

How long do I have to live in New Mexico or Santa Fe to be able to vote?

There is no length residency requirement. Once you have established a residential address, you can register to vote.

How can voters find out who donates to candidates’ campaigns?

Campaign finance reports are then due to the Secretary of State on September 12, October 11 and November 3.

More questions?

Call the Santa Fe County Clerk at (505) 986-6280 or the SoS at (505) 827-3600.

When the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science first received a dinosaur skull that had been removed from the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area south of Farmington, paleontologists believed that it was a pentaceratops.

Museum of Paleontology curator Spencer Lucas explained that pentaceratops is the common ceratopsian species found in the Bisti. Ceratopsian dinosaurs, the best known of which is the triceratops, are a type of horned dinosaur.

About five years ago, Lucas said paleontologists began to suspect the skull belonged to a different species, which had yet to be identified.

A team of scientists including Lucas published an article in the Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science describe and name the new species, Bisticeratops froeseorum.

Lucas said the dinosaur lived about 74 million years ago when a seashore ran through parts of New Mexico and the Bisti area would have been a tropical jungle environment west of the coast.

The dinosaurs died out around 65 million years ago. Lucas said the Bisticeratops and other ceratopsian species in North America lived towards the end of the dinosaur era.

The ceratopsian dinosaurs, he said, were very successful and the Bisticeratops helps demonstrate that this type of dinosaur was diverse.

The discovery along with other scientific work provides evidence that different dinosaurs lived in what is now the southwestern United States and lived farther north in areas like present-day Montana, Lucas said.

His skull was first removed from the Bisti in 1975 by a team from the University of Arizona and moved to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in the early 2000s.

Lucas said it was placed in plaster after being removed from the Bisti, as is common practice for dinosaur fossils.

Museum paleontologists began cleaning it after the museum received it. While working on the skull, they noticed some differences that indicated it was not a pentaceratops.

Lucas said the newly identified dinosaur adds to the evidence that ceratopsians, and dinosaurs as a whole, were more diverse than previously thought. He said that even today people tend to underestimate biodiversity.

The ceratopsian dinosaurs, which are part of the Chasmosaurinae subfamily, originating in what is now called Asia before migrating to North America where Lucas said they branched out.

According to the article, five species of ceratops other than the Bisticeratops are recognized that have been found in the San Juan Basin.

The first of these to be identified was Pentaceratops (Pentaceratops sternbergi), identified in 1923.

The other four have been identified since the 2010s and include Ojoceratops fowleri, Titanoceratops ouranos, Navajoceratops sullivani and Terminocavus sealeyi.

Lucas and paleontologist Sebastian Dalman, who helped name the Bisticeratopswere part of a team that also identified a species of ceratops called Sierraceratops turneri which was found in New Mexico, but was found outside of the San Juan Basin in the south central part of the state.

Dalman referenced one of his favorite bands, Tangerine Dream, during the nomination Bisticeratops froeseorum. The band founder’s surname was Froese.

While Lucas said the identification of new dinosaur species is more common than many people realize, it’s always an exciting event and a way for the Museum of Natural History and Science of New -Mexico to fulfill the mission entrusted to it by the state legislature when the museum was established. In the 1980’s.

By educating the public about dinosaurs and New Mexico’s past, Lucas hopes to inspire the next generation of scientists.

He said that for many children, dinosaurs are the first thing that sparks their interest in science. While some, like Lucas, become paleontologists, others pursue paths in medicine, engineering or other scientific fields.

The discovery also highlights the importance of protecting areas such as the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness.

The Bisti area is New Mexico’s hotspot for dinosaur fossils. Lucas said that acre for acre there were more dinosaurs in the Bisti area than anywhere else in the state and he believed more dinosaurs would be discovered there.

Lucas said that’s one of the reasons it’s been designated a wilderness area, which helps protect the fossil-rich landscape from human development.

Related

SANTA FE, NM (KRQE) — Applications for the Voluntary Fire Assistance Grant (VFA) program are accepted beginning Monday. Grants are offered to community fire departments assisting 10,000 people or fewer by the Forestry Division of the Department of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources (REMDR).

The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service provides funds for the program. This year, the program allocated more than $900,000.

What is the grant for?

According to a statement from REMD, the grant can be used to reduce the risk of fire and protect firefighters. The funds are intended to be used to build government capacity to fight wildfires through tools, education and equipment, especially in rural areas.

How has the grant helped before?

In 2022, 24 rural fire departments received more than $358,000 in funds through the program. A secretary from REMDR explained how the program has helped fire departments throughout the fire season of the year.

“We never want to experience another fire season like 2022 again and the VFA grants are essential
rural fire departments to get the equipment and coordination personnel they need
prepared,” said Sarah Cottrell Propst, REMND Cabinet Secretary. “These firefighters are
our first line of defense to prevent a catastrophic wildfire from destroying communities and
causing loss of life. They need our support and the VFA grant gives them that.

In 2021, the Lincoln County Fire and Emergency Services used their grant money for seven volunteer fire districts and 13 fire stations. The funds purchased protective gear, tools, GPS technology and radios, said JP Kenmore of Lincoln County Fire and Emergency Services.

How to apply for a grant? Who is eligible?

To be eligible, the applicant must represent more than one fire department serving rural communities of 10,000 people or less. A cost-sharing of 10% of public or local funds must also be provided.

To apply, candidates can download the form on the Forestry Division website. The application deadline is September 30, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. If applicants still have questions after reading this article, Program Coordinator Robert Brown can be contacted at [email protected] or at 505-476-3348.

Colorado Springs is no stranger to fast turnarounds between games this season. The club faces another such challenge on Saturday night when the Tampa Bay Rowdies travel to Weidner Field. Kick off is at 7 p.m.

The Switchbacks, the three-seeded Western Conference in the USL Championship, take on the three-place Eastern Conference side, 72 hours from Colorado Springs’ 3-0 loss in Sacramento on Wednesday.

The Switchbacks might not be able to afford another loss, as Sacramento and New Mexico United are within three points of either tying, in New Mexico’s case, or surpassing the Switchbacks with a win of their own. Sacramento and New Mexico play Saturday.

Saturday’s game against Tampa is the first of a four-game home series for the Switchbacks.

The Rowdies will be well rested and eager to win, having last played on August 13. The result was a 1-0 loss to top-seeded Eastern Conference Louisville City FC. It was Tampa’s first loss since April 30. The Rowdies are 14-4-6.

Colorado Springs is 13-9-3 on the year.

The Rowdies have strong forwards The club’s 48 goals are tied for third in the league behind San Diego Loyal SC, which has 53 and Colorado Springs has 50. Tampa is led by midfielder Leo Fernandes with 12 on the year and forward Jake LaCava with 10. Fernandes also leads the team with five assists.

Colorado Springs forward Hadji Barry leads the Switchbacks with 15 goals, tied for second in the league. Forward Elvis Amoh is just behind Barry with 12 goals this year. Midfielder Cam Lindley leads Colorado Springs in assists with nine, also second in the USL Championship.

Halsey escalates

Colorado Springs defenseman and newcomer Bret Halsey is already playing big minutes with the team, having played in both competitions for the club since announcing his acquisition on August 9.

Halsey started for Colorado Springs on August 12 in the team’s tie against El Paso Locomotive FC. He almost played the whole game, coming off in the 75th minute. He also played in the second half of the club’s loss to Sacramento Republic FC on Wednesday.

“I was ready to go out, I wanted to be a part of it. I know the stadium is amazing,” Halsey said after the El Paso game. “Just coming here was awesome and I can’t wait to wear it in the next games.”

Two people embrace during an anti-Shia hate unity event following the killing of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. August 12, 2022. REUTERS/Adria Malcolm/File Photo

Aug 17 (Reuters) – National Muslim groups have linked the killing of four Muslim men in New Mexico over the past year to bigotry, but Muslims who knew the victims and the alleged shooter say revenge and feuds personal are possible reasons.

Police last week arrested Afghan refugee Muhammad Syed, 51, as the prime suspect in the shooting of four Muslim men in New Mexico’s largest city, Albuquerque. Syed denied any involvement.

Detectives said an “interpersonal conflict” may have led to the shooting of men of Afghan or Pakistani origin.

A judge on Wednesday ordered Syed to remain in custody pending trial based on charges of murdering two of the men and his history of fleeing law enforcement. His lawyer had asked for bail, arguing that Syed complied with release requirements in 2018 and 2019 after he was arrested for assaulting family members.

The Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) was among Muslim advocacy groups that condemned the killings as possible “sectarian hatred”. Three of the victims were members of the minority Shia Muslim sect. Syed is a Sunni Muslim, the majority sect.

Abed Ayoub, legal and policy director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the killings were clearly anti-Shia. The Shia Racial Justice Coalition “condemned the heinous targeted killing of Shias”.

Shiite-Sunni tension is heightened in the Middle East and South Asia, including in Afghanistan where Shiites are frequently attacked by Sunni militants. Read more

However, local Muslim leaders in New Mexico said it was inaccurate to label the killings as sectarian and feared the label would hurt relations between Shiites and Sunnis who pray together at the Islamic Center of New Mexico, the main Albuquerque Mosque. The United States has not experienced significant Shia-Sunni tensions.

“The simplicity of saying this is a Sunni-Shia hate crime is so reckless,” said Samia Assed, a Palestinian-American human rights activist who organized an interfaith vigil for the victims. .

Mazin Kadhim was Syed’s caseworker for refugee resettlement when he arrived in Albuquerque about six years ago. When Syed’s daughter Lubna Syed married Iftikhar Amir, a Shia, against her will in 2018, Syed’s traditional male authority was challenged and he was humiliated, Kadhim said.

Syed has been charged with the July 26 murder of Amir’s friend Aftab Hussein, 41, a cafe manager and recent immigrant.

Kadhim said Syed harbors hatred towards Shia, but believes Hussein’s death was revenge for his daughter and son-in-law’s defiance.

“It wasn’t Sunni or Shia, it was extremism,” said Kadhim, a Shia who helped organize a Muslim unity march on Friday.

Lubna Syed declined to comment.

Afghan-American business owner Mula Akbar said Syed, a truck driver, treated women like ‘property’, rarely worked and tried to illegally exchange digital food stamps for cash in stores, including his own.

The food stamp program led to a dispute with supermarket owner Muhammad Ahmadi, 62, Akbar said. Ahmadi was shot on November 7, 2021, in a police killing linked to the other three deaths in July and August this year.

Syed’s son, Shaheen, 21, was arrested last week on firearms charges after he provided a false address when he bought a gun. At a Monday bail hearing for Shaheen, federal prosecutors linked young Syed to the Aug. 5 murder of Naeem Hussain, 25, a truck company owner. Shaheen Syed’s lawyer called the allegations “speculative”. Read more

Imtiaz Hussain, a relative of one victim, does not believe sectarian hatred played a role in the August 1 murder of his brother Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, a Sunni planning director. He rejects allegations that he was mistaken for a Shia. Syed was charged with the murder.

Imtiaz Hussain, a 41-year-old Pakistani lawyer, said he met Syed a few times at Albuquerque’s main mosque. Once, Imtiaz Hussain said he and his brother told Syed about Syed’s time as a refugee in Quetta, Pakistan after leaving Afghanistan.

“He must have observed us praying the same way as all other Sunnis,” said Imtiaz Hussain, who believes his brother was shot by more than one person.

Police are working with prosecutors on charges for the deaths of Naeem Hussain and Ahmadi.

Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Donna Bryson, Gerry Doyle, Josie Kao and Aurora Ellis

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The banks along parts of the Colorado River where water once flowed are now nothing but hardened mud and rock, as climate change makes the western United States hotter and drier.

More than two decades of drought have done little to deter the region from diverting more water than it flows through, depleting key reservoirs to levels that now compromise water supplies and hydropower generation .

Cities and farms in seven US states are bracing for cuts this week as officials set a deadline to deliver unprecedented cuts to their water use, setting up what is expected to be the biggest week for Colorado River politics for years.

LOOK: Climate change is worsening heat waves in the oceans. Here’s why it’s a problem

In June, the United States Bureau of Reclamation asked states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming – to determine how to use at least 15% less water next year, or impose restrictions on them. The office is also expected to publish hydrological projections that will trigger additional reductions already agreed.

“The challenges we face today are unlike anything we have seen in our history,” Office Commissioner Camille Touton said during a US Senate hearing.

Tensions over the size of the cuts and how to distribute them fairly have flared, with states pointing fingers and stubbornly clinging to their water rights despite the looming crisis.

“It’s no fun sitting around a table figuring out who’s going to sacrifice and how much,” said Bill Hasencamp, Colorado River resource manager at the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water to the major part of southern California.

Representatives from all seven states gathered in Denver last week for last-minute, closed-door negotiations. Officials who participated in the talks said the cuts’ most likely targets are farmers in Arizona and California. The agricultural districts of these states ask to be paid generously to bear this burden.

But the tentative agreements fall short of what the Bureau of Reclamation has demanded, and state officials say they hope for more time to negotiate details.

The Colorado River pours from the Rocky Mountains into the arid deserts of the southwest. It is the main water supply for 40 million people. About 70% of its water is for irrigation, supporting a $15 billion-a-year agricultural industry that supplies 90% of the United States‘ winter vegetables.

Water from the river is divided between Mexico and the seven US states under a series of agreements that date back a century to a time when more flowed.

But climate change has transformed the hydrology of the river, reducing snowmelt and causing warmer temperatures and greater evaporation. With the river producing less water, states agreed to cuts tied to the level of reservoirs that store its water.

Last year, federal officials declared a water shortage for the first time, triggering cuts to the river in Nevada, Arizona and Mexico to help prevent the two largest reservoirs – Lake Powell and Lake Mead – to fall low enough to threaten hydroelectric generation and stop water from flowing through their dams.

Proposals for additional cuts expected this week have inflamed disagreement between the upper basin states – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming – and the lower basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – over how to spread the pain.

The lower basin states use most of the water and have borne the most cuts so far. Upper basin states have historically not used all of their allocations, but want to retain water use rights to plan for population growth.

Gene Shawcroft, chairman of Utah’s Colorado River Authority, believes lower basin states should take most of the cuts because they use most of the water and their full allocations.

He said it was his job to protect Utah’s allocation for projected growth for decades to come: “The direction we’ve been given as water providers is to make sure we have water for the future.”

In a letter last month, state officials from the upper basin proposed a five-point conservation plan they said would save water, but argued that most cutting should come from the lower basin. The plan did not commit to any figures.

“The goal is to put the tools in place and work with water users to get as much as possible rather than projecting a water number,” said Chuck Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission. , to the Associated Press.

This position, however, is unsatisfactory for many states in the lower basin already facing cuts.

“It’s going to come to a head, particularly if the upper basin states maintain their negotiating position, saying, ‘We’re not making any cuts,'” said Bruce Babbitt, who served as Home Secretary from 2003 to 2011.

Lower basin states have yet to release their contribution plans, but officials said last week that the states’ draft proposal being discussed fell slightly short of the federal government’s request to cut from 2 to 4 million acre-feet.

One acre-foot of water is enough to serve 2-3 households per year.

Hasencamp, the Metropolitan Water District’s Colorado River resource manager, said all districts in California that draw from the river have agreed to contribute water or money to the plan, pending approval from their respective boards. The water districts, particularly the Imperial Irrigation District, have been adamant that any voluntary reductions must not restrict their high priority water rights.

Southern California cities will likely provide cash that could fund fallow farmland in places like Imperial County and water managers plan to leave the water they have stored in Lake Mead as part of their contribution.

LOOK: Senate Energy Committee Hearing to Consider Solutions to Extreme Drought in the West

Arizona will likely be hit hard by the cuts. In recent years, the state has taken on many of the cuts. With its growing population and robust agricultural industry, it has less leeway than its neighbors to take on more, said Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke. Some Native American tribes in Arizona have also helped support Lake Mead in the past and could play an outsized role in any new proposal.

Irrigators around Yuma, Arizona have proposed taking 925,000 acre-feet less water from the Colorado River in 2023 and leaving it in Lake Mead if paid $1.4 billion, or 1 $500 per acre-foot. The cost is well above the going rate, but irrigators defended their proposal as fair given the cost of growing the crops and bringing them to market.

Wade Noble, the coordinator of a coalition that represents Yuma water rights holders, said it was the only proposal presented publicly that included real cuts, rather than theoretical cuts to what users are allocated on paper.

Some of the conservation offset funds could come from $4 billion in drought funding included in the Cut Inflation Act being considered in Washington, the U.S. senator told the AP. Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema.

Sinema recognized that paying farmers to conserve is not a long-term solution: incentives for non-use will help us get through it,” she said.

Babbitt agreed that money in the legislation will “not miraculously solve the problem” and said water prices must be reasonable to avoid abuse because most water users will be affected.

“There’s no way these reductions can all be paid for at a high price for years and years,” he said.

Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Arizona. Associated Press reporter Kathleen Ronayne contributed from Sacramento, Calif.

An unidentified young man bows during the afternoon Dhuhr prayer at the Islamic Center of New Mexico on August 7, 2022, following the death of the fourth Muslim in Albuquerque.

Adolphe Pierre-Louis/AP

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Adolphe Pierre-Louis/AP

An unidentified young man bows during the afternoon Dhuhr prayer at the Islamic Center of New Mexico on August 7, 2022, following the death of the fourth Muslim in Albuquerque.

Adolphe Pierre-Louis/AP

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — In the six years since being resettled to the United States from Afghanistan, the prime suspect in the murder of four Muslim men in Albuquerque has been repeatedly arrested for domestic violence and filmed stabbing his tires of a woman’s car, according to police and court records.

The long spate of violence – which began shortly after Muhammad Syed’s arrival in the United States – shocked members of the city’s small, tight-knit Muslim community, some of whom knew him from the local mosque and who had initially assumed that the killer was a foreigner with a bias against the Islamic religion. Now they accept the idea that they never really understood man.

“I think based on knowing his history now – and we didn’t know that before – he’s obviously a troubled individual. He obviously has a violent streak,” said Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center for New -Mexico.

Police say Syed, 51, knew his victims and was likely motivated by “interpersonal conflicts”.

He was arrested on Monday evening and remains in custody. Prosecutors say he is a dangerous man and plan to ask a judge next week to keep him locked up pending trial on murder charges in connection with two of the shooting deaths. Syed is also the prime suspect in the other two homicides, but police said they would not rush to charge him in those cases as long as he remains in jail and does not pose a threat to the community. The married father of six has denied any involvement in the murders; his defense attorneys declined to comment.

Few details have emerged publicly about Syed’s life before he and his family came to America in 2016, but a US government document obtained by The Associated Press says he graduated from Rehman Baba High School in the west. from Kabul in 1990. Between 2010 and 2012, he worked as a cook for the Al Bashar Jala Construction Company.

In December 2012, Syed fled Afghanistan with his wife and children, the report said. The family traveled to Pakistan, where Syed sought work as a refrigeration technician. A native Pashto speaker who was also fluent in Dari, he was admitted to the United States in 2016 as a refugee.

The following year, according to court records, a boyfriend of Syed’s daughter alleged that Syed, his wife and one of Syed’s sons pulled him out of a car and punched him and on foot before leaving. The boyfriend, who was found with a bloody nose, scratches and bruises, told police he was attacked because Syed, a Sunni Muslim, did not want his daughter to be in a relationship with a Shia .

In 2018, Syed was taken into custody after an argument with his wife over his driving. Syed told police his wife slapped him in the car, but she said he pulled her by the hair, threw her to the ground and walked her for two hours to their destination.

Months later, Syed allegedly beat his wife and attacked one of his sons with a large split metal spoon that left his hair soaked in blood, according to court documents. Syed’s wife told the police that everything was fine. But the son, who called them, told officers that Syed regularly beat him and his mother.

Two of the cases were dismissed after the wife and boyfriend refused to press charges. The third was fired after Syed completed a pretrial intervention program. In 2020, Syed was arrested after allegedly refusing to stop for police after running a traffic light, but that case was also eventually dismissed.

“If you’re trying to figure out how violence evolves in a particular person, you just need to know that they didn’t wake up last year and become a serial killer,” Mary Ellen said. O’Toole, former FBI profiler. “He had experience with violence. And that’s the challenge for law enforcement… to identify what your experience with violence is and when did it start?”

Syed told detectives he served in the Afghan National Army’s Special Operations Command, a small elite group of Afghan soldiers who fought the Taliban. He said he liked the AK-47 type police weapon found in his home because he had used one in Afghanistan.

Yet the US government profile reviewed by the AP mentioned no military experience, and Syed turned 40 the year the elite force was formed in 2011 – likely too old to be selected to fight in the fighting. the most violent.

“That sounds a little sketchy,” said Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, who has served twice in Afghanistan and is a senior researcher and military expert at the Defense Priorities think tank. He said while Syed might be a soldier, “Special Forces guys are usually 22, 25, maybe 30, because it’s very physically demanding.”

The Syed family lives in a small duplex on the south side of town, a working-class area of ​​town where many older homes and apartments have security bars attached to their doors and windows. The area has become a magnet for Afghan refugees and other immigrants seeking to settle in New Mexico’s largest city.

The killings have struck fear into Albuquerque’s Muslim community of about 4,500

The murders of the four men – the first in November and the other three in quick succession over a period of less than two weeks in July and the first week of August – sparked waves of terror in the Muslim community of Albuquerque which counts about 4,500 people. Residents were afraid to leave their homes — so much so that city officials offered to deliver meals — and some considered leaving town.

That’s what Syed told investigators he was doing when he drove off in his Volkswagen Jetta on Sunday: leaving the state to find a safer place for his frightened family.

Police said he was actually leaving town after killing Naeem Hussain days before.

Syed is the prime suspect – but has not been charged – in the death of Hussain, a 25-year-old Pakistani man who was shot and killed on August 5 in the parking lot of a refugee resettlement agency in the southeast from Albuquerque; and the murder of Muhammad Zahir Ahmadi, a 62-year-old Afghan immigrant who was shot in the head last November behind the market he owned in the city.

Ahmadi is the brother-in-law of the woman whose tires Syed punctured in 2020, while Syed and Hussain had known each other since 2016, police said.

Syed was charged with the murder of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain. Hussein, 41, was killed on the night of July 26 after parking his car in the usual spot near his home. Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who had worked on the campaign of a New Mexico congresswoman, was shot dead on the night of August 1 while taking an evening stroll.

While Syed told police he recognized Hussein from the community parties, it was unclear how he knew Afzaal Hussain.

Despite the violence he allegedly inflicted on his wife and children, Syed’s family stands by him.

“My father is not someone who can kill someone” his daughter recently told CNN, who did not reveal his identity to protect his safety. “My dad always talked about peace. That’s why we’re here in the United States. We’re from Afghanistan, fighting, shooting.”

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