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4 Good Reasons to Consolidate Debt and Improve Your Financial Situation| Green Day Online

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Katharine J. Norris
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4 Good Reasons to Consolidate Debt and Improve Your Financial Situation| Green Day Online

The debt consolidation process is only one option you could employ to improve your financial situation. It’s basically a method to repay some or all lines of credit to get a loan better suited for your financial objectives.

Reasons to Consolidate Debt

There are many personal advantages that allow the consolidation of a personal loan an attractive possibility to look into. Here are some of them.

Pay Off Credit Balances

The process of paying the balances of the credit card balances through the help of a personal loan could help you reduce interest costs, boost your credit score, and shift your debt from revolving into installment debt, as well as other advantages.

Revolving debt is one type of debt that a lot of credit cards make use of. The credit limit is set that you are able to use as much or as little of your credit limit as you want with no obligation to pay a fixed quantity or make a set amount of payments. The majority of consumers’ credit cards are classified as credit cards that are revolving credit which means that the sum you utilize can have a significant impact on your ratio of utilization as well as credit score.

Installment debt has a monthly installment with a beginning and an endpoint, like the mortgage, auto loan, and student loans. Making a timely payment on these loans improves your credit score because it shows the lenders that you’re trustworthy and able to handle payments over a long period of time. When you pay off your debt using the help of a personal loan and move your balance to an installment loan, you could notice an improvement in your score. Also, the plan for payment could aid in getting rid of debt permanently (and reduce the cost of interest over the course of your life).

Lower Your Interest Rate

Perhaps you’ve taken a few positive steps towards getting your finances in order or perhaps you’ve recently been awarded an increase at your job. Situations in the financial realm change frequently, which means you could be able to obtain a better rate of interest on a personal loan than the existing rate for your previous line of credit currently have.

Let’s say you owe $15,000 of credit card debt. The credit card is rated at a 17.99 percent rate of interest rate/17.99 APR. you’re making the minimum monthly payments. You’ve recently analyzed your options for consolidating debt and can qualify for a 36-month personal loan with a 12.5 percent rate of interest rate/15.742 APR of 1.

If you opt to keep paying the minimum amount on the credit card, it’ll be 253 years to finish the repayment and you’ll be paying $14,581.65 in interest total. When you combine your debt using the personal loan offer, you’ll get all your debt paid off within 36 months, and you’ll only be having to pay $3,064.96 in interest, which will save you $11,516.69 in interest for the rest of your life.

The credit card example above assumes an account with a balance of $15,000, making monthly payments equal to 3percent of the balance remaining with a minimum of $20, at 17.99 APR % as calculated by using the CreditCards.com Minimum Payment Calculator. This is compared to the Rocket Loans Personal Loan of $15,000 with interest and an origination charge of $675.

Lower Your Monthly Payment

Flexible repayment terms that lenders provide allow you to alter your loan amount and interest rate to suit your financial objectives. If you’re looking to lower your monthly installment then you might consider consolidating your current personal loan to a 60-month term personal loan. More lengthy terms generally permit you to make less per month which means you’ll have additional money that can be used to fund another goal, such as saving for the down payment on a home mortgage or a higher monthly contribution to your 401k plan or an emergency fund.

Shorten Your Term

Personal loans can assist you to manage your finances. Instead of having to make the minimum amount of payments for your credit card over the years ending, personal loans establish realistic plans for payment to assist you in getting out from debt within a short amount of time and reduce your total interest over time. In the above example (based on the data provided by the calculator for minimum payments on CreditCards.com) it would mean that you are able to “save” 217 months (or about an 18-year period) of payments through a fixed and affordable monthly payment that lasted for 36 months.

By transferring all of your unsecure debt to the personal loan, you’ll only be required to pay one bill to make every month.

How to Consolidate Debt

While consolidating debt isn’t the best option for everyone in all circumstances but it can greatly enhance your financial position when it is a good idea. Here’s how you can do it.

Do Your Research

Before you decide on what you’re eligible for, you should determine what you’d like to consolidate:

  • The first step is to check the balances and the rates on your credit cards to assess your current rates against the new rates. You may consolidate some or all your debts as well as the lines of credit that you might have from retail stores.
  • Next, review the options available to you for free. It is common to view the options you have after filling out the form in a short time and then assessing your rates won’t hurt any credit score.
  • The final step is to evaluate the rates of your cards and decide on the amount you would like to consolidate. It is not necessary to consolidate all your accounts to take advantage of one payment. However, if all your cards are charged at rates that are higher than the current offers, you may be able save money by merging the cards. When deciding on the amount you want to use make sure you check the origination cost for your loan. Origination charges are deducted from the loan funds prior to being transferred to your bank account So keep this in mind when choosing an option should you’re required to borrow an additional amount to cover all expenses.

Apply for a Personal Loan

Once you’ve selected the option that you like The final step of the process is straightforward Once you’ve made an application for the loan you want to make sure you verify your details and then sign the loan! After the loan is approved, you will receive your funds within the next day.

Getting Approved

You know the best way to do it, but what exactly do you require? What documentation do you need to keep in your possession and what other requirements must you know about? Here are just some other things that they will be looking for:

  • DTI (debt-to-income) ratio under 30%
  • Excellent to excellent credit
  • A good history of payment (meaning that you’ve paid your bills on time)
  • The lines of credit (and ensure that you haven’t recently opened many)
  • Employment verification
  • The income proof you need to prove that you’ll be able to make your loan repayments

If you believe you have the requirements and are looking to pay the balance of all of your credit cards or any other high-interest debt You can start and look into the options available.

Taxes: New Mexico residents to get $250 and $500 tax refunds in July – What you need to know

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Katharine J. Norris
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MartinPrescott / iStock.com

New Mexico residents — who have already gotten several tax breaks this year — will soon get another round of tax refunds as the state prepares to send payments totaling $250 or $500 to households that have filed taxes in 2021.

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Payments could come as early as next week, KRQE reported. This will be the third round of discounts sent to New Mexicans.

Residents who filed their 2021 state taxes as individuals will receive a July rebate if they earned less than $75,000 in adjusted gross income in 2021. Single filers who meet this requirement will receive a payment $250 from the state.

Tax offer: Get help dealing with the IRS on a variety of tax issues, including back taxes, tax notices, real estate liens, and levies. Learn.

Married couples who jointly filed their New Mexico state taxes for 2021 will receive a July rebate if they earned less than $150,000 in AGI in 2021. For those who meet this threshold, the rebate will be $500.

You can verify your 2021 AGI by looking at federal tax documents such as Form 1040, Form 1040-SR, and Form 1040NR. The AGI must be on the first page, in box 11.

Rebates are expected to begin processing in the first full week of July, KRQE noted, citing comments from New Mexico Department of Tax and Revenue spokesman Charlie Moore. Since Monday, July 4 is a federal holiday, the first refunds could be processed as early as Tuesday, July 5.

It will likely take a full month for all refunds to reach all eligible taxpayers, Moore said. The state will automatically pay July rebates by direct deposit or paper check. Checks will be sent to those who do not have direct deposit banking information on file with the state.

Live updates: inflation and other economic updates

The state expects to send about 710,000 remittances, with the split between single filers and joint filers estimated to be about 50-50. Government officials said some checks could be less than $250 or $500 if taxpayers incorrectly calculated their income tax payments and still owed money, or if they filed late and incurred interest. had been assessed. In addition, you may not receive reimbursement if you were declared a dependent on another person’s declaration.

Direct deposits could also be delayed if a taxpayer used a preparation service and received an advance from the preparer on their refunds. In these cases, the refunds are first paid into an account opened as part of the advance process and must be transmitted by the preparation service to the taxpayer.

New Mexicans have gotten plenty of tax breaks so far in 2022 beyond refunds. As previously reported by GOBankingRates, New Mexico became the latest state to exempt Social Security income from taxes when Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed sweeping tax legislation on March 9. married couples file jointly.

Other benefits included in the invoice:

More from GOBankingRates

About the Author

Vance Cariaga is a London-based writer, editor and journalist who has previously held positions at Investor’s Business Daily, The Charlotte Business Journal and The Charlotte Observer. His work has also appeared in Charlotte Magazine, Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, and Business North Carolina magazine. He holds a BA in English from Appalachian State University and studied journalism at the University of South Carolina. His reporting has earned him awards from the North Carolina Press Association, Green Eyeshade Awards and AlterNet. In addition to journalism, he has worked in banking, accounting and restaurant management. A North Carolina native who also writes fiction, Vance’s short story “Saint Christopher” placed second in the 2019 Writer’s Digest short story competition. Two of her short stories appear in With One Eye on the Cows, an anthology published by Ad Hoc Fiction in 2019. Her first novel, Voodoo Hideaway, is published in 2021 by Atmosphere Press.

NM PREP Academy at NMSU offers STEM training, research assistance

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Katharine J. Norris
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NMSU Press Release by Tiffany Acosta

This summer, returning to an in-person NM PREP Academy gave middle and high school students the opportunity to explore the fields of engineering and introductory engineering concepts through real-life projects at the University of State of New Mexico. The program also provided NMSU College of Engineering faculty with a chance to obtain broader-impact research grant assistance.

“The College of Engineering’s STEM studio is a unique living laboratory that serves as a testing ground for innovative and creative educational strategies aimed at bridging the gap between teaching and learning,” said Patricia Sullivan, Associate Dean for outreach and recruitment. “Expanding STEM participation requires more than the curriculum. Our experience has shown that effective engagement requires intentional strategies that expose students to relevant and relevant applications of math and science through methods innovative and traditional engineering and technology This early exposure also fosters career-focused outcomes, with current data showing that 18% of first-year engineering students have actively participated in one of our STEM outreach programs before to enter NMSU.

This summer, NM PREP Academy students worked with professors of engineering, Associate Professor Catie Brewer of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Assistant Professor Ehsan Dehghan-Niri of Civil Engineering, Professor Delia Julieta Valles-Rosales of industrial engineering and associate professor Wei Tang of the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which receives grants from the National Science Foundation.

“Every NSF grant has the potential to not only advance knowledge, but also benefit society, what we call broader impacts. Much like the kaleidoscopic nature of science, the larger impacts come in many forms. Regardless of the method, however, broader impacts ensure that all NSF-funded science is working to improve our world,” according to the NSF website.

“Faculty is focused on developing innovative and engaging STEM-based activities that ensure content knowledge and relevance to enhance the learning experience,” Sullivan said.

The NM PREP Academy also hosted a visiting scholar from Iowa State University, who traveled to Las Cruces to learn more about NMSU’s STEM outreach program and how it connects with faculty to meet impact criteria. wider. ISU Leadership and Graduation Program Manager J. Eliseo De León said he was pleased with the knowledge he gained from the College of Engineering Outreach and Recruitment Office during his visit. .

“The NM PREP Academy provides its students with an education from research professionals that they might not otherwise receive until college age,” said De León. “By participating in the NM PREP Academy, young people have the opportunity to learn about paper recycling, what 3D printing entails, from the production of the raw material to the production of a final part, what it takes to design and program using CAD, and a number of other real-life skills workshops. I hope to leverage the lessons, insights, and tools that the NM PREP Academy uses to serve the residents of New Mexico and share them with the youth of Iowa.

Additionally, NM PREP Academy students are evaluated for their learning outcomes by NMSU’s Southwest Outreach Academic Research Center Evaluation and Policy Center, with outcomes contributing to research by the Faculty of Engineering and Office of Outreach and recruitment.

Since 2016, the Office of Outreach and Recruitment has hosted NM PREP Middle School Academy and NM PREP High School Academy. This summer, the program returned to the Las Cruces campus as a suburban event and added a program near the San Ildefonso Pueblo in northern New Mexico, as well as a virtual option.

To learn more about STEM engineering programs, visit https://engrnm.nmsu.edu/stem-connection.

Demonic star Wagoner will sign with New Mexico United club team | Sports

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Katharine J. Norris
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Research: Rating Action: Moody’s Upgrades Rio Rancho (City of) NM Principal Lien GRT Rating to Aa2, Upgrades Subordinate Lien to Aa3

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Katharine J. Norris
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14 Hot Tiny-Home Startups Are Trying to Tackle the Housing Crisis

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Katharine J. Norris
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  • High prices and low inventory continue to squeeze Americans looking to buy and rent homes.
  • Tiny home makers believe they offer affordable, durable, and even money-making options.
  • We’ve compiled 14 tiny homes and accessory living unit (ADU) startups that are shaking up the industry.

In today’s housing market, the list of reasons to buy a tiny home is long.

Whether you’re a Millennial or Gen Z buyer facing record prices, a current homeowner looking to live on less, or a city dweller whose lifestyle has changed during the pandemic, tiny homes can be full of promise. .

Tiny homes can vary in price and aesthetics, but generally stay under 600 square feet. Last year, the median size of a new single-family home in America was 2,273 square feet, according to the Census Bureau.

In 2020, more than 56% of Americans who responded to a recent IPX103 survey from Fidelity National Financial said they would consider living in a small home. As builders scramble to meet this demand, the market for tiny homes could reach $5.8 billion by 2026, according to iProperty Management, a research site.

But it’s not just individual tastes that are driving demand. Tiny homes are also central to efforts to combat climate change and affordable housing. Their often modular approach can help reduce construction costs and, therefore, make housing less expensive. From all-electric homes to optimizing backyards in Los Angeles, the future of housing may seem smaller.

They can also be money makers. Small and quaint Airbnbs are popular with savvy Instagram travelers. In states like California, homeowners hire companies to install prefabricated structures in their backyards. In one model, a startup collects rent from tenants of secondary suites, or ADUs, and pays a portion to the landlord.

We’ve compiled a list of the hottest tiny home companies out there, all of which are shaking up the industry in different ways. Here they are, listed in alphabetical order.

2022 Best Cheap Home Insurance in New Mexico

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Katharine J. Norris
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New Mexico Home Insurance Overview

Here are some things that all New Mexico homeowners should be aware of when shopping for coverage:

The average New Mexico home costs around $248,670

The average home price in New Mexico is around $248,670, according to The Ascent’s research on average home prices by state. The national average is $293,349. These below-average prices may contribute to New Mexico’s below-average home insurance rates.

But those with larger, more expensive homes can expect to pay more. The same goes for homeowners living in areas prone to natural disasters.

Homeowners living near the Texas border typically pay more

The five most expensive cities in New Mexico for home insurance (listed in the table below) are all located near the Texas border. Homeowners who live in this area may want to take a little extra time to compare home insurance quotes to make sure they’re getting the best deal possible.

What are the most common home insurance claims in New Mexico?

Here are some of the most common home insurance claims filed in New Mexico:

Forest fire damage

New Mexico has seen some of the largest wildfires in its history in recent years. These storms can be extremely costly as they can destroy entire towns, leaving little or nothing behind. Those who live in areas prone to wildfires generally pay more for home insurance.

There are some things homeowners can do to reduce their risk of filing a wildfire claim, such as cutting brush around the house. But sometimes there is nothing a homeowner can do to stop this kind of damage. That’s why it’s essential that owners review their policy’s coverage limits. It should provide enough protection to pay for a full rebuild, if needed.

Flood damage

Monsoon season can trigger flooding or even flash flooding in New Mexico, especially in low-lying areas. This can damage or destroy personal property and weaken the foundations of homes. This is partly why flooding is among the costliest home insurance claims.

Many people don’t know this, but flooding is actually not covered by a typical home insurance policy. Homeowners interested in coverage should purchase a separate flood insurance policy if they do not want to pay for flood damage out of pocket. Lenders may require homeowners with mortgages to carry flood insurance if they live in a flood-prone area.

earthquake damage

New Mexico also experiences many earthquakes each year. Although most of them are small, a large earthquake can cause buildings to collapse, especially if they are older and do not meet modern building codes. They can also damage water and gas lines, which can lead to additional problems.

Most homeowners interested in earthquake protection should purchase an earthquake endorsement for their policy. This may include a separate earthquake deductible that is higher than the typical home insurance deductible. Homeowners must meet this deductible in the event of an earthquake before their insurance company pays anything for the damage.

Home Insurance Coverage Options and Discounts in New Mexico

New Mexico homeowners can save by taking advantage of the following home insurance discounts:

Bundling can save homeowners nearly $450 a year

Bundling home and auto insurance is the best way to save on home insurance with almost any company. In New Mexico, this will save homeowners about $442 per year on average.

Full payment offers surprising savings

Simply paying a home insurance premium all at once rather than in monthly installments can help homeowners save $130 a year. It may not be possible for everyone, but it’s the smartest game for those who can afford it. Homeowners who want to take advantage of this discount in the future should start saving now for their next home insurance premium so they’re ready to pay it in full.

Installing sprinklers can reduce the average home insurance premium by around $200

New Mexico homeowners looking to reduce their risk of fire-related damage should consider installing a sprinkler system. There is an upfront cost associated with this, but it brings major long-term benefits. Homeowners won’t have to worry as much about fire damage and they’ll save about $195 a year on their home insurance.

7 Cheapest Cities in New Mexico for Home Insurance

The following seven cities have the cheapest average New Mexico home insurance rates:

Malaysia misses out on space economy | Daily Express Online

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Katharine J. Norris
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What a journey the past two years have been. Malaysia, the once roaring Asian tiger, has apparently lost its bite. The impact of the pandemic and political uncertainties pushed our economy into negative territory in 2020, registering a contraction of 5.6%.

Disheartened experts were certain there would be further contractions in the years to come. We began to lose faith in our now famous “Malaysia Boleh” spirit, and wallowed in self-pity, blaming everyone else for our predicament.

Much to our relief, however, our GDP growth rebounded to 3.1% in 2021. This is no small feat, as we battled the Delta and Omicron variants of Covid-19 and their long tails.

This economic boost gave us hope, not much, but just enough radius. We need more than that if we are to continue to compete successfully to attract the elusive flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) regionally.

In fact, we need a new economic engine to complement the ones we have now. We need what professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne call a “Blue Ocean Strategy”.

Of course, this approach was all the rage when Malaysia’s sixth prime minister made it one of his pillars of economic recovery. With him, however, that model fell out of favor with policymakers when his term as prime minister ended in somewhat murky circumstances in 2018.

For the uninitiated, the Blue Ocean Strategy refers to a market for a product where there is little or no competition. This strategy revolves around finding an activity in which very few companies operate and where there is no pressure on prices.

What about the new space economy? Could this be the blue ocean we are looking for? We’ve been hearing a lot about the new space economy lately, especially with catchy headlines that include celebrities taking day trips to space. But this is not limited to space tourism for the wealthy!

While there are probably many ways to describe the current state of the space industry, it can be very helpful to compare it to what it was before. The original space economy was dominated by governments such as the United States and the USSR with large budgets to fund expensive research. It was centralized, national and very bureaucratic.

The new space economy is global, entrepreneurial and accessible. It is increasingly diverse and expanding, with private players in a variety of sub-sectors. The landscape has now changed, with 75% of industry spending coming from private companies.

For a long time, companies in this industry were selling satellite or technology, and ordinary people naturally couldn’t relate to their needs. So some providers started not talking about satellites; they started talking about data.

Yet the client could not intuitively understand this either. Today, more and more industry vendors are realizing that it’s not about data either; rather, it’s about meeting customers where they are and offering answers.

This trend has seen participants from new companies, new emerging countries and non-governmental investments which propelled the growth of the industry with a compound annual growth rate of 5.6% between 2018 and 2021.

This global space economy was valued at around US$447 billion in 2020, or 55% more than a decade ago, according to The Space Report 2021, Quarter 2. This is truly astronomical growth and made possible because the new spatial economy is finally connecting to the larger economy. .

This improved customer-centric mentality caught the attention of investors and the industry became more investable. Investors are finally hooking investment terms such as “real organic growth”, “economies of scale” and “pathways to profitability” to the space economy.

Increased capital means more players are bringing more technology to market. All of this translates into lower costs, lower barriers to entry, faster time-to-market, and more customer-centric offerings.

Companies now launch and recover spacecraft and shuttles, provide ground and mission control, perform Earth observations and conduct space science. The list is longer when we include spaceport operations.

Spaceport, you say? In Malaysia no less? Could this be the Holy Grail that can bring back the hunger and sharpen the fangs of this fallen Asian tiger?

Make me happy: the opportunity to take advantage of the new global space economy – from various sectors such as satellite services, satellite manufacturing, the launch industry, ground equipment and the associated non-satellite industry – is within our reach.

Local universities such as Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and University Sains Malaysia, to name a few, have earth and space related institutes to provide local content , and they are not the only ones.

The LIMA 2019 exhibition in Langkawi saw a group of local and international space players show their support for a government-backed space industry initiative, if designed strategically. They include leading Chinese players, the European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency and their suppliers.

Located on the equator, Malaysia offers the perfect launchpad for horizontal air-dropped satellite launch services that cost only a fraction of the cost of the traditional variety of vertical rockets.

And an island like Langkawi would probably be as good a site as any for a fully functional spaceport, an iconic site for launching and receiving commercial and experimental sub-orbital spacecraft.

As a proof of concept, Puerto Rico, over 17,000 km away, has a fully functional and successful spaceport on the equator. As Langkawi and Puerto Rico are equidistant around the Earth’s circumference, suborbital flights from Puerto Rico can land safely in Langkawi and vice versa.

Opponents will point to the spaceport in New Mexico, USA, and say that even a US state collaboration with Branson’s Virgin Galactic failed to fly as planned.

My retort: ​​New Mexico’s spaceport was intended solely for space tourism, where people pay $250,000 (RM1.1 million) to $500,000 to observe our planet at 25,000 km altitude, suspended in weightlessness for a few minutes. Space tourism is just a small service in the new space economy.

ADVERTISING

The Malaysian model can offer more than that: ground services and mission control center services, suborbital flights for scientific studies, Earth observation, air launch services and space science.

For good measure, we can even have a Cosmotarium, where we can build an educational museum and simulate space travel for the landlocked. The key to the success and profitability of this business will also lie in satellite telephony and the data collection and distribution services that underpin these services.

Of course, many feasibility studies still need to be carried out to evaluate this new business model. In a Red Ocean Strategy, an organization must choose between creating more value for customers and lower price. In contrast, those pursuing a Blue Ocean Strategy attempt to achieve both: differentiation and low cost, opening up new market space.

Leading the countries of ASEAN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in a new industry where competition is almost non-existent should give our steps a bounce and a swagger in our march forward. The new space economy — a promising frontier for Malaysia to pioneer in this region. Are our leaders up to the task to lead us there?

Zakie is Executive Chairman of Kiarafics Sdn Bhd, a strategy consulting group. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang. This appeared in Edge.

– The opinions expressed here are those of the writer Zakie and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express.

– If you have something to share, write to us at: [email protected]

NMSU honors NM EDGE graduates with celebration

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Katharine J. Norris
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LAS CRUCES — Public servants who have completed New Mexico’s certified public programs were recognized at a June 16 graduation ceremony in Albuquerque. The New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service administers the nationally accredited program, NM EDGE, which stands for Education Designed to Generate Excellence in the Public Sector. NM EDGE also announced its new Program Director Christy Green.

As this was the first in-person graduation since 2019, NM EDGE recognized both recent graduates and graduates who completed the program within the past two years and attended virtual ceremonies.

“During the pandemic and beyond, these people have shown the dedication to succeed no matter the circumstances,” said Jeanine Eden, NM EDGE program coordinator. “They showed resilience and determination. They have embraced change and used it to enhance their professionalism, and in doing so, we know that no matter the challenge, these good people will emerge with more to offer the public they so willingly serve.

Certified Public Officer graduates included Diamond Contreras, Executive Assistant, City of Belen; Clay Corn, New Mexico Counties, Loss Prevention Department, Chaves County; Cassandra Green, Director of Human Resources, Otero County; Rhonda Hatch, office manager for the Assessor’s Office, Eddy County; Phyllis Keene, Tax Researcher, Sandoval County; Aissa Lara, Human Resources Specialist, Eddy County; Sumana Maiti-Ghosh, GIS and Asset Control Technician, City of Belen; Isabelle Martinez, Los Alamos County; Sherrill McDougle, Human Resources Specialist, Eddy County; Michael Milam, Valencia County Clerk; Juan Morales, Delinquent Tax Specialist, Torrance County; Mandi Park, County Clerk, Roosevelt County; and Alma Ruiz, Senior Office Manager, City of Las Cruces Utilities Department.

Certified public supervisor graduates included Matt Clark, director of emergency services, Otero County; and Hatch. Stan Ross, Architectural Access Specialist, New Mexico Governor’s Commission on Disability, has been recognized as a Certified Public Manager Graduate.

Certified Public Ethics Lawyer graduates included Clark, Hatch, Ross and Shannon Reynolds, County Commissioner, Doña Ana County. Certified County Commissioners graduates included Reynolds and Clay Kiesling, Union County.

Stephanie Eldridge, Assistant in the Office of Elections, Chaves County, was honored as a Certified County Clerk; and Hatch has been recognized as a licensed public assessment agent.

Daniela H. Johnson, Harding County Chief Financial Officer, was honored as a Certified Public Finance Professional; and Roosevelt County Deputy Director Liliana Rivera has been recognized as a Certified Public Procurement Professional.

To learn more about the NM EDGE program, visit https://nmedge.nmsu.edu or @NMEDGE on Facebook.

Tiffany Acosta writes for New Mexico State University Marketing and Communications and can be reached at 575-646-3929, or by email at [email protected]

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New Mexico cautiously assumes its role as a destination for abortion seekers

By
Katharine J. Norris
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Knowing that this was coming did not allay the apprehensions of New Mexico abortion providers and reproductive rights advocates about Roe V. Wade’s end.

For years, as other states tightened restrictions on abortion, the impoverished, largely rural state with a long history of lack of access to health care has seen a growing number of out-of-state patients seeking services at its handful of clinics. Demand skyrocketed last year after Texas lawmakers banned abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, and it is expected to rise further after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that there is no had no right to an abortion.

In Texas and other southern states, most abortions ceased immediately after the ruling, cutting off access to millions of women of childbearing age in their home states and making New Mexico the safe haven. closer for abortion for much of the United States. . Out-of-state providers have already begun to move into the state, seeking to provide abortion care.

Operators of Mississippi’s last abortion clinic, at the center of the High Court’s decision, hope to open the doors to a new clinic in southern New Mexico near El Paso in the coming weeks. And abortion rights advocates in the state say they’ve heard from a plethora of providers and funders who want to increase access to abortion in New Mexico for out-of-state patients. .

But abortion providers and advocates in Texas’ western neighbor say the state will never be able to fully meet the increased need for care because hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of the most vulnerable women will be unable to make the trip. And while they welcome additional resources, advocates worry that some providers may want to focus solely on abortion when they are left to continue a decades-long struggle to increase New Mexicans’ access to services. comprehensive reproductive health services.

“I have experienced a lack of access to basic reproductive health care, for things like pap smears, for most of my life,” said Charlene Bencomo, executive director of Bold Futures, an advocacy group rights of women and peoples of New Mexico. of color. “So now to see that people are so eager to provide a very specific service like abortion care seems opportunistic and disconnected from the real needs that are happening here in the community.”

“We heard over and over again: Yes, we want access to abortion care. And we need to access and deserve to have access to all of these other services that accompany reproductive health care,” she added.

Last year, New Mexico repealed its pre-Roe ban on abortions, and Democrats who control the state legislature and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham have pledged to protect abortion rights in the country. ‘State. Republican contesting Grisham in the November gubernatorial election, a former TV weatherman who is behind in the pollssaid Friday He supports abortion up to 15 weeks or in case of rape or incest. The Texas ban does not allow such exceptions.

New Mexico allows late-term abortions, does not require teenage girls to obtain parental approval, and does not impose a waiting period. But the state has only three clinics offering surgical abortions, all in Albuquerque. Three other clinics offer abortion medication, two in the southern part of the state, and some telemedicine companies offer services to people with a New Mexico mailing address. (It’s unclear how many private practices also offer medication or surgical abortions.)

State resources are limited in part because of its size. New Mexico has about 2 million people, compared to more than 29 million in Texas. In 2020, New Mexico providers performed fewer than 6,000 abortions, about one-tenth the number in Texas, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

New Mexico’s numbers have already jumped and are expected to continue to rise.

Since the last restrictions on abortion in Texas went into effect in September, Planned Parenthood clinics in New Mexico have served about 1,700 patients from the neighboring state, a spokesperson for the organization said on Friday. of a press conference. That’s compared to about 400 Texas patients in a similar time frame before the restrictions.

Local abortion funds have also grown, with more volunteers and many more clients. Joan Lamunyon Sanford, executive director of the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, said that because of their faith, her organization has for decades helped vulnerable people who have chosen to have abortions get transportation, hotel rooms and other care items.

She said that since the start of the pandemic and with Texas restrictions, the number of people asking for help has more than tripled.

“We started providing hands-on support because New Mexico is a very rural state and people needed help getting to clinics in Albuquerque,” ​​she said earlier this week. “Our work has primarily focused on helping out-of-state people who need to travel to New Mexico.”

But the sudden growth in resources raises concerns. Some reproductive rights advocates worry that anti-abortion activists are trying to infiltrate their programs in bad faith. Sanford said her organization is focused on screening new volunteers, both to encourage help and to ensure the safety and privacy of people seeking abortions.

And other advocates worry that new resources coming into the state will be short-lived or undermine the progress residents have worked for decades to help local undocumented women, Indigenous communities and other people of color who have long had no access to reproductive health care. Local abortion providers and reproductive health advocates have created a resource guide that they hope new providers and funders will use to help them continue to fight for equitable access to abortion across the country. State.

“We worked for years to establish what is now this refuge,” Bencomo said. “And we don’t want people to come in, get out of it and then leave when it’s no longer favourable.”

Advocates also point out that even if a swell of resources floods the state to help provide full-spectrum reproductive health care, it won’t be enough.

“States that have protected reproductive freedom are doing all they can to preserve and expand access in our states,” said Ellie Rushforth, reproductive rights attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico. “But the reality is that no matter how many providers, no matter how many health facilities, no matter how extensive our care, they will never be able to meet the need created by the Supreme Court and anti-abortion extremists. . And it’s going to hit the most vulnerable among us the hardest. »

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood financially supported The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the journalism of the Tribune. Find a full list here.

Join us September 22-24 in person in downtown Austin for The Texas Tribune Festival and participate in over 100 conversational events featuring big names you know and others you should know from the worlds of politics, public policy, media and tech, all curated by the journalists award winners from the Texas Tribune. To buy tickets.

NMSU offers a STEM education program for high school students

By
Katharine J. Norris
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by: Anna Padilla

Job :

Updated:

LAS CRUCES, NM (KRQE) — NM PREP Academy gave middle and high school students the opportunity to explore engineering through projects at New Mexico State University. The program also provided NMSU College of Engineering faculty with a chance to obtain broader-impact research grant assistance.

This summer, students worked face-to-face with engineering faculty members to reinforce their concept of engineering topics. Students are assessed for learning outcomes with results contributing to research by the Faculty of Engineering and Office of Outreach and Recruitment.

Copyright 2022 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

🌱 Rael Named to Best Job in Town + Native American Housing Fair

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Katharine J. Norris
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Hello Albuquerque. Helen Eckhard here with your new copy of the Albuquerque Daily, full of everything you need to know about what’s happening in town. Let’s do this…

First, today’s weather forecast:

A thunderstorm in the afternoon; costs. High: 81 Low: 61.

🏡 Looking for more real estate leads in Albuquerque? Let us help you reach potential buyers and set you apart from the competition. Click here to find out more.

Here are the top three stories from today in Albuquerque:

  1. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller has chosen Lawrence Rael as the city’s permanent chief administrative officer. Rael has been in a temporary position since Sarita Nair left her position in April. The announcement was made on Friday and the city council will now have to vote to approve Rael’s nomination. (Albuquerque Journal)
  2. The Albuquerque Native American Housing and Home Fair will take place on Wednesday, June 29 and Thursday, June 30. The event will take place at the APS Berna Facio Professional Development Complex starting at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday and 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. The event will have many organizations on hand to answer questions and accept applications. (Albuquerque Public Schools)
  3. Repeat offender Jennifer Christensen will not remain behind bars until her trial on June 28. Christensen is known to have repeatedly stolen cars and fled from the Albuquerque Police Department. His most recent incident involved a stolen car near Downs on June 9. She will attend an inpatient drug treatment program instead of staying in jail. (KRQE News 13)

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We would so appreciate your feedback that if you complete the survey, we will enter your email address in a drawing for a little patch swag mountain. You know you want this tote bag – so click the link and give it to us direct. Thanks!

Take the survey 👉

Today in Albuquerque:

  • DL Show CONFIGURATION At the Albuquerque Garden Center (9:00 a.m.)
  • meditation for beginners At the Kadampa Meditation Center of New Mexico (10:00 a.m.)
  • City State Address At the ABQ triage yards (10:00 a.m.)

From my notebook:

More from our sponsors – please support the local news!

Events:

You are officially informed for today. See you tomorrow for another update!

— Helene Eckhard

About me: Helen Eckhard is a Marketing Assistant at Lightning Media Partners. She is a self-proclaimed logophile who is currently pursuing her Masters in Library Science. Outside of work, you can find Helen building crossword puzzles, knitting, or devising increasingly clever ways to kill characters in her detective stories.

New Mexico among top 25 states for abortions vs. live births

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Katharine J. Norris
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) — Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade’s 1973 brought the abortion access debate to the fore. But how many abortions are performed in New Mexico? The numbers aren’t exact, but KRQE News 13 dug into the data to find out.

New Mexico Access

New Mexico is generally considered a state with relatively easy access to abortion. Many ruling politicians in the state lean towards the Democrats. And Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is running for re-election this fall, has previously moved to support legal abortion.

“In anticipation of this precise moment, we have taken action,” Grisham said in a press release on Friday. “We’ve eliminated New Mexico’s outdated abortion-inducing ban, safeguarding the right of every woman in this state to make critical decisions about her own health and to decide for herself – and for her family. – when to have children.”

In 2021, the governor signed legislation repealing New Mexico’s abortion ban. This prohibition had been on the books for more than 50 years. The law removed part of the state law allowing institutions and individuals to refuse to perform abortions, leaving New Mexico without any statewide restrictions on abortions.

take into account

Given state laws, many New Mexicans have access to abortion. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that at least 3,942 people had an abortion in New Mexico in 2019, the latest data available. Nearly a quarter of them were from out-of-state residents.

The CDC numbers only count legally induced abortions performed by licensed clinicians. They include surgical abortions as well as medical abortions.

This means that in New Mexico, for every 1,000 live births, there are approximately 172 abortions, according to CDC data. This places us in the top 25 states for the highest rate of abortions to live births. But states like New York far exceed us, where about 355 abortions are performed for every 1,000 live births.

But the data is not perfect. Not only is it a few years out of date, but it also does not include abortions performed in California and a few other states.

Moreover, the figures do not reflect whether or not everything residents have access to it. Even here in New Mexico, residents who live farther from abortion centers might be considered to have less access.

A 2021 study published on the American Medical Association’s JAMA Network shows that increasing the distance traveled to abortion centers is associated with significant reductions in the rate of abortions.

The study uses data from 2015 to show that in more rural New Mexico counties the abortion rate is lower than in Bernalillo or Santa Fe County. The study also estimates that when New Mexicans live within 30 miles of an abortion center, the rate at which they obtain abortions is about 10% lower than when they live within 5 miles.

EnerGeo Alliance joins US energy industry

By
Katharine J. Norris
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0

Houston, Texas, USA, June 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ahead of the President’s trip to the Middle East next month, the EnerGeo Alliance today joined 28 energy associations in urging President Biden and his cabinet to visit major U.S. energy facilities — from generation to distribution to refining and innovation hubs — as geopolitical volatility and energy costs continue to rise. In a letter to President Biden and top administration officials, the organizations — which represent more than 11 million skilled American workers keeping the lights on and the fuels flowing — urged the administration to recognize national energy resources as a strategic asset to the national and economic security of the United States and highlighted America’s vast reserves of natural gas and oil that can help meet the growing demand for reliable power.

“Before boarding Air Force One for the Middle East, we hope you’ll consider taking another look at made-in-America energy,” the letter reads. “We would be honored to show you how our industry is involved in every step of the energy process, from fuel pumps to infrastructure delivering critical products to production areas across our vast country.”

In the letter, the signatories invite President Biden to visit energy-producing regions across the country, including the Marcellus in Pennsylvania, the Permian in Texas, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bakken in North Dakota that support million well-paying American jobs, working to reduce our environmental footprint, drive economic growth, and fund conservation in nearly every US county.

“Your trip to Saudi Arabia next month is important on many of these fronts, including boosting global energy supplies. Yet American energy solutions are beneath our feet, and we urge you to reconsider the immense potential of American resources. in oil and natural gas – which are the envy of the world – for the benefit of American families, the American economy and our national security,” the letter concludes.

Signatories to the letter include:
• American Petroleum Institute
• Alaska Oil and Gas Association
• American Exploration and Production Board
• US fuel and petrochemical manufacturers
• Oil Pipeline Association
• Colonial Pipeline Company
• Colorado Oil and Gas Association
• Consumer Alliance for Energy
• EnerGeo Alliance
• Workforce and Energy Technology Council
• Independent Petroleum Association of America
• Independent Oil and Gas Association of Kansas
• Oil and Gas Association of Kentucky
• Louisiana Mid-Mainland Oil and Gas Association
• Marcellus Shale Coalition
• New Mexico Business Coalition
• New Mexico Oil and Gas Association
• North Dakota Petroleum Board
• Oklahoma Petroleum Alliance
• Wyoming Petroleum Association
• Permian Basin Petroleum Association
• Association of Independent Producers and Royalty Holders of Texas
• Texas Oil and Gas Association
• Utah Petroleum Association
• American Oil and Gas Association
• Western Energy Alliance
• Western States Petroleum Association

Click HERE to see the letter.

Earlier this week, World Oil published an op-ed by EnerGeo Chairman Nikki Martin calling on President Biden and the administration to immediately release the months-long backlog of geoscience permits in the Gulf of Mexico that “hampers the development and the production of good offshore assets”. and can help increase and ensure stable production to reduce energy costs.

###

About the EnerGeo Alliance
Founded in 1971, the EnerGeo Alliance is a global trade association for the energy geoscience industry, the intersection where earth science and energy meet. The EnerGeo Alliance and its member companies span more than 50 countries and together unite to lead the way in the discovery, development and safe delivery of primary energy sources, alternative energies and low-carbon energy solutions that meet the growing needs of our world. .


        

                

            

        

            

            

                
Jan. 6 probe expands with new subpoenas focused on fake voters
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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The Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack gathered pace on Wednesday as federal agents issued subpoenas to people in at least two states, in what appeared to be a growing probe. wide on how political activists supporting President Donald Trump tried to use disabled voters to thwart Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.








FBI officials confirmed to the Washington Post that agents conducted court-authorized law enforcement activities Wednesday morning at two locations — one at the address of Brad Carver, a Georgia lawyer who allegedly signed a document claiming to be a Trump voter, and another at Thomas’ home in Virginia.  Lane, who worked on Trump campaign efforts in Arizona and New Mexico.  FBI officials have not identified the people associated with these addresses, but public records list each of the locations as the men’s home addresses.












On June 21, the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol presented a plan backed by President Trump to void the 2020 election. (Video: Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)












The precise nature of the information sought by the Justice Department was not immediately clear;  however, Arizona and Georgia officials testified on Tuesday before a House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attacks on attempts by Trump and his inner circle of advisers to try to reverse Biden’s constituency victories in those states.






Trump campaign documents show advisers knew fake voter plan was baseless






Officials have previously said the Justice Department and FBI are looking into the issue of fake voters, which Trump and others hope could be vetted by state lawmakers in a last-ditch attempt to keep Trump on the sidelines. White House.  So far, however, those investigative efforts seemed to mostly involve talking to people in Republican circles who knew about the scheme and opposed it;  subpoenas issued Wednesday suggest the Justice Department is now set to interview at least some of those who have agreed to continue the effort.






FBI agents delivered a subpoena to Lane Wednesday morning at his home in Virginia, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.  After leaving the Trump campaign, Lane worked for the Republican National Committee’s electoral efforts in Virginia, the person said.  Public records list an address for Lane in South Arlington, and an FBI spokeswoman confirmed that agents conducted “court-authorized law enforcement activity” at that address this morning.






Phone messages left with Lane were not immediately returned.  Carver, the Georgia lawyer, also did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.






The Justice Department’s new investigative steps come amid a series of high-profile congressional hearings examining not only the riot on Capitol Hill, but also Trump’s efforts to undo Biden’s election victory through fake voters, lobbying from the Department of Justice and false claims from massive voter fraud.






Before, during, after: the attack of January 6






Previously, the Department of Justice issued subpoenas and solicited interviews with some of the the 15 people across the country who were expected to be Trump voters if he won their states — but were replaced on Electoral College voting day, multiple people told The Washington Post.  Some of those Republicans told the Post they didn’t participate because Biden won the popular vote in their state and they didn’t think gatherings were appropriate;  others said they declined to participate because they were sick or had scheduling conflicts.






Among those who declined to participate were Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas, an election rights expert who defended Trump in 2016 against a recount campaign by Green Party candidate Jill Stein;  former Congressman Tom Marino (R-Pa.), one of the first members of Congress to endorse Trump’s presidential campaign;  and Georgian real estate investor John Isakson, son of the late Republican Senator Johnny Isakson.






These subpoenas sought all documents since October 1, 2020, related to the Electoral College vote, as well as all election-related communications with a dozen people in Trump’s inner circle, including Rudy Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, Boris Epshteyn , Jenna Ellis and John Eastman.  A potential Trump voter in Georgia, Patrick Gartland, had been appointed to the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration and believed the position meant serving as a voter would have created a conflict of interest for him.  However, two FBI agents recently came to his house with a subpoena and asked if he had contact with any Trump advisers at the time of the November elections.  “They wanted to know if I spoke to Giuliani,” Gartland said.






Fake Trump voters in Georgia told to hide their plans in ‘secrecy’, emails say






The Capitol Hill hearings have increased public pressure on the Justice Department to take more aggressive and overt steps to investigate Trump and those close to him for their roles in the run-up to Jan. 6.






But senior Justice Department officials also complained to the panel that prosecutors needed access to transcripts of more than 1,000 private committee interviews, and said not having those transcripts jeopardized the ongoing trial. of five members of the extremist group Proud Boys accused of seditious conspiracy.  for their role in the riot.  The federal judge in charge of this case on Wednesday ordered a further postponement of the trial, from August 8 to December.






More than 820 people have already been charged by the Justice Department for their role in the January 6 attack, making it the largest investigation in the department’s history.  Hundreds of other people are wanted.  But Democrats and some lawyers have argued that the Justice Department should speed up investigations of high-level organizers and political operatives, given the severity of the threat to democratic institutions.






Earlier this year, prosecutors significantly expanded their investigation by issuing subpoenas to those who participated in preparations for the rally that preceded the riot.






This is a developing story.






Alice Crites, Jacqueline Alemany and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.





                

            

        

            

            

                
Majority of voters back New Mexico law protecting access to abortion
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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A survey commissioned by NM Policy Report found that a majority of voters support abortion rights, including an abortion-rights-protecting law recently passed by the state legislature, and are also on the verge of endorsing the draw in the permanent fund of massive state land subsidies for the financing of education.


Abortion rights could be front and center in midterm elections as US Supreme Court looks set to oust landmark Roe vs. Wade decision this summer.


When asked in the poll conducted by Public Policy Polling whether abortion should still be legal;  legal with certain limitations;  illegal except in case of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother;  or always illegal, a majority said it should be legal (with 30% saying always, 25% saying legal with limitations).  Only 13% said it should always be illegal and 29% said it should be illegal except for rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.


Asked about the new state law that would allow abortion to remain legal in New Mexico regardless of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, 53% said they support the newly enacted law and 36% said they were against it.


Women are more likely to support abortion rights, with 62% supporting the New Mexico law and 29% reporting opposition.  Among men, 43% support the law and 44% oppose it.


On the question of whether abortion should be legal, 36% of women said always and 26% said with some restrictions, while 21% said it should be illegal except in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life and 13% said it was illegal in any case.  case.  Among men, only 23% said it should always be legal, and 23% said it should be legal with restrictions, while 37% said it should be illegal except for rape, incest or to save the life of the mother and 14% said it should always be illegal.


Hispanics or Latinos were also more likely to support New Mexico’s law keeping abortion legal, with 62% supporting and 27% opposing.  Among white voters, 46% supported and 44% opposed, while among other ethnicities, 59% supported and 26% opposed.


Permanent Land Grant Fund


The proposed constitutional amendment to operate the permanent land grant fund received the support of more than 60% of voters.  When asked if they supported the proposal to allocate an additional 1.25% of the Permanent Land Grant Fund to early childhood education and public school funding, 61% said they would support, while 26% said they would oppose it.


Many New Mexico Democrats have pushed for such an amendment for years, but it has always been bottled up in the Senate Finance Committee (and in one case in the State House when held by Republicans). ).


Voters will decide whether to approve the amendment and two others (one regarding the authorization of funds for residential services and infrastructure and another regarding the election of judges) this fall.


The poll of 642 New Mexico voters was conducted June 13-14.  Public Policy Polling called landlines and texted those who didn’t have one.  The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9% for the main questions, while the sub-populations will have larger margins of error.






                

            

        

            

            

                
CO-based commercial space company to land in New Mexico
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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Sierra Space and Spaceport America have signed an agreement to make the spaceport a landing site for the Colorado-based company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft.  (Courtesy of Spaceport America)


Colorado-based Sierra Space plans to land some of its Dream Chaser flights in New Mexico, after the company announced on Tuesday that it had signed a deal with Spaceport America.


Located in southern New Mexico and known for anchor tenant Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America is one of the newest runways worldwide where the Dream Chaser can land efficiently, Sierra Space said in a press release.  The Spaceport America runway is 200 feet wide and 12,000 feet long.













“Spaceport America is extremely proud to combine our efforts with Sierra Space,” Spaceport America Executive Director Scott McLaughlin said in the statement.  “As a potential landing site for the Dream Chaser spaceplane, we will continue to open up affordable access to space for everyone in the United States and around the world. We are excited to expand the partnership and relationship. working with Sierra Space.


The Dream Chaser is a multi-mission “space utility vehicle” designed to transport crew and cargo to low Earth orbit.


Currently, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser has a contract with NASA beginning in 2023 for cargo supply and return missions to deliver up to 12,000 pounds of cargo at a time to the International Space Station.  Sierra Space said its Dream Chaser spacecraft is the only commercial spacecraft capable of flipping low-gravity earth on compatible commercial tracks.


“Sierra Space is building the future of space – from transportation to commercial space destinations and all emerging applications – to develop a vibrant, growing and accessible commercial space economy,” Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice said in a statement. a statement.  “With this vision in mind, we are creating space technology hubs within the commercial space ecosystem and adding Spaceport America as a potential landing site for Dream Chaser to continue to open up affordable access to space for all.”


Sierra Space recently launched an astronaut training program led by a former NASA astronaut to lead a crewed version of Dream Chaser, according to the SpaceNews outlet.  In February, the company also signed agreements with Kanematsu Corp.  and Oita Prefecture to study future airport landings in Japan for the Dream Chaser spacecraft.






• Do you have a question that you would like someone to try to answer for you?  Do you have a bright spot you want to share?


   We want to hear from you.  Please email [email protected] 







    

                

            

        

            

            

                
PRC says it followed its own guidelines in rejecting merger
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
By

                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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June 20—Saying it’s not a “flank” to others, the state’s Public Regulatory Commission argues in a court filing that it was required to act independently during the examining a merger of New Mexico’s largest electric utility with other major power companies.


A PRC brief submitted by legal staff last week to the New Mexico Supreme Court says the commissioners made the right decision in denying Public Service Company of New Mexico’s application to merge with Avangrid of Connecticut and its parent company, Iberdrola of Spain.  The unanimous decision of the five commissioners in December went against the recommendations of the attorney general’s office and many environmental groups.


The proposal to merge with the two large companies and be virtually taken over by them has implications for the state’s ability to convert to electricity powered by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. .  PNM says merging with big business would give it access to money, equipment and innovation.


PNM and its potential partners appealed the PRC’s rejection to the state Supreme Court, and the commissioners’ final comments came in a roughly 70-page document and request for oral argument.  The document said there was “substantial evidence before the Commission of the potential downsides of the proposed merger”.


A joint statement Friday from representatives of PNM and Avangrid said “the PRC understated the benefits of the merger and overstated the alleged risks, resulting in an incorrect application of the merger standard.”


The state Supreme Court does not have a deadline to schedule oral arguments or rule on the matter.  PNM, Avangrid and Iberdrola benefit from a new commission taking over in January and potentially obtaining a new examination of their file.


The current five-member elected commission will be replaced in 2023 with a three-person governor-appointed commission after state voters accepted the change two years ago.




In continued counterpoint to legal filings, the commission’s brief is a response to claims filed by PNM, Avangrid and Iberdrola.  The commission stands by the companies’ argument that the PRC “poorly balanced the pros and cons of the proposed merger … leads to a dead end.”  Protecting the public in such transactions is one of its main functions, says the PRC.


“The proposed merger was not designed to benefit PNM’s customers,” the document said.  Instead, the business mix would give Avangrid and Iberdrola a “beachhead” in the southwest from which to pursue other projects, according to the PRC.


Further, the primary beneficiaries of a merger would be PNM’s shareholders, the brief states, not customers.


The companies, however, argue that the PRC ignored the fact that nearly all environmental organizations supported the merger.


The commission says that claim was also a dead end.  “This argument is mind-boggling and implies that the Commission is a stooge,” his memoir reads.


Representatives from PNM and Avangrid said the merger won the green light from organizations and other state and federal entities, such as the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  “Each of these agencies concluded that the merger met all regulatory standards and should be approved,” they said.


One organization that disagreed with the companies was Santa Fe’s New Energy Economy. A recent brief filed by that organization, led by Mariel Nanasi, said the companies’ arguments were “out of touch with reality.”


The commission’s brief recalls some sticking points found in the merger proposal.  One was the performance record of Avangrid’s subsidiaries in the northeastern United States, which the commission and others have described as poor.  Another was the committee’s concern over a Spanish investigation into some current and former Iberdrola executives.  Yet another was the role played by Albuquerque attorney Marcus Rael, a friend and colleague of Attorney General Hector Balderas who does contract legal work for Balderas’ office.


Various details indicate that Avangrid and Iberdrola are using “business methods that should raise concerns for the Commission,” the brief states, quoting a line from PRC hearing examiner Ashley Schannauer’s recommendations at the end of the essay. ‘last year.  Schannauer generally released a report criticizing the proposed merger.


Balderas said in a brief statement on Friday that the PRC “violated the rule of law” by ignoring the proposed agreement reached by 23 organizations.  He also noted that the state Supreme Court Disciplinary Board had ruled that there was no conflict of interest involving Rael.  Schannauer ordered Rael to stop working for Iberdrola, and he did.


Balderas also said he was “very concerned that the PRC is misleading the Court by misrepresenting the timing” of its interactions with merger candidates.


Iberdrola hired Rael early last year to broker the merger proposal.  Balderas signed the agreement with the candidates in the spring.  The commission says “the plausible inference … is that the AG was improperly influenced by Mr. Rael, who represented the AG and Bernalillo County at the time he was hired by Iberdrola.”


The commission adds: “The AG ridiculously stated that a benefit of the merger was the lessons Avangrid learned from the experience of dealing with severe storms in the North East, although any lessons that ‘Avangrid may have learned resulted from his own incompetent preparations for the storms.


The commission also points out that Scott Hempling, an expert witness used by Balderas in the merger case, criticized the merger proposal in the spring of 2021.


Balderas spokeswoman Jerri Mares wrote in an email Friday that Rael was hired by Iberdrola before Balderas opposed the initial merger request.  “It was only after securing significant concessions through negotiations that significantly altered the transaction that the AG joined” the agreement in April, Mares wrote.


The three power companies said the benefits of a merger outweigh the risks.  They agreed to give customers rate credits totaling $67 million over three years and create at least 150 jobs in the state if they were allowed to merge.


They also said they would allocate $25 million to economic development efforts in the state, allocate $12.5 million to indigenous communities in the northwest of the state, and offer $15 million to community programs. efficiency and weather protection for low-income people.


Representatives for PNM and Avangrid said in a statement on Friday, “Had the benefits and risks been properly considered and applied, the transaction would have been approved.”


They said the investigation in Spain into Iberdrola executives contained “simple allegations”.  The PRC’s use of this situation against merger candidates, they said, “is contrary to New Mexico law and principles of fairness and does not provide grounds for assuming that PNM will not continue to provide quality service if the merger is approved”.



                

            

        

            

            

                
New ad targets government’s discretionary fund
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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A new ad takes aim at a familiar target – the governor’s spending from a discretionary fund earmarked for social and diplomatic events.  (Source: Get Families Back to Work announcement)


SANTA FE — Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s spending on a discretionary fund for social and diplomatic events continues to fuel attack ads targeting her re-election bid, including a new ad that draws on excerpts from television news.


The new 30-second piece – which will air starting Wednesday – was launched by a group affiliated with the Republican Governors Association.


Lujan Grisham “continues to waste our tax dollars on his personal interests,” the ad reads, intercut with excerpts from TV reports about his discretionary fund spending.


The fund has been a source of controversy not only for Lujan Grisham, but also for his predecessors.


Republican Susana Martinez, for example, used the fund in 2015 to throw an end-of-year party that prompted a police intervention.


Just last month, Lujan Grisham’s campaign refunded the discretionary fund after it was originally used to cover about $1,837 in expenses related to a Democratic Governors Association party at the Governor’s Residence. .  A spokeswoman for the governor said the campaign repaid the state “almost immediately,” though it’s unclear why the state fund was used in the first place.


The controversy makes its appearance in the new ad.


Last year, state auditors also reviewed the governor’s use of the fund and found Lujan Grisham’s $17,546 spending on food, alcohol, cooking equipment and Christmas decorations did not violate not state law.  But the report from State Auditor Brian Colón’s office also said lawmakers should clarify how the fund can be spent.


The Republican Governors Association has been active in New Mexico this year, with its political action committee reporting expenses of about $179,000.


The new announcement is attributed to Get Families Back to Work, a separate group affiliated with the RGA.


Lujan Grisham also went on the attack.  The first big television splash of his campaign from the general election campaign questioned Republican Mark Ronchetti’s experience, describing him as a “television weatherman” who is not ready to fight crime.















Ronchetti, for his part, characterized his career as a strength – proof that he is not an entrenched politician.


Karen Bedonie, a libertarian, is also campaigning for governor.  She won the party’s nomination on June 7 with 87% of the vote, beating a write-in candidate.


ASCEND : The cost of building just about anything is rising due to inflation and supply chain disruptions.


New report from Legislative Finance Committee analysts warns New Mexico policymakers to expect budget shortfalls in capital projects and prepare to spend more to complete work that cannot be completed for their original cost.


The report also suggests a series of longer-term changes — such as establishing a central office of infrastructure — to improve the management of New Mexico’s capital projects.



                

            

        

            

            

                
States tackle child care shortages after federal efforts halt
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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In New Mexico, educators won pay raises.  In Iowa, 16-year-olds can now supervise 15 children.  In Montana, caregivers can monitor more toddlers at a time.


With sweeping federal child care legislation stalled in Congress, dozens of states have stepped in to address a growing crisis as many families have found services both unaffordable and scarce. 


Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called the situation “a classic example of a market failure”.


State legislatures, often using federal stimulus funds, passed more than 200 child care bills in 2021, and another 100 bills passed in the first half of 2022 — a rate of legislation twice the average for recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.










Yet while there is consensus that child care needs to be fixed, there is little agreement on the solution.  In a sort of laboratory of competing ideas, states try out different models, largely based on their domestic politics.  Democratic-majority states have been more likely to supplement stimulus dollars — which will expire by 2024 — with state revenue.  Those with Republican governments have often tried to relax regulations regarding class size and licensing.










The coronavirus pandemic has heightened the visibility of long-standing childcare challenges as parents struggle to work during lockdowns and quarantines.  About 10% of child care programs nationwide closed between 2019 and 2021, according to advocacy group Child Care Aware.


“Parents wait in parking lots all night trying to get a spot,” said Elliot Haspel, an early childhood education expert at the Robins Foundation, a philanthropy in Richmond, Virginia.  “It’s really dystopian.”


And while college-educated mothers who drifted away from the workforce during the pandemic have mostly returned, that’s not necessarily true for less-educated mothers, who typically find it harder to afford childcare. their children.  Fewer of them have returned to the labor market, which has contributed to labor shortages in some industries.


In the United States, most families receive little government support for care before children enter kindergarten.  Two-thirds of mothers of children under 6 and 94% of fathers in this age group work for pay, according to federal data.  Yet child care is unaffordable for more than 60% of families who need it, according to the Treasury Departmentand half of all Americans live in places where child care is scarce.










Low-income families who qualify for state or federal assistance often struggle to get it.


Victoria Welch, 31, a single mother of two, earns $18 an hour working night shifts for Swissport, a cargo handling service at Newark Liberty International Airport.










Her brother, who lives with his family, is home with his daughters in the evenings, but goes to his own work during the day.  That’s when Mrs. Welch, tired of working all night, drives 7-year-old Mia to school and then takes care of her one-year-old child, Ava.  Ms. Welch sleeps in 45 minute increments when the baby is napping.


“I do my best to find the energy to play with her as much as possible,” she said.


She tried to enroll in a subsidized child care program, but her application got bogged down in bureaucracy.


The New Jersey General Assembly is considering the bills it would create 1,000 new spaces in infant and toddler programs and centralize the state’s child care system, which is currently regulated by a number of departments and agencies.


President Biden’s Build Back Better Act would have created a nationwide right to child care, capping costs at 7% of most families’ income.  But the bill fizzled out, largely due to opposition from Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat of West Virginia, who worried about the cost of the legislation and certain provisions, such as credits. child tax, which he said would discourage parents from working.










Two other Senate Democrats, Patty Murray and Tim Kaine, announced a less ambitious proposal this month that would include child care funding enacted as part of the budget reconciliation process, avoiding a Republican filibuster.  But the main objectives of budget negotiations are now inflation, climate change and health care, which raises the question of whether we can expect child care relief from the federal government.










“We were very devastated” by the failure of Build Back Better, said Cody Summerville, executive director of the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children.  Even so, he said, he found reasons for hope locally.










Last year, Texas increased payments to providers who serve low-income infants and toddlers, the most expensive group to care for and the one plagued by shortages in Texas and nationally.


The state has also required child care programs that accept state grants to participate in a quality rating and improvement system called the Texas Rising Star, which rates centers.


While there’s little bipartisan cooperation in Washington on child custody legislation, that’s not the case in Texas, Summerville noted.


“There’s a strong understanding on both sides of the aisle that child care underpins our entire economy,” he said, because parents who don’t have access to child care cannot fill vacancies.  “This is a state that really wants to make sure families work.”


In Colorado, where Democrats control state government, some Republican state lawmakers were enthusiastic about the “family, friend, neighbor” element of a recent $100 million investment. child care package, funded with federal support.  The provision will allow grandparents and other caregivers – an important source of care – to enroll in early childhood education training and then get money to upgrade their home for safety and education.


“In a world where it’s hard for a family to survive on one source of income, child care is a critical need,” said Republican Senator Jerry Sonnenberg.  “Child care issues are non-partisan.










Strongly conservative states have also begun to act, often by reducing regulations.


Montana has raised the maximum allowed ratio of children to adults.  The bill’s sponsor, State Senator Kenneth Bogner, a Republican, said he did so at the request of  suppliers in his rural district who are struggling to keep up with demand.










Children’s advocacy organizations opposed the measure, saying it would compromise safety and quality.  Xanna Burg, director of Kids Count Montana, said the state should instead subsidize higher wages for child care workers, who won last year. about $11 per hour on average in Montana, and are attracted to retail jobs.


Thanks to federal stimulus funds, Montana has capped child care costs for low-income families at $10 a month.  But federal support will disappear by the end of 2024, and Senator Bogner predicted that state lawmakers were more likely to ease   regulations than they were to provide more funds.


He argued that stimulus funds had artificially heated the childcare market – although affordability and supply issues predated the pandemic.  He acknowledged that many workers in his district cannot afford market-rate child care and said families must “make serious choices about whether or not they want have children”.


In Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed a bill Thursday, on the Democratic opposition, which increases the number of children a single adult is allowed to supervise in a child care centre.  There can now be seven 2-year-olds per adult instead of six — exceeding national recommendations — and 10 three-year-old children instead of eight.  The measure also allows 16-year-olds to take care of up to 15 children over the age of 5 without adult supervision.


Liberal states have tended to take a different, sometimes much more expensive route.  This fall, voters in New Mexico will consider an amendment to the state constitution that would earmark a percentage of the state’s oil and gas revenue for early childhood education, which would provide $127 million a year. .


The amendment could allow New Mexico to continue an exceptionally generous program: Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has made child care free until the summer of 2023 for many families earning less than 400% of the federal poverty line, or about $111,000 for a family of four.










The measure could also fund long-term wage increases for childcare workers.


Ivydel Natachu, 52, is an early childhood educator in Albuquerque who says she would benefit.  She has 17 years of experience, was earning $10.50 an hour until 2020. She raised her own children with the help of odd jobs and food stamps.










With temporary federal stimulus funds supporting New Mexico child care, she now earns $15 an hour;  if the constitutional amendment passes, it could raise his salary to $18 an hour.


Ms Natachu said that during the pandemic she had seen colleagues resign after just a few weeks of work, attracted by easier and better paying jobs in other fields.  She said that given their expertise in child development, child care workers should be paid like public school teachers.


“We are fighting for our professional salaries,” she said.





                

            

        

            

            

                
DC measures would compromise innovators and NM
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Susana Martinez


America’s inherent spirit of innovation sets us apart as an engine of unprecedented progress.  This spirit is driven by America’s culture of encouraged risk-taking, praise for hard work, and forward-looking optimism.  Nowhere is this innovative advantage greater than in America’s cutting-edge technology industry, which embraces the American spirit of dreaming big, creating an entrepreneurial environment that helps US-based companies thrive.


Indeed, America’s tech industry has boosted the economies of every US state and benefited its entire population, as the vast majority have relied on technology on a daily basis.


When Congress considers measures that would undermine innovation — such as S.2992 Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota’s “American Innovation and Choice Online Act” — every American from New Mexico to Washington, DC should be concerned.  If so, the anti-innovation legislation now under consideration would arbitrarily and negatively cripple the U.S. tech industry and hurt New Mexico families, farmers, and small businesses.


American innovation is vital to our economy.  According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the digital economy has accounted for nearly 7% of US GDP in recent years and generated more than 5.1 million US jobs.  At the same time, more than 80% of small businesses benefit from at least one major digital platform to provide information and reach old and new customers.


In New Mexico, the technology sector represents nearly 8% of our total workforce.  We’re also proud to lead the nation in Latino representation in tech jobs, with Hispanics making up 31% of all tech employees in the state.


During my tenure as governor, my administration worked tirelessly to make New Mexico’s economy more competitive for jobs and new investment.  Due to our policies, we have received investments from national and global companies such as Netflix, Facebook and SafeLite, all of which have moved major operations to New Mexico.  At the same time, leading local companies such as RS21, Skorpios, Descartes Labs and others have grown and prospered.


It is imperative that we do not pursue legislation if it will harm America’s technological advantage, affect our companies’ ability to compete with foreign competitors, or negatively impact New Mexican workers.


As Congress considers anti-innovation legislation, it must recognize that America’s technological innovators are a vital part of America’s economic health, national security, and individual freedoms.


Technology has improved the lives of many people and helped create a more connected and open world, a world where the basic rights of free speech thrive despite threats from nefarious foreign governments seeking to bring us down.


As policymakers consider the rules and laws that govern innovators, they must encourage big dreams — not big hurdles — by protecting American values ​​of openness, accessibility, and free speech.  They are essential contributors to America’s global competitive advantage.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Clawback of wildlife law passed by the House could be blocked in the Senate
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, legislation that would provide $1.4 billion a year to states and tribes for threatened and endangered wildlife programs.


The 231-190 vote included yeses from 215 Democrats and 16 Republicans.


The action, the proposal’s most advanced since it was introduced by a Blue Ribbon Panel in 2016, has been praised by dozens of conservation and environmental groups.


Collin O’Mara, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, called RAWA “the most important wildlife conservation legislation in half a century”.


Bipartisan support in the House says there is “consensus across the political spectrum that we can and must prevent extinctions from our backyards to backyards,” O’Mara said.


Proponents of the bill cite its prescription of proactive on-the-ground projects to implement state wildlife action plans and projections it would create more than 30,000 jobs and spur $93 billion in total economic activity.


After:Outdoor calendar


Smith column:Fishing dreams come true on a remote Ontario lake


RAWA’s fate now rests with the Senate, which in April kicked him out of the committee.  The bill has 36 bipartisan sponsors and cosponsors in the Senate, including the Sens sponsors.  Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) and Roy Blunt (R-Missouri).


However, questions remain over the dollars.


The House version would fund RAWA with general tax revenue from the Treasury.



But a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office reported on April 27 by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee found that RAWA would increase the federal deficit by $14.1 billion from 2022 to 2032.


Tom Cors, director of North American policy and government relations at The Nature Conservancy, said it’s likely RAWA will need a “pay for” to be approved by the Senate.


One might be handy, though.


More than a dozen conservation organizations and land trusts, including The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and The Conservation Fund, along with the IRS and the Department of Justice, are calling on Congress to pass the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act (S. 2256 /HR 4164).



The bill would end fraudulent and syndicated conservation easements.


According to IRS data, bad actors claimed $36 billion in unwarranted charitable deductions from 2010 to 2018, including $9.2 billion for 296 transactions in 2018 alone.


This contrasts with the 2,000 to 2,500 conservation donations made each year for genuinely charitable purposes, resulting in about $1 billion in claimed deductions each year, according to the Land Trust Alliance.



Passing the Easement Integrity Bill would protect the tax-paying public while ensuring the land conservation incentive remains available to landowners acting with genuine charitable intent, the Alliance said in a statement. . 


The bill would prohibit charitable deductions where a profit is made in a short time from the donation of a conservation easement.


Eliminating fraudulent tax breaks could provide the Treasury with the $14.1 billion that RAWA is expected to cost over the next decade.


Cors said working to pass both RAWA and the Easements Integrity Bill made sense.


“By pairing these laws, we could have the necessary funding for wildlife programs and solve a significant and persistent problem with conservation easements,” Cors said.


Efforts to advance both bills will intensify over the summer, Cors said.


In its RAWA vote, Badger’s state House delegation was split along party lines.  All Democrats (Representatives Ron Kind, Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan) voted in favor of the bill while all Republicans (Representatives Scott Fitzgerald, Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, Bryan Steil and Tom Tiffany) supported it. opposites.


Depopulated deer farm


The Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Consumer Protection released information on Friday about the May 18 depopulation at a Langlade County deer farm infected with the chronic wasting disease.


The action was reported on May 27 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.


The cull removed 47 deer from Van Ooyen Whitetails in Antigo.  The fatal neurological disease was detected at the captive facility last August and the herd was under quarantine.



Payment of compensation to Van Ooyen will be made from federal funds, according to the DATCP.  The amount was not disclosed.  Federal compensation is based on 95% of appraised value and must not exceed $3,000 per animal.


The farm is prohibited from keeping deer or other cervids for five years and during that time must maintain fencing and submit to inspections. 


According to DATCP records, nineteen other CWD-positive deer farms remain open in Wisconsin.



                

            

        

            

            

                
New program to help keep arroyos clear
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The Albuquerque North Floodway can go from zero to four feet of water in about 90 seconds.


“This channel is capable of moving a lot of water very quickly and that’s why it’s so dangerous,” said Jerry Lovato, AMAFCA’s executive engineer.  “It doesn’t have to be raining on your head for water to flow through this channel.”


The canal drains approximately 100 square miles of the city.  It can climb up to ten feet.


“There will be water in this channel and we want people to be safe,” Lovato said.


The Ditch and Water Safety Task Force launched a new effort this summer to keep ditches clear, following the deadliest summer in recent city history in 2021. A total of four people have washed away in the canal, three of them in one day.


“We are committed to trying to reduce these numbers or eliminate these numbers as best we can,” said Willie West, AMAFCA’s property manager. 


They identified hotspots in the system where people tend to camp.  When the National Weather Service issues a storm warning, a group will go to hot spots to check if anyone is there.  If so, the group will encourage them to leave as soon as possible.


The task force created the “Ditches are Deadly” program in the 1990s to help keep children off the arroyos, but now they’re focusing on a different population.


“Over the past five years, the people we’ve unfortunately lost in the ditches were between 21 and 33 years old,” West said.


There have been discussions in the past about adding sensors and an alarm system to notify people when water is coming, but that’s just an idea at this point. 


“Unfortunately, this is an extremely tech-driven, challenging project,” West said.  “I hope one day that will happen because it will make our system much safer if we can alert people that water is coming.”


Leaders say the amount of trash in arroyos and canals right now is also a big concern.  Glass, needles or stones and other waste can cause a major hazard.


																												

                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico All State baseball team released
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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New Mexico All State baseball team released







 









The New Mexico Baseball Coaches Association released its All State team this week and a handful of players from the area were on the roster.


The Class 5A Player of the Year was Carlsbad’s Nolan Perry.  Here is a full list:


Class 5A


Coach of the Year: Chris Eaton, Sandia


Launcher


first team


    

  • Nolan Perry, Carlsbad; Maddux Edmonson, Organ Mountain;  Nico Barela, Sandia;  Greyson Long, La Cueva.
    • 



second team


    

  • Jordan Martinez, Sandia;  Zach Raichel, Farmington;  Mack Mabrey, Carlsbad;  Jace Dominic, Cleveland.
    • 



Honorable mention


    

  • Allan Carrion, Deming;  Colton Graham, Hobbs;  Zak McPeters, Hobbs; Santiago Garcia, centenarian.
    • 



Centennial's Santiago Garcia was an honorable mention pitcher and first-team receiver.


Seeker


first team


    

  • Santiago Garcia, centenarian
    • 



second team


Honorable mention


    

  • Tyler McCann, Organ Mountain
    • 



Inner fields


first team


    

  • Akili Carris, La Cueva; Steven Milam, centenarian;  Mathew Dinae, La Cueva;  Adriel Figueroa-Brito, Sandia
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second team


    

  • Keagan Scott, Farmington; Steve Solorzano, Las Cruces;  Bernie Socarras-Puig, Hobbs;  Kaden Peace, Piedra Vista
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Honorable mention


    

  • Maddux Edmonson, Organ Mountain;  DJ Sandoval, Cleveland; Riley Hall, organ mountain;  Colton Graham, Hobbs
    • 




Voltigeurs


first team


    

  • Aiden Griego, Sandia;  Juan Portillo, Sandia;  Hunter Martin, Farmington
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second team


    

  • Brandon Ganaway, Carlsbad;  Josh Wulfert, Piedra Vista;  Elijah Castaneda, Rio Rancho
    • 



Honorable Mention


    

  • Eduardo Cardenas, Rio Grande;  Tristan Thomas, Carlsbad;  Santiago Garcia, Centenary;  Ivan Cogles, Mountain Organ;  Leon Cereceres, Rio Grande
    • 



Utility


first team


second team


Honorable mention


    

  • Matthew Hall, organ mountain
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Designated hitter


first team


second team


Honorable Mention












© 2022 www.lcsun-news.com.  All rights reserved.





                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico joins states to expand Medicaid coverage after birth
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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June 17 – Medicaid-insured mothers with newborns in New Mexico will receive an additional 10 months of coverage after birth, the federal and state governments announced Thursday.


Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told a Biden administration press conference that New Mexico has joined 13 states in expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage for mothers to 12 months.  The duration was previously two months after birth.


Lujan Grisham said it was “an incredible honor” for New Mexico to be involved.  Coverage has already started.  Lujan Grisham said the government had a “moral obligation” to invest in poor, rural and minority families, many of whom do not have good access to healthcare.


Native American, Black and Hispanic mothers are at a higher risk of suffering health problems after birth, the governor said at the press conference.


Vice President Kamala Harris said the United States is “facing a maternal mortality crisis.”  Harris said the United States compares poorly in this respect to other developed countries.


“This is just the beginning. We will fight until every state expands Medicaid coverage,” she said.  Information in a federal government press release estimated that 5,000 New Mexico residents would benefit from the change.


Jodi McGinnis Porter, spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Social Services, wrote in an email that the United States is the only industrialized country with a rising maternal mortality rate.  She said it was increasing


26 percent between 2000 and 2014. McGinnis Porter said nationally, Black and Native American women are 3.3 and


2.5 times more likely, respectively, to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.


Babies are covered by a separate state provision that already insures them for 12 months from the month they are born, McGinnis Porter said.


New Mexico as a whole suffers from a much higher maternal mortality rate of 21.5 per 100,000 than the national average of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 live births.  And the state said in a press release this spring that New Mexico ranks first in the nation for babies born with Medicaid coverage, at 72%.




Additionally, pregnancy-related deaths in New Mexico are 4.6 times higher for women covered by Medicaid than for those with private insurance, the Department of Human Services said.  Nearly a third of maternal deaths occur within the first year after a birth, the department added.


Amber Wallin, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, called the decision a “game changer” for many mothers in New Mexico.


“It provides guaranteed essential services to mothers during a crucial time” in their lives, Wallin said in an interview.  “Maternal mortality is a major problem across the country.”


Wallin said many mothers continue to recover physically beyond two months after birth.  Additionally, she says, postpartum depression and anxiety are under-recognized issues that affect 1 in 4 mothers. These emotional crises can impact child development as well as the health of the mother, she said.  Mental health services are included in the coverage, she said.


Medicaid is a government insurance program generally for low-income people that is paid for by state and federal governments.  The state’s 2022-23 budget includes $14.4 million for service expansion.


In addition to New Mexico, Minnesota and Maine, 11 other states and Washington, DC have agreed to provide the additional coverage.


White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice agreed with Harris that maternal health is in crisis.  “And we really put our money where our mouth is,” Rice said.  She said the postpartum deaths of many mothers can be prevented with strong health care.


“And because they’re preventable, we’re obligated to prevent them,” she said.



                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico reaches $32 million settlement for 2015 mine spill
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — New Mexico and the US government have reached a $32 million settlement over a 2015 mine spill that polluted rivers in three western states.


Similar environmental crashes will be intolerable in the future as the region grapples with dwindling water supplies amid drought and climate change, the governor said Thursday. 


“Every drop is precious,” Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said at a news conference.  “If we don’t have that water, we don’t grow our own food.”


The spill released 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of wastewater from the inactive Gold King mine in southwestern Colorado, sending a bright yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals to the southern New Mexico, through the Navajo Nation, and into Utah through the San Juan and Animas rivers.


Water supply utilities were forced to scramble and close inlet valves while farmers stopped drawing from rivers as contaminants moved downstream. 


The New Mexico settlement is just the latest reached in the past year.  Colorado and the Navajo Nation also signed multimillion-dollar agreements to settle claims and determine responsibility for continued cleanup at the Superfund site that was created in the aftermath of the spill.


Under the New Mexico agreement, the federal government will make cash payments for response costs, environmental restoration and efforts to alleviate negative perceptions about rivers in the region following of the spill.  The money will also go towards water quality monitoring and cleaning activities. 


Lujan Grisham called the settlement a turning point for communities in the area.


“As the San Juan and Animas Rivers have healed from the spill, it’s time for communities like Farmington, Bloomfield and Aztec to do the same,” she said in a statement, saying the money was deserved at the time. light of the federal government’s role in the disaster.


The state also received $11 million in damages from the mining companies, and the case against the federal contractors involved is ongoing.


On August 5, 2015, Environmental Protection Agency contractors attempting cleanup work resulted in the release of toxic sewage.  The plume eventually reached Lake Powell in Utah. 


Although the rivers are now safe for irrigation and other uses, state and local authorities have said the stigma associated with the event has had lasting effects on the region’s economy.


The Navajo Nation finalized a $31 million settlement with the federal government this week.  The tribe said the plume traveled about 200 miles (322 kilometers) up the San Juan River, which it considers sacred.


Senior Navajo officials visited the mine site and shared photos and videos of sewage rushing downstream on social media. 


Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said the tribe is committed to holding accountable anyone who caused or contributed to the spill.  He added that he was grateful that the federal government recognized the devastation he caused.


While New Mexico and the Navajo Nation have filed separate lawsuits, the cases have been consolidated and state officials said Thursday that remediation and restoration work would be coordinated.


State officials said a restoration plan will be developed with public input. 



                

            

        

            

            

                
Christie’s Zackary Wright and former Sotheby’s director Charlie Smith join Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Zackary Wright




Charlie Smith

Charlie Smith






I know the future is ripe for continued growth and success across Europe and beyond.  I am delighted to be back in the fold of Sotheby’s.

-Charlie Smith




NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA, June 15, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions, the world’s leading luxury real estate auction house, today announced two key hires as part of the continued international expansion of the business: Zackary Wright, Executive Director of Christie’s International Real Estate and former Senior Vice President of Sotheby’s International Realty, and Charlie Smith, Owner of London Real Estate Advisors (LREA) and former Managing Director of Sotheby’s International Realty.


Having recently announced its name change to Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions following its joint acquisition by auction house Sotheby’s, the world’s leading destination for fine art and luxury goods, and Anywhere Real Estate Inc (NYSE : HOUS), the largest full-service residential real estate service in the United States, Wright and Smith are returning to the Sotheby’s family of brands. 


“Our clients live global lifestyles and many, if not most, own multiple homes around the world. As we continue to grow our international auctions, Zack and Charlie will lead this growth using their veteran experiences in the industry,” said Chad Roffers, president.  “I have known both of them personally for years and have always been impressed with their global reach, their proficiency in real estate transactions with high-end clients and their knowledge of luxury properties and markets around the world.” 


Zackary Wright
With seasoned experience in the global luxury real estate market and over 25 years in the industry, Wright will serve as Executive Vice President, Private Client Group, Asia Pacific, leading corporate development strategy. and managing relationships with the firm’s wealthy clientele. 


Having seen first-hand the increase in the number of Chinese buyers over the past decade, the company began its initial expansion into the Asia-Pacific market with a series of real estate showcase events at real estate showcases. in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dubai, and Singapore as part of biannual collection sales in partnership with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. 


“The US real estate market continues to be a preferred destination for Chinese capital, with Chinese investors also becoming particularly active in Australia, the UK, Europe and Canada, among others.  This influx, coupled with the global adoption of our auction app, has made a focus on outreach to Asia-Pacific consumers an obvious next step,” added Roffers.


Wright’s career began as a real estate agent and brokerage manager in a high-end luxury market in California more than 30 years ago before joining Sotheby’s International Realty as Senior Vice President, Managing the Network growing in the western region and expanding into Mexico and Latin America.  Since 2010, as Executive Director of Christie’s International Real Estate, Wright has developed strategic partnerships and organized events for top clients across the Christie’s network, including the Concours d’Elegance in Pebble Beach, California, and real estate exhibitions at bi-annual Christie’s auctions in Hong Kong, the company’s expansion into new markets across Asia, the Pacific and Western territories. 


“Following the company’s recent rebranding to Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions, I am delighted to once again join the Sotheby’s family,” said Wright.  “Having started my career in the high-end luxury market in California over 30 years ago and since then specializing in the luxury sector in Asia-Pacific, I look forward to further strengthening the brand’s presence and… further introduce the Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions platform in key destination markets across the region.


Charlie Smith
After serving as a strategic advisor to Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions for the past five years, Smith will lead the firm’s growing international presence as Executive Vice President, EMEA.  The company has been very successful in Europe, with over 230 million euros and over 40 sales spanning the UK, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Dubai and Morocco, among others. 


Smith brings over 25 years of luxury real estate experience as a commercial director and is a veteran in all areas of residential and mixed-use real estate, including significant experience in strategic planning and development. Business.


Smith founded his own London-based property consultancy, LREA, and previously for seven years was Managing Director of Sotheby’s International Realty in the UK, a member of numerous Sotheby’s Steering Committees and a member of the Board of administration of London and Prime of Countrywide, following his engineering of the sale of Sotheby’s International Realty of Realogy to Countrywide. 


Previously a Fine Art Underwriter at Hiscox, he has been involved throughout his career in the high net worth area and has a keen understanding of private client culture.  Smith is listed in Debrett’s People of Today and, with extensive print and TV credits, has a savvy and experienced working relationship with the media.


“I have witnessed the remarkable success Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions has achieved as an EMEA strategic advisor over the past five years, and having established such a strong foundation, I know the future is ripe for growth and success. throughout Europe and beyond. I am delighted to be back in the Sotheby’s fold,” said Smith.


For more information about positions with Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions or its platform or to apply, please call 212.202.2940.


About Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions
Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions is the world’s largest luxury real estate auction marketplace, with a state-of-the-art digital marketing, property preview and auction platform.  The company connects unique home sellers with some of the most knowledgeable real estate connoisseurs on the planet.  Sellers benefit from unparalleled reach, speed and certainty.  Buyers receive curated opportunities.  Agents earn their commission in 30 days.  In November 2021, the company was acquired by Sotheby’s, the world’s leading destination for fine art and luxury goods, and Anywhere Real Estate Inc (NYSE: HOUS), the world’s largest full-service residential real estate services company. United States, holding a joint 80% interest.  Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions continues to operate independently, partnering with estate agents affiliated with many industry-leading brokerages to run luxury auctions for clients.  Since its inception in 2008, Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions has generated billions of dollars in sales, broken world records for the most expensive homes ever sold at auction, and held auctions in 46 U.S. states and 32 countries.  The company has one of the most comprehensive and intelligent databases of affluent real estate buyers and sellers in the industry, and it has pledged to build over 300 homes through its Key For Key.® donation program in partnership with Giveback Homes™, which ensures that for every property the company sells, a new home is funded for a family in need.  For more information, visit CASothebys.com.


Emily Roberts
Auctions Sotheby’s Concierge
+1 212-202-2940
write to us here


                  




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New Mexico is the most dangerous state for pedestrians
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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					The Governor’s Highway Safety Association has once again rated New Mexico as the deadliest state for pedestrians.  In 2021, our state’s pedestrian fatality rate was 4.77 per 100,000. A total of 103 people were killed while walking, the highest number ever in our state.  Albuquerque also hit a record 49 pedestrian fatalities Rosa Kozub is the chief of NMDOT’s Office of Multimodal Planning and Programs, she said in August of last year the department created a plan to action for pedestrian safety.  The plan has 40 actions the department will take to create a safer environment for pedestrians.  “One of the big things we are currently working on is developing training for our project development engineers at MDOT.  Who are the people who design the pavements and work with consultants who design the pavements for our projects?  And therefore working on training to help them understand or deepen their knowledge on how to better accommodate pedestrians in the design of the project,” Kozub said. The plan will be implemented for the next 5 years and Kozub hopes that “It will help New Mexico off the list as number 1.” I think hopefully the department will work on that plan, as well as drivers becoming more aware of their impact and the responsibility of drive their vehicle together.  Hopefully that can get us off the list,” Kozub said. According to the GHSA, pedestrian crashes everywhere are on the rise in 2021, there were more than 7,400 pedestrian fatalities, the highest number in four decades.
				



					ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — 											

The Governor’s Highway Safety Association has once again rated New Mexico as the deadliest state for pedestrians.  


In 2021, the pedestrian fatality rate in our state was 4.77 per 100,000.  






A total of 103 people were killed while marching, the highest number ever recorded in our state.  


Albuquerque also hit a record 49 pedestrian fatalities 


Rosa Kozub is the head of NMDOT’s Office of Multimodal Planning and Programs, she said in August last year the department created a pedestrian safety action plan. 


The plan has 40 actions the department will take to create a safer environment for pedestrians.  


    “One of the big things we are currently working on is developing training for our project development engineers at MDOT.  Who are the people who design the pavements and work with consultants who design the pavements for our projects?  And so working on training to help them understand or deepen their knowledge on how to better accommodate pedestrians in the design of the project,” Kozub said.  


The plan will be implemented for the next 5 years and Kozub hopes it will help New Mexico off the list as number 1.  


“I think hopefully the department will work on this, as well as drivers becoming more aware of their impact and the responsibility of driving their vehicle together. Hopefully that can get us off the list. “, said Kozub.  


Pedestrian crashes everywhere are on the rise in 2021, there were more than 7,400 pedestrian fatalities, the highest number in four decades, according to the GHSA.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Well-rested United take on Oakland Roots on the road
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Late-game exploits have been business as usual for Oakland Roots SC this season.


Oakland, which hosts New Mexico United at Laney College on Wednesday night, has been at its best with the clock ticking down.  Roots SC have scored 12 of their 24 goals this season in the last 15 minutes of regular or stoppage time.


Late strikes helped Roots SC rebuild a seven-game unbeaten streak that puts them just one point behind Phoenix Rising for the final USL Championship playoff spot.


New Mexico coach Zach Prince is well aware of Oakland’s propensity to find the net late.  Roots SC (4-4-8) scored in second-half stoppage time on March 30 at Isotopes Park to earn a 2-2 draw and leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Prince and his players.


United, who are riding their own four-game winning streak, are hoping to avoid any late disappointment in Wednesday’s rematch.  The key, Prince said, is to get started quickly.


“Oakland are a good team and they scored a lot of goals late in the game,” he said.  “But for us, the mood doesn’t change whether it’s the first minute or the 90th minute.  If we want to be in a good position at the end of the game, we have to focus on the first 15 minutes and build from there.


The final minutes of games weren’t always pleasant for New Mexico (6-2-4), which allowed four second-half goals this season and scored just one.  This includes United’s last outing on June 4, when hosts Orange County scored in the 91st minute to halve a 2-0 deficit and then had a penalty opportunity.


Goalkeeper Alex Tambakis made a diving save to preserve a road win for United.


“It’s good to have Alex there,” said midfielder Sergio Rivas.  “When the game is on the line you know he can make a great save.  It gives us confidence.  »


In recent weeks, United have also boosted confidence on the attacking side.  After going nearly four full matches without a goal, NMU’s attack have scored 13 goals in their last four outings.


“I think it’s a matter of having a lot of new players,” Rivas said.  “Getting to know everyone’s trends takes a bit of time before everyone starts clicking.  This is where we are now.


Wednesday’s game will be United’s first in 11 days, and Prince stressed the importance of not letting the momentum slip away during the break.


Midfielder Harry Swartz agreed.


“I think it’s good for the body to have a break,” Swartz said, “but we’re also happy with the winning streak, and we’re not happy. We’ve been working hard to keep improving. and the coaches have done a good job of challenging us and reminding us that we haven’t achieved anything yet.


INJURY UPDATES: Several key players are closing in on returning for New Mexico.  Defender Austin Yearwood, who has missed the last four games, took full part in practice on Monday.  Midfielder Josh Suggs and striker Amando Moreno participated on a limited basis.


Suggs has only played two games this season with a lower-body injury, while Moreno is recovering from ACL surgery in the offseason.


COMING HOME: After Wednesday’s game, United will play three of their next four home games.  NMU has only played Albuquerque once since a May 7 tie with the San Diego Loyal, which was their last appearance at Isotopes Park.  NMU and Colorado Springs have played four home games apiece this season, the fewest among Western Conference clubs.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Gasoline prices hit new highs
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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The price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has jumped past $5 a gallon, according to AAA.




Gasoline prices hit a record high, reaching a national average of $5.01 per gallon.




With the summer driving season at hand, the national average for a gallon of gasoline has jumped and is 15 cents higher than a week ago, 58 cents higher than a month ago and $1.94 more than a year ago.  As of June 13, the national average was $5.01 – an all-time high not seen since AAA has started collecting price data  In 2000. 


“Based on the demand we’re seeing, it appears the high prices haven’t really deterred drivers,” said AAA spokesman Andrew Gross.  “If prices stay at $5 or above, we could see people start to change their daily driving habits or their lifestyle, but that hasn’t happened yet,” Gross added.


The cost of a barrel of oil is over $120, nearly double the price last August, as rising demand for oil outpaces tight global supply and pressure from sanctions and boycotts on Russian oil, which began after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


Shock of war in Ukraine ripples through global economy




Photo of AAA Oil Refinery
Oil production in the United States is on the rise as demand increases with the summer driving season.




The shock to the global economy  created by the war-triggered price spike in Ukraine contributed to inflation in Europe and the United States despite a steady increase in oil production from wells in the United States


Meanwhile, domestic gasoline demand remains robust as the summer driving season gathers pace, AAA noted. 


According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total inland inventory fell by 800,000 barrels to 218.2 million barrels.


Crude prices rose despite the EIA’s report that total domestic inventories rose 2.1 million barrels to 416.8 million barrels last week. 


However, the current storage level is still about 12% lower than a year ago, contributing to higher crude prices.  Crude prices could rise further this week if the next EIA report shows lower inventories. 




AAA Gas Price Chart 6-13-22




People are always pushing the demand up


Meanwhile, gasoline demand has increased from 8.98 million barrels per day to 9.2 million barrels per day as drivers continue to fill up for the summer driving season, typically a time when the demand for gasoline increases. 


The dynamic between falling supply and rising demand contributes to the rise in prices at the pump.  Coupled with rising crude oil prices, this means the price of gas is likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.


The biggest price increases last week were in West Virginia, where the price of a gallon of gasoline rose 28 cents.  Prices also rose in Montana by 27 cents, Colorado by 25 cents, Kansas by 23 cents and Virginia by 23 cents.  The price per gallon rose 22 cents in Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana and Ohio and rose 21 cents in New Mexico and New Mexico.


The most expensive gasoline is found in California where the average price reached $6.43 per gallon and in Nevada where the price is $5.65 per gallon.



                

            

        

            

            

                
New production studio revives the feel of old Western movies
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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The first film produced at the studio, “Murder At Yellowstone City,” will be released in theaters and on demand on June 24.


With the new wave of “Westerns”, there are enough productions to warrant another localization option.  More and more filmmakers are watching Montana largely because of the Montana Economic Industry Advancement Act.

—Richard Gray




PARADISE VALLEY, MONTANA, USA, June 14, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Were you a fan of Yellowstone for its breathtaking scenes and backgrounds?  Step into the real deal Yellowstone Film Ranch, a new production studio located in the heart of Paradise Valley, Montana, with sets along the beautiful mountain for a dramatic western, attracting all types of film, television and commercial production due of new Montana tax incentives.  The first film produced at the studio, “Murder At Yellowstone City,” will be released in theaters and on demand on June 24.


Richard Gray, Carter Boehm, Colin Davis are the founders of the company which also pushed through the Montana Economic Industry Advancement Act, or MEDIA Act, providing huge tax breaks to productions that hire local Montanese to work on films.


Gray says, “A lot of Montana movie and TV storylines were filmed in Canada, Utah, or New Mexico.  With the new wave of “Westerns”, there were enough productions to justify another localization option.  Today, more and more filmmakers are looking to Montana as a place to bring their productions, largely because of the Montana Economic Industry Advancement Act, or MEDIA Act, signed into law last year. .


The new bill has helped generate nearly $48 million in the state, according to a recent study by the Montana Department of Commerce.  The ranch was completed in June 2020, with a wave of westerns filming there in 2021, including the first western “Murder at Emigrant Gulch” by Gray and “The Old Way” by Nicholas Cage. 


Located behind the Chico Hot Springs Resort near Livingston, Yellowstone is an exciting project for partners Colin Davis, Richard Gray and Carter Boehm because of their love of filmmaking which got them thinking – why isn’t there more movies shot in Montana?  The three partners helped rally support for the passage of the MEDIA Act to not only attract Hollywood to Montana, but also to generate money in the local economy.  On top of that, Montana has no sales tax.


They designed a “movie-friendly” town, with the Chico Hot Springs Resort just steps from the set.  The west backlot is inspired by a late 1800s gold rush town that uses five fully functional interior/exterior sets with support buildings and facades to create the look of 28 unique structures located on the middle of hills with a backdrop of glacial peaks.  Additional sets include a native camp, a farm, and several cabins.


Learn more about Yellowstone:


The Yellowstone Film Ranch story began with Richard Gray looking for a location to shoot an upcoming project, “Broken Ghost”.  With an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” featuring the quaint western town of Livingston, Montana, Gray headed to Montana.


Following the passage of the MEDIA Act, Boehm and Gray decided that if they built a Western town set, it could also become a studio for future productions.  Davis suggested building the town right in Chico’s backyard, which made a lot of sense for the productions with the location and accommodations!  The ranch was completed in June 2020. Yellowstone Film Ranch’s mission is to be the point of contact for Montana’s burgeoning film industry.  Combine full production services, western city, location services and maximize Montana tax credit value.

                  


Jane Burget
Burgett Group
+1 9543617337
write to us here




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EIN Presswire’s priority is source transparency.  We don’t allow opaque clients, and our editors try to be careful not to weed out false and misleading content.  As a user, if you see something we missed, please bring it to our attention.  Your help is welcome.  EIN Presswire, Everyone’s Internet News Presswire™, attempts to define some of the boundaries that are reasonable in today’s world.  Please see our editorial guidelines for more information.
                    


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Why should we talk about free tuition (review)
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham triumphs signed Senate Bill 140 earlier this spring.  Also known as the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship Act, SB 140 removes tuition fees as a barrier for New Mexican students attending public institutions of higher learning in the state.  Essentially, any New Mexican student attending a tribal or state public institution can have their tuition waived if they meet minimum credit hour and grade point average requirements.  Although, to varying degrees, other states like California, North Carolina and Texas have made headlines for considering and enacting tuition waivers for certain groups of students, the New Mexico law provides students with an unparalleled pathway compared to those in other states.


While it may be tempting to view the new landscape of public higher education in New Mexico as a singular case of alignment between political will and adequate resources, we believe these developments resonate with continued attention to the cancellation of student debt and should spur a larger, national, forward-looking conversation about free access to higher education.  To endorse specific areas of interest in this conversation, we draw on our ongoing lines of research to examine some compelling reasons why other states should seek similar outcomes in tuition-free higher education.


Consider knowledge


First, the prohibitive cost of tuition and existing income-contingent loan systems combine to commit what might be called structural contributory injustice when these policies or other structures undermine an individual’s ability to participate in and shape the production of knowledge in a given learning community.


Think of it this way: every day, individuals use a body of knowledge and understandings learned from others to navigate the world.  While everyone navigates the world with the knowledge they have learned from those around them, privileged listeners often reject or ignore knowledge gleaned from those with experiences on the fringes of a society, furthering the place their own biased knowledge sets.  In such cases, the marginalized speaker experiences what the philosopher Kristie Dotson Calls Contributory Injusticeor a violation of the speaker’s ability to participate in creating and sharing knowledge resources with others.


But the case identified by Dotson exists not only at the individual level, but also as a structural problem.  In this case, prohibitive tuition fees and income-contingent loans similarly undermine the ability of marginalized students to participate in (and share their knowledge resources with) campus learning communities.  This injustice occurs in ways that compound existing oppression across multiple dimensions of identity, but for now we will highlight one of the most obvious and egregious forms: the harm to students and black families.  In the short term, these barriers place a significant financial burden on Black students through indebtedness, limiting who tends to access post-secondary education and how they participate.  A 2018 report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and Workforce notes that “black and Latino students are only about half as likely as whites to earn a bachelor’s degree.”  And those who register accept predatory debt that persists and shapes economic decisions throughout adulthood.


In the long term, the impact of these policies on student diversity leads to an impact on faculty diversity.  Since 2018, three out of four full-time faculty nationwide were white, which contributes to systems and interactions of epistemic exclusion within the academy, or persistent devaluation and dismissal of color faculty research.  If higher education is a valued knowledge-creating institution for a more accurate understanding of our common world and the creation of knowledge resources to function better within it, our nation should address these troubling patterns.  For these reasons, tuition-free higher education initiatives should be discussed as a potential remedy for persistent, structural and knowledge-based gaps.


Consider democracy


In addition to the knowledge-based considerations above, news of New Mexico’s law allowing tuition-free public higher education should also call attention to the democratic reasons for similar bills in other countries. states.  We offer three invitations to productive deliberation.


First, we encourage a public conversation about the notion that access to higher education is a meaningful resource for navigating an increasingly complex civic environment.  To be clear, we are not claiming that access to higher education is a necessary prerequisite for civic participation or that the quality of a person’s civic participation is determined by their level of education.  Instead, we want to note that higher education is often seen as providing useful resources for how citizens present themselves for their civic work together.  To the extent that this is true, even if only slightly or marginally, prohibitive tuition fees represent an obstacle to a public form of civic preparation in our democracy.


Second, we believe that the national conversation about prohibitive tuition fees should consider what is sometimes called the “expressive” value of these policies.  That is, what does a particular tuition policy say about the people it affects?  What values ​​or priorities are communicated to the population?  Who, according to the priorities of our State, is worthy of being educated by our public resources?  If the answer to that last question could plausibly be “those who can afford it,” states might have reason to reconsider their views and commitments to their citizens.  Arguably, our democracy should communicate the worth and worth of these people within it, regardless of their financial resources.  In A declaration on SB 140, Lujan Grisham captures the essence of it, noting that “signing this legislation sends a clear message to New Mexicans that we believe in them and the contributions they will make to their families and the future of our great state”.


Third, we note that pursuing higher education without tuition fees is a matter of democracy as there is an increasingly clear mandate from citizens. Recent survey shows that about two-thirds of American adults favor tuition-free higher education.  Opposition to tuition-free higher education tends to be concentrated primarily (but not exclusively) among those who are relatively well off financially.  The wishes of a relatively small and privileged group should not continue to limit access to higher education for a growing segment of their civic peers.  As one of us argued in a section of a recently published book, Ethics in higher education (Harvard University Press, 2021), faced with the choice to advance free public higher education, the democratic will of the people, including those most affected, should guide action.


Looking forward


Clarifying the moral issues of these political structures – considering the impacts on our democratic and shared knowledge production systems as well as the real and significant consequences for individuals – serves to highlight the need for widespread access to post-secondary education. .  The policy options available to us are not perfect and will not fully achieve the degrees of access that justice might require.  While we have many reasons to be excited that the SB 140 is widely available to New Mexico residents, it is only funded for one year and additional funding would be required for a true system. tuition-free higher education.  Yet to date, as many sociologists and economists have argued, the approaches of free public college and student debt cancellation appear to be the available policy options that best advance the moral goals outlined here. -above.  As members of institutions of higher education, we each have a role to play – amid the hard work of many other community organizers and political actors – to advocate for access and pursue opportunities to create campuses that are truly open to all.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Senators reach bipartisan agreement on gun safety
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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WASHINGTON — Senate negotiators announced Sunday that they had reached a bipartisan agreement on a narrow set of gun safety measures with enough support to cross the equally divided chamber, an important step toward ending a stalemate. of Congress for several years on the issue.


The deal, put forward by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats and endorsed by President Biden and top Democrats, includes enhanced background checks to give authorities time to check the mental and juvenile health records of any potential gun buyers. firearms under 21 and a provision that would, for the first time, extend to dating partners a ban on domestic abusers having firearms.


It would also provide funds for states to enact so-called red flag laws that allow authorities to temporarily confiscate firearms from people deemed dangerous, as well as money for mental health resources and to bolster security services. and mental health in schools.










The plan has yet to be finalized and still faces a perilous path in Congress, given the deep partisan divide over gun measures and the political stakes of the issue.  It falls far short of the sprawling reforms that Mr. Biden, gun control activists and a majority of Democrats have long championed, such as an assault weapons ban and universal background checks.  And it’s nowhere near as sweeping as a gun package passed almost along party lines in the House last week that would ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons to people under 21, would ban the sale of high-capacity magazines and enact a federal red flag law, among other measures.










But it represents notable progress to begin bridging the deep divide between the two political parties on how to address gun violence, which has led to a series of failed legislative efforts on Capitol Hill, where the Republican opposition has thwarted the action for years.


Democrats hailed the plan, which would also strengthen federal laws to end gun trafficking and ensure all commercial sellers conduct background checks, as an opportunity to pass gun safety legislation. largest fire in decades.


“Today we are announcing a common-sense, bipartisan proposal to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence in our country,” said the 20 senators, led by Democrat Christopher S. Murphy. of Connecticut, and John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said in a joint statement.  “Families are scared, and it’s our duty to come together and do something that will help restore their sense of safety in their communities.”


Support from 10 Republicans suggested the plan could climb a hurdle that no other proposal currently under discussion has been able to do: attract the 60 votes needed to break a GOP filibuster and survive to see an affirmative vote or negative in the Senate.  floor.










Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican and minority leader who has played a central role in the fight against gun safety measures in recent years, welcomed what he called “progress” in the discussions , although he did not commit to whether he would ultimately support the package.










“The principles they announced today show the value of dialogue and cooperation,” Mr. McConnell said.  “I continue to hope that their discussions will result in a bipartisan product that will make meaningful progress on key issues such as mental health and school safety, uphold the Second Amendment, gain broad support in the Senate, and make a difference for our country.”


Aides warned that until the legislation is finalized, it is uncertain whether each of the components can garner the 60 votes needed to move forward.  Senators were still negotiating on crucial details, including the additional time law enforcement would have to review the mental and juvenile health records of potential gun buyers under the age of 21.


The plan includes a provision to address the so-called “boyfriend loophole”, which would ban people from owning firearms if they had been convicted of domestic violence against a romantic partner or they had been the subject of a domestic violence restraining order.  Currently, only domestic abusers who are married, live with, or have a child with a victim are prohibited from having a gun.


Republicans in March balked at including a provision to address the boyfriend loophole in a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act – a law aimed at preventing domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment – ​​​forcing Democrats to drop it in order to pass this legislation.


Mr Biden urged Congress to pass a gun safety measure quickly, saying there was “no excuse to delay”.


“With every passing day, more children are being killed in this country,” he said.  “The sooner it gets to my office, the sooner I can sign it, and the sooner we can use these measures to save lives.”










The rare moment of bipartisan agreement came just under three weeks after an elementary school shooting massacre in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers, and about a month after a racist shooting in Buffalo who killed 10 black people in a supermarket.  The back-to-back mass shootings have pushed the issue of gun violence to the forefront in Washington, where years of efforts to enact gun restrictions in the wake of such assaults have failed amid Republican opposition.










“There’s a different mood in the American public right now,” Mr. Murphy said.  “There is real panic among families and children that this country is spiraling out of control.  This request gave us an opportunity.


Mr Murphy said he hoped many more Republicans would end up backing a bill and that it would help ‘break this impasse and show the country what is possible’.


But in an indication of the political risks Republicans see in passing even modest gun safety measures, none of the 10 who endorsed Sunday’s deal have faced voters this year.  The group included four Republican senators leaving Congress at the end of the year – Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania – and five who do not are not ready for re-election for another four years: Mr. Cornyn, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.  Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who also signed on to the deal, will face voters in 2024.


“I worked closely with my colleagues to find an agreement to protect our communities from violence while protecting the right of law-abiding Texans to bear arms,” ​​Cornyn said. said in a statement on Twitter.


Democrats who signed Sunday’s statement included Mr. Murphy as well as Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Coons of Delaware, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Joe Manchin III.  of West Virginia and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.  They were joined by Angus King, the Maine Independent.  Mr. Blumenthal and Mr. Kelly are up for re-election in November.


The deal was announced on the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where a gunman killed 49 people in what was then the deadliest shooting in modern American history.










Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, pledged to bring the deal to a vote once the legislation is completed, calling it “a good first step in ending the continued inaction in the face of the epidemic of armed violence in our country”.  ”










“We need to act quickly to move this legislation forward because if one life can be saved, it’s worth it,” Schumer said in a statement.


Gun safety activists said they see the measures as significant progress that they hope will usher in a new era of bipartisanship on the issue.


“To have such an important group come together to do this shows that we are in a historic moment,” said T. Christian Heyne, vice president of policy at Brady: United Against Gun Violence.


“All of these things individually are significant,” Mr. Heyne added.  “When you look at them together, it seems quite meaningful.”


John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said if the announced framework is signed into law, “it will be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in 26 long and deadly years.”










As pressure mounted for Congress to act in recent days, a dozen senators — including veterans of failed attempts to strike similar deals — huddled on Zoom, on the phone, and in Capitol basement offices. Hill to reach an agreement before the Senate leaves for a suspension scheduled for July 4.










Party leaders have signaled their support for the talks, although Mr Schumer has warned he will not let them drag on over the summer before forcing votes on gun control.  Mr. Murphy called on Mr. Schumer to make room for talks by delaying scheduling votes on more sweeping gun control legislation passed by the House that Republicans have opposed, and he warned repeatedly that the main priorities of his party should be abandoned to guarantee the necessary.  GOP supports any compromise.


For some families of people lost in Uvalde, the Senate agreement would not go far enough.  Leonard Sandoval, whose 10-year-old grandson Xavier Lopez died last month at Robb Elementary School, said what he really wants is a ban on semi-automatic weapons like those used in almost every major mass shooting of the last decade.


“These weapons are for the soldiers, not for someone to use against us,” Mr Sandoval said.  “They have to ban them first.  These are the weapons they used in many of these shootings.  People don’t need to have access to it.  They are for wars.


Others whose loved ones perished due to gun violence said they were focused on keeping the fragile coalition in the Senate that forged the compromise, especially keeping Republicans on board.


“They will be under tremendous pressure,” said Garnell Whitfield Jr., whose mother, Ruth Whitfield, was shot and killed in Buffalo.  “The goal is to make sure they stay strong going forward.”


The report was provided by Luke Broadwater from washington, Edgar Sandoval of San Antonio, and Ashley Southall and Ali Watkins from New York.







                

            

        

            

            

                
Editorial: As Expected NM Windfall Grows, Lawmakers Have Opportunity to Make Lasting Improvements
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Six months before the next legislative session is not too soon for New Mexico lawmakers to commit to adjusting their spending habits.


There will be a great temptation to include more recurring expenses in an operating budget which has just increased by 14% compared to that of the previous year.  That’s because many of the perverse forces that led to a revenue bonanza — and a record $8.5 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins in July — continue to swell state coffers.


Revenue projections for the current budget year are now more than $440 million higher than the December forecast due to a combination of factors.  One is a continued increase in oil production.  It won’t last forever, so lawmakers can’t act as if oil is always there to support unsustainable spending.


A larger-than-expected increase in wages and employment levels across the state also boosted personal income tax revenue.  While this is good news, it’s also a pandemic stress rebound, not a bankable trend.  Meanwhile, tax revenue collected on gross receipts is $248 million higher than forecast four months ago.  Of course, the rising cost of goods and services fueled by inflation is a big reason for this.


New Mexico’s revenue superhaul — which includes more than $26 billion in federal pandemic relief funds — could allow for even more spending infusions in the coming year if current trends continue. maintain.


“It feels like we’re in a position where we really have the opportunity to make significant investments right now,” said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe. an opportunity that in the 18 years I’ve been here I’ve never seen before.”


Wirth isn’t wrong – if he means investing in real infrastructure.  It’s time for New Mexico lawmakers to turn a strong fiscal position into a series of one-time investments in roads, bridges, highways, broadband access – and especially water – that can grow the world. economy enough to reduce our dependence on oil and gas revenues.


think big


Let’s start with water.  The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, which manages irrigation for the Cochiti Dam in Bosque del Apache, warned farmers last week that the agency could run out of water in two or three weeks unless the region does not receive rain.


In addition to limited water, aging infrastructure has put Corrales farmers in a bad spot.


Last year, district crews found a sinkhole above the Corrales siphon.  A 1,200-foot-long pipe, built under FDR administration, runs under the Rio Grande and uses gravity to move water inland west of the river.  Crews then found a hole in the siphon but were unable to adequately drain the water to fix it.  Instead, they brought two diesel-powered pumps to bring water into the main Corrales canal.  But, for various reasons, they cannot let the pumps run indefinitely, which puts crops and orchards at risk.  A long-term solution likely requires state funding.  But it’s just one spot on a river that’s already so low that irrigation may not be possible if the rains don’t increase flows.


Government spending cannot fix a drought, but it can ensure that every drop of water is distributed as efficiently as possible.


The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will channel a total of $3.7 billion to the state over the next five years for infrastructure, airport, broadband and infrastructure projects. water.  The federal goal is to provide safe drinking water to all Americans and eliminate lead service lines and pipes.  This should help New Mexico ensure that every New Mexico finally has access to safe drinking water, especially in the Navajo Nation.  But can the $355 million for water infrastructure also solve a supply problem?


Why not take a page from gubernatorial candidate Greg Zanetti’s campaign book?  He calls New Mexico “the Saudi Arabia of brackish water” in reference to its billions of acre-feet of groundwater that is saltier than fresh water.


Water desalination plants powered by small modular nuclear reactors would provide high- and low-tech jobs, but also reduce pressure on oversized rivers and reservoirs, thereby ensuring more water in the system for the wildlife habitat, compact downstream bonds and agriculture.  If El Paso and San Antonio, Texas can do desalination, why can’t we?


Until the drought is over, we pick winners and losers based on how we distribute water.  So far, the big losers have been the small farmers, which also makes anyone who appreciates locally sourced food a loser.


In the same vein


There are many other examples where one-time spending can set the stage for long-term success.  If we really want to diversify the economy, we need ubiquitous broadband.  How many businesses have stopped locating here due to lack of connectivity?  Federal infrastructure money will help, yes, and whatever it pays frees up NM’s “windfall” for thoughtful, targeted investments.


While we support competitive salaries for teachers, we must also recognize the importance of our children’s learning environment.  Our children shouldn’t have to sweat in classrooms over 90 degrees, especially if we extend the school year into the summer months.


Legislative finance committee director David Abbey has previously said lawmakers should consider setting aside much of the new money in endowments for college scholarships or other purposes.  It is essential to ensure that the Lottery and Opportunity scholarships are promises kept, especially because the jobs needed to truly grow the economy require higher education.


There are plenty of debates to be had, but the undeniable truth is that our state has a unique opportunity to invest in itself and its harsh landscape in a way that lasts for decades, if not generations.


Legislators, think big.


This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal.  It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned because it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than that of the editors.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Quality Inn, former Motel 6 to be converted into ‘accessible’ accommodation |  Company
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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NM count in 2020 census most accurate in nation
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal


SANTA FE — When it comes to the once-a-decade census, New Mexico has long struggled with low turnout rates.


But the state had the most accurate count in the country for the 2020 census, according to a state-by-state survey recently released by the US Census Bureau that found Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi had the lowest undercounts. higher in percentage.


Senior state officials said this week that New Mexico’s successful count would ensure the state receives all of the federal funding to which it is entitled.


“New Mexico was at very high risk of overall undercount,” said Robert Rhatigan, official state demographer and head of the geospatial and demographic studies program at the University of New Mexico.  “This new data from the Census Bureau is further confirmation that this has not happened. Our collective efforts have had a positive impact on our state.


With federal funding on the line, New Mexico spent $10.9 million in the lead up to the 2020 census on a statewide media campaign and other census readiness efforts.  This included a state-level census commission created by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham that worked with immigrant rights groups and tribal representatives to increase voter turnout.


State officials have previously said an undercount of just 1% could have meant the loss of $780 million over the next decade.


“The pandemic has necessitated significant changes in how we reach and encourage New Mexico residents to respond to the census,” said Secretary of Finance and Administration Debbie Romero.


The 2020 census finally revealed that New Mexico had a population of 2.075 million, an increase of 2.8% from the previous decade.  This rate of population growth was lower than the rates of most states neighboring New Mexico, including Texas, Colorado, and Arizona.


The once-a-decade census count was also used late last year in the redrawing, or redrawing of New Mexico’s political borders, to reflect changing demographics.


In 2010, New Mexico had the second-lowest voter turnout in the nation because the state’s rural nature, large immigrant population, and infrastructure issues — including bumpy roads and phone connections limited – have long made it difficult to get an accurate count.


New Mexico currently receives about $8 billion a year in federal dollars from 16 programs, including money for Medicaid, food stamps, early childhood education and road repairs.


That puts New Mexico third on the list of states most reliant on federal funding as a percentage of total state revenue, according to a recent Tax Foundation study that did not include relief funding. in the event of a pandemic received by the States.



                

            

        

            

            

                
HSI investigation results in 10-year sentence for NM man for drug trafficking, gun violations
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM – A Los Lunas man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession with intent to distribute 40+ grams of fentanyl and possession of a firearm in pursuit of a felony drug trafficking , May 31.


Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case with assistance from the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) and the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office.


Esteban Renteria III pleaded guilty to these charges on July 26.


According to the plea agreement and other court records, on December 31, 2020, an NMSP officer observed Renteria driving 102 miles per hour on Interstate 40 in Cibola County and initiated a traffic stop.


Upon learning that Renteria had two active arrest warrants, the officer arrested Renteria and performed an inventory of items in Renteria’s vehicle.  During inventory, the officer found a backpack containing $12,012 in cash and a loaded handgun.  After obtaining a search warrant, investigators found 184 grams of fentanyl.


In his plea agreement, Renteria admitted that he intended to sell the fentanyl, that the money was obtained by selling drugs, and that he owned the gun to protect his drug business.


Upon his release from prison, Renteria will be subject to five years of probation.


Assistant United States Attorney Mark Pfizenmayer prosecuted the case.


HSI is a branch of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, particularly criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and financial move.  HSI’s workforce of more than 10,400 employees includes more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities across the United States and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries.  HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative police presence overseas and one of the largest international law enforcement footprints in the United States.



                

            

        

            

            

                
PGA punishes players gone to LIV;  local golfers react
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson threw tee shots in the Saudi-funded golf league on Thursday, and it wasn’t long before the PGA Tour declared its players who participated were no longer welcome , even though they had already resigned.


PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has held a tough line on his promise that players can choose one tour or the other, but not both.


Those who had resigned from the PGA Tour – Graeme McDowell said he did so 30 minutes before he left – were no longer eligible on any PGA Tour circuit.  Those who remained members, like Mickelson, were suspended.


“These players made their choice or their own financial reasons,” Monahan said in a note to his members.  “But they can’t demand the same benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as PGA Tour members.”


Ian Poulter has said he will appeal the decision.  McDowell said he wanted to “keep the moral high” by stepping down to try to keep litigation to a minimum.  He thinks suspensions are a healthy way to do business.


Mickelson had nothing to say except that he wouldn’t talk about the PGA Tour in his first tournament in four months, only to confirm that he’ll be playing all eight LIV events, five of which will be in the United States. United.


When told that people were interested in his situation, Mickelson replied, “I’m very flattered that so many people are interested.”


Glen Millican, the University of New Mexico men’s coach, is among many interested in Albuquerque.


“This new golf league has certainly shaken things up,” Millican said by phone from Arizona, where he’s monitoring a youth event.  “Everyone is talking about golf now – even the casual fan.”


On Thursday, several golfers at Arroyo del Oso Golf Course were talking about the actions of the PGA Tour toward LIV players.


“I thought it was tough,” Rio Rancho resident Gilbert Espinosa said of the suspensions.  “I think it was an overreaction. The PGA Tour has never been challenged before. Now there is someone who gave the opportunity to play, and I have no problem with that. I know that “There are political issues with the Saudis, but I don’t know if you want to drag politics into sports. I still think they should try to keep them separate.


It remains to be determined whether these players will be welcome.  For now, Monahan clarified that the suspensions include the Presidents Cup – the international team (countries outside of Europe) is determined by world ranking.


Monahan said players who have resigned will have their names removed from the PGA Tour standings – FedEx Cup and Presidents Cup – after this week.  He said the tour will ensure that those who have not quit will not affect rankings on various tour rosters.


The USGA has already declared that eligible players can still participate in the US Open next week.  The PGA Tour does not organize major tournaments.


PGA champion Justin Thomas and four-time major champion Rory McIlroy welcomed the decision to halt the tour this week at the Canadian Open.


Gilbert Espinosa


“I think anyone who’s shocked clearly didn’t listen to the message that Jay and everyone else put out,” Thomas said.  “They took that risk whether they thought it was a risk or not.”


Ten players have resigned from the PGA Tour, a list that includes Johnson and Sergio Garcia.  Mickelson, a lifetime member with 45 PGA Tour titles, is among those who didn’t.


“I think of them a little less for performing in LIV events,” Albuquerque resident Tyson Holder said as he made his way to the No. 1 tee at ADO.  “If I was a PGA Tour golfer, I would be looking for money. Should they be considered a little less? Maybe because of the politics involved, yes. And, for the notoriety of the PGA Tour, yes.


Holder said he was very interested to see who would win at the LIV event this week and planned to watch.


LIV Golf, run by Greg Norman and funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, reacted to the tour’s decision calling it vindictive and divisive.


“It’s troubling that the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity keeping golfers from playing,” LIV Golf said.  “It is certainly not the last word on this subject.  The era of free agency begins as we are proud to have a full group of players joining us in London and beyond.


Tyler Holder


The problem is that players are competing without a conflicting PGA Tour event exit.


“I think these guys are independent contractors,” Espinosa said.  “I know they’re on the PGA Tour but they’re not under contract. They have guys who play other tours. Unless they put them on a contract where they pay them weekly or annually. , like baseball or the NFL, I have no problem with them leaving and playing another round.


Millican said the game of golf is moving in the right direction, with rising prize money serving as a potential motivation to improve the game. The attention golf has received on rival league issues isn’t bad no more.


“I think this is the first time there’s been real competition between two tours,” Millican said.  “It will be interesting to see what happens.  It’s a new concept in our sport.


Derek Gutierrez, general manager/director of PGA golf at Santa Ana Golf Club, Inc., declined to comment, as did Sun Country Golf House executive director Cory Armstrong.  Gutierrez is director of the PGA of America National Board of Directors for District 12.


The Journal’s Steve Virgen contributed to this report. 



                

            

        

            

            

                
NMs Gila returns to the forefront for National Rivers Month / Public News Service
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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June is National Rivers Month, and New Mexicans who want the Gila and San Francisco rivers protected watched U.S. Senate talks this week on the MH “Dutch” Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act.


Small business owners, tribes, landowners and others have been working on the proposal for nearly a decade, said Martyn Pearson, who runs the Hike and Bike store in Silver City, at the entrance to the Gila Wilderness .


“You want to talk about healthy rivers, you want to talk about protecting one of the last free-flowing rivers, that’s fine,” he said.  “It’s really good that it’s happening right now – because from so many different angles this river needs help.”


First introduced in 2020, the legislation would secure segments of the Gila River located primarily in the Gila Wilderness – the first US federally protected wilderness area – by designating nearly 450 miles as Wild and Scenic.


Pearson said saving the state’s rivers is a critical way to mitigate the effects of climate change, as well as protect the Aldo Leopold Wilderness for future generations.


“Someone thought it would be important for someone to go there and see it, exactly as it is, unchanged – the Gila runs through it,” he said.  “And it deserves the same protection, because it could help keep the river enjoyable for people long after we’re gone.”


President Joe Biden will visit New Mexico later this week following several record wildfires.  Pearson, a kayaker, said he would find the state in a tough spot right now. 


“It’s so dry that when it snows, the snowmelt goes straight into the ground – very little makes it into the rivers,” he said.  “And so for the last three springs when we’ve been there, we’ve been sitting, we’re waiting, ‘Oh, I wonder when that little window is going to open and we can get out on the Gila,’ and he doesn’t come ever. And that has a pretty big impact on fishing.


A 2020 report said water-related activities contribute at least $427 million to the state’s annual economy. 


Support for this report was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


                
                




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Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham will win New Mexico’s Democratic nomination for governor
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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U.S. Representative Karen Bass speaks to the media at a polling place in Los Angeles on Tuesday.  (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg/Getty Images)




The spending in the Los Angeles mayor’s race to replace term-limited mayor Eric Garcetti has been astronomical by any measure.


Real estate developer Rick Caruso, a billionaire and former Republican who changed his registration to a Democrat earlier this year, has spent at least $40 million on his bid, according to the latest tallies released by the City of Los Ethics Commission. Angeles – with much of that money coming from loans to his campaign.


Former frontrunner Karen Bass, a six-term Democratic congresswoman who was selected as a potential running mate for President Biden, had spent less than $3.3 million in comparison at the time of this report. June 1 last.


Despite this massive financial imbalance, polls still show a close race between the two that is almost certain to head for a runoff after all ballots are counted in Tuesday’s primary.


Bass entered this final straight adopting the position of a cheerful warrior.  Dressed in a red suit after greeting voters at church on Sunday morning, she spent the day on one last tour of Los Angeles – from the south-central to the city’s west side – in a red double-decker bus, dancing on Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston.  as she waved to drivers and people on the sidewalk from the open-air upper deck.


At one point, she spoke the words to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” alongside labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, who had joined the tour during a stopover in Boyle Heights.


Alongside Bass, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a close friend and ally who has known Bass since the 1970s, danced to the music.  In aviators and black skinny jeans, he was on his feet (getting into the groove) so often while the bus was in motion that he nearly got timed by a traffic light and then a tree branch.  And at one point, he ducked off a power line as the bus headed from South LA to Eastside.


“Mr. Mayor, please remain seated,” an aide implored.


Rallying the canvassers she encountered at numerous stops, Bass urged them not to be intimidated by Caruso’s spending.


“I don’t care how much money you spend, people power wins!”  she said in a megaphone


Villaraigosa sought to amplify that message throughout the day with a simple refrain: “LA is not for sale.”


Watch CNN’s Kyung Lah report on the LA mayoral race and where the votes stand:



                

            

        

            

            

                
Students participating in the annual Clovis Dairy Consortium
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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A number of students interested in the dairy industry call Clovis home for a few weeks while attending New Mexico State University’s annual Dairy Consortium.


According to NMSU Dairy Extension Specialist Robert Hagevoort, while classes are held at the Curry County Fair Pavilion, students stay at area motels and eat at Clovis restaurants.  The program began on May 16 and lasts six weeks.


“Students come here from all over the country,” Hagevoort said.  “They come here to learn all about the dairy industry.


Hagevoort said this summer’s session is attended by 50 students.


The consortium has existed for 14 summers, with the exception of summer 2020. Each session is attended by fifty to sixty students.


Hagevoort estimates that over the past 14 years, a total of 600 students from 57 universities have come to Clovis for the event.


Hagevoort says the students represent many majors, including dairy science, animal science, agricultural business, and other majors.


“The dairymen’s children are here too,” Hagevoort said.  “From feeding the cows to treating the cows, they come to understand everything about the dairy industry.”


Consortium students visit 20-30 dairies in eastern New Mexico and western Texas during their stay.


The purpose of such trips, according to Hagevoort, is to learn that there are different ways of doing things.



                

            

        

            

            

                
US calls on Mexico to investigate whether parts factory Stellantis abused labor rights
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) – The United States has asked Mexico to investigate alleged worker rights abuses at an auto parts plant owned by French-Italian automaker Stellantis, the fourth complaint of this type under a revised trade deal, U.S. officials said on Monday.


The United States‘ request to Mexico to examine possible abuses at Teksid Hierro de Mexico in the northern border state of Coahuila falls under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).


Teksid, which employs nearly 1,500 people and manufactures cast iron castings for heavy vehicles, has been embroiled in a union dispute since 2014. Workers say the company has blocked them from being represented by the group of their choice, the miners’ union, and that it fired workers who supported the group.






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The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said in its request that it is concerned that workers have been denied the right to collective bargaining because of an “invalid” contract with the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM). , one of the strongest unions in Mexico, which had been registered with state authorities.


The bureau asked Mexico to investigate whether any efforts had been made, including threats and inducements, to encourage support for the CTM or to deter support for the Miners’ Union.


Labor disputes in Mexico have long been characterized by bullying tactics by powerful unions more comfortable with employers and governments than with workers.  Under the USMCA, the trade pact that replaced NAFTA, factories that violate workers’ rights could lose their duty-free status.


Businesses have been watching how the stricter labor rules will play out.


Stellantis (STLA.MI), the world’s fourth-largest automaker formed from the merger of automaker Peugeot PSA and Fiat Chrysler, did not respond to a request for comment.  He has previously said he respects collective bargaining rights.


The United Auto Workers union, which represents American workers at Stellantis, as well as the AFL-CIO labor federation and the miners’ union, reported the potential violations, the USTR office said.


Teksid, CTM and the Local Board of Conciliation and Arbitration should be included in the review, he added.


CTM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  The leader of the union in Coahuila, Tereso Medina, recently told the Mexican newspaper El Economista that the union would respect the USMCA and that the dispute should be resolved by a workers’ vote.  Mexico’s federal labor center said in May that the miners’ union held the only valid contract.


Mexico’s economy ministry said it would decide within 10 days whether to accept the US request.


US officials had previously opened labor investigations involving US automaker General Motors, US plant Tridonex and Japan’s Panasonic.  Read more 


U.S. Representative Bill Pasrell and several fellow Democratic lawmakers welcomed the new complaint and urged Stellantis to cooperate with U.S. and Mexican officials so workers can have “democratic representation.”


Stellantis operates seven other factories in Mexico, where it produced more than 400,000 vehicles last year.






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Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico City and David Shepardson in Washington;  Editing by Chris Reese, Alistair Bell and David Gregorio


Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Thousands set to receive stimulus checks worth $500, others see payments as property tax refunds
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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Stimulus checks have become a necessity for many, and some states are giving up to $500, while others are providing property tax refunds.




As inflation continues to rise, Americans need financial help more than ever.


The cost of gas, food, utilities and other daily necessities have increased significantly compared to before the pandemic began.


As people continue to struggle, the feds have made it clear that a fourth stimulus check is highly unlikely after sending out 3 through 2020 and 2021.


Where people feel it most, states step in and help residents.


Some states are giving stimulus checks worth $500 to $850 per resident


In the state of Massachusetts, residents who qualify are in line to receive a check for $500.


The checks go to around 300,000 essential workers who have low incomes, according to Marca.


Payments come from the Baker administration.


They will be sent out in batches, with the most recent out today, Monday, June 6, 2022.


This is happening as part of the state of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay program.


Governor Baker passed the legislation in December 2021 and it will be paid from the $4 billion in US bailout funding.


There are eligibility requirements to get this type of stimulus check from the state.


People wishing to claim the money must have lived in the state of Massachusetts by June 15, 2021.


Additionally, the person could have been a part-time resident between June 1, 2021 and June 15, 2021, according to the Boston Herald.


They must have earned at least $13,500 with an income below 300% of the federal poverty level.


The maximum income a single person can have to qualify is $36,640.


That number adds up to $52,260 for a family of two.


A three-person household cannot exceed $65,880 and a four-person household cannot exceed $79,500.


The first round went to 480,000, who will not be eligible for this round as they have already received one.


Massachusetts isn’t the only state to offer financial assistance to residents


Other states and stimulus checks are also being sent to residents.


Both Maine and New Mexico will send stimulus checks to residents during the month of June, according to The Ascent.


Maine residents will see payments totaling $850 if they have filed their 2021 tax returns.


Residents cannot have an income greater than $100,000 if single or $200,000 if married and filing jointly.


Dependents will not be eligible to receive a stimulus payment.


New Mexico sends $250 to single filers and $500 to joint filers.


A second payment of the same amount will be sent in August.


This means that the total amount for New Mexicans will be $500 or $1,000.


Other Americans could see stimulus payments in the form of property tax relief or financial relief for homeowners


The Homeowners Assistance Fund can send money to residents to help with the cost of owning a home during a financial crisis.


$10 billion was set aside and given to over 40 states to create HAF programs and distribute the money.


The money can be used for mortgages, home insurance and utilities.


In New York State, homeowners can expect to receive a property tax refund check from the homeowner sooner than expected.


The checks were supposed to be sent out before the school tax deadline, but residents are seeing them in June, according to the Times Union.


This comes just before the primary elections for the Assembly scheduled for June 28, 2022.


Legislatures, like Rep. Thomas Suozzi, say that decision is New York State Governor Kathy Hochul bribing residents ahead of the race.


Suozzi runs against Governor Hochul with New York City Public Attorney Jumaane Williams.


These property tax rebate checks were introduced in April and are part of a $2.2 billion budget.


The amount owners see depends on where their property is located and whether the owner receives the Enhanced STAR or the Basic STAR.


Those still waiting for their late tax refunds could finally see their $1,400 federal stimulus check


As Americans scramble to find ways to get financial help, there are still just under 10 million tax returns to process.


That means millions of Americans are still waiting for their tax refunds.


Some people have this $1,400 stimulus check that they claimed as a refund in these refunds.


Fortunately, the IRS is legally required to add interest to any refund that is 45 days or more overdue.


That may not be much of an incentive when it comes to taxpayers who just want to get their refund, even if they see a few hundred extra dollars.



                

            

        

            

            

                
What to watch in the primaries in 7 states
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Primary elections in seven states on Tuesday will set the stage for U.S. House and Senate races this fall, with many contests shaped by political fissures in the two major parties and the lingering shadow of former President Donald Trump.


With control of Congress at stake, a slew of Republican House incumbents are facing challenges from the political right, and some rivals are embracing Trump’s baseless allegations of voter fraud during his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. 


No sitting governor or senator appears to be in imminent danger.  In Iowa, several Democrats are vying for the chance to face seven-term Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, with the campaign highlighting the rift between the progressive and establishment wings of the Democratic Party.


                Former Trump cabinet member Ryan Zinke is seeking a GOP nomination in a newly created House district in Montana.


What to watch in Tuesday’s primaries in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota: 


CALIFORNIA


California is a Democratic stronghold where the party holds all statewide offices and its voters outnumber registered Republicans by nearly 2 to 1. Governor Gavin Newsom and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla face to little-known competitors. 


But Republicans retain pockets of strength in some U.S. House districts that are expected to be among the most competitive races in the nation. 


In a heavily Democratic district in the state’s Central Valley agricultural belt, Republican U.S. Representative David Valadao is seeing a rollback for his vote to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol uprising.  Republican Chris Mathys has made Valadao’s vote a centerpiece of his campaign to oust him.


In a Democratic-leaning neighborhood north of Los Angeles, several Democrats are hoping to take on Republican Rep. Mike Garcia, who is expected to run through November with one of the Democrats as the top two in the race.  Garcia rejected Arizona and Pennsylvania’s electoral votes for Biden and opposed Trump’s impeachment after the Capitol uprising.


The packed race for mayor of Los Angeles is shaping up to be a fight between Rick Caruso, a Republican-turned-Democrat pro-business billionaire who sits on the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, and U.S. Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who was on Biden’s shortlist for vice president.  If no candidate gets 50%, the top two qualify for a second round in November.


In another closely watched election, voters in San Francisco are considering recalling District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a progressive Democrat who critics say has failed to prosecute repeat offenders, amid widespread frustration against crime and homelessness.


IOWA


Republicans have gained an edge in the state over the past decade, and the Democratic Senate primary provides insight into the minority party’s battle for relevance. 


Retired Navy Vice Admiral Michael Franken is leading a contest with former US Representative Abby Finkenauer in a bid to take on Grassley, 88, who has been endorsed by Trump. 


Finkenauer is a 33-year-old former state representative who argues that her youth and more recent experience in Iowa make her better suited to challenge a Republican first elected to the Senate in 1980. She has made boundaries of mandate a centerpiece of his campaign. 


Franken, 64, is promoting a progressive agenda, including adding a public insurance option to the Affordable Care Act.  He hails from conservative western Iowa and argues he could be more competitive against Grassley by sneaking into the senator’s margins in heavily Republican areas. 


To the left of Finkenauer and Franken is running physician Glenn Hurst, a small town councilman in western Iowa and chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party for its rural caucus. 


Meanwhile, three Republicans are vying for a chance to run against Iowa’s only Democratic congresswoman, Rep. Cindy Axne.


MISSISSIPPI


Republican U.S. Representative Steven Palazzo faces his most challengers after a congressional ethics watchdog raised questions about his campaign spending.


A 2021 report from the Congressional Ethics Office found “substantial reason to believe” that Palazzo, a military veteran who sits on the Appropriations and Homeland Security committees, abused his office by spending campaign funds. , doing favors for his brother and enlisting personnel for politics and personal errands.  His spokeswoman at the time, Colleen Kennedy, said the investigation was based on politically motivated “false allegations”.


His six opponents include a sheriff, Mike Ezell, and a state senator, Brice Wiggins.  If no candidate obtains a majority of votes, a second round will take place on June 28.


The other two Republican congressmen from Mississippi, Trent Kelly and Michael Guest, face leading opponents who support Trump’s bogus claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.


MONTANA


It’s the first time since 1993 that the state will have two seats in the House, after one was added to accommodate Montana’s growing population. 


Zinke, Trump’s former Interior Department secretary, is technically in an open race for the new seat.  But the former Navy SEAL is widely seen as the de facto incumbent, as he twice won elections for the state’s other House seat before stepping down in 2017 to join the Trump administration.


His opponents point to Zinke’s troubled tenure at the agency, which has been marred by multiple ethics investigations.  An investigation determined that Zinke lied to an agency ethics officer about his ongoing involvement in a commercial real estate transaction in his hometown.  He faced a smear campaign over his military service from his party’s far-right and questions about his residency following revelations that his wife declared a home in California as her primary residence.


His opponents in the GOP primary include former state senator Al “Doc” Olszewski, an orthopedic surgeon and hardline conservative who has tried to portray Zinke as a “liberal insider.”


Three Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination: public health attorney Cora Neumann, Olympic rower and lawyer Monica Tranel and former state Rep. Tom Winter. 


In the state’s other district, first-term Rep. Matt Rosendale, who has Trump’s endorsement, will seek to fend off three main Republican challengers. 


NEW JERSEY


A dozen House constituencies are on the ballot.


Trump said in 2021 he would back a challenger to longtime Republican Rep. Chris Smith, but that never happened.  The lack of endorsement didn’t stop conservative talk show host Mike Crispi, one of Smith’s Republican challengers, from claiming Trump’s mantle.


In northern New Jersey, former state Senate minority leader Tom Kean Jr. has a fundraising advantage and establishment support over five rivals.  Kean, the son of former Republican Gov. Tom Kean Sr., is hoping for a rematch with Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, who won a close contest two years ago. 


On the Democratic side, US Senator Bob Menendez’s son, Rob, is running for a seat vacated by incumbent Democratic Representative Albio Sires.  Menendez, a commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, blocked party support by entering the race.


NEW MEXICO


                Five Republican candidates are competing to face Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.  The incumbent is privileged to keep her job in a state where Democrats control all state offices and dominate the Legislative Assembly.


Former TV weatherman Mark Ronchetti and State Representative Rebecca Dow are leading GOP candidates in a contest over concerns about US border security, urban crime, inflation and education of race and ethnicity in a heavily Latino and Native American state.


Democratic voters are deciding on a candidate for the state’s top law enforcement official to succeed Attorney General Hector Balderas.  Albuquerque-based District Attorney Raúl Torrez is competing with State Auditor Brian Colón in a fierce campaign with few ideological divisions.


SOUTH DAKOTA


A trio of Republican incumbents face primary challengers running on their political right. 


                Gov. Kristi Noem, who is seen as a potential White House prospect, is favored to win the GOP nomination.  A rival, state legislator Steve Haugaard, argued that Noem was spending more time trying to build a national political profile than focusing on his work at home.  She mostly ignored him.


                US Senator John Thune faced Trump’s wrath after he dismissed the former president’s claims of voter fraud.  However, no well-known challengers have emerged in Thune’s re-election bid.  One of his opponents, Mark Mowry, was among the crowds who demonstrated near the Capitol on January 6. 


In the House, Republican state legislator Taffy Howard is trying to unseat GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson in the state’s only district.  Johnson touts his Conservative voting record while maintaining an ability to work across party lines, but Howard has tried to cast him as a foot soldier for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.


___


Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa;  Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi;  Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana;  Michael Catalini in Trenton, NJ;  Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico;  and Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, SD, contributed to this report.


Copyright © The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.







                

            

        

            

            

                
New Exhibit Shows Navajo Nation Suffering and Resilience |  New Mexico News
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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By ROBERT NOTT, Santa Fe New Mexican






FORT SUMNER, NM (AP) – They named the area near this location Bosque Redondo, after a grove of cottonwood trees near the river.






The Navajos who were imprisoned there called it “Hwéeldi”.  Some say it translates to “place of suffering.”






It might as well have been called hell.






It was near here, in the land of Billy the Kid, that the U.S. government attempted to strip members of the Navajo Nation and Mescalero Apache Tribe of their language, culture, and spiritual beliefs in the years 1860.










political cartoons













The government had already expelled them from their native lands in New Mexico and Arizona, forcing them to take the Long March, as it was now known – a desperate journey on foot of hundreds of miles during which disease and death have become daily companions.  And it wasn’t just a trip;  there have been a number of long marches that have taken place over the years from different sites, including Fort Defiance in Arizona and Fort Wingate near Gallup.






Once people arrived here, they found a barren, sandy desert landscape unsuitable for agriculture and lacking in fresh water.  They became prisoners, then survivors, struggling first to live, then to return home.






In the end, they succeeded, said Morgen Young, a historian who helped leaders of the Bosque Redondo Memorial/Fort Sumner Historic Site create the exhibit Bosque Redondo: A Place of Suffering…A Place of Survival.






Ultimately, the Apaches fled the fortress reservation one winter night in 1865, and the Navajos negotiated a release and treaty in 1868 that helped them become an influential nation, she said. .






“It’s a place of resilience,” Young told the Santa Fe New Mexican.  “People were forced here, they survived, they came home.”






And this attitude is reflected in the exhibition, which attracted more than 500 people on May 28, the day of the official opening.  The exhibit, which draws on historical documents and oral histories, takes the visitor on a journey from the 1860s to the present day by telling the stories of people who eventually found their way back home and reclaimed their habits.






It’s not an easy story to tell – or to take in.  Photographs, text panels and audio presentations of the oral memories of those who survived the ordeal paint a picture of a government bent on wiping out an indigenous population it saw as a threat.






There are stories of soldiers who shot pregnant women who couldn’t keep up;  elders and babies drowning in river crossings;  girls aged 12 and 13, fighting starvation, selling their bodies to soldiers for a piece of cornmeal.






It’s an exhibit that can easily bring tears to tears, said Santa Fean Diana Clanin, who said it was a “tough decision” to visit the exhibit.  As a guide for the New Mexico History Museum, she knows the history of the site.






“I didn’t know if I could handle it,” she said, adding that the exhibit showed the reality of “man’s inhumanity to man.”






But, she added, “It’s worth every mile (that I’ve driven).”






Wendy Raper, a Navajo from Clovis, said she knew the history of the Long March and the Fort Sumner prison camp all too well.






“That’s where I come from,” she said.  “That’s what made me who I am.”






The 6,500 square foot exhibit required decades of preparation and began largely because of a handwritten letter left at the site by young visitors to Diné in June 1990. At that time, the historic site focused on providing information about the fort and famous outlaw who was shot in these parts – Billy the Kid.






The letter – on display at the museum – said the youngsters found the site “discriminating and not telling the real story behind what really happened to our ancestors in 1864-1868”.  He then asked museum officials to “show and tell the true story of the Navajos and the United States military.”






Change did not happen overnight, or even in another 15 years.  The Bosque Redondo Memorial, as it is now called, opened in 2005, but was just an installation with a few informational storyboards.  But talks slowly began around the idea of ​​developing a permanent exhibit – which would include input from Navajo and Mescalero Apache members.






Aaron Roth, the memorial’s historic sites manager, said those behind the creation of the exhibit first met with members of the tribal community in August 2016 to determine how best to present a difficult story that needed to be told.






Five years later, in the fall of 2021, memorial leaders staged what Roth called a “soft opening” of the current exhibit.






Among other features, the exhibit includes period and contemporary cultural artifacts, an 1868 treaty touchscreen between the Navajo and the U.S. government that you can read or hear, and a response room where visitors can record their reactions to the exhibition.






Many of those written responses, said Roth and others involved with the memorial, reflect personal stories, including survivors or children of Holocaust survivors.  Several people interviewed on the site on Saturday said it immediately conjured up images of Nazi Germany’s persecution and genocide of Jews.






In that sense, one could say that the Bosque Redondo memorial is the closest thing to a Holocaust museum that Native Americans have.






But Roth, like others interviewed for this story, said he doesn’t believe the majority of the general public knows the story behind the site or the Long Walk.






“For a very long time, even at (Fort Sumner) itself, history wasn’t even taught in schools,” he said.  “People who grew up here in the 60s and 70s said to me, ‘It happened in our own backyard, and we didn’t even know it happened.’  ”






Manuelito Wheeler, director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona, and one of the Native American representatives who helped shape the exhibit, echoed that thought.






“It seems the majority of Americans have no idea this even happened,” he said.  “When there is this obliviousness, it leads to an indifferent attitude. Once someone understands what happened, their logic and their emotions will help them understand that it was wrong.






He said so many people see the story of the imprisonment of Long Walk and Bosque Redondo as a story of “resilience” that speaks to the fact that “we have come a long way in sacrificing part of our culture. , at the sacrifice of human lives.  ”






For Veronica Beck-Ruiz, 17, a member of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, the exhibit touches deep and raw personal emotions.  Her great-great-grandmother endured Long Walk and Bosque Redondo.






Beck-Ruiz – who left a number of personal messages on post-it notes and on the exhibit’s many whiteboards expressing how she felt – summed up her feelings in one succinct sentence as she prepared to leave the memorial.






“It shouldn’t have happened, but it did,” she said.  “And that made our people stronger.”






Copyright 2022 The Associated press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





                

            

        

            

            

                
Here’s where to vote in the New Mexico primary elections.  What’s on the ballot.
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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FARMINGTON — New Mexicans will vote in the June 7 primary election to narrow the field of candidates seeking nomination for their political parties in state, county and federal offices.


Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 33 polling centers in San Juan County.  Voters can vote at any of the centers.


Several statewide offices are on the ballot, including governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general and state auditor.


Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is the Democratic candidate and is seeking a second term.


Jay Block, Rebecca Dow, Gregory Zanetti, Ethel Maharg and Mark Ronchetti are in the running for the Republican candidate for governor.




For the Libertarian Party, the nomination is between Karen Bedonie and Ginger Grider, who is a written candidate.


Incumbent and Democrat Teresa Leger Fernández and Republican Alexis Martinez Johnson are on the ballot for the 3rd congressional district race.


The opposing state representatives are Republicans Rodney Montoya for District 1, P. Mark Duncan for District 2 and T. Ryan Lane for District 3, and Democrat Derrick J. Lente for District 65.



Democratic incumbent Anthony Allison faces fellow Democrat Christina J. Aspaas for the state representative seat in District 4. No Republican candidate has run for the position.


The other representative seats in the state that have no Republican candidates but two Democratic candidates running are incumbents Doreen Wonda Johnson and Kevin M. Mitchell for District 5 and incumbent Harry Garcia and write-in nominee Marvin Anthony Trujillo for District 69.


Early voting ended on June 4.


As of June 3, 2,779 Republicans, 1,057 Democrats and 12 Libertarians had voted in the county, either by mail or in person during the early voting period, according to the secretary of state’s office.


Statewide, the number of mail-in ballots and in-person ballots was 50,681 for the Democratic Party, 38,614 for the Republican Party, and 360 for the Libertarian Party.


What is a primary? What to know about the open and closed congressional primaries


Various campaign signs for the 2022 election are located at East Main Street and East 20th Street in Farmington.


San Juan County seats on ballots


County Commissioner District 1: GloJean B. Todacheene, Democrat;  Stanley Wauneka Sr., Democrat;  Albert J. Paul, Democrat


County Commissioner District 2: Zac “Zachariah” J. George, Democrat;  Gary M. McDaniel, Republican;  Ervin Chavez, Republican


County Assessor: Jimmy Voita, Republican;  Henry C. Silentman, Democrat


County Sheriff: R. Shane Ferrari, Republican


Commissioner of Public Education District 5: Sharon Clahchischilliage, Republican



Magistrate Judge Division 1: Russell L. Bradford, Republican;  Dagmar Kamilah Keams, Republican;  Songtree L. Pickaxe, Democrat


Magistrate Judge Division 2: Rena Scott, Republican;  Stanley R. King, Democrat


Magistrate Judge Division 3: Mark Steven Hawkinson, Republican


Magistrate Judge Division 4: Trudy M. Chase, Democrat


Magistrate Judge Division 5: Erich F. Cole, Republican


Magistrate Judge Division 6: Stacey D. Biel, Republican


Inheritance judge: Gary Risley, Republican


Drivers on East 20th Street in Farmington are reminded to vote.  The 2022 primary election in New Mexico will take place on June 7.


Where to Vote in San Juan County


Aztec


    

  • Aztec Masonic Lodge
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  • Cedar Hill Fire Station
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  • San Juan County Fire Operations Center
    • 



White


flowery field


    

  • Bloomfield Town Hall
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  • Bloomfield Cultural Center
    • 



Farmington


    

  • Farmington City Hall
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  • Farmington Civic Center
    • 

  • Farmington Museum at Gateway Park
    • 

  • Farmington Public Library
    • 

  • McGee Park
    • 

  • Piñon Hills Community Church
    • 

  • Piñon Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church
    • 

  • Sycamore Park Community Center
    • 



Flora Vista


Kirtland


    

  • Brooks-Isham Center for the Performing Arts
    • 

  • Kirtland Youth Association
    • 



La Plata


    

  • La Plata Community Center
    • 



Shiprock


    

  • Consolidated Central School District Business Office
    • 

  • Phil L. Thomas Center for the Performing Arts
    • 



Peripheral areas


    

  • Beclabito Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Crystal Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Gadii’ahi Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Facilities of the Huerfano Chapter
    • 

  • Lake Valley School
    • 

  • Nageezi Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Naschitti Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Nenanhezad Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Newcomb Fire Station
    • 

  • Sheep Springs Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Tiis Tsoh Sikaad (Burnham) Chapter Facilities
    • 

  • Facilities of the Tsé Alnaozt’i’í Chapter (Sanostee)
    • 

  • Two Gray Hills Chapter facilities
    • 




After:Candidates file paperwork for this year’s primary elections in San Juan County


Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for the Daily Times.  She can be reached at 505-564-4636 or by email at [email protected].


Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e



                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico plans new downtown executive building |  Local News
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Health care to measure up: A look at the Presbyterian Hospital expansion project
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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If you walk this 11-story tower from top to bottom, you will have traveled seven miles.


But this tower, for now, is still a construction area.  The smell of a construction area is apparent.  And this tower has more than 300 workers on site, representing dozens of subcontractors working on it to complete it by the end of this year.


This tower is that of the Presbyterian’s Downtown Hospital at 1100 Central SE.  In May, the general contractor for the massive project – Jaynes Corp.  – and Dekker/Perich/Sabatini Architects led a tour that included media, business representatives and others to show off the work that was done.  The tour was organized by NAIOP New Mexico, a commercial real estate development organization.


“Basically, it was always planned that this would be about a three-year project from start to finish,” said Sam Burns, chief superintendent at Jaynes who oversees the project.


Indeed, the tower — which measures more than 300,000 square feet — is expected to be completed within three years, Jaynes Corp representatives said.  The contractor began work on the project in 2019. Upon completion, the hospital’s total space now stands at over one million square feet and the project costs approximately $260 million to build. the hospital.  The expansion, which also includes a now-completed three-story parking garage, results in a nearly 30% increase in space, Burns said.  This is one of Jaynes’ biggest projects to date.


The expansion of Presbyterian’s Downtown Hospital was underway before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to address an aging health care population, but has come at a time when more hospital beds are needed to coping with the increase in coronavirus cases requiring hospital stays.


Massive reach


Early builds included over 100 stops across various types of services for the infrastructure side of the project, including the Presbyterian Main Sewer which had to be replaced with a temporary lift station.


“It took us about a year to get everything ready for us to start foundation work on the project,” Burns said.


The 144 rooms — each room spans about 250 square feet — range between floors three through eight.  The tower also includes two sub-floor levels, some of which will include space for a large “magnification” laboratory, where pathology samples taken from patients are studied under a microscope.  The upper floors, for now, are left as shell space for future expansion.


And the tower includes a medical kitchen for hospital employees, as well as a garden.  On the roof of the tower is the “penthouse”, which refers to the mechanical systems that will keep the tower moving.  These systems include air handling units that supply air to the floors of the tower.


“We have just completed a lot of the carbon steel piping that goes into the coil for water supply and return,” said Chris Burks, project manager at Yearout Mechanical – one of many under – contractors working on the project.


Changes to the project, however, took place when the pandemic became a reality for entrepreneurs.  These changes include floors seven and eight being used specifically as isolation rooms for COVID-19 patients and others with illnesses that need to be contained.  PPE bins are located almost at the entrance to each patient room in the tower.


Patient experience


Wall sconces litter the hallways of the tower instead of overhead lighting, allowing patients to feel more comfortable not being blinded by lights when moved around in bed.


“If you’ve ever had surgery in a hospital or had to stay in a hospital, you’ll be given a questionnaire — basically a satisfaction question that goes into the funding the hospital actually receives,” said Wes Townsend, a trainee architect.  with Dekker/Perich/Sabatini who worked on the project.  “The patient experience is very important because the hospital can receive more funding if it is higher.”


Efficiency measures


The tower has energy saving attributes.  That includes a cogeneration unit that can save the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars, possibly a million or more, in annual utility costs, Burns said.


“It’s basically a generator that runs 24/7,” Burns said.  “And, for the most part, it runs on natural gas.  … It’s the first one we’ve done.  We are preparing to install it.  We are waiting for a final permit and then we can install it.  But that’s one of the things that (Presbyterians) are trying to do to help with utility bills and some of the renewable energy that they can actually produce.  .”


The layout of the hospital has been designed to allow nurses and doctors to take fewer steps.  Nurses’ stations on each patient floor are centered in the middle, along with equipment and medication spaces, among others.  It was designed as a “racetrack,” Burns said.


“(They) try to reduce the number of steps they have to take on the shift because if the nurses burn out, it could impact your patient down the line,” Townsend said.


Presbyterian spokeswoman Melanie Mozes said the tower is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2023.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Storms disappear from eastern New Mexico late Friday evening
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Grant’s Friday Night Forecast






Severe storms developed in the eastern half of New Mexico Friday afternoon.  These thunderstorms will move east through the evening before dissipating early this evening. 


Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed along and to the east of the central mountain range Friday afternoon.  A few of these storms have turned violent, with large hail and damaging winds being the biggest threats.  These storms will continue to push eastward through tonight, eventually clearing out of eastern New Mexico around 10 p.m.  A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for the eastern half of the state until 10 p.m. 


Drier air will move into New Mexico this weekend with westerly winds.  Winds will be relatively light compared to recent times, but some windy conditions will be possible in the afternoon.  The westerly wind and dry air will also bring much warmer temperatures early next week, with high temperatures above average for early July. 



A series of backdoor cold fronts will regularly reintroduce low level moisture to the central and eastern portions of the state Monday through midweek.  Canyon winds will likely be Wednesday and Thursday as cold fronts push west, bringing with them increased humidity.  Very similar to this week, this increase in lower level humidity will help bring the chance of rain back to central and eastern portions of New Mexico.  Drier air looks set to return next Friday, and with that some of the warmest weather we’ve seen so far this year. 



                

            

        

            

            

                
The Council is considering obligations for facilities
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal


A major facilities spending plan that the Albuquerque City Council killed last year has been reborn — in part thanks to an adviser who helped defeat the previous version.


Council President Isaac Benton voted last December against the Brook Bassan/Klarissa Peña legislation to borrow $110 million for various building and infrastructure improvements.  But he has now joined Bassan and Dan Lewis in presenting a similar proposal which the council will vote on next week.


The trio want the city to issue $100 million in new bonds to complete or invest in 16 projects across Albuquerque.


The largest portion – $20 million – would fund affordable housing.  Large shares would also go towards the long-awaited North Domingo Baca pool, expanding Paseo del Norte and Unser, and creating a new West Side public safety facility.  Each of these efforts would bring in $15 million.


The 2021 Bassan/Peña proposal died Dec. 6 when it failed to win the support of a supermajority of the council.  Their plan was to sell the bonds without gaining voter approval, a method that requires the agreement of seven councillors.  The legislation failed on a 5-4 vote.


Benton had voted with the opposition.  He said the schedule bothered him because there were several “lame duck” advisers making the decision.  Four of the nine advisers in office at the time of the vote would be replaced less than a month later.


Benton also argued that the city should focus on operating costs rather than building projects, particularly investing more money in ongoing rental assistance vouchers.


But now that the council has passed an operating budget that will significantly increase spending on rental vouchers next year, Benton said he’s more comfortable with big infrastructure investments.


“I’ve had the support (from the board) for the vouchers, which makes me more receptive to this deal,” Benton said.


Bassan – who said she “never intended to let (this idea) go” – said she was confident this version would succeed because the council’s budget committee has already voted on it. unanimously in favor and because the sponsors of the legislation took into account feedback from other advisers on which projects they wanted to include.


“I think working with the other councilors is really important to be able to see the changes (around the city).  I think taxpayers want to see projects for their money,” said Bassan, who noted that the $15 million allocated for the North Domingo Baca pool should be enough to eventually get the facility built based on estimates. existing.


The city would repay the bonds with gross receipts taxes—the tax imposed on the sale of most goods and services.  It will take 20 years and the city will need $5.7 million a year to start and $12.95 million a year towards the end, according to the city’s chief financial officer.  It wouldn’t raise taxes because the city has existing borrowing capacity after paying off some old bonds last year.


At one point, Mayor Tim Keller had proposed using some of this bonding capacity to fund a new multi-purpose football stadium where New Mexico United would play.  But city voters overwhelmingly rejected the $50 million stadium bond in last November’s election.


Shortly thereafter, Bassan and Peña presented their proposal to use bonding capacity for a $110 million infrastructure package.


Some of the projects on their 2021 slate — like Affordable Housing and the North Domingo Baca Pool — are included in the new release.  But the latest legislation also reflects the contributions of the four councilors who took office on January 1.


Lewis, for example, said he wanted to prioritize the Paseo del Norte and Unser project in his district over the Cibola Loop multigenerational center, which would have received money as part of the year’s proposal. last.  The West Side councilman said the city already has $10 million available for roadwork and a potential injection of $15 million would complete the necessary funding.


He said the widening of the road would serve a “massive part of our city that desperately needs more infrastructure” and that he would pursue funding for the multi-generational center from other sources next year.


Councilman Louie Sanchez, who also took office on Jan. 1, was able to get some projects he wanted funded on the new bond list.  He requested $1 million for trail development and planning on the Poole property — a newly acquired open-space property in his district — and $1.5 million to upgrade the city’s Shooting Range Park.


“It’s so outdated;  it will really help the police and also help the public,” Sanchez said of the park.


The District of Sanchez would also receive $3 million for West Mesa Aquatic Center updates and $500,000 for Ouray Boulevard improvements.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Under Historic Agreements with the State, Picuris and Pojoaque Pueblos to Administer Independent Cannabis Tax Programs |  Environment
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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An agreement signed last month between the New Mexico Department of Taxes and Revenue and Picuris Pueblo formally recognized the tribe’s authority to administer its own cannabis-related tax program.  The state also signed a tax treaty with Pojoaque Pueblo. 






“Pueblo businesses are not subject to state cannabis excise tax in Pueblo Indian Country and will not be required to file a return with the Department regarding state cannabis excise tax. for sales of a cannabis product that occur in the Pueblo,” according to the May 6 agreement.  “The Pueblo will be solely responsible for the enforcement, administration, collection, remittance, and audit of Pueblo cannabis excise tax from Pueblo businesses.” 






The agreement states that the tribe must determine what constitutes a “pueblo business.”






Until July 1, 2025, the cannabis tax rate in the rest of the state will be 12%, after which it will gradually increase to 18% by July 1, 2030.






“New Mexico has a long history of working with tribes to effectively administer taxes while recognizing tribal sovereignty and the limits of state authority over tribal lands,” the Tax and Tax Secretary said. Earned, Stephanie Schardin Clarke, in a press release.  “This administration is committed to strengthening relationships with tribal governments.”






The two northern New Mexico pueblos have already entered into cooperative cannabis agreements with the state’s Department of Regulation and Licensing.  The pacts are intended to ensure tribes can benefit from the state’s new cannabis industry, which began retail sales on April 1. 






“With cannabis still illegal under federal law, intergovernmental agreements prevent federal law enforcement action on tribal lands where communities want to participate in the adult use market in New Mexico,” according to a March press release from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office. 






“The economic opportunities offered by the recreational and medical cannabis industries are truly game-changing, and sovereign tribal nations stand to benefit alongside the state,” Governor Lujan Grisham said.  “With these agreements, Pueblo de Pojoaque and Pueblo de Picuris will benefit from this exciting new industry, which is expected to bring in $300 million in sales annually and create 11,000 jobs in New Mexico.”






According to Lujan Grisham’s office, intergovernmental agreements “enable tribal communities to participate in the cannabis industry in ways that support community health and public safety while maximizing cross-jurisdictional market opportunities.”






Picuris Governor Craig Quanchello said the agreements demonstrate cooperation and respect between the state and the tribe.






“I am pleased that the intergovernmental agreement respects the sovereignty of the Pueblo,” Quanchello said in the March statement.  “This creates a significant opportunity for the Pueblo to engage in well-regulated and coordinated legal cannabis markets for the benefit and protection of our community, including a framework for continued collaboration with the state to protect our common interests. “






Last week, the state released tax revenue figures for cannabis sales in April, the first month of legal adult-use retail sales in state history. 






Cannabis retail stores catering to adults paid $2,422,678 in cannabis excise tax in April, as well as $1,635,243 in tax on gross receipts.  In addition to cannabis products, gross receipts tax payments include taxes due on non-cannabis products and services. 






“The adult-use cannabis industry in New Mexico is clearly off to a good start,” said Schardin Clarke.  “These receipts show that the industry is already diversifying our economy and our tax base.” 






Excise duty returns were filed by 114 retailers, according to the state.  A total of 158 taxpayers are registered for cannabis excise tax accounts, but not all of these businesses are operational yet.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Strong canyon winds will affect central New Mexico Wednesday night
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Grant’s Wednesday Night Forecast






A canyon wind will bring very strong wind gusts to the Rio Grande Valley Wednesday evening.  Isolated storms will be possible from the Rio Grande Valley to eastern New Mexico on Thursday. 


Strong to severe storms will continue to be possible in southeastern New Mexico through tonight.  Meanwhile, a cold front will push west late tonight through gaps in the central mountain range, bringing wind gusts of 45 to 60 mph to the central Rio Grande Valley, including Albuquerque.  These easterly winds will also bring a large increase in surface moisture to the state of Arizona by Thursday morning. 


A weak upper-level disturbance will cross New Mexico on Thursday afternoon.  This will provide lift over the area of ​​surface moisture and produce showers and thunderstorms.  Isolated storms will begin over the Rio Grande Valley and move eastward in the evening.  The storms will become more dispersed as they move into eastern New Mexico.  A few storms could become strong again on Thursday. 


On Friday, westerly winds will begin to return to the western half of New Mexico pushing moisture eastward by Friday afternoon.  However, there is still a chance for a few isolated showers and storms in eastern New Mexico on Friday afternoon.


Westerly winds prevail this weekend, however, bringing dry air across the state along with warmer weather.  Temperatures will continue to climb next week with persistent dry weather and at times windy conditions. 



                

            

        

            

            

                
4th Stimulus Check 2022 – Deadlines for summer bonus payments giving Americans up to $1,200
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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LUCKY Americans can get extra money in summer payment programs, but some have fast approaching deadlines.


For example, under Ithaca’s Guaranteed Income Program in New York, payments worth $450 are expected to be made to 110 residents for a total of 12 months.


The payments are intended for caregivers, including parents, and payments are expected to start rolling out in June via prepaid debit cards, as reported by The Ithaca Voice. 


Meanwhile, eligible Chicago, Illinois residents can apply for $50 and $100 worth of transit and gas card funds each month.


The deadline to apply for these benefits is June 1 for monthly payments.


Finally, any Indiana taxpayer who filed their 2020 taxes by January 3, 2022 is eligible for a payment of at least $125, with eligible married couples receiving up to $250.  Paper check refunds are expected to be issued in July or August.


Read our stimulus check live blog for the latest news and updates…






    

  • 

    

    

    $100 million homeownership program opens June 1
    

    The program, known as the Hometown Heroes Housing Program, will launch on June 1.
    

    The news came from Florida Governor DeSantis on May 23.
    

    The program will make it easier for essential workers, including police, firefighters and nurses, to buy homes in their communities.  
    

    

    

    • 

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    First-time buyer credit
    

    The Biden administration is hoping to bring relief to first-time home buyers, although nothing has happened yet.
    

    The pending plan is known as the First-Time Homebuyer Act of 2021. 
    

    The bill would give first-time home buyers up to $15,000 in refundable federal tax credits.
    

    

    

    • 

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    What Americans Used for Stimulus Checks, Part Two
    

    The next round of stimulus worth $600 was a little different.
    

    According to Forbes, most Americans have chosen to save for retirement or to deal with their debts.
    

    Only 20% planned to use their second round for essential expenses, such as food and housing.
    

    

    

    • 



    

  • 

    

    

    What Americans used for stimulus checks
    

    The pandemic has caused financial pain and uncertainty for millions of American families.
    

    According to Forbes, Americans used or planned to use 75% of their first stimulus payment to cover household expenses.
    

    The first stimulus payment was worth $1,200.
    

    

    

    • 

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    The deadline has arrived to claim Colorado’s refund 
    

    Colorado taxpayers have the rest of the day to claim their refunds.
    

    Checks will be sent to those who file their state taxes by May 31.
    

    The program, endorsed by Governor Jared Polis, is known as Colorado Cashback. 
    

    The governor said 3.1 million residents would be eligible.
    

    Individuals will receive $400, while couples will receive $800.
    

    

    

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    Study finds Americans struggling financially
    

    According to CNBC, if an event like the pandemic “were to happen today, many people would still be struggling financially.”
    

    The Bipartisan Policy Center, the Funding Our Future group, and Morning Consult conducted a new survey, which yielded these results.
    

    Considering that these government-issued direct transfers have all but disappeared, the survey found that 42% of American workers are very or somewhat financially insecure.
    

    

    

    • 

  • 

    

    

    Deadline for $500 transit passes is June 1
    

    Chicago commuters may qualify for $500 transit passes. 
    

    The cards, approved by Mayor Lightfoot, will be distributed on June 3, July 3, August 3 and September 3, 2022.
    

    To be included in the monthly lottery, residents must submit their information by tomorrow, June 1. 
    

    There are three ways to apply. 
    

    By the end of the summer, more than 100,000 Chicago residents will have benefited from the program.
    

    

    

    • 

  • 

    

    

    The Chicago Moves program, continued
    

    To receive a $150 gas card, Chicago residents must demonstrate they need it.
    

    To qualify, residents must live in Chicago full-time, be 18 or older, and have a household income at or below 140% of the area’s median income.
    

    The cards will be distributed each month from May to September.
    

    The lottery will take place the second week of each month.
    

    To be considered for each month’s lottery, applications must be submitted by the first day of that month.
    

    The next deadline is tomorrow, June 1st.
    

    

    

    • 

  • 

    

    

    What is the Chicago Moves program?
    

    Chicago Moves is a financial assistance program that helps Chicago residents with transportation costs.
    

    In 2022, Chicago Moves will issue up to 50,000 $150 prepaid gas cards and 100,000 $50 prepaid transit cards.
    

    Travel cards can be used to purchase travel tickets at Ventra vending machines at CTA stations.
    

    Gas cards can be applied at any gas station within Chicago city limits.
    

    The cards will be distributed each month from May to September.
    

    

    

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    Possible tax refund in Virginia
    

    Later this year, Virginia residents will likely get tax abatements, as local outlet WAVY-10 reports.
    

    The General Assembly plans to offer a refund to eligible Virginians.
    

    The exact amount has yet to be announced, but delegate Roxann Robinson said the state has received a lot of funding over the past year.
    

    “We want to have the biggest tax refund in Virginia history,” Governor Glenn Youngkin said.
    

    “All of these tax cuts are designed to help Virginians who need it most, to lower our cost of living, to allow Virginia to compete with the states around us that are lowering their tax burden while we are sitting here and having lunch.”
    

    

    

    • 

  • 

    

    

    Newark, NJ providing payments, continued
    

    Newark Mayor Ras J Baraka said, “At a time when our city still faces the challenges of COVID-19 and its economic impact, the biggest and most important institution we should invest in is family.
    

    “This will give our residents a much-needed boost and enable them to participate in the economy, regain their economic independence and strength, and move forward towards prosperity.
    

    “This type of intervention can support our economy and our future.”
    

    

    

    • 

  • 

    

    

    Newark, NJ providing additional payments
    

    An expansion of Newark’s Guaranteed Income pilot program means 400 residents will receive payments totaling $12,000 over two years.
    

    Half of the participants in the program will receive $250 every two weeks.
    

    Other recipients will pocket two installments of $3,000 each year.
    

    

    

    • 








                

            

        

            

            

                
Are unaffiliated voters a way back to better government?
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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The bill that would have given a primary ballot to opt-out state voters (DTS) was introduced at the start of the 2022 regular session. House Speaker Brian Egolf explained that voters already have that right using same-day registration.  So, I’m curious why parties will accept votes from same-day registrants, but not from DTS voters?  And why don’t they tap into the 23% of unaffiliated voters who pay taxes in New Mexico and help pay for the primaries they can’t vote for?  The answer may explain why electoral reform is so difficult.


I stripped myself of my primary election rights when I changed my affiliation to state denial.  In general elections, I have often voted for executive candidates of one party and legislative candidates of the other party.  I couldn’t do that at the elementary level, so I did the DTS as a kind of protest;  my mother recited this adage about cutting off your nose.  As politics turned into partisan power, I was happy to maintain my unaffiliated status.  Today, if you say what you are, you will be scolded by half the room, whatever part you claim.


The 24% of voters who are DTS would be a great base for a great party, but how do you build a party out of people who refused to join a party?  Yet they should be able to vote in the primaries and we should give them a ballot with candidates from each party.  A nonpartisan primary ballot for nonpartisan voters.  I become giddy at the prospect.  Some candidates would surely moderate their platforms to appeal to the new source of voters;  conservatives who find Trumpism appalling and liberals who find “defunding the police” a chant too far.  Some of these more moderate candidates would make it to the general election.


If you don’t listen to political parties, you will know that America is truly an in-between landscape.  But both parties tolerate extreme views at the same time they denigrate their own members who have even a tinge of moderation, independence or bipartisanship.  A party has censured members who have taken principled positions and pledged allegiance to an ex-president who is meddling in elections for revenge.  Good excuses to drop your party affiliation.


Bernie Sanders is a major Democratic Party leader and he’s not even a Democrat.  So what difference does a voter’s affiliation make?  Parties fight for power in government, but they should not be able to manipulate elections to gain that power.  They do it in many ways now.  If more voters become unaffiliated, the primaries will be decided by fewer voters and that would be a serious risk to democracy.  Unaffiliated could lead us back to better government.






• Do you have a question that you would like someone to try to answer for you?  Do you have a bright spot you want to share?


   We want to hear from you.  Please email [email protected] 






    

                

            

        

            

            

                
Forest Service Planned Fires Caused Massive New Mexico Wildfire
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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What is happening


Two fires in New Mexico have merged to become the largest in state history.  We now know that both started with controlled burns.


why is it important


More than 300,000 acres have burned and continue to burn, affecting tens of thousands of residents.




On January 29, US Forest Service crews completed a pile burning in the Santa Fe National Forest approximately 17 miles west of the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico.  Somewhere in this pile of scorched debris and woody debris, the embers would continue to burn slowly for the next nine weeks.


Then, on April 9, a fire was rekindled from the stake.


These embers had lain dormant from the depths of winter until they awoke in early April.  They would continue to grow into the Calf Canyon Fire, which would later merge with another wildfire related to a prescribed burn.  The combined Calf Canyon and Hermit’s Peak fire complex has since grown to more than 314,000 acres to become the wildfire with the largest footprint currently burning in the United States and the largest in the history of New -Mexico. 


As of Friday, the Forest Service, part of the federal Department of Agriculture, has now accepted responsibility for the two fires which have merged into the massive inferno continuing to burn a corridor through mountain forests, small villages and more of 40 miles.


“Forest Service fire investigators have determined that the Calf Canyon Fire in the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) was caused by January heap burn residue that is lay dormant below the surface for three winter snow events before re-emerging in April,” the agency said in a statement. statement released on Friday. 


Planned burns — sometimes called controlled or prescribed burns — have been a key part of forest management in the United States for years.  The basic idea is to reduce the amount of fuel in the forest so that when a fire inevitably spreads it is easier to contain and less likely to lead to a devastating crown fire.  Crown fires can occur when an abundant fuel load on or near the ground fuels a fire that burns into the canopy, causing widespread destruction of the forest and everything in its path. 


“In 99.84% of cases, prescribed fires go as planned”, Forest Service Chief Ronald Moore in a statement on May 20. 


Under normal conditions, it might be reasonable to assume that a layer of snow already on the ground in January and subsequent snowstorms would be sufficient to extinguish any existing hot spots in the burnt pile.  But this year, climate change and natural weather variations have combined to create unusually dry and warm early season conditions in the southwestern United States.  Weeks of unusually strong winds exacerbated the situation.  At some point in early May, the National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning — signifying wind, heat and drought creating ideal conditions for a wildfire to ignite and spread — for northern New Mexico. in 25 of the previous 30 days. 


The fire forced tens of thousands of New Hometown Mexicans for several weeks, hundreds of houses and other structures have been destroyed, livestock has been lost.  Fortunately, there were no human casualties. 


A large plume of smoke rising from the mountains on the horizon


Smoke from the fire, as seen from Taos, New Mexico, May 15.




                                                    Eric Mack/CNET

                                                


Governor of New Mexico Michelle Lujan Grisham welcomed the announcement that the Forest Service took responsibility, but did not mince words.


“The pain and suffering of New Mexicans caused by the actions of the U.S. Forest Service — an agency that is supposed to be a steward of our lands — is unfathomable,” she said in a statement Friday.  “This is a first step toward full federal accountability.”


After the Calf Canyon Fire reappeared for the first time from that winter burn on April 9, it burned an acre and a half before fire crews could build a containment line around the blaze. 


Ten days later, the fire came to life again with the help of high winds and extreme fire conditions.  It escaped containment lines on April 19, then increased significantly when gusty winds fueled the fire on April 22. 


During the first week of May, the Calf Canyon Fire grew to merge with the Hermit’s Peak Fire, which itself was caused by a prescribed burn also put in place by the US Forest Service. 






On April 6, the agency began burning several miles north of where the Calf Canyon pile burn was still secretly smoldering. 


“Although forecast weather conditions were within prescribed fire parameters, unexpectedly erratic winds in the late afternoon caused several localized fires that spread outside the project boundaries,” said the Forest Service Summary of the Incident.  “It was declared a forest fire at approximately 4:30 p.m. on April 6, 2022.”


Lujan Grisham started calling for a temporary halt to prescribed burns in the state after the fires coalesced, and the Forest Service eventually agreed. 


“I am entering a pause in prescribed burn operations on National Forest System lands while we conduct a 90-day review of protocols, decision support tools and practices,” said Moore, the Head of Forest Service.  


On Friday, Lujan Grisham urged the federal government to re-evaluate its fire management practices to account for climate change that contributed to a historic mega-drought in the Southwest.


“New Mexico and the West must take every precaution to prevent fires of this magnitude from occurring, especially as rainfall continues to decline and temperatures rise.”  


The combined blaze is now 48 per cent under control, with more than 3,000 firefighters working to increase that figure while preparing for a forecast that portends more heat, wind and critical fire weather. 



                

            

        

            

            

                
Colombian presidential contest likely heading to June runoff |  New
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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New Mexico joins 15 other states in adopting clean car rules
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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New Mexico joins the club of 15 states that have adopted Clean Car rules.  These rules are based on California’s emissions and fuel economy standards – the State Environmental Improvement Board.  Meanwhile, the City of Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board all voted to adopt cleanliness standards.  Following “a robust stakeholder engagement process over the past year”.




Image Credits – Inside Electric Vehicles




Clean car standards relate to Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) and Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) standards.  Here, the ZEV concerns car manufacturers that sell a large number of plug-in vehicles.  And the LEV aims to reduce emissions of pollutants and other greenhouse gases.  These rules will be effective from 2026 for on-road models.



The brand new Mexico Clean Cars Clean Air coalition includes more than 35 nonprofits, local agencies, businesses and unions.  These were taken care of in the rulemaking process.  Dr. Virginia Necochea of ​​the New Mexico Environmental Law Center said, “We applaud the administrations of Governor Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller for taking this important step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions from at least 26% by 2025, in line with the Paris Agreement.  “,


Electrification


Additionally, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Ken Hughes said, “Over 900 New Mexicans have submitted comments in support of these standards.  The American Lung Association found that electrification would save New Mexicans $3 billion and save 273 lives.


Additionally, Aaron Kressig of Western Resource Advocates said, “We look forward to working with the state to build on this momentum and advance the Advanced Clean Trucks and Advanced Clean Cars II standards.  Transportation is the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, harming New Mexico’s air and environment.  Transport-related pollutants are linked to many adverse health effects, including decreased lung function, inflammation of the airways, worsening of asthma, increased risk of cancer, damage to the immune system and neurological, reproductive, developmental and other health issues.


“Clean cars make sense for New Mexico,” says Tammy Fiebelkorn of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.  “Clean cars will save us money, save gas, protect our health and preserve our climate.  The more we prioritize clean transportation, the greater the benefits.  We look forward to working with the Lujan Grisham administration on further cleaning policies for our cars and trucks.


In early 2019, Governor Lujan Grisham announced that New Mexico would join the US Climate Alliance.  It is a bipartisan coalition of 23 governors committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Reduce by at least 26% below 2005 levels by 2025 – a target consistent with the Paris Agreement.






                

            

        

            

            

                
Bonus $2,000 stimulus check offered in direct payments from $2.2 billion pot
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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MILLIONS of Pennsylvania residents could get closer to $2,000 direct payments thanks to Gov. Tom Wolf.


In February, Pennsylvania’s governor proposed a $1.7 billion plan to help the state recover from the pandemic through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).






1


Governor Tom Wolf has offered direct stimulus payments of up to $2,000


Part of his proposal includes direct payments of up to $2,000 to eligible Pennsylvania residents.


The funds would come from the state’s $2.2 billion surplus from unspent coronavirus relief funds.


Mr. Wolf said the plan would use $500 million of that excess for the one-time payment.


“While Pennsylvanians are still battered and trying to recover from the pandemic, we cannot sit on billions of dollars in federal aid that could cure Pennsylvania,” Wolf said in a statement. 














Four key payment deadlines next week, from $800 in tax rebates to $150 in gas cards










Direct payments up to $800 available 














“It is wrong to withhold this money to help people. It is high time to act,” he added.


Lawmakers must act quickly because if the funds are not used by December 31, 2024, they will be returned to the federal government.


Although the bill did not pass, Governor Wolf won the support of Rep. Patty Kim in Harrisburg, acknowledging that with inflation raging, Americans might need more help.


The governor said increased household incomes will help workers and families still battling the pandemic.


If the bill passes, households earning $80,000 or less would be eligible for checks.


Pennsylvanians could spend the stimulus checks on whatever is needed. 


Additionally, Governor Wolf proposed that $225 million be allocated to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic.


While an additional $325 million would be added to the state’s healthcare system, with an additional $450 million given to conservation and preservation efforts. 


State gives summer stimulus 


Eight states have passed some kind of stimulus or tax refund offering financial relief to millions of struggling households.


Residents of New Mexico have started receiving tax refunds.


Single filers receive $250, while married couples filing jointly and single filers receive $500.


More than 550,000 New Mexicans will receive checks, according to the governor’s office.


Taxpayers who include direct deposit information on their tax returns will receive the funds almost immediately.


Another 200,000 paper checks will be sent in the days and weeks to come.


Taxpayers have until May 31, 2023 to still file and receive a refund.


Massachusetts will give thousands of workers $500 bonus checks in the coming weeks under Massachusetts’ Essential Employee Premium Pay program.


The program will be distributed in several batches with the first round distributed in March.


Eligibility for the second round of checks is determined by your 2021 earnings, regardless of your industry.


Your employment income must be at least $13,500 and have filed a tax return.


This is equivalent to working 20 hours a week for 50 weeks at the state’s 2021 minimum wage of $13.50.


Income must be 300% below the federal poverty level.


Payments are expected to be issued in June.














MTV star kisses husband in wedding photos just four days before she murdered him










Four in five children killed in horror house explosion after gas complaints














One-time payments worth $750 are available for thousands of Americans starting next week.


Plus, here’s why you won’t get paid on Memorial Day 2022.




We pay for your stories!





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Areas with fastest growing home prices in Metro Farmington
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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(STACKER) – It goes without saying that the coronavirus pandemic has unleashed a wave of uncertainty across a myriad of industries, and no other market has felt its impact quite like real estate.


The pandemic has become a driving force behind the continued housing boom, with strong demand for vacation homes and a limited supply of homes prompting buyers and investors to drive up prices for affordable properties, sending prices skyrocketing houses.  The ability to work remotely played a role in driving demand for vacation homes in mid-2020 as affluent Americans chose to ride out the pandemic with more amenities and space outside of dense urban areas.







Stacker compiled a list of towns with the fastest growing home prices in Farmington using data from Zillow.  Cities are ranked by 1-year price change in April 2022. The charts in this story were created automatically using Matplotlib.  The typical value of a home in the United States has increased over the past year by +20.9% to $334,141.


#9.  Blanco, New Mexico


– Price variation over 1 year: +$2,485 (+1.6%)
– Price change over 5 years: +$38,537 (+32.1%)
– Typical home value: $158,679 (9th most expensive metro city)


#8.  Bloomfield, New Mexico


– Price change over 1 year: +$26,244 (+17.4%)
– Price change over 5 years: +$66,335 (+59.8%)
– Typical home value: $177,324 (7th most expensive metro city)


#seven.  Water flow, NM


– Price variation over 1 year: +$28,494 (+16.6%)
– Price change over 5 years: +$68,308 (+51.7%)
– Typical home value: $200,513 (6th most expensive metro city)



#6.  Kirtland, New Mexico


– Price change over 1 year: +$31,565 (+21.9%)
– Price variation over 5 years: +$72,519 (+70.1%)
– Typical home value: $175,969 (8th most expensive metro city)


#5.  Farmington, New Mexico


– Price change over 1 year: +$34,386 (+20.0%)
– Price change over 5 years: +$68,481 (+49.7%)
– Typical home value: $206,248 (fourth most expensive metro city)


#4.  Fruitland, New Mexico


– Price change over 1 year: +$40,044 (+23.9%)
– Price change over 5 years: +$79,154 (+61.8%)
– Typical home value: $207,270 (3rd most expensive metro city)


#3.  Aztec, New Mexico


– Price change over 1 year: +$41,284 (+25.4%)
– Price change over 5 years: +$72,508 (+55.3%)
– Typical home value: $203,559 (5th most expensive metro city)



#2.  Flora Vista, New Mexico


– Price change over 1 year: +$44,222 (+25.0%)
– Price variation over 5 years: +$94,825 (+75.3%)
– Typical home value: $220,778 (2nd most expensive metro city)


#1.  La Plata, New Mexico


– Price change over 1 year: +$56,401 (+30.8%)
– Price change over 5 years: +$99,759 (+71.3%)
– Typical home value: $239,653 (#1 in most expensive metro city)



                

            

        

            

            

                
Housekeepers struggle as US hotels drop daily room cleaning |  Business
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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HONOLULU — After guests left a corner room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort on Waikiki Beach, housekeeper Luz Espejo picked up enough trash, some strewn under beds, to fill seven large trash bags.






She removed the sheets from the beds, wiped the dust that had accumulated on the furniture and cleaned the layers of dirt on the toilet and the bathtub.  She even got down on all fours to pick up confetti on the carpet that a powerful vacuum couldn’t swallow.






Like many other hotels across the United States, the Hilton Hawaiian Village has done away with daily housekeeping, making what was already one of the toughest jobs in the hospitality industry even more exhausting.






Industry insiders say the move away from daily cleaning, which has gained traction during the pandemic, is driven by customer preferences.  But others say it has more to do with profit and has allowed hotels to cut the number of housekeepers at a time when many of the mostly immigrant women who do these jobs are still reeling from the shock of the job loss during coronavirus pandemic shutdowns.






Many cleaners still employed say their hours have been reduced and they are being asked to do a lot more work during this time.






“It’s a big change for us,” said Espejo, a 60-year-old from the Philippines who cleaned rooms at the world’s largest Hilton for 18 years, minus about a year when she was laid off during the pandemic. .  “We are so busy at work now.  We can’t finish cleaning our rooms.






Before the pandemic, 670 housekeepers worked in the Espejo resort.  More than two years later, 150 of them have not been rehired or are on standby, spending every day from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. waiting for a phone call telling them there is work for them. . 






“This is about more money in the pockets of landlords by putting a bigger workload on frontline workers and eliminating jobs,” said D. Taylor, president of Unite Here, a union representing workers. hotel workers.






While some hotels began experimenting with less frequent cleaning in the name of sustainability, this became much more prevalent at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when to promote social distancing and other safety protocols, many hotels switched to offering room cleaning only if requested by a guest, and sometimes only after staying a certain number of days. 






Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, a trade group whose members include hotel brands, owners and management companies, said it was guest requests that guided the decisions about housekeeper services in the event of a pandemic.






“A lot of guests, to this day, don’t want people entering their room during their stay,” he said.  “Forcing something on a guest they don’t want is the antithesis of what it means to work in the hospitality industry.”






The pandemic has changed the norm for most hotel guests who want daily cleaning, he said, adding it’s not yet clear whether this will result in a permanent change.






Housekeeping policies vary by hotel type, Rogers said, with luxury hotels tending to provide daily housekeeping unless guests opt out.






Ben McLeod, of Bend, Oregon, and his family skipped housekeeping during a four-night stay at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii in March.






“My wife and I never really understood why there would be daily housekeeping…when there isn’t at home and it’s wasteful,” he said.






He said he expects his children to tidy up after them.






“I’m type A, so I get out of bed and make my bed, so I don’t need someone else to make my bed,” he said.






Unionized hotel workers are trying to spread the message that denying daily room cleaning hurts housekeepers and threatens jobs.






Martha Bonilla, who spent 10 years working at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel & Casino in New Jersey, said she wants guests to request daily cleaning, noting it makes her job less difficult.  Even though New Jersey hotels are required by law to offer daily housekeeping, some guests still refuse to do so.






“When I come home from work now, the only thing I want to do is go to bed,” said Bonilla, from the Dominican Republic and single mother of a 6-year-old daughter.  “I am physically exhausted”






It’s not just partying guests like those who threw confetti in Hawaii that leave behind filthy rooms, housekeepers say.  Even with typical use, rooms that have not been cleaned for days become much more difficult to restore to the sparkling, immaculate rooms that guests expect upon check-in.






Elvia Angulo, a housekeeper at the Oakland Marriott City Center for 17 years, is her family’s primary breadwinner.






During the first year of the pandemic, she worked one or two days a month.  She regained her 40 hours a week, but with the rooms no longer cleaned daily, the number of people working per shift was cut in half, from 25 to 12.






“Thank god I have seniority here so I have my five days again and my salary is the same,” said Angulo, 54, from Mexico.  “But the work is really more difficult now.  If you don’t clean a room for five days, you have five days of bathroom scum.  It’s scum on scum.






Many domestic helpers still do not get enough hours to qualify for benefits.






Sonia Guevara, who worked at a Seattle Hilton for seven years, really enjoyed the perks of her job.  But since she returned to work after being laid off for 18 months, she is not entitled to health insurance.






“At first I thought I would find a new job, but I feel like waiting,” she said.  “I want to see if my hours change at the hotel.”






She said there are few other job options with hours conducive to having two kids in school.






Now politicians are addressing the issue, including Hawaii State Rep. Sonny Ganaden, who represents Kalihi, a Honolulu neighborhood where many hotel employees live.






“Almost every time I talk to people on their doorstep, I meet someone who works in a hotel and then we talk about how overworked they are and what’s going on and the working conditions,” he said. -he declares.  “You have a lot of first- and second-generation immigrants who are sort of left dry by these non-daily room cleaning requirements.”






Ganaden is among lawmakers who introduced a resolution asking Hawaii hotels to “immediately rehire or recall employees who have been terminated or furloughed” due to the pandemic.






If that’s not enough, Ganaden said he would be open to stronger action as other places have done.






The Washington, D.C. City Council passed emergency legislation in April requiring hotels in the district to service rooms daily unless guests opt out.






Amal Hligue, an immigrant from Morocco, hopes the rules mean more hours at the Washington Hilton where she has worked for 22 years.  She needs it so that her husband can benefit from health insurance.






“I hope he has this month because I worked last month,” she said.






At 57, she does not want to find a new job.  “I’m not young, you know,” she said.  “I have to stay.”






Snow reported in Phoenix.






Copyright 2022 The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Governor Lujan Grisham announces a major
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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Los Lunas, New Mexico, May 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday that a capital investment group has pledged to create more than 950 jobs and invest more than $2 billion dollars in the construction of an aluminum can foil rolling mill and recycling center in Valencia County, New Mexico.


The group has signed a letter of intent to purchase a 1,300-acre parcel in Los Lunas, with construction expected to begin in late 2023 and manufacturing in 2026. The facility would be powered by 100% renewable energy from PNM and would have the capacity to manufacture up to 1.3 billion pounds of aluminum per year, with plans to ensure 85% recycled content once the plant is fully operational.


“The partnerships we’ve built to create and grow a renewable energy economy in New Mexico are attractive to businesses looking for friendly places to grow,” Governor Lujan Grisham said.  “Aluminum produced with a low carbon footprint is in demand as customers continue to push for sustainability, and this innovative new project in Valencia County positions New Mexico to benefit from this industry.”


Louisville-based Manna Capital Partners, a private investment firm whose founding partners are Ulysses L. “Junior” Bridgeman and Kevin R. Attkisson, will lead the project and build and operate the plant.  Ball Corporation, one of the world’s leading suppliers of infinitely recyclable beverage packaging, will enter into a long-term supply agreement and also intends to take a minority stake. 


Manna chose New Mexico in part because of its competitive business climate, proximity to a transportation network that includes rail service, the growth of can manufacturing facilities in the southwestern United States, and Governor Lujan Grisham’s commitment to sustainable energy.  The governor specifically targeted sustainable manufacturing for additional public investment to diversify New Mexico’s economy and create better-paying jobs.


The state of New Mexico is pledging $5 million from its Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) job creation fund to support the project with assistance paid when the manufacturer meets economic development criteria, to be determined in a project participation agreement.


The jobs will bring in an average of $68,000 per year and the project is expected to have an economic impact of $3.4 billion over 10 years.


“This state investment will not only bring new, better-paying jobs to New Mexicans, but it will expand our manufacturing footprint with sustainable and responsible products that will see growing demand,” said Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes.  The ministry and our partners worked together for months to bring this project here.  We competed against 10 other sites and now these jobs are coming to New Mexico.  True collaborative efforts like this translate into great successes for our state.”


The Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance (AREA) received the company’s initial application and subsequently played a critical role in the site selection process and provided key assistance to investors. 


“Since last August, when AREA was contacted by Manna Capital Partners and introduced to its project, AREA’s Director of Business Development, Grant Taylor, has worked as a focal point to collect data, connect with partners and return every stone that helped the company make its decision to locate in the region,” said Danielle Casey, President and CEO of AREA. “The Manna team has demonstrated that they will be a tremendous corporate citizen in the state and an employer of choice in the region. From Governor Lujan Grisham to Mayor Griego to many economic development partners, we are grateful for everyone’s investment and continued stewardship to ensure the success of this project. 


Global demand for aluminum cans is expected to experience strong growth over the next decade.  From wine to hard seltzer water and flavored water to energy drinks, canned beverages are growing and are preferred by consumers.  The facility plans to be one of the greenest, most efficient, and highest quality aluminum sheet suppliers in the United States.


“There is a growing demand for recycled aluminum packaging from beverage manufacturers driven by a desire for sustainability.  New Mexico has given us the opportunity to respond with what we anticipate will be the newest state-of-the-art aluminum rolling mill in North America.  This project will have a positive impact on people’s lives and is a win-win situation for everyone,” said Junior Bridgeman, Managing Partner of Manna Capital Partners.


The Village of Los Lunas also assists the manufacturer in issuing industrial tax bonds and will act as tax agent.  The project can also qualify for a refund of a percentage of the GRT it spends on construction, under a 2021 law signed by Governor Lujan Grisham that allows only part of the revenue tax construction-related gross be reimbursed to companies for large, large job-creating projects. 


“Manna Capital Partners’ planned investment in the Village of Los Lunas is a tremendous win for our community as we continue to work every day to retain and attract businesses and employees. It sends a strong message that our community is growing, thriving and an attractive place for businesses to locate and succeed,” said Los Lunas Mayor Charles Griego. “This is a great day for the Village of Los Lunas, Valencia County, Metro du Greater Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico.  The jobs and investments will reverberate for years and generations to come.  The Department of Economic Development and AREA played an important role in the smoothness of the overall process and deserve special thanks for their continued support.


The aid is pending formal review and approvals from the governing bodies of Valencia County and the Village of Los Lunas.


The New Mexico Public Service Company works closely with Manna throughout the process to ensure renewable energy goals are met.  The manufacturing process will require more than 500,000 megawatts of electricity per year.


“PNM is proud of the work we’ve done to bring our electricity generation ever closer to 100% carbon-free generation. Working with the Governor and his administration, New Mexico’s clean energy transition efforts are noticed by companies that value environmentally sustainable energy. Our combined efforts provide economic opportunities and new jobs for new Mexicans,” said PNM CEO and Chairman of the Board, Pat Vincent-Collawn. .


About Manna Capital Partners: Manna Capital Partners is a private investment firm founded by Junior Bridgeman and Kevin Attkisson.  The company and its subsidiaries focus on investment and acquisition opportunities across multiple sectors in the United States and internationally, including sustainability investments and impact-oriented opportunities for businesses and minority and women’s communities.  For more information, contact Manna Capital Partners at [email protected] or 502.805.1329.


The mission of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development (EDD) is to improve the lives of New Mexico families by increasing economic opportunity and providing a place where businesses can thrive.


EDD’s programs contribute directly to this mission by providing funds to train our workforce, providing infrastructure that supports business growth, and helping every community create a thriving economy.  Since January 1, 2019, EDD has supported more than 13,000 new jobs and trained 8,323 New Mexicans for better pay.  EDD has used LEDA to invest in 53 companies, supporting over 7,500 new jobs at an average salary of $70,000, $531 million in annual payroll, $5.2 billion in new capital investments and economic impact over ten years of more than 30 billion dollars.  Thirty-nine communities in 22 counties have benefited from EDD programs. 



        

                

            

        

            

            

                
Updates on the current financial situation as federal stimulus checks dry up: States declare several measures as inflation peaks
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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While most of the COVID-19 relief stimulus checks provided by the federal government to individuals have been disbursed through 2020 and 2021. But they will continue to affect our finances in 2022.


The Economic Impact Payment, or Third Stimulus Check, under the US Bailout Act of 2021 provided multiple support to US citizens as the pandemic continued to rage for the second year.


– Advertisement –


Along with the third stimulus check were the changes to unemployment insurance, the suspension of federal student loans, and the enhanced child tax credit that went from $2,000 a year to between $3,000 and $3,600 maximum depending on the age of the child, were all part of the relief measures announced by the federal government last year.  Other than the loan break, none of the other measures are in effect in 2022.


Cryptocurrency market crash contributed to crisis


More than a decade ago, the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, burst onto the horizon, and despite this month’s crash, $1,000 invested was still worth more than $350 million at the time. currently, compared to $625 million.  The crash came at a particularly difficult time as the US economy continued to rattle high inflation.


While the direct crash was attributed to the crash of the stablecoin Terra, as it lost its peg to the USD.  But the ultimate causes were more complex and numerous.  This included rising interest rates and inflation that destabilized financial markets overall and as tech stocks became more volatile.


– Advertisement –


Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are down to half of what they were in fall 2021.


With the federal government shifting spending from stimulus checks to infrastructure, most states have picked up the slack and come up with their own stimulus proposals in 2022.


Most states have yet to embark on their legislative measures and are only focusing on the proposal states.  Given the deep chasm that currently exists between Democrats and Republicans, getting any piece of legislation through is sure to be a Herculean task.


But some states have already gone ahead and signed the bill allowing stimulus checks to their residents.  Each state has developed packages that vary in amount and who will be covered.


Many states have already passed laws to give residents stimulus checks


California was the first to start with stimulus checks.  He gave two stimulus checks, Golden State Stimulus I and II for a total expenditure of more than $9 billion.  This was revealed by a press announcement from Governor Gavin Newsom.


The governor’s office also revealed that the administration would send $400 to each vehicle owner with an $800 limit to offset rising gas prices.


Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has just approved and signed into law a stimulus check for state residents as a tax refund.  While individual taxpayers would receive a one-time stimulus check worth $250, married couples filing jointly would receive double that amount, while heads of households would receive $375.


Governor David Ige of Hawaii originally offered a $100 check refund to all taxpayers and their dependents.  But months later, the Hawaiian legislature passed a bill that grants a $300 stimulus check to taxpayers earning less than $100,000 while those earning above would receive $100.


This bill will only need the support of the Governor, who has expressed support for the bill in the past.


Idaho residents will receive a tax refund and direct deposits, which is expected to be the larger of 12% of tax returns for 2020 or $75.


Illinois ruling Democratic members have proposed a statewide stimulus check that is expected to be received by September.  This stimulus payment is expected to be $100 for individuals while each dependent would receive $50.  Each household is also eligible for a stimulus payment of $300 in property tax.


The proposal will also cover the issue of freezing further tax increases and to that end, taxes on gas and groceries could be frozen for 6 months while school supplies could see a tax freeze for a brief period of 10 days in August.


Maine Governor Janet Mills has planned to send a one-time $850 stimulus check to residents earning less than $100,000.  This was revealed in a press release from the governor’s office, which further stated that this money was being paid from the state’s $682 million surplus budget.


New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has suggested a $500 stimulus check for low-income people.  Residents must have filed their recent tax return using a tax ID number and not their social security number.  This is part of an effort by the New Jersey administration to accommodate undocumented immigrants.


More than 100,000 New Jersey residents will be eligible for state aid, figures released by the state Treasury Department showed.


Single filers in the state of New Mexico will receive a stimulus check worth $250 if their annual incomes fall below $75,000.  For joint filers, the corresponding figure is $150,000 and they will receive a stimulus payment of $500.


The state will also provide other relief, including a $1,000 credit for full-time hospital nurses and a $175 refundable child tax credit.


New York Governor Kathy Hochul has offered a property tax rebate of between $425 and $970 for low- and middle-income households in the state.  This was revealed in a recent press release about tax breaks for New York residents.


The state has also bolstered its plans to provide tax breaks to business owners and will also reduce gasoline taxes.


The Virginia Legislature has proposed a one-time payment of $300 to all Virginia taxpayers.


The Legislature is also working on two separate bills that seek to suspend the state’s gasoline tax for one year and suspend or eliminate the state’s grocery tax altogether.


Many economists have argued that putting money directly into people’s pockets played a big role in the sudden rise in the inflation rate.  With more than $20 billion in additional funds flowing through the economy, inflation was 7.5% higher in January 2022 than a year ago.


While the stimulus check and stimulus bills were necessary for a state to prevent an economic downfall, the flow of more money into people’s hands to spend on the same services and goods has caused prices to rise. to stop the request.



                

            

        

            

            

                
People on the move 5.25.22|  Housing Finance Magazine
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                                People on the move 5.25.22|  Housing Finance Magazine
                            
                            

                        

                    

                
                

                    


Jimmy Silverwood becomes president of Affirmed Housing


Affirmed Housing announced that Jimmy Silverwood will become chairman of the leading affordable housing corporation on June 1. 



        


                Jimmy Silverwood 

        




Rising from the position of Executive Vice-President, he succeeds James Silverwood, who retains his role as CEO.  The transition supports the company’s continued growth plans and its commitment to providing housing and care to vulnerable populations in California. 


As President, Jimmy Silverwood will draw on more than a decade of real estate and construction expertise to implement the company’s strategic vision and ensure smooth day-to-day operations.  His efforts will focus on the impact, growth and culture of Affirmed Housing, and he will oversee all aspects of the business, including development and acquisition, asset management, finance and construction.  Since joining the leadership team, Affirmed Housing has seen a 60% increase in overall home production in California, as well as a 150% increase in total financing secured for projects. 


Since 1992, Affirmed Housing has funded more than $2.5 billion in affordable and supportive housing development, with 5,500 units developed or under development in 70 communities.  The company has offices in San Diego and San Jose.


Rocky Mountain Communities Appoints Vice President of Resident Services


Juanita Rodriguez was named vice president of resident services for Rocky Mountain Communities, a Colorado-based nonprofit that owns and manages affordable housing across the state.



        


                    Juanita Rodriguez 

                Juanita Rodriguez 

        




Rodriguez is responsible for establishing a vision for resident services that includes building community partnerships aligned with creating resilient, equitable, and vibrant places where people feel encouraged and excited to participate in the life of their community. 


She brings over 20 years of experience in government, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations.  Rodriguez worked at Rocky Mountain SER (Service Employment & Redevelopment) as a project manager, development manager, and corporate risk manager.  She has also worked at TGS Management, ADP and for the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment.


WNC Forms Preservation Equity Fund Advisors


WNC, a leading affordable housing development and investment company, has launched a new affiliate, Preservation Equity Fund Advisors (PEF Advisors), a registered investment advisory firm committed to acquiring and preserving existing affordable housing in high-cost markets. Anne Caruana was named President and Chief Investment Officer of PEF Advisors. 



        


                    Anne Caruana 

                Anne Caruana 

        




She has over 19 years of direct experience in the multifamily investment industry, including nearly eight years specializing in the underwriting and acquisition of affordable rental housing. 


Caruana will lead PEF Advisors after serving more than three years as senior vice president of preservation equity funds at WNC, where she oversaw the acquisition and asset management teams.  Previously, she worked for a private real estate investment firm, where she specialized in acquiring affordable rental apartments that generate economic returns, most recently as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions.  Caruana also spent nine years at a publicly traded, multi-family REIT, where she held various research and investment roles, including senior director of market research, senior investment analyst and investment manager. 


Lamont has a new role at TNDC


Katie Lamont was named COO of Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp.  (TNDC) in San Francisco.


She comes into the role after 10 years as director and then senior director of housing development at the nonprofit.  Prior to joining TNDC, Lamont worked at Eden Housing and the Los Angeles Community Design Center, now Abode Communities.


More than 6,100 people are housed in TNDC’s 44 buildings across the city.


PNC appoints community development officer


Yolanda “Yoly” Davila was named director of PNC Bank’s Southwest Territory for Community Development Banking, encompassing the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.



        


                    Yolande Davila 

                Yolande Davila 

        




Davila, who has eight years of experience with PNC and BBVA USA, most recently served as Senior Vice President and Community Development Market Manager for Texas, where she led a team responsible for managing Community performance. Reinvestment Act (CRA), volunteerism, community giving, and community lending and investment efforts throughout the state.  In her new role, she will be responsible for leading the regional implementation of PNC’s recently announced $88 billion community benefits plan.


She succeeds Reymundo “Rey” Ocanaswho became the bank’s Director of Community Development Banking.


Avanath Expands Leadership Team and Appoints Youngest Partner


Wesley WilsonChief Financial Officer, was promoted to Avanath Capital Management, making him the youngest partner in the firm’s history. 



        


                    Wesley Wilson 

                Courtesy of Avanath Capital Management

                Wesley Wilson 

        




Based in the company’s office in Irvine, Calif., Wilson is responsible for managing the company’s new open-end fund with more than $536 million in equity commitments, serving as the company’s sole investment vehicle. company in the future.  Along with his duties as a partner, Wilson will continue to oversee accounting, asset management, finance and investor relations as the firm’s chief financial officer. 


Patricia Gaudin was also promoted from Senior Vice President of Human Resources to Executive Vice President of Human Resources.  She is responsible for creating Avanath’s strategic roadmap for all human capital initiatives.


Additionally, Avanath has promoted Scott Gordy from director of applications to vice president of applications. Chery Smith was promoted from Director of Taxes to Vice President of Taxes. Jesse Grasser was elevated from Vice President of Accounting to Senior Vice President of Accounting.


Risha Williams was hired to serve as Senior Vice President of Property Management East, leading property operations in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Mid-West regions.  Williams brings 23 years of experience working in property management and government grant programs.


M&T Realty Capital appoints SVP


Michel Jean-Pierre was named senior vice president of M&T Realty Capital Corp.  Based in the New York office, he joins the Capital Markets team and will be responsible for MBS investor relations, loan pricing, trading and key capital markets initiatives to support originations across the Platform. 


Jean-Pierre has more than 10 years of experience in multifamily financing.  He joins M&T RCC from Capital One, where he spent the past five years as a senior executive within the agency’s capital markets team focused on pricing and trading multi-family securities.  Previously, he was a Freddie Mac Multifamily Producer in the Northeast Regional Office, overseeing originations and the underwriting process for multiple lender relationships, generating $2 billion in annual volume. 


Cassin & Cassin announces promotions



        


                    Cassia Schaeffer 

                Photograph by Gittings

                Cassia Schaeffer 

        




Cassin & Cassin, a law firm specializing in real estate, real estate financing and private clients, has appointed Cassia Schaeffer and William McConnell partners, and Christopher Cosolito was promoted to lawyer. 



        


                    William McConnell 

                Photograph by Gittings

                William McConnell 

        




As a member of the company’s agency lending and affordable housing practices, Schaeffer will continue to represent institutional lenders in financing multifamily properties through the Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) program and the Freddie program. Mac Seller-Servicer, including working on a variety of affordable housing transactions, manufactured housing transactions, and multi-state portfolios with various lenders in the government-sponsored business lending space.  In addition, she represents and advises clients in connection with bridging loans and assignments of mortgages. 



        


                    Christopher Cosolito 

                Photograph by Gittings

                Christopher Cosolito 

        




McConnell will continue to represent institutional lenders in entering into commercial real estate loans for securitization or other secondary market sales.  As a key advisor in the area of ​​commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and bridge lending practices, he advises clients, including lenders, managers and borrowers, with respect to loan facilities secured commercial property, mortgage-backed securities and commercial real estate.  home loan.  Additionally, he has represented and advised clients in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions including mortgage origination, financing, leasing, partnerships, loan modifications, restructurings and foreclosures.


Cosolito, a member of the firm’s CMBS and bridge lending practices, will continue to represent institutional lenders in entering into commercial real estate loans for securitization or other secondary market sales. 


Manatt expands tax credit capabilities


Samir Patel joined Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, a multi-disciplinary integrated law and professional services firm in Chicago. 



        


                    Samir Patel 

                Samir Patel 

        




Patel’s practice is focused on tax credit syndication in new markets.  Her job is to guide clients through Opportunity Zone investments as well as low income housing and historic rehabilitation tax credit issues. 


Prior to joining Manatt, Sameer was a partner at an international law firm, where he focused his practice on tax incentive financing.


Kitchen & Associates appoints chief executive


Matthew Bartner was appointed Managing Director of Kitchen & Associates (K&A), a leading multidisciplinary design firm.  Bartner, who previously served as principal and chief operating officer, takes over Stephen L. Schochwho will remain director of the company. 



        


                    Matthew Bartner 

                Matthew Bartner 

        




As Managing Director, Bartner, AIA, is responsible for maintaining the company’s position as a leader in integrated design services in key markets and verticals.  He and the management team will be particularly focused on growth in the affordable and student housing sectors, where K&A has a significant presence, as well as increasing the company’s presence in other key markets.


DCHFA Appoints Vice President, Controller


Rosemarie Warren joined the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) ​​as vice president of accounting and controller.  In this role, she is responsible for all accounting operations and establishing and maintaining controls over disbursements and receipts. 


Warren has over 10 years of experience as a bank controller.  Previously, she served as Vice President and Comptroller of Congressional Bank and Colombo Bank, and was a former partner at Goodman & Co.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Utah State’s football game at Boise State will be nationally televised on CBS on Black Friday
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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                    Soccer


                    05/25/2022 08:59:00
                



            



                 LOGAN, Utah- For the second consecutive season, Utah State’s football game against Boise State will be nationally televised on CBS as Mountain West announced part of its national television schedule on Wednesday.

The Utah State MW and Boise State regular season finale will be televised on CBS Friday, November 25 at 10 a.m.  The game will mark the second straight season the two teams have faced off on CBS mid-morning.


Defending MW champion Utah State opens the season with three straight non-conference games as it hosts Connecticut on Saturday, August 27, plays 2021 national runner-up Alabama on Saturday, September 3, and hosts Weber State the Saturday.  , September 10.


After using its first bye of the season, Utah State begins conference play at home as it hosts UNLV on Saturday, September 24.  Following its championship opener, USU will wrap up the non-conference portion of its schedule with a road game at BYU on Thursday, September 29.


Utah State then returns to MW play as it hosts the Air Force on Saturday, October 8, in its only home game of the month.  Back-to-back road games are in store for USU the next two weekends as it plays at Colorado State and Wyoming on Saturday, October 15 and Saturday, October 22.  USU will then have its second bye of the season to wrap up the month.


As the calendar turns to November, Utah State will host New Mexico on Saturday, November 5 and play Hawai’i on Saturday, November 12.  USU next hosts San Jose State in its home final on Saturday, November 19.  , before wrapping up the regular season at Boise State on Friday, November 25.


The Mountain West Championship match is scheduled for Saturday, December 3 at the home ground of the top-ranked club of the two division champions.


The 2022 Mountain West Football Membership includes the Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State and Wyoming in the Mountain Division and State of Fresno, Hawai’i, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State and UNLV in the Western Division.  .


For more information on Aggie football tickets, fans can contact USU Athletics Ticket office over the phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or 435-797-0305 during regular business hours.  Fans can also buy their tickets in person at USU Ticket office inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum or online by clicking on the “Buy Tickets” tab at www.UtahStateAggies.com.


Fans can follow the Aggie Football Program at twitter.com/USUFootball or on Facebook at Utah State Football, as well as on Instagram at instagram.com/USUFootball.  Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.



                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico United adapt to change of venue and plan new stadium
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) — On Tuesday night, New Mexico United will play their first-ever league game at UNM Football Stadium.  Playing in the much smaller UNM stadium will be a different experience for fans, where some might find themselves standing. 


New Mexico United was supposed to play this game on Saturday night.  It was postponed because the opposing team – Phoenix Rising – had COVID-19 issues.  With the isotopes back in town, the United States had to move across the street.


“The first thing that happens is we all feel a real sense of disappointment. There were 13,000 people coming on Saturday and it would be one of the busiest games in the league this year, the one of the fiercest rivalries,” said Peter Trevisani, owner of New Mexico United.  


He says they expect around 5,500 fans to come to Tuesday night’s game.  They even sell standing room only tickets to accommodate more people. 


Even though they’ve played open cup and preseason games at UNM in the past, this is the first time they’ve had to move a regular season game to this venue and Trevisani says it’s asking a lot. of logistics.  “Obviously, financially, it’s a disaster.  But it is okay.  We have a 100 year plan.  We know there are going to be failures.  We had 2020 – we played every game in a row.  We didn’t sell a single ticket,” says Trevisani. 


He says the venue change is a great example of the team needing to have their own home.  “In November there was a vote that didn’t say no to a stadium, it just said no to this city-run stadium funding mechanism. We heard what people said, we’ve been working really hard on it – I think in a month or two we’re going to make some interesting announcements,” Trevisani said. “I think what we’re seeing, and tonight is a great example of that, is the growth of our city. We need more facilities. That’s a good thing. And we’re going to run it privately and I won’t stop until we do. So that’s a life mission at this point.


They are offering disappointed fans exchange and credit options for Saturday’s rescheduled game.  The team says UNM was instrumental in getting this football stadium ready and staffed within 72 hours, and they feel lucky to have been able to make it work. 


Trevisani says they will be offering the usual publicity merchandise, but warned queues could be long due to stadium resources.  “Let’s understand that the UNM put this in place on short notice.  They will do everything they can.  But dealership lines can be very long.  You can’t get the perfect seat.  So, if you want to have a seat, come early.  And be patient, understand that this is the best we can do on short notice,” says Trevisani. 



                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico County relaxes oil and gas drilling rules despite new evidence of health hazards
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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A mapping project published today by non-profit environmental groups EarthWorks and FracTracker shows that more than 12.3 million people live within half a mile of an oil and gas facility in the United States, including 144,377 in New Mexico.  And earlier this month, a mostly rural county just south of Albuquerque passed an ordinance that could increase that number even further.


In early May, the Valencia County Board of Commissioners passed a zoning “overlay” that would allow anyone in the county to apply to mine natural resources on property not located along the Rio Grande Greenbelt (which divides the county in half) and not in an incorporated area.  They would also not lose the zoning classification of the property’s original county.  Proposals would still have to meet county and state guidelines for resource development, but the layering would significantly reduce the administrative steps and public hearings required by the county for zoning changes.
 




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The change could help landowners tap into all kinds of resources, says County Commissioner Joseph Bizzell, who sponsored the bill.  “It could be gravel, it could be hydrogen,” he says.  He also has his own business idea: “I’m trying to get brackish water.  Bizzell says water deposits in the western county could be mined, desalinated and sold for both clean water and the resulting salt.  Currently, that would require an industrial rezoning, he says, and if the brine runs out, he would have to reapply to have the land for agricultural or residential use.


But layering has uses beyond rocks or salt water.


Harvey Yates Jr. of Albuquerque, a county to the north, told the commission, “I think there’s a good chance we could develop a new industry that would mean a better economy for Valencia County.


And maybe a better economy for Yates, too.


The former leader of the state’s Republican Party runs Jalapeño Corporation, an Albuquerque-based oil and gas drilling and exploration company.  He is also part of New Mexico’s best-known and wealthiest oil family.  It was a Yates who drilled the first successful oil well in New Mexico in 1907. And in 2016 the family sold Yates Petroleum to EOG Resources for $2.5 billion.  While the family’s businesses no longer primarily revolve around owning oil and gas wells, research at the New Mexico Division of Petroleum Conservation shows that other companies still own nearly 320 wells with “Yates” in the name.
 




Valencia County Attorney David Pato said the zoning overlay allows landowners to quickly revert to previous uses “whether or not there are natural resources in the area.”




 
Bizzell, who sponsored the zoning overlay, invited Yates to the commission meeting that evening, and Yates was blunt when asked during the meeting if there were any fossil fuel deposits in the county of Valencia.


“Are there resources in Valencia County?”  I think so,” he said.  The US Geological Survey also thinks it’s possible.  A 1995 study notes that the Albuquerque Basin “has the potential for large quantities of hydrocarbons, probably gas” – although none have been found at this point due to scattered and “poor” underground data. .


Yates liked that the layering would allow people to continue doing what they were doing on the surface while the drilling and mining took place underground.  “In Fort Worth,” he said, “there are 2,000 wells under the city.”  He also noted wells under Hobbs and Carlsbad, New Mexico.


Valencia County is not exactly Fort Worth or the middle of the Permian Basin.  For one, there are only about 76,000 people and no oil or gas wells.  County Attorney David Pato says the overlay allows landowners to quickly revert to previous uses “whether or not there are natural resources in the area.”


This could be significant for Yates, as companies he controls — including Jalapeño Corporation, Petro Yates and Yates Exploration — own hundreds of plots scattered across the eastern part of the county, many in ghost developments that were part of the years Massive 60s and 70s Horizon Land Corporation Scam. Yates did not respond to interview requests for this story.


But Yates’ ties to Valencia County run deeper than the land his companies own.  His Jalapeño Corporation donated $1,500 to the Bizzell County Commissioner’s 2020 election campaign, according to records from the office of the New Mexico Secretary of State.  That’s about three-quarters of all the money Bizzell has raised for the race.  Asked about campaign donations, he changed the subject, saying, “You know, again, I’m looking at brackish water.”
 




“It could be something the people of the county would not support and would be appalled to happen.”


~ Kathy McCord, Valencia County resident




 
Bizzell worked with County Attorney Pato on the zoning project: “I gave him the idea of ​​what I wanted, and he wrote it down.”  And Bizzell says he shared the proposed zoning overlay with Yates to get his input ahead of the commissioners’ meeting.  When asked if Yates had suggested any changes, Bizzell replied, “I don’t know if he made anything or not.”


“When constituents have concerns, they take them to their commissioners, who are then raised and considered by the council,” says Pato.  It’s unclear if Yates is considered a voter because he lives in another county.  Asked about the kinds of concerns raised while writing the proposal, Pato replied, “I don’t remember.


The committee heard other concerns at the meeting.  Duana Draszkiewicz, who lives in the county, came to ask the commission to ban fireworks during this dry season.  She stayed when she saw the zoning overlay on the commission’s agenda.  After Yates spoke, she told the commission it was “just going to get oil and gas.  I dare you to tell me I’m wrong.


She says that after the meeting, “I had [county workers] outside the door that gave me a thumbs up because they can’t talk.


Kathy McCord, who also came out to talk about fireworks and also lives in the county, stood up to say, “This might be something the people of the county wouldn’t support and would be appalled to happen.”


They both pleaded with the commissioners to have a wider public audience – which ultimately they probably will.  The zoning change was only publicly announced once prior to the meeting, and it probably should have been posted twice.  Pato said once was enough for this type of change, but recommended the commissioners rescind the rule, reissue it, and hold another public hearing.  Bizzell is in favor of the redesign.  “That way everyone has public comments,” he says.
 




Many oil and gas facilities give off toxic gases, and studies show that living near these emitters leads to increased rates of cancer and other illnesses.




 
The public has new data to consider.


According to the oil and gas threat map released today by EarthWorks and FracTracker, none of the more than 144,000 New Mexicans who already live within half a mile of an oil and gas facility are in the county. of Valencia.  By comparison, it is difficult to find areas in huge portions of the Permian and San Juan fossil fuel basins that are not within half a mile of a facility.


Many of these facilities leak toxic gases, and studies show that living near these emitters leads to increased rates of cancer and other illnesses.  State and federal agencies have known this for years, but so far they have been unable to stop the pollution.  A case in point: One year after the start of a new reporting program administered by the New Mexico Division of Petroleum Conservation, 262 operators failed to file quarterly reports accounting for natural gas losses due to evacuation and flaring.


“It can be very overwhelming if you can’t afford to pick up and move,” says Kayley Shoup, a community organizer with Citizens Caring for the Future.  She lives in Carlsbad in the middle of the Permian Basin.


Overwhelming and unhealthy.  According to map data, approximately 80 percent of the residents of San Juan County in the San Juan Basin live within half a mile of an oil or gas facility.  Joseph Hernandez with the NAVA Education Project in Shiprock, New Mexico lives there and points out that about 60% of the county is in the Navajo Nation, so the majority of people affected by heavy air pollution due leaks from oil and gas facilities are people of color.


“For generations, we have been affected on many levels [by] fossil fuel industry,” he says.


“I can’t stress enough how important this is for future generations.”


Rancher and environmental gadfly Don Schreiber lives on a cattle ranch with 122 producing gas wells at the eastern end of the San Juan Basin.  For years, he has pushed state and federal agencies to tighten rules governing fossil fuel companies, and he has harsh words for Valencia County commissioners and the people who live there.


“County planning and zoning commissions have a huge responsibility,” he says.  “They are the last line of defense” when state and federal institutions are unable or unwilling to regulate an industry, be it oil, gas or brackish water.  He emphasizes that a well is never just a well.  You need big drilling equipment.  You need trucks or pipelines to transport the resulting liquids.  Roads are needed for trucks and to access wells and pipelines.  All this leads to further industrial development.


He says companies are coming to new communities to start drilling and promising a golden goose.  But companies tend to get the gold.


“The other things that come out of the goose,” he says, “everyone ends up with that.”




 
Copyright 2022 Capital & Main



                

            

        

            

            

                
Amazon and Universal series ‘Primo’ to be filmed in ABQ
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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May 23—Shea Serrano has made a name for herself as a journalist and as an author.


His latest TV series project, “Primo,” is currently filming in and around Albuquerque through July.


According to the New Mexico Film Office, the single-camera series, inspired by the life of Serrano who grew up in San Antonio, Texas, follows a teenager balancing college aspirations, societal expectations and a hectic, grounded family life. by his single mother and five uncles.  .


“We are thrilled that our partners at Universal Television and Amazon Studios are bringing this television series to New Mexico, and we welcome Shea Serrano, cast and crew,” said Amber Dodson, director of the New Mexico Film Office.  “Our beautiful state can double for hundreds of places, including Texas. Plus, we offer a thorough and skilled workforce, movie-friendly businesses, and a competitive tax incentive. We hope that’s the first of many seasons made right here in New Mexico.”


Series regulars include Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Christina Vidal, Johnny Rey Diaz, Henri Esteve, Martin Martinez, Jonathan Medina, Carlos Santos, Nigel Siwabessy, Stakiah Lynn Washington, and New Mexico native Efraín Villa.


Villa should play the role of Mondo.  He’s also been on NM-based projects like “Shrapnel,” which recently wrapped in New Mexico, starring Cam Gigandet and Jason Patric.


According to the New Mexico Film Office, the production will employ approximately 300 New Mexico crew members.


Serrano serves as creator and executive producer of the series, alongside executive producers Michael Schur via Fremulon, David Miner for 3 Arts Entertainment and Morgan Sackett.


Peter Murrieta and Lisa Muse Bryant are also executive producers.


The series, which will stream on Amazon Freevee, is produced by Amazon Studios and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Schwazze Stock: An Unexpected Opportunity for Savvy Cannabis Investors (OTCQX: SHWZ)
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Darren415/iStock via Getty Images




This article assesses Schwazze (OTCQX:SHWZ), aka Medicine Man Technologies, in light of the Q1 2022 quarterly report released on May 16.  Company outlook update needed in light of sharp share price decline from the report.  In this article, we’ll take a detailed look at the quarterly report and see what it means for the business going forward.


The company


Schwazze is a relatively new company engaged in the growth, manufacturing, distribution and sale of cannabis.  Although it first went public in 2016, it is much newer in its current form.  At the end of 2019, it began to receive a series of large capital injections and a management change led by Dye Capital.  In early 2020, it refocused all of its activities on Colorado.  In early 2022, it added operations in New Mexico, where recreational cannabis was legalized on April 1, 2022. It currently has no plans to expand beyond those two states. For more details, see my Seeking Alpha article on Schwazze from April here.


price action


I first brought Seeking Alpha readers’ attention to Schwazze in April 2022, when the stock price was $1.88.  The price is now $1.42, down 24%.  The cause of the decline was a quarterly report that showed a surprisingly large loss compared to analysts’ estimates.  This is a good example of the ready, shoot, aim attitude of a market that reacts to headlines first and foremost.  Looking at the details of the report, it is clear that the market’s reaction was completely unwarranted and that the stock price decline is an unexpected gift for astute investors.


The quarterly report


Schwazze announced a sizable loss of $26.8 million for the first quarter of 2022, a loss of 0.38 per share against analysts’ expectations for a profit of 0.03.  The startling nature of this loss can be seen in this chart of the companies’ financial statements from when they refocused activity in early 2021.


 










 


($ million)
Dec 2020
March 2021
June 2021
Sep 2021
Dec 2021
March 2022




Revenue
7.9
19.3
30.7
31.8
26.5
31.8




Revenue cost
7.3
12.1
15.8
16.8
14.4
20.8




Gross profit
0.6
7.3
14.9
15.1
12.1
10.9




Operating result
-8.8
-1.5
4.4
3.8
3.6
-4.8




Earn more.  Operations.
-8.5
-3.6
4.4
1.0
12.8
-26.8





 


CFO Nancy Huber’s detailed questions and answers on the loss of revenue call transcript are very informative.  First, $13.4 million was due to a liability derived from their convertible debt.  This is a non-cash charge based on the market value of this debt.  This causes a negative P&L effect when the stock price goes up and a positive effect when the stock goes down.  It has nothing to do with the underlying performance.


There was also an expense of $6.3 million for increased inventory.  This was primarily in preparation for the start of recreational activities in New Mexico.  Since New Mexico only opened on April 1, none of the $6.3 million was matched by sales.  Undoubtedly, a good chunk of that inventory has already left stores, based on early sales reports from NM.  Additionally, a portion of this inventory was related to the Colorado acquisitions that were completed during the quarter.


Other costs included non-cash items of $2.5 million for depreciation and amortization and $1 million for stock-based compensation.  There were cash costs of $2.8 million for acquisitions and $7.3 million for interest.


In summary, there was a significant impact of a number of one-time cash and non-cash costs lumped together in a quarter.  The $26.8 million loss included $16.9 million of non-cash accounting costs, $9.1 million of acquisition costs that will generate growing revenue streams in the future, and fees higher interest of $7.3 million which will be used to generate future income.  Such is the nature of emerging growth companies in a new industry.


It was a tough quarter for many cannabis companies.  Year-on-year comparisons were difficult due to stimulus-fueled 2021 sales, and the entire industry appeared to be in a lull where growth investments were just beginning to translate into revenue.  Additionally, the Boulder Fire has disrupted business in one of the major cannabis-consuming areas of the Schwazze Territory.  As a result, there were slight decreases in customer visits and basket size.  Industry-wide wholesale pricing pressures reduced wholesale revenues by $2.2 million.


Schwazze’s underlying business is stronger than ever.  Revenue increased 20% sequentially and 64% year-over-year.  Adjusted EBITDA increased to $7.9 million and gross margin net of purchase accounting increased from 48.7% to 54.1%.  More importantly, the company’s projected annual run rate for Q4 2022 is still $220-230 million, unchanged from Q4 2021.


A story


Hiking in the Scottish Highlands


Scottish Highlands Business and Weather Course (photo by the author)




Is the water used to create single malt Scotch a sacred ingredient?  A few years ago my daughter and I embarked on the 96 mile trek known as the West Highland Way.  It was a week of breathtaking beauty, albeit difficult weather, in the incomparable Scottish Highlands from Milngavie to Fort William.  The first day we noticed the Glengoyne distillery just off the trail and felt compelled to investigate.  Glengoyne has been making single malt whiskey since 1833 and looked like what you might expect – the old distillery building on the left, the tasting house on the right and between them the stream which provided the water for whiskey making .  Across the road were several large modern industrial type buildings with the Glengoyne logo that looked very out of place.  It turns out that Glengoyne was now owned by Ian MacLeod Distillers, a much bigger and big-buying entity.  They had taken over the sleepy, old-fashioned Glengoyne and ramped up production and sales several times over in a new facility.  They no longer even used the water from the original stream, as it was no longer sufficient for production needs.  MacLeod has done this many times, growing a group of small independent distillers into a large, successful company with over 30 brands.


Schwazze engaged in a similar strategy.  They enter existing markets, acquire businesses to which they can apply their expertise in production, distribution and marketing, and transform themselves into parts of the business producing to their highest potential.  It’s a proven strategy that has driven the growth of many admired companies – Diageo, VF Corporation, Coca Cola and Proctor and Gamble to name a few.  It’s also a contrast to much of the cannabis industry, where there’s a rush to expand as quickly as possible in as many states as possible.  One sign that Schwazze is succeeding is that in Colorado they outperform the rest of the state by more than 10%.


There are risks with Schwazze, as with any high-growth company in an emerging industry.  The sector has fallen in concert with other high-growth sectors this year, with most cannabis stocks falling 50% or more.  It is unclear if or when strong growth will return to investors’ favor, and at what cost.  Companies are left to fundamentals to support prices.  In this regard, Schwazze should do well due to its profitable operating history, but only if, as expected, it returns to profitability in the coming quarters as expected.


Stock price and recommendation


Schwazze price table


Shwazze Price Chart (Yahoo finance)




Since the May 16 quarterly report, Schwazze’s stock price is down 24% from $1.77 to $1.42.  In my opinion, this is a gift for investors, and I reiterate my BUY recommendation on the company.  The quarterly loss was mainly due to the “fatness” of the financial results of small emerging growth companies and masks the continuous and uninterrupted development of the company.  In accordance with best investment practice, positions in the business should be built up in increments, adding a third or a quarter of a full position at regular intervals.  This way, investors can avoid irrational enthusiasm and take a measured approach with a stock that is currently experiencing price weakness.  Based on positive past performance that is expected to pick up as soon as next quarter, Schwazze is ready to reward the savvy investor.



                

            

        

            

            

                
NM Wine Festival is back for Memorial Day weekend.  Here’s what you need to know before you go.
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
By

                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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LAS CRUCES – The New Mexico Wine Festival returns this month to Las Cruces and Albuquerque over Memorial Day weekend with a variety of wineries participating.


New Mexico’s Las Cruces Festival is held annually in late spring at the Southern New Mexico State Fairgrounds, west of the city.  Hundreds of people come to taste red, white and sparkling wines made by winemakers from across the state.


Food trucks, craft vendors and musicians also took to the grounds to provide a weekend of fun in the sun.  This year, the festival will take place from noon to 6 p.m. May 28-30 at the Fairgrounds at 12125 Robert Larson Blvd., off Interstate 10.


The musical lineup for the three-day event includes:


    

  • 28 May: Sangre Gitana and Radio Altivo
    • 

  • May 29: Frank Zona and Urban Edge
    • 

  • May 30: Chris Baker and Proud Pete
    • 




Here are some tips to consider before heading to the fairgrounds.


Where can I buy a ticket?


Tickets can be purchased in advance online at nmwine.com/nm-winefestival-lascruces-2022.  General admission tickets for people 21 and older are $30 online or $35 at the door.  New Mexico Wine will donate $5 from every ticket sold to help rebuild communities charred by wildfires this year.  Military discount tickets are $25 and designated driver tickets are $10.  Children 15 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.



After:Looking for 2022 summer fun?  Here are 5 festivals to enjoy in El Paso and New Mexico


One ticket is good for admission to one day of the festival.  Valid IDs are required to enter the festival.  Vertical identifiers will not be accepted.


General and military discount tickets also come with a commemorative glass of wine for tasting.  The glass will also give you a $5 discount on the purchase of a bottle of wine.



What IDs will be accepted?


Vertical ID cards issued in New Mexico or other states will be accepted.  Department of Defense ID cards and passports will be accepted.  Expired driver’s licenses will only be accepted if you also bring the state-issued or paper ID.  New Mexico vertical IDs will not be accepted under any circumstances.


What else should I take with me to the wine party?


The wine festival takes place in late May as the weather in southern New Mexico historically warms.  Umbrellas, hats and sunscreen are good things to bring.  A factory sealed water bottle is also permitted on the course.  Blankets, carts and strollers are also useful, especially if you are bringing children.


Will pets be allowed inside?


Pets will not be permitted inside the fairgrounds gates unless they are service animals specified by federal or state law.  All service animals will need to be registered at the gate.


What is bottle control?


Participants who purchase bottles of wine but do not wish to take them with them can leave them at the bottle control until it is time to leave.  A tag with a person’s name and phone number will be attached to the bottle and a matching tag will be given to the person.  People will have 24 hours to claim unclaimed bottles after the festival ends.


Will I be searched before entering?


All participants will be searched before being allowed to enter the festival.  This includes any bags you bring.  Prohibited items that are handed over to security will not be returned.



What is not allowed at the festival?


Prohibited items include:


    

  • Weapons or harmful objects of any kind, including pocket knives and corkscrews
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  • Mace or pepper spray
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  • Outside alcohol
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  • Food or drinks outside
    • 

  • Open bottles
    • 

  • Fireworks or explosives of any kind
    • 

  • Chillers
    • 

  • Unauthorized sales or solicitation materials, including promotional stickers, flyers and products
    • 



Others read:


Leah Romero is the Trending Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, [email protected] or @rromero_leah on Twitter.





                

            

        

            

            

                
With climate change fueling wildfires, changes needed to avoid worse scenarios
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Climate change is contributing to the large wildfires experienced in western states like New Mexico, and scientists say humans need to make changes to prevent fire hazards.


New Mexico’s largest wildfire in recorded history topped 300,000 acres this week and it’s not the only large fire burning as the state experiences hot, dry conditions and very low humidity.


A study published this month in the journal Ecology Letters    found that wildfire risk will increase in states like New Mexico.  By the end of the century, the study indicates that “high levels of fire danger, which were historically confined to pockets in California and the intermountain western United States, are expected to spread to the entire western United States”.


William Anderegg, an associate professor at the University of Utah, is one of the co-authors who led the study.


As he studies climate stress and risk, Anderegg said it’s a bit surprising, and also depressing, how much fire risk increases under high climate change scenarios.  But, he said, there is also good news in these models.  In scenarios where society acts aggressively to address climate change, “we can avoid a huge amount of fire hazard.”


“It really tells us that the future of fire season is, in large part, in our hands,” he said.


Matthew Hurteau, a professor at the University of New Mexico who was not involved in the study, said climate change is one of the contributing factors to the wildfires the state is currently experiencing.


“The severity of the fires is the consequence of our decisions as humans over the past 100+ years,” Hurteau said.


He said those decisions include excluding fire from the landscape as well as burning fossil fuels. 


“Humans are responsible for the situation we find ourselves in and we need to work together to reduce risk,” he said.


Forest fires can have cumulative effects.  Anderegg said that in addition to the potential for loss of life and property, fires can have economic and health impacts.


“Things like the air quality impacts of all that fire smoke are having huge effects on our health, both locally and downwind, which these days are large swathes of the country.” , did he declare.


Carbon offset programs may not take climate change into account


The study in Ecology Letters modeled climate stress, including forest fires and insect-related tree mortality.


Study co-author Oriana Chegwidden, a scientist who works for the non-profit organization CarbonPlan, said one of the reasons for the modeling was to determine the impact of climate stress on planning programs. carbon offset.  Carbon offsets allow companies to purchase projects intended to offset the emissions they produce.  This practice has come under scrutiny in recent years. 


While forests can sequester carbon, they release it when burned. 


The authors write that their study highlights the need to answer various questions about the carbon offset market.  Without answers to these questions, offset programs may not make as much of a difference as they are supposed to.


Anderegg said most forest carbon offset protocols assume that risks such as drought, fire and pathogens are equal and uniform across the country.  He said that wasn’t true.


He said the protocols were not based on rigorous science and he would like things like their study to be used to inform those protocols.


During an interview, Chegwidden pulled graphs from the study that show projected possible increases in things like climate stress and fires based on region.  She pointed to the fire projections, which show increased risks in all regions of the country.  However, the greatest risks are in California and the Southwest.


Projections for the southeastern United States do not show such a marked increase in fire risk, but they do show that fire risk in the southeast in the future could be similar to what it is currently experiencing. California, she said.


What is the correlation between climate change and wildfires?


New Mexico state climatologist David Dubois said persistent drought, hot temperatures and increased risk of wildfires are “the fingerprint of climate change.”


He said models show the fire season moving earlier in the year in New Mexico, as seen this year.  The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire began in early April, about a month before the start of fire season.


Dubois said “the atmosphere is really thirsty right now,” which means more water is going to evaporate.  High temperatures combined with extremely low humidity – some recent measurements have shown levels as low as one percent – mean the state is drying out.


“The extra heat we put into the atmosphere causes changes,” Hurteau said. 


Hurteau also said some of these changes are happening at a faster rate than expected.


He said the scientific community and forest managers need to work together to quickly determine what actions can be taken, such as what tools researchers can provide to improve predictions and improve the ability to safely implement prescribed burns.


Hurteau said winter humidity helps forests be less flammable until the monsoons arrive, but there have been two consecutive dry winters.


“These forests are a little drier than they have been in the past,” he said.  “Basically, with less moisture in the system, a lot more vegetation is available to burn because it’s not holding all that water.”


Climate change, coupled with past management decisions such as excluding fires from landscapes, is contributing to increased wildfire risk, he said.


The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire burns ponderosa pine forests.  Hurteau said that before management practices ruled out fire from these forests, they would burn regularly. 


Preparing for the next fire


Hurteau said people need to think about ecosystems and “how we live in them”.  He said when people build houses they should think about the materials they use and how they can make the houses less flammable.  From a forest management perspective, he said people need to think about how the land can be managed after the fire is over to reduce the risk of future fires.


“There’s no quick fix to this problem,” Hurteau said.  “It’s going to take a lot of effort in a lot of different areas.  This is how we live and use these landscapes.  This is how we manage the landscape.  It’s a number of factors and it’s really going to take all of us contributing to these solutions to reduce the chances of this sort of thing happening in the future.


Antonio Maestas, culture and equity manager for New Mexico Conservation Constituencies, traveled to communities affected by the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire in part to help the grandfather of his girlfriend to clear brush and dead trees from his property as the fire approached and partly to volunteer in the community, such as serving hot meals. 


As someone who was affected by the Dog Head Fire in 2016 and had to leave their home for two weeks because of it, Maestas sympathizes with what the residents of Mora, San Miguel, Colfax and Taos counties are going through. who had to evacuate.


“There are a lot of people in the community who are not going to evacuate.  And the reason they are not going to evacuate is to protect their land to protect their homes,” he said.


Maestas explained that the fire is impacting traditional communities, including land grant communities.  He said some of these families have been there for generations and feel a deeply personal commitment to protecting their lands and homes.  Maestas also comes from a land-grant community and, he said, traditional land management practices such as clearing forests and grazing to remove dense undergrowth can help.


When the Dog Head Fire burned in his community, Maestas said places where the traditional community had implemented these practices did not burn as badly.


“It will be much easier to stop the fire if there isn’t a ton of overgrowth,” he said.


As the fires continue to char the landscapes of New Mexico and other parts of the western United States, American senses Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico, and Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, introduced the National Forest Fire Risk Reduction Program Act on Thursday.  which is intended to help prepare for the next fire.  If adopted, it will lead to additional investment in research and development.  It will also set up warning and forecasting systems, develop observation and detection technologies and standardize data collection efforts. 


“Federal science agencies have a critical role to play in improving how the nation understands, anticipates, and responds to wildfires, but many of these agencies currently have no defined authority or mandate to do so,” Luján said. in a press release.  “This legislation fills that gap and improves the entire federal approach to wildfires.  The wildfires currently raging in northern New Mexico are the largest in our state’s history – burning nearly 300,000 acres.  It is critical that Congress invest in our understanding and response to this devastating type of natural disaster so that we can increase fire resilience and protect New Mexicans from these increasingly catastrophic wildfires.


Anderegg said forest management policies must change.


“It’s becoming really clear that we need to plan forest management for a future with climate change,” Anderegg said.  “And we have to think of all the places where we can be proactive in managing climate dependency and not reactive and just respond to each fire season.”






                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico advocates overhaul plan targeting education deficits |  New Mexico News
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
By

                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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By CEDAR ATTANASIO, Associated Press / Reporting for America






SANTA FE, NM (AP) — New Mexico’s governor has outlined a long-awaited plan that would set academic proficiency goals as the state struggles to resolve a lawsuit filed by frustrated parents who won a decision to justice claiming that the state was not providing an education for the vast majority of its students.






Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s proposal released earlier this month seeks to satisfy this 2018 court ruling and ongoing litigation to ensure adequate resources to equip students as they pursue careers or college education. .






New Mexico is one of a long list of states where parents have turned to the legal system to address frustrations with the state’s budget process and the quality of classroom education.






The public and advocacy groups have until June 17 to comment.  The plan is expected to prompt immediate reforms by the state’s Department of Public Education, as well as budget discussions and priorities in the Legislative Assembly next year.  However, critics say it lacks specifics, including detailed funding plans and timelines.










political cartoons













Education advocates and Native American tribal leaders presented their own plan in 2019. Called the “Tribal Remedy Framework,” it cites sections of the lawsuit, makes specific recommendations, and suggests a specific amount of funding to implement them. .






“While I am hopeful and happy (the Department of Public Education) has released its report and is beginning to move forward on its response, I am still puzzled as to why they have not yet publicly adopted the Tribal Remedy Framework,” Rep. Derrick said.  Slow, by Sandia Pueblo.  He called the proposed draft “we know what’s best for Indigenous children,” and compared it to the collaborative plan submitted by tribes and advocates.






Education advocates expected the governor’s proposal to be shared in December, before the January legislative session, but that did not happen and the state budget was passed in February.






The governor’s plan could also be used to determine whether a state court continues to oversee spending and initiatives to improve public education.






The court found that the state’s investments in education, as well as students’ academic performance, proved that “the vast majority of at-risk children in New Mexico finish each school year without basic literacy and in mathematics necessary to pursue post-secondary education or a career.”






For the groups targeted by the lawsuit, which make up about 70% of children in the state, proficiency in reading and math at many levels was significantly worse than that of other students, with about 4% to 15% being proficient, a found the court.






Lujan Grisham’s draft plan would set academic performance targets that include a 50% increase in test scores over 2019 figures for children covered by the lawsuit – including Native Americans, English learners and college students disabled.  But the Education Department admits it cannot currently measure the increases.






The administration has changed proficiency tests twice since the court’s 2018 ruling, limiting the state’s ability to argue in court that improvements have taken place.






The state also failed to comprehensively test students for two consecutive years during the pandemic.  It is deploying a new battery of tests this year.






“When the New Mexico assessment data is finalized and compiled later this summer, the (Department of Public Education) will reset this baseline and the goals set out in the draft action plan will be attached to these data,” said Department of Public Education spokeswoman Carolyn Graham.  statement.  “It is also important to note that the draft plan is, indeed, a draft, and we expect to receive valuable feedback.”






The draft plan does not offer any funding suggestions.  It highlights recent increases in education spending approved by the Governor, including recent large increases in teacher salaries and overall increases in education funding.  Education now accounts for about 45% of the overall $8.5 billion budget.  Unlike most other states, New Mexico funds schools through the state budget rather than relying on property tax revenues.






The administration is also touting adjustments to support specific groups named in the lawsuit, including an overhaul of social studies standards that expands the focus on Native American history and identity.  These changes have been welcomed by education advocates, even those who continue to mount the lawsuit.






Representatives of the plaintiffs in the current lawsuit welcome the draft plan and the opportunity to respond to it.  But they are not satisfied with the level of detail provided by the State.






“It’s clear that the critical pieces we’ve been asking for statewide are still missing: concrete goals, action steps, estimated funding levels, timelines, responsible parties, and needs. into esteemed staff,” Melissa Candelaria, director of education in New Mexico.  Center on Law and Poverty, said in a statement.  “Community input is essential but would be much more constructive on a fully fleshed out level.”






The Department of Education said last year, for example, that the project would include 90-day benchmarks for short-term performance goals.  None of this was included in the draft released this month.






“The governor’s plans are fraught with platitudes and few results,” said State House Minority Leader Jim Townsend, R-Artesia.  He suggested delays in producing a plan were to benefit Lujan Grisham’s re-election campaign.






Education is expected to be a central issue in the gubernatorial race this year.






Lujan Grisham’s spokeswoman, Maddy Hayden, said the draft is intended to provide a long-term guide and more specific details will be added after the public comment period.






The education reforms were developed “in collaboration across many agencies and there is a shared understanding and responsibility on the part of agencies to do this essential work,” Hayden said.






Lujan Grisham’s office declined to comment on future legal plans, such as seeking to dismiss the lawsuit again, as she unsuccessfully tried to do in 2020.






Earlier this year, the Legislative Assembly and the governor approved $500,000 in legal expenses related to the case.  That’s on top of the roughly $6 million already spent by Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, and her Republican predecessor fighting the lawsuit since 2014.






Attanasio is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative body.  Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on underreported issues.  Follow Attanasio on Twitter.






Copyright 2022 The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





                

            

        

            

            

                
Better weather helps crews working on New Mexico fires |  app
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Improved weather on Saturday helped firefighters battle several large wildfires in New Mexico, including the nation’s largest active blaze.






A cold front that blew through on Friday lowered temperatures, raised humidity levels and provided cloud cover over the largest fire, which is burning in northern New Mexico, said fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns. .  Cloud cover “shades combustibles so the fire has to work harder and has a hard time burning that material.”







        

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Copyright 2022 The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.



                

            

        

            

            

                
How New Mexico Is About to Become an Abortion Access Haven
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
By

                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Dr. Franz Theard in his office at the New Mexico Women’s Reproductive Clinic in Santa Teresa.Adrian Morrow/The Globe and Mail








In his nearly 50 years of performing abortions, Dr. Franz Theard has endured persistent bullying.  Anti-abortion activists blocked his clinic, picketed his house and stormed into his waiting room, hurling abuse at patients through a megaphone.  Her children were even bullied at school.


But Dr. Theard is not discouraged.  A 73-year-old man, bearded and bespectacled, he says his long-held political principles will not allow him to back down.


“I’m on the left of Che Guevara”, he says laughing as he sits in his office at the Women’s Reproductive Clinic in New Mexico.  “I am a lay humanist.  I believe in one rule: treat people the way you would like to be treated.


Moreover, Dr. Theard has long provided his services in a place where they are particularly difficult to access.  He spent most of his career in El Paso, Texas, even as a series of state laws made it increasingly difficult to keep a clinic open.  Ultimately, he decamped one mile across the border to a suburban office park in New Mexico, where there are no restrictions on abortion.


Since last year, when Texas effectively banned the procedure after six weeks, demand for Dr. Theard’s help has skyrocketed.  “In April 2021, we performed 180 abortions.  Last month we did 280,” he says.  “People come from Houston, Dallas, they take eight hours to get here.”


This experience is a glimpse into the likely future of abortion in large swaths of the United States.  A leaked draft Supreme Court decision shows that five conservative justices are considering overturning Roe v.  Wade.  If that happens, more than 20 states are set to enact abortion bans, and the cross-border work of providers like Dr. Theard will become increasingly vital.


It also highlights the pivotal role that New Mexico would play in preserving access.


A desert state of 2.1 million people, it is often overlooked as a beacon of reproductive rights, overshadowed by the metropolises of the northeast or the west coast.  But New Mexico has one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country, even though it borders four states – Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Utah – that have banned the procedure or plan to do so.  This week, Oklahoma lawmakers passed the nation’s toughest law yet, banning all abortions from the moment of conception.


Anticipating the Supreme Court’s decision, the New Mexico legislature and governor last year proactively repealed the 1960s abortion ban, which would have come back into effect had Roe been overturned.  The new state law allows abortion without restriction.


Micaela Lara Cadena, a state legislator who sponsored abortion legislation last year, says many of his colleagues doubted that a largely rural and often culturally conservative state would accept unfettered access to abortion.  The key to proving otherwise, she says, was to bring the message to people like her: a Catholic and Hispanic mother of two.


She was turned away from mass, when men approached her to tell her she was not a true Catholic.  But most people supported her efforts, she said.  When she told her priest that she planned to sponsor the bill, he simply told her to vote according to her conscience.








New Mexico State Representative Micaela Lara Cadena in Las Cruces on May 20.Adrian Morrow/The Globe and Mail








“New Mexicans may have their own moral and religious beliefs and preferences regarding abortion, and still trust someone to make those private decisions for themselves. Pregnancy is sacred,” says Ms. Lara Cardena, 38 , as she watches her eldest daughter practice for the high school track team in Las Cruces, a city of 100,000 people flanked by bare, rugged mountains.


Hispanic and Indigenous community organizations played a central role in mobilizing voters are flooding town halls with Zoom and urging hesitant state lawmakers to support the bill.


When Ceci Pinon, a 42-year-old social worker, spoke out in favor of the law as a member of Strong Families New Mexico, a social policy advocacy group, she was able to address its importance from her personal experience. .  Ms. Pinon became pregnant with her first child at age 14.


With her conservative parents, farm workers, abortion was not an option.  She was also expelled from her school, which told her she was “setting a bad example” to other girls in her class, she says.


“I didn’t have the possibility of having an abortion at that time.  I was a child taking care of a child,” recalls Ms. Pinon.  “My daughter is now 27 years old.  She has options.  She makes her decisions.  »


Nicole Martin, a New Mexico-based organizer with Indigenous Women Rising, says requests for help from her group’s abortion fund increased after the Texas law was passed.  There were so many requests that the fund ran out last month, Ms. Martin says.  He started accepting new requests for help last week.


Some states are proposing laws that would target these funds in an effort to prevent people from crossing state lines to get abortions.  But Mrs. Martin, 30, swears her group will go nowhere.


“We are prepared to take on the legal risk and the financial risk to ensure that Indigenous peoples receive safe and equitable health care,” she says.


A similar level of determination drives Dr. Theard.  A Haitian-American who arrived in the United States in 1964, he has performed abortions since 1973, the year of Roe v.  Wade.


In a sign of sheer demand for his services, he says he’s even had people who denounce him in public come to him privately asking for help.  “I performed abortions on the daughters of senators.  They always come and say ‘I’m against it, but it’s a special case,’” he said.


Currently, it only offers medical abortion.  He stopped performing surgical abortions after his longtime business partner died of COVID-19 in 2020, and he had to take on the additional duties of administering the clinic.  But he hopes to find a younger doctor to join him and provide surgical services again.  And he says he’s ready to expand his clinic to handle any post-Roe influx from out of state.


“We are here, we will help you.  We encourage people to come,” he says.  “I want to be known as a sanctuary.”


Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines.    register today.



                

            

        

            

            

                
US Forest Service suspends prescribed burns, announces review after New Mexico wildfire
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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Citing extreme wildfire conditions, the U.S. Forest Service is suspending prescribed burns while it conducts a review of its practices, the agency chief announced Friday.


The move comes a month after a prescribed burn – which is used to reduce wildfire risk – spread across its border in New Mexico and became the largest wildfire currently ongoing in the United States. United States.


The Forest Service will conduct a 90-day review of protocols, decision support tools and practices ahead of scheduled operations this fall, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said in a statement.


“Our main objective in engaging prescribed fires and wildfires is to keep the communities involved safe,” Moore said.


“The communities we serve and our employees deserve the best tools and science to support them as we continue to navigate towards reducing the risk of severe wildfires in the future,” he said.




















The announcement of a pause came as much of the South West was under “red flag,” or wildfire risk, warnings due to hot, dry conditions.


The Hermits Peak Fire began April 6 and occurred after “unexpectedly erratic winds” ignited several localized fires outside of prescribed burn boundaries, the Forest Service said.


The Calf Canyon Fire started to the west of this fire on April 19 and its cause is listed as under investigation.  The two fires then merged and burned more than 303,000 acres.


The fire was 40% contained on Friday.  More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze.  At least 277 structures, including 166 homes, were destroyed in the blaze, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office said.


Moore previously announced a review specifically about the Hermits Peak Fire.


He said wildfires are becoming more extreme due to climate change and drought, and he called prescribed burns an essential tool to reduce the risk of wildfires.  “99.84% of prescribed fires proceed as planned,” Moore said in Friday’s statement.


New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said she supports the pause, but also said well-managed prescribed burns are important tools.


“It is essential that federal agencies update and modernize these practices in response to climate change, because what were once considered extreme conditions are now much more common – the situation now unfolding in New Mexico demonstrates without any doubt the serious consequences of negligence.  to do it,” she said in a statement.








Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.





                

            

        

            

            

                
Schneider Electric calls for rethinking investment priorities to break supply Vs. Demand deadlock and accelerate climate action at WEF in Davos
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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    Schneider Electric presents a new framework for future-proof buildings developed in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to accelerate the investments needed to create a greener urban built environment
    

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    New modeling reveals a necessary two- to three-fold increase in the rate at which Europe’s building stock is modernized to meet Paris Agreement commitments
    

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    Company announces the creation of 2,500 green jobs worldwide to help accelerate climate action across all facets of the economy
    

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MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, May 20, 2022–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, calls for an urgent overhaul of investment priorities and greater collective action to drive global efforts on climate change at the upcoming WEF in Davos.


Scenarios from Schneider’s Sustainability Research Institute show that stimulating a demand-led transition is the only scenario in which emissions will fall fast enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.  The Research Institute will launch the Towards Net Zero Buildings: A Practical Path e-book in Davos, examining how to break the current impasse between supply and demand.  Key findings include:


    

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    Only 1 to 1.5% of the building stock in Europe is renovated each year.  Renovation levels must reach 3% per year to meet Paris commitments
    

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    Funding remains the biggest barrier to investing in sustainable buildings1 but investing in decarbonization technologies, digital and city ecosystem services maximizes value creation for all stakeholders
    

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    Energy efficiency technology offers significant opportunities to reduce energy consumption ranging from 10-60%, depending on geographies and quality of existing assets
    

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    Digital energy efficiency solutions deliver 20-30% carbon reduction across the building stock, delivering highly competitive returns on investment and cost savings for consumers well within 8 years in mean
    

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The eBook provides a practical roadmap for governments and industries to balance the costs of energy transition with the added burden on communities, especially in today’s unpredictable climate.  It also introduces a new Future-Proof Buildings Framework for Buildings developed in collaboration with the WEF that presents a model and toolkit to accelerate investments to decarbonize cities.  Importantly, the framework emphasizes the need to create value for all.  Through the adoption of existing technologies that reduce carbon and provide a net benefit to consumers, while creating value for the economy and communities.




Schneider Electric has embarked on its own sustainability journey, leading the way as an impact company for 20 years, and believes that accelerating action in a context of high and volatile energy prices requires change. of strategy.  In addition to investments to increase renewable energy capacity, it is now essential to create demand for clean energy through a consumer-driven transition.


In line with this approach, Schneider Electric also announces the creation of 2,500 green jobs worldwide to help accelerate climate action in all facets of the economy.  The jobs, primarily field service roles, will involve helping Schneider customers digitize and decarbonize facilities, modernize assets promoting a sustainable and circular economy approach, and provide advice on sustainable development.


“Investment in renewable energy must continue apace, but every energy transition in history has been driven by market demand.  Shifting to a consumer-centric, demand-driven investment approach will not only lead to large-scale decarbonization, but will also achieve more encouraging results than current modeling suggests,” – declared Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and CEO of Schneider Electric. “Consumers are driving change. That means demand is driving change. The priority must be to disrupt demand with new technologies and bring benefits to the user.”


Schneider Electric representatives at DAVOS 2022


In his role as co-chair of the Forum’s Net Zero Carbon Cities initiative, Jean-Pascal Tricoire will call for a shift in investment priorities.  This requires moving from cost-centric investment criteria to value criteria, extending the current focus on infrastructure to investments that fuel demand, and shifting from over-indexing hardware to solutions. durable software-based.  He will also discuss the need for greater collaboration to move faster to a low-carbon economy.


Luc Remont, Executive Vice President of International Operations at Schneider Electric, will discuss the importance of digital technologies to enable the energy transition in emerging markets and major new partnerships in India, East Asia and South America to empower the workforce and train more people in energy management.


Barbara Frei, Executive Vice President of Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric, will discuss the implications of a shift to an increasingly supply-driven economy and how the transformation of a supply chain model linear supply in a circular model is essential for a sustainable future.  She will discuss the challenges companies face in moving from resource-intensive production and consumption to efficient, low-carbon processes, as well as the role of technologies, collaboration platforms and interoperability in the resolution of these challenges.  She will also discuss the need for manufacturers to refocus their digital transformation journeys towards workforce engagement to attract talent and create safer work environments.  She will share her insights on how augmented automation can empower the workforce and improve productivity.


Peter Weckesser, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Schneider Electric, will provide insights into the transformative role of data and artificial intelligence in advancing business strategies that simultaneously address the biggest challenges facing industries: resilience and decarbonization.  He will also discuss the opportunities and values ​​that can be captured today through digital ecosystem collaboration and the deployment of innovative technologies at scale – and across the enterprise.


See below for details of public sessions with Schneider Electric spokespersons:


Topic: The augmented crafting experience 
Speaker: Barbara Frei, Vice President of Industrial Automation
Date: Monday May 23
Weather: 8:15 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. CET


Topic: Unleashing Digital Innovation for Net Zero 
Speaker: Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and CEO
Date: tuesday 24 may
Weather: 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. CET


About Schneider Electric


Schneider’s goal is to give everyone the means to make the most of our energy and resources, combining progress and sustainability for everyone.  We call it Life is on.


Our mission is to be your digital partner for sustainability and efficiency.


We drive digital transformation by integrating cutting-edge process and energy technologies, endpoint-to-cloud connection products, controls, software and services throughout the lifecycle, enabling integrated management of enterprise, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.


We are the the most local of global companies.  We are advocates of open standards and partner ecosystems who are passionate about sharing Meaningful, inclusive and empowered purpose values.


https://www.se.com/ca/en/


Discover life is lit


Follow us on: Twitter |  Facebook |  LinkedIn |  YouTube |  Instagram |  Blog


Discover the new insights shaping sustainability, Electricity 4.0 and next-generation automation on Schneider Electric Insights.


Hashtags: #InfrustructureOfTheFuture #Sustainability #ClimateChange #Electricity4.0 #Industry4.0


_________________
1 WGBC “Beyond the Business Case”


See the source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220520005272/en/


contacts


Media Relations – Edelman on behalf of Schneider Electric, Juan Pablo Guerrero, Phone: +1 416 875 7173, Email: [email protected]





                

            

        

            

            

                
Taos Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Failure to Pay Taxes Withheld From Employee Paychecks |  USAO-NM
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Diane Mariani, 66, of Taos, New Mexico, pleaded guilty May 18 in federal court to willful failure to collect or pay taxes.  Mariani will remain on bail pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.


According to the plea agreement and other court documents, until 2015, Mariani was co-owner, operator, and treasurer of Taos RPM LLC, and as of 2015, Mariani was co-owner, operator, and treasurer of Mountain Resort Management, Inc. , in Taos, New Mexico.  Mountain Resort Management did business as Snakedance Condominiums, Bumps Market and Hondo Restaurant.  Mariani was responsible for paying employees of Snakedance Condominiums and Mountain Resort Management and admitted in her plea that she knew she had a duty to withhold federal income taxes, Social Security taxes and taxes. health insurance – collectively referred to as “trust fund taxes” – from employee paychecks.  She also knew that she had a duty to file those taxes on a quarterly basis and to file those taxes on a regular basis.


From the first quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2018, Mariani withheld at least $203,137 in taxes from the employee trust funds she paid.  Mariani admitted that she deliberately failed to pay those taxes to the IRS.


Mariani faces up to five years in prison.


IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this case.  Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy Peña is prosecuting the case.


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New Mexico warehouse in short supply
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – For many families in New Mexico, the pandemic and now inflation are making it difficult to put food on their tables.  Now a local food bank, which they rely on, is struggling to stock its shelves with food. 


New Mexico Warehouse has been feeding the needy in the community for four decades, but the past few years have been difficult.  First, they were hit hard as many struggled to make ends meet during the height of the pandemic. 







Jill Beets, Storehouse’s marketing representative, says the organization is facing a new challenge, inflation.  “I have worked with Storehouse for seven years and have never seen our shelves as low as they are.  Which is a scary prospect,” Beets said.


With prices rising, fewer people are able to donate, which means less food to give to those who need it most.  “It’s very disturbing to think that the amount of food we’re going to be able to give away is going to be potentially less,” Beets said.


It’s not just people who give less.  Storehouse partner stores also have fewer items to offer.  They have seen an increase in the number of families needing help, and with summer here the children will be spending more time at home.  “As the summer months approach, many local families who would be considered working poor rely on us during the summer, while they don’t the rest of the year.  Because their children are fed through meal programs,” Beets said.







It’s up to Storehouse to send out one of their biggest cries for help.  “We really hope that local businesses, service clubs and even individuals will consider donating food to the warehouse and other pantries,” Beets said. 


While waiting for donations to start flowing again, they continue to find ways to make sure families in New Mexico are fed. ‘Hot Rods for Hunger Car Show’ is happening May 22 at Alberton’s at 2801 Eubank Blvd NE.  Every dollar raised at the event will provide five meals for Storehouse New Mexico’s food pantry.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Archdiocese of New Mexico to settle sex abuse claims for $121.5 million
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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The Archdiocese of Santa Fe in New Mexico says it has reached a $121.5 million settlement agreement to resolve a bankruptcy case stemming from clergy sex abuse claims, one of the largest settlements of this type involving the Catholic Church in the United States.


Proposed settlement would be used to compensate sexual abuse survivors, Archdiocese of Santa Fe said in a press release tuesday.


The settlement affects about 375 plaintiffs, Dan Fasy, an attorney representing 111 of the victims, said Wednesday.


The deal was among the largest settlements made by a U.S. Catholic diocese or archdiocese after decades of sexual abuse claims.  The settlement also comes a month after the Diocese of Camden, NJ, said it had agreed to pay $87.5 million to settle claims made by hundreds of people who accused clergy of having them. sexually abused.










In New Mexico, about 74 priests have been described as ‘credibly accused’ of child sexual abuse, while priests have been assigned to parishes and schools by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, according to The Associated Press.


The Archbishop of Santa Fe, John C. Wester, said in 2018 that the diocese would file for bankruptcy protection to settle child sexual abuse claims.  The archdiocese is one of approximately 30 dioceses and Catholic orders in the United States to file for bankruptcy, according to BishopAccountability.orgthat tracks cases of abuse against the church.


The settlement, which must be approved by victims of abuse, will be funded by the archdiocese, parishes in the archdiocese, other Catholic entities and archdiocesan insurers, according to the archdiocese.  Established in the 1850s after the Mexican-American War, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe comprises 93 parish seats and 226 active missions.


“The Church takes very seriously its responsibility to ensure that survivors of sexual abuse are justly compensated for the suffering they have endured,” Bishop Wester said in the statement.  “We hope this settlement is the next step in the healing process for those who have been injured.”


The archdiocese said the settlement money would be used exclusively to compensate the victims and would not be used to cover the archdiocese’s legal fees or other expenses related to the bankruptcy case.










“I am happy to see that there is a certain feeling of closure for the survivors,” said Mr. Fasy, the lawyer for many victims, during a telephone interview on Wednesday.  “There is no amount of money that can take away the pain and trauma the survivors have endured, but I’m glad they now have the opportunity to start asking themselves if the settlement makes sense.”


As part of the settlement agreement, the archdiocese also pledged to create an information archive to document the abuse and said it would hold prayer services and meetings with survivors.


The archdiocese is contributing $75 million to the settlement, with the rest of the settlement money coming from contributions from five different insurers, Fasy said.


The archdiocese said it hopes the settlement will “help bring healing to survivors of sexual abuse and the wider community”.


In the statement, Archbishop Wester said it was his “sincere hope that all parties will see the wisdom of the settlement and help bring the bankruptcy case to a close for the sake of sexual abuse survivors, the good of the Church and Catholics.  throughout the archdiocese.





                

            

        

            

            

                
Governor Lujan Grisham’s latest political imposition
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Remark: 


Governor Lujan Grisham has recently continued her attempt to simultaneously keep the oil and gas revenue spigot while embracing enough policies from the radical environmental agenda to appease her political and fundraising base.


His latest plan, known as the Clean Car Rule, has been adopted by his hand-picked Environmental Improvement Board (EIB).  Governor-appointed councils are much more willing to do as they are told than unruly and sometimes uncooperative (albeit overwhelmingly Democratic) legislative bodies with their own political calculations and aspirations.


Incredibly, New Mexico’s new Clean Car Rule undermines democracy and self-government (as well as our economy) by placing New Mexico’s auto regulations under the control of another state, California.  The current rules are California’s and if California changes them, New Mexico will have to follow them or reverse course and opt out.


New Mexico’s new auto standards will require approximately 7% of new cars sold in the state to be zero-emissions by 2025. In the latest available report (Q3 2021), zero-emission vehicles accounted for only 2.29% new vehicle sales in New Mexico.  .  So, to comply with the new rule, sales of zero-emission vehicles will need to slightly more than triple from the third quarter of 2021 to 2025.


But the real kick is that by bowing to California’s political whims, New Mexico could soon be forced to adopt even more aggressive “clean car” standards.  California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order that, if passed, would end the sale of gasoline-powered cars in California by 2035. Final passage of the rule could come in California as early as this month. of August.


If California adopts this rule, 35% of new cars, SUVs and small pickups sold in California (and therefore New Mexico) must be zero-emissions starting with 2026 models. This number will increase each year, reaching 51% of all new car sales in 2028, 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035.


New Mexico’s ‘just’ tripling of electric vehicle (EV) sales in two years means dealerships will subsidize EVs by raising gasoline vehicle prices or look to the state to further subsidize sales of “chosen” vehicles.  This could make gas-powered vehicles purchased in New Mexico more expensive, which would drive purchases from out-of-state auto dealerships.  This would result in lost jobs and tax revenue in New Mexico.  This situation will worsen if California (and New Mexico) adopts the even more aggressive rules envisaged.


Current tax credits and grants include a federal tax credit of $7,500 and various credits for upgrading electrical grid connectivity, which further aid in the deployment of electric vehicles.  Of course, these credits and subsidies are paid for by increasing costs to ratepayers and utility rate payers.


The deployment of electric vehicle charging stations will be another expense associated with this plan.  A recent report revealed that New Mexico has only 401 public charging stations statewide.  And these must be maintained.  A recent report from EV-friendly San Francisco found that 27% of charging stations in the bay were not functional.


This all comes at a time when New Mexico’s largest utility (PNM) is keeping its coal-fired power plant open just to keep the lights on and says it won’t have half the solar replacement power. /battery required to keep the lights on through the summer of 2023.


There are so many issues and costs with a drastic shift to electric vehicles that at the very least the elected New Mexico legislature should have had a say, but instead we have a governor in a battle tight reelection that wants to make big promises to environmental groups and their backers, no matter how much they disrupt or harm New Mexicans and their livelihoods.


The fact is that the real costs of these unrealistic and damaging policies will be borne after this election.  Unfortunately, this is all intentional.


Paul Gessing is president of the Rio Grande Foundation of New Mexico.  The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting the prosperity of New Mexico based on the principles of limited government, economic freedom, and responsibility. individual.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Q&A: Damian R. Lara, Bernalillo County Assessor, Democratic Candidate
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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NAME: Damien R.Lara


POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic


OCCUPATION: Lawyer


TOWN OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque


RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Bernalillo County Assistant Assessor;  Affiliate of the Vice President of Assessors for the New Mexico Association of Counties;  state-certified appraiser;  Director, Economic Development for the City of Albuquerque;  Senior Staff Counsel, Income Stabilization Tax Policy Committee, New Mexico Legislative Assembly;  real estate and property code attorney.


EDUCATION: Bachelor of Arts, Brown University;  double major: Political Science & Philosophy 2001;  Juris Doctorate, University of New Mexico School of Law 2007


AGE: 44


CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: DamienLara.com


1. What would you do to ensure that all properties are valued appropriately and fairly?


All values ​​must be fair and equitable.  I will implement and train staff on appropriate policies and procedures, and ensure they have the tools and state-of-the-art environmentally friendly technologies to conduct fair and equitable assessments.  And I will pay quality salaries for quality reviews.


2. What makes you different from your opponent?


I know the office;  the impact of unfair assessments on families, but also how families can benefit from fair assessments.  I managed all the departments of this office.  I am the only candidate with experience in the following areas: economic development, budgets, adoption of laws and administrative procedures.  My experience and vision for a sustainable economy, safer streets, and stronger schools sets me apart.


Personal history


1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been subject to any state or federal tax liens?


No.


2. Have you ever been involved in personal or commercial bankruptcy proceedings?


No.


3. Have you ever been arrested, charged, or convicted of a DUI, misdemeanor, or felony in New Mexico or any other state?  If yes, explain.


No.



                

            

        

            

            

                
New Mexico wildfire is now the largest in state history
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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A monster fire that has been raging in northern New Mexico for more than a month has blacked out enough land to earn a spot in the state record books.


Along with being the largest wildfire currently burning in the United States, the fire moving across the Sangre de Cristo mountain range is now the largest in the arid state’s recorded history.  It covers over 465 square miles, an area nearly a quarter the size of Delaware.


More than 260 homes burned and more evacuations were prompted over the weekend as the blaze moved through dry – and in some cases dead – stands of pine and fir trees.  Huge columns of smoke could be seen miles away, and fire officials and weather forecasters continue to call it an unprecedented situation.



“We’re trying to think of a bigger box, a bigger picture,” Nickie Johnny, a California incident commander who helps with the fire, said of efforts to find locations at miles of flames where crews can cut lines of fire and mount a defense.  .


After:The black fire burning north of Mimbres continues to grow in the Gila National Forest


Fires were also burning elsewhere in New Mexico and Colorado as much of the West marked an unusually hot, dry and windy spring.  Forecasts for the rest of the season do not bode well, with drought and warmer weather brought on by climate change increasing the danger of wildfires.



Colorado Springs enacted a fire ban after a series of blazes spread rapidly due to hot, dry conditions, including a fatal one caused by smoking.  Under a ban taking effect Monday, smoking and grilling will be banned in parks in Colorado’s second-largest city and people who grill at home will be allowed to use only gas or liquid fuel, no charcoal or wood.




Burning bans and fire restrictions have also been put in place in cities and counties across New Mexico in recent weeks, with officials warning that any new fire starts will further strain firefighting resources. .


After:The cost of fighting New Mexico wildfires reaches $65 million


More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the 5-week-old blaze that threatened the small town of Las Vegas in New Mexico for some time before being stopped just outside of town last week.  Yet many other small villages remained under threat as of Monday, including the resort communities of Black Lake and Angel Fire.



Nationwide, about 2,030 square miles have burned so far this year — the most so far since 2018, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.


Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.



                

            

        

            

            

                
The 3 lessons of COVID-19 learned in New Mexico
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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Two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic upended life as we all knew it.  People all over the world have been suddenly hit with isolation, frustration and fear.  In 2020, we all hoped that stay-at-home orders, the widespread use of masks, and the desperate call for vaccine development would be the solutions needed to stop the overwhelming spread of infection.  Little did we know that two long years later, the virus would claim the lives of over a million people in the United States alone, debilitating many more.  While lifted mask mandates and conversations about steps toward normalcy have sparked a sense of optimism, the transition to endemicity requires thought.


So what have we learned during this unprecedented time?


First, the pandemic has taught us that we need to take a holistic approach to maintaining the three pillars of global health security: prevent, detect and respond.  Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham took a proactive approach by declaring a statewide emergency the same day the state confirmed its first round of COVID-19 cases.  She closed schools and non-essential businesses days later.  However, despite the rapid launch of a large-scale testing program, it became extremely difficult to accurately detect the spread of COVID-19 in our state, as demand for testing greatly exceeded supply.  Ensuring the rapid production of reliable diagnostics was crucial, but many underserved communities did not have access to these tests.


COVID-19 cases have been heavily concentrated in ZIP codes with larger Native American populations and in areas where considerable socioeconomic disadvantage exists.  Thus, it is imperative that we communicate the need to prioritize meaningful interventions among disenfranchised communities.


Second, public health policies seemed to trigger public outcry and political controversy.  Therefore, the pandemic has underscored the idea that public health must take precedence over politics.  As cases increased, we saw that party orientation continued to perpetuate deep disagreement over the threat of the virus and the precautionary measures needed to mitigate the spread of the disease.  Finally, COVID-19 has reinvigorated the notion that hope and resilience lie in vaccination.  The New Mexico Department of Health reports that more than 3 million doses of the vaccine have been administered and that 66.5% of all eligible New Mexicans have received two doses of the vaccine.  The state must combat vaccine hesitancy by promoting science education, enabling individuals to make informed decisions about scientific issues that arise in the public domain.  Hopefully, this would also allow more people to accept some science-driven response efforts.


It is important to remember that when we encounter individuals who display an inability to recognize misinformation, we have a duty not to criticize, but to teach.  A duty to strengthen scientific consensus because empirical evidence conceals an infinite amount of knowledge.






• Do you have a question that you would like someone to try to answer for you?  Do you have a bright spot you want to share?


   We want to hear from you.  Please email [email protected] 






    

                

            

        

            

            

                
Illinois is set to become a bigger movie hub with tax credit expansion on July 1
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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The television and film industry has been very good for Illinois.


How hundreds of millions of dollars worth of movies and TV shows like Wolf Entertainment’s long-running Chicago franchise (“Chicago Fire,” “Chicago PD,” “Chicago Med”) pump into the local economy each year, as well than the thousands of jobs that these productions generate.


And not just in Chicago.  Last year, Amazon Prime’s sci-fi series “Papergirls,” about time-traveling 12-year-olds, was filmed in Wheeling and Hoffman Estates.  The HBO series ‘Somebody Somewhere’, starring Bridget Everett as a woman coping with the loss of her sister, filmed in the Lockport/Lemont/Naperville areas.  And director David Fincher (“Mank,” “The Social Network,” “Fight Club,” “Se7en”) filmed scenes for his upcoming Netflix thriller “The Killer” in St. Charles.




The economic impact will likely increase after the expansion of the Illinois Film Production Tax Credit takes effect on July 1, according to Peter Hawley, director of the Illinois Film Office.




Established in 2008, the program provides a 30% tax credit for all eligible Illinois expenses, including resident cast, crew, and vendor costs.  The expansion of the program will extend the number of eligible “above the line” positions to nine, which include director, screenwriter, cinematographer, production designer composer and others.




Additionally, the expansion covers two non-resident actors for projects of $25 million or less and four actors for projects of $25 million or more, making a maximum of 14 positions available for the tax credit. .











							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        


							        
		







“That means we suddenly became more competitive with other states like (New) Jersey and New Mexico,” according to Hawley, who says the film industry “begged us to extend the tax credit.” .




The expansion of credit is accompanied by the establishment of a manpower training program for those interested in cinema.  That in turn will “expand the native Illinois crew base,” Hawley said, adding “a rising tide lifts all boats. More work is more work.”




Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, TV shows, movies and commercials generated more than $360 million in the state and more than 7,000 jobs in 2020, according to the Illinois website. Movie Office.




A small film shot outside Rockford over 17 days spent $850,000 locally, Hawley said.  The production hired 15 local crew members and actors and 200 extras and “all of those dollars stayed in the community,” he said.











Beneficiaries include restaurants and hotels, local merchants, transportation services, municipalities and individual property owners.




“People have to eat, drive and stay somewhere,” said Hawley, who is particularly optimistic about the training program which he says will help people, especially those from underrepresented communities, get well-paying jobs. in the film industry.




Chicago and the surrounding area have long been a hub of cinema beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of the pioneering Essanay Studios, which produced silent images and counted Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson and Wallace Beery among its stars.




Chicago’s film industry declined beginning in the 1920s when Hollywood became the movie capital of the world.  A rebound began during the 1980s, with “The Blues Brothers”, “Sixteen Candles”, “The Breakfast Club”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Risky Business” and TV shows including “Crime Story”.




Fast forward to 2011 and the opening of Cinespace Chicago film studios on the 60 acres that once housed Ryerson Steel.  The largest independent studio outside of California, Cinespace has been home to the Wolf’s Chicago franchise – which has called the city home for more than a decade – ‘The Chi’, ‘South Side’ and ‘Empire’, among others series.




According to Hawley, developers from all over the country have inquired about establishing studios here.  One problem is finding the 80 to 100 acres that many studio developers seek, Hawley said.




The developers’ biggest competitor is Amazon, which has taken over warehouses and converted them into “Last Mile” fulfillment centers, Hawley said.




These owners are “expecting Jeff Bezos dollars as opposed to Walt Disney dollars,” he laughed.





                

            

        

            

            

                
Titan Development Closing Fund III at $ 122 million
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Titan Development (“Titan”), one of the South West’s leading real estate development and private equity firms, today announced the closing of Titan Development Real Estate Fund III (“TDREF III” or “Fund III “) to 122 million in commitments and sponsor of the general partner.


With the closing TDREF III Titan Development has raised a total of $ 329 million since the inception of the series of funds in 2017 and has developed projects whose combined cost close to a billion dollars.  Investors TDREF III are mainly family offices and wealthy individuals, with over 80% of former Titan investors participating in TDREF III alongside new investors.  The discretionary Fund’s investment objective is focused on multi-family and industrial projects in secondary markets and tertiary growth that have experienced rapid growth in recent years.  The Fund may also invest in opportunistic real estate sectors such as hotels and self-storage in other markets.


“We are delighted that Fund III has won the support of investors who share our vision to develop and deliver high quality solutions for businesses and tenants,” said Ben Spencer, fund and partner manager at Titan Development.  “This is a great proof of confidence we ended Fund III in about three months of fundraising.  While interest in the Southwest region continues to grow, we look forward to deploying these investments to build projects that will bring value to our investors and meet the needs of the communities we serve.


“The speed at which we broke Fund III demonstrates that our investment thesis is very attractive to investors,” said Kevin Reid, a partner at Titan Development.  “It also confirms our numerous projects Identification strategy of our pipeline before the start of the fundraising, and development of a diverse portfolio of industry-specific properties and custom and class A multi-family, won the confidence of our investors, and we greatly appreciate their support.


Kurt Browning, partner at Titan Development, said: “The Fund III will offer many industrial and residential investment opportunities due to the continuing trend of technology companies and manufacturing to move to the Sunbelt and the growing demand for multi-family dwellings.  The Fund will enable us to continue to build on our success in the markets of Texas, New Mexico, Florida and Arizona, as well as develop more on our new markets of Colorado and southern California .


(Visited 1 time, 17 visits today)









                

            

        

            

            

                
Briefcase: the insurer appoints an underwriting manager and announces promotions
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
By

                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Marie Eszenyi


Marie Eszenyi, NSAID, was hired as Underwriting Manager by New Mexico Mutual.


Eszenyi will manage the daily workflow of the underwriting department, monitoring productivity and ensuring compliance with controls and procedures governing the underwriting process.  She will also manage the department’s staff, helping to solve complex problems and assisting with the department’s recruiting and training efforts.


Prior to joining New Mexico Mutual, Eszenyi served as an underwriting analyst at BerkleyNet, a workers’ compensation insurance provider based in Manassas, Virginia.  She also has professional experience in education, training and coaching.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications, philosophy, and a master’s degree in communications and advocacy from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.


The insurer also announced two promotions:


Adrian Gallegos


Adrian J. Gallegos has been promoted to Business Analytics Supervisor.  As a supervisor, Gallegos will be responsible for providing data analytics solutions to meet the business needs of the company, as well as supervising, coaching and training a team of reporting analysts.  He will serve as the main liaison between his department, managers and end users who require business analysis services.  He has extensive experience in the field of business analysis, which he acquired at New Mexico Mutual.  He joined the company as an analyst and worked his way up to senior business analyst in eight years.  Prior to joining New Mexico Mutual, he was a personnel auditor at Burt & Company CPAs in Albuquerque.  Gallegos holds a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in accounting from the University of New Mexico.


Diane Padille


Diana Padilla, CIC, CISR, has been promoted to Head of Underwriting.  In his new role, Padilla will oversee, train and mentor New Mexico Mutual associate underwriters while continuing to provide underwriting services to some of the company’s associate agents.  She will also be responsible for developing and implementing improvements to the company’s underwriting processes.  Padilla has 28 years of experience in the insurance industry, most of which with New Mexico Mutual.  She joined the company as an underwriting intern and worked her way up to supervisor.  She holds two professional titles, that of Chartered Insurance Advisor and that of Chartered Insurance Services Representative.


New Mexico Mutual is the largest workers’ compensation insurer in the state of New Mexico.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Celebrate New Mexico: Carlsbad Caverns National Park
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
By

                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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					In southeastern New Mexico, in the Guadalupe Mountains, there is a journey below the surface that will make you feel like you are in another world.  those early explorers would have lived, it’s just phenomenal,” said Carlsbad Caverns National Park guide Aubrey Brown.  Brown talks about the Carlsbad Caverns.  You can hike, but we did this trek to the cave from the lobby via a visitor center elevator that took us down over 750 feet or 75 floors in about 60 seconds!  We met in the great hall.  “The Great Hall is the largest cave chamber in the United States, so for most people it’s the largest cave chamber they’ve ever been to,” Brown said.  It’s quite amazing if you take a look around.  She said what is unique about this cave is that it was formed by sulfuric acid.  From the stalactites hanging from above to the stalagmites below, you could say it’s been around for quite some time.  the development of this cave is between four and 6 million years old, so the cave itself existed long before the entrance opened,” Brown said.  She said this cave had been known to Native Americans for thousands of years, but a 16-year-old cowboy named Jim White would be the first prominent American explorer to enter it in the late 1800s. found the cave because he thought he saw smoke on the horizon and he followed it and turned out to be bats, hundreds of thousands of bats, which he described like boiling out of this whale from a cave,” Brown said.  “He came back a few days later with a lantern all by himself, made a homemade ladder out of fencing wire and desert sticks, and descended into complete darkness. At the time she became a a national monument, it became a national park around 1930. Today we can all enjoy the cave which could easily expand. See the video below. “We are still exploring Carlsbad Cavern, we are about 42 miles away of walkways, last I heard,” Brown said. The park also sees about half a million visitors in a normal year. We’ve spoken to visitors from far and wide.
				



					CARLSBAD, New Mexico — 											

In southeastern New Mexico, in the Guadalupe Mountains, there is a journey below the surface that will make you feel like you are in another world.


“When you go on this journey, putting yourself in a similar mindset to what some of those early explorers would have experienced, it’s just phenomenal,” said Carlsbad Caverns National Park guide Aubrey Brown.


Brown talks about the Carlsbad Caverns.  You can hike, but we did this trek to the cave from the lobby via a visitor center elevator that took us down over 750 feet or 75 floors in about 60 seconds!  We met in the great hall.


“The Great Hall is the largest single cave chamber in the United States, so for most people it’s the largest cave chamber you can visit,” Brown said.


It’s pretty amazing if you just take a look around.  She said what is unique about this cave is that it was formed by sulfuric acid.  From the stalactites hanging from above to the stalagmites below, you could say it’s been around for quite some time.


“The limestone we’re in dates from around 260 to 265 million years ago, around the time of Pangea,” Brown said.


“But the development of this cave is between four and 6 million years old, so the cave itself existed long before the entrance opened,” Brown said.






She said this cave had been known to Native Americans for thousands of years, but a 16-year-old cowboy named Jim White would be the first prominent American explorer to enter it in the late 1800s.


“He found the cave because he thought he saw smoke on the horizon and he followed it and turned out to be bats, hundreds of thousands of bats, which he described as boiling out of this cave whale,” Brown said.  “He came back a few days later with a lantern all by himself, made a homemade ladder out of fencing wire and desert sticks, and descended in total darkness.”


Fast forward to 1925 when it became a national monument, it became a national park in 1930. Today we can all enjoy the cave which could easily expand.  See the video below.


“We’re still exploring Carlsbad Cavern, we’re just around, I think, 42 ​​miles of passageways, last I heard,” Brown said.


The park also sees around half a million visitors in a normal year.  We spoke to visitors from afar.



                

            

        

            

            

                
US Report Shows Horror of Indian Boarding Schools for Indigenous Children |  UNITED STATES
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
By

                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Tribute to the children who died more than a century ago in a boarding school in Albuquerque (New Mexico).Susan Montoya Bryan (AP)


They were torn from their parents’ arms, changed their names and cut their hair, forbidden to speak their own language or practice their customs, and severely punished for any act of disobedience.  Many did not survive, their bodies buried next to the schools they were forced to attend.


The U.S. government has released the first volume of an investigation into the degrading treatment of Native American children in federally-run Indian boarding schools over a century and a half.  So far, the investigation has established that more than 500 children have died in 19 of these schools.  “This number is expected to increase” as the investigation progresses, says the report, which estimates the number will climb into the “thousands or tens of thousands” as the horror of what happened in these schools will be revealed.


The investigation was launched after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children in Canadian residential schools.  A similar survey was launched in the United States, and the first results were published on May 11 by the United States Department of the Interior, which is responsible for the protection of federally owned lands and the management of programs relating to indigenous communities.


Apache children arriving at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.
Apache children arriving at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.


Research shows that between 1819 and 1969, the federal system of boarding schools for Native American children included 408 federal schools in 37 states or what were then considered territories, including 21 schools in Alaska and seven in Hawaii.  The survey has identified marked and unmarked burial sites in 53 schools and indicates that more are likely to emerge.


The report was presented by current Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first serving Native American woman whose own grandparents were separated from their parents at the age of eight by authorities.  “The consequences of federal policies on Indian boarding schools – including the intergenerational trauma caused by family separation and cultural eradication inflicted on generations of children as young as four years old – are heartbreaking and undeniable,” he said. she said at a press conference.


Haaland believes that the results of this investigation should be used to give voice to the victims and their descendants in order to heal the scars inflicted on the indigenous populations.


Interior Secretary Deb Haaland at an event last February in Jackson, Mississippi.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland at an event last February in Jackson, Mississippi.Rogelio V. Solis (AP)


The 106-page report describes how the attempted cultural assimilation of Indian children was part of a larger goal to deprive Native American tribes and Alaska Natives and Hawaiians of their land.  “I believe this historical context is important to understanding the intent and scope of the federal Indian residential school system, and why it has persisted for 150 years,” Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland wrote in the letter. accompanying the report.


The document goes on to compile historical evidence that supports this conclusion while highlighting the hundreds of treaties signed under duress in the second half of the 19th century that served to relieve Native Americans of their territories.  Some have offered education in return, but the report notes that there is ample evidence that many children were forcibly separated from their parents without the consent of the family and, in fact, some parents paid with their lives for their resistance.


One of the appendices includes maps showing the location of boarding schools, with black dots covering the entire map of the United States, although they are particularly dense in what is now Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.


Map showing the location of schools for Native American children in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), taken from the report.
Map showing the location of schools for Native American children in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), taken from the report.


In many schools, children were involved in animal husbandry, agriculture and poultry farming, milking, fertilization, tree felling, brick making, cooking and sewing.  It was considered part of their education, but the report says they left school with little that could help them contribute to the country’s economy as adults.  Under cover of a so-called education, the students were, in effect, used as child labour.


The report documents how a policy of deliberate uprooting was carried out, with the federal government often collaborating with religious organizations and institutions to run the boarding schools.  Not only were the children separated from their parents and relatives, but the schools insisted on mixing students from different tribes, which meant that they necessarily had to use English to communicate.


Indian Affairs Commissioner William A. Jones stressed in 1902 that there was a need for perseverance regarding the initiative and compared Native Indian children to caged birds.  He said the first generation wants to fly out of the cage because it retains its instincts, but after several generations the bird would rather live in the cage than fly away.  The same goes for the Indian child, he added, according to the report.  “The first savage Redskin placed in the school resents the loss of freedom and yearns to return to his savage wooden home.”  But, over time, these children develop “new rules of conduct, different aspirations and a greater desire to be in contact with the dominant race”.


Children picking potatoes at an Indian residential school.
Children picking potatoes at an Indian residential school.


The inquiry has drawn up a catalog of the mistreatment and abuse suffered by children, beyond separation from their families and forced confinement.  “The federal Indian boarding school system deployed systematic weaponization and identity-altering methodologies in an effort to assimilate Native American children,” the report said.


“Boarding school rules were often enforced through punishment, including corporal punishment such as solitary confinement;  flogging;  withhold food;  whip;  slaps;  and handcuffs.  The report adds that older children were sometimes forced to punish younger ones.  Those who attempted to escape from the schools were severely punished.


A history teacher looks at a photo of a 19th century Native American boarding school in Santa Fe.
A history teacher looks at a photo of a 19th century Native American boarding school in Santa Fe.Susan Montoya Bryan (AP)


The investigation has already discovered 53 burial places on the grounds of these boarding schools and in 19 of these centers more than 500 child deaths have been recorded.  The report does not go into a direct analysis of the cause of death, but notes that the whole system of assimilation and uprooting was “traumatic and violent”.


Although the death toll is in the hundreds, the Department of the Interior anticipates that the ongoing investigation “will reveal that the approximate number of Indian children who have died in Federal Indian Residential Schools is in the thousands or tens of thousands.” , many of which are unidentified.  and buried in mass graves.  “The death of Indian children while in the care of the federal government or federally supported institutions has led to the breakdown of Indian families and the erosion of Indian tribes,” the report concludes.




                

            

        

            

            

                
Stimulus: Cash worth up to $850 going out in these 10 states
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Americans have been struggling since the pandemic began and have benefited from federal stimulus checks to offset financial burdens.




Today, as inflation further increases financial strains in the United States, many states and cities are choosing to help their residents.


States have opted to help residents in the face of the 8.5% inflation rate as the cost of groceries and gas soars.


Here are the states offering stimulus payments and rebate checks


Colorado provides tax rebates of $400 to individuals and $800 to joint filers.


You must be a full-time resident of the state and have filed your 2021 tax returns by May 31, 2022.


Delaware will send up to $600 to 600,000 residents.


Single filers will see $300 and married couples will see $600.


You must have filed a 2020 state income tax return.




Stimulus: Thousands could see $5,500 in direct payments in one state


Georgia sends payments based on filing status for those who filed 2021 and 2022 tax returns.


Single filers will receive $250, head of household filers will receive $375 and joint filers will receive $500.


Idaho residents will see $75 or 12% of their 2020 state taxes, whichever is greater.


They must be residents and have filed returns for 2020 and 2021.


Indiana is sending payments worth $125 due to a law that requires residents to set aside excess reserve funds.


Illinois residents can see up to $400 in stimulus payments.


Those earning less than $200,000 single and $400,000 married will qualify.


The payouts are worth $50 and $100 respectively.


Families with dependents will receive $100 for each additional dependent, up to $400.


Maine has decided to send 850,000 residents stimulus checks worth $850.


This is to help offset inflation and residents could see payments by June.


New Jersey sends up to $500 to middle-class families with one dependent who have paid at least $1 in taxes.


New Mexico passed two bills, one sending stimulus payments of $250 to $500 depending on the status of the filing.


The second bill will send child tax credits from $25 to $75 depending on income.


Finally, the federal government is discussing a gas stimulus proposal.


It’s called the Gas Rebate Act of 2022 and would give Americans up to $100 for areas where gas is over $4 a gallon.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Jacksonville State added to 2023 South Carolina football schedule
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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                        Soccer


                        


                        
                    








Gamecocks replaces Liberty on November 4, 2023





                


                
            





                 The University of South Carolina football team will host the Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Saturday, November 4, 2023, it was announced today.  Jacksonville State will replace the Liberty Flames on South Carolina’s 2023 schedule.


The competition will be the first ever played on the grill between the two schools who share the nickname “Gamecocks”.  Currently a member of the ASUN conference, Jacksonville State will transition all sports to Conference USA in the summer of 2023. With the new conference headquarters, JSU will make the jump to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).  It will end a run in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) that began in 1995 and saw the Gamecocks win nine conference championships and advance to the playoffs 10 times, including a second-place national finish in 2015.


Jacksonville State will join Liberty, New Mexico State, and Sam Houston as new members of C-USA in 2023. Due to its new conference affiliation, Jacksonville State needed to add games outside FBS conference to its 2023 schedule, while Liberty, which currently competes as an independent, needed to release some games from its 2023 slate to accommodate its new conference schedule.


South Carolina will open the 2023 season with a neutral site game, taking on the North Carolina Tar Heels in Charlotte on Saturday, September 2.  The Gamecocks also have Furman (September 9) and Clemson (November 25) on their non-conference schedule.  in 2023. The SEC rotation sees Carolina travel to Starkville to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs, in addition to its regular six-game slate against SEC East Division opponents and a home game with Texas A&M, their permanent rival in the West.


Conference dates and game times will be announced at a later date.



 

 



                

            

        

            

            

                
USFL Week 5 odds: How to bet, lines, pick
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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The best game of week 5 of the inaugural United States Soccer League    season is a cross-divisional matchup between teams with 3-1 records.


The New Orleans Breakers and the New Jersey Generals kick off at 3 p.m. ET Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama (game will air on FOX and is available to stream in the FOX Sports app).


Here’s everything you need to know about the league odds for Week 5 – from point spreads, moneylines, total over/under and expert’s pick via FOX bet.


For more USFL OddsCheck title chances    for all eight teams for the inaugural season.


FOX Bet chief commercial officer Jacob Blangsted-Barnor said the Breakers-Generals showdown will feature contrasting styles.


“This week, the top two teams in yards per game are going against each other; however, they did it in very different ways,” Blangsted-Barnor said.  “The Breakers are one of the few teams that moves the ball well through the air while the Generals’ backfield committee gives them a consistent rushing offense.”


Breakers quarterback Kyle Sloter — 95 for 156 passes (60.9%) for 1,071 yards and five touchdowns — leads the USFL in passing yardage by a considerable margin.




USFL ‘Inside the Drive’: Enter the Breakers’ winning touchdown run against Houston



  USFL 'Inside the Drive': Enter the Breakers' winning touchdown run against Houston


    You’ve never had such access before!  Step into the final game-winning touchdown for the New Orleans Breakers as they defeated the Houston Gamblers in Week 4. Hear from QB Kyle Sloter and Head Coach Larry Fedora as you drive through exclusive cameras throughout the stadium and a micro player and coaches.
  




New Orleans’ Jordan Ellis leads the USFL in rushing yards with 347. But the Generals have rushers who rank 4-5-6 in rushing yards — quarterback De’Andre Johnson (230 yards), rusher ball Darius Victor (213) and RB Trey Williams (203).  Victor leads the USFL in rushing touchdowns with four.


The game could come down to the Breakers having an edge on defense.


“The difference in this game might be on the defensive end,” Blangsted-Barnor explained.  “While the Breakers have the second-best running defense, the Generals have the second-worst passing defense, so they might have some issues against New Orleans.”


TO TAKE: Breakers (-3 at FOX Bet) wins by more than 3 points


UPCOMING GAMES


Michigan Panthers    (1-3) against Tampa Bay Bandits    (2-2), 8 p.m. ET Friday, US


Point spread: bandits -2.5 (Bandits favored to win by more than 2.5 points, otherwise Panthers cover)
Money line: No line available
Over/under total score: No line available














            Michigan Panthers
          


            MICHIGAN
          






                  +2.5

                




                  –

                




                  o33.5

                








Tampa Bay Bandits


            Tampa Bay Bandits
          


            TB
          






                  -2.5

                




                  –

                




                  u33.5

                










New Orleans thugs  (3-1) against New Jersey Generals  (3-1), 3 p.m. ET Saturday, FOX


Point spread: Circuit breakers -3 (Breakers are favored to win by more than 3 points, otherwise Generals cover)
Money line: No line available
Over/under total score: 36.5 points scored by both teams combined












New Orleans thugs


            New Orleans thugs
          


            NOPE
          






                  -3.0

                




                  –

                




                  o36.5

                








New Jersey Generals


            New Jersey Generals
          


            New Jersey
          






                  +3.0

                




                  –

                




                  u36.5

                










Birmingham Stallions    (4-0) against Philadelphia Stars  (2-2), 12 p.m. ET Sunday, NBC


Point spread: Stallions -6 (Stallions favored to win by more than 6 points, otherwise Stars cover)
Money line: Stallions -278 favorites to win (bet $10 to win $13.60 in total); Stars +210 underdogs up for grabs (bet $10 to win $31 in total)
Over/under total score: 35.5 points scored by both teams combined












Birmingham Stallions


            Birmingham Stallions
          


            BAM
          






                  -6.0

                




                  -278

                




                  o35.5

                








Philadelphia Stars


            Philadelphia Stars
          


            ISP
          






                  +6.0

                




                  +210

                




                  u35.5

                










Pittsburgh Maulers    (0-4) against Houston players    (1-3), 4 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX


Point spread: Players -5.5 (Players are favored to win by more than 5.5 points, otherwise the Maulers cover)
Money line: No line available
Over/under total score: No line available












Pittsburgh Maulers


            Pittsburgh Maulers
          


            PIT
          






                  +5.5

                




                  –

                




                  o33.5

                








Houston players


            Houston players
          


            HOO
          






                  -5.5

                




                  –

                




                  u33.5

                












Top 10 USFL Week 4 Games I USFL Highlights



  Top 10 USFL Week 4 Games I USFL Highlights


    Check out the top ten USFL plays from Week 4, including Reggie Corbin of the Michigan Panthers, Jordan Ta’amu of the Tampa Bay Bandits, and appearances by the New Jersey Generals and Case Cookus of the Philadelphia Stars.
  




With the addition of licenses in New York State in April, fans will be able to place legal wagers on USFL games in 27 states and Washington, DC:


Full List of USFL Legal Betting States


Arizona
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Illinois
Iowa
Louisiana
Maryland
Michigan
Montana
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington
washington d.c.
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming


With legal betting in these 27 states and the District of Columbia, no startup professional sports league has ever had legal betting available in more states than the USFL.


Looking for even more USFL content?  Head to the USFL section    on the FOX Sports app and website for all the latest news, and be sure to favorite the USFL and your favorite team or teams!  – while you’re there.






 United States Soccer League


 Get more from the USA Football League Follow your favorites for game insights, news and more. 




    

                

            

        

            

            

                
Taxation, Metaverse and Sustainability at the Center of INTA Annual Meeting – Plus Speeches by Tang and Vidal
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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“Trademark filings in the United States jumped 27.5% in 2021, and there is now a backlog of 544,000 unexamined classes.  The expectation of first action amounts to approximately 7.8 months and the expectation of sale to 12.8 months.  “Please know that we are doing what we can to resolve this issue,” said [USPTO Director Kathi Vidal].”




Understanding tax issues is increasingly important for trademark practitioners, and a new report from the International Trademark Association (INTA) covering the European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom aims to help them do so. reach.


The “Report on Trademark Taxation and Complementary Rights in Europe” was unveiled at the 144and INTA Annual Meeting Live+, held in Washington, DC and online from April 30 to May 3.  There were over 6,700 registrants from 130 countries.


Tax Considerations for Trademark Practitioners


The report guides readers through key tax considerations in the brand cycle (creation/acquisition, operation and transfer) and also explains key tax-related terms.


In the section on exploitation and commercialization, the report explains three popular models – the owner’s own use model, the license model and the master model – and discusses tax implications, location considerations and methods of distribution. ‘Evaluation.


With brands increasingly at the center of business value, tax regulators are paying more attention to the location and management of intellectual property rights, explained Jeff Marowits, president of client services. at Keystone Strategy and a member of INTA’s Research Advisory Board, Global Transactions and Tax Subcommittee.  : “Tax regimes seek to assess where companies generate profits and take a share of profits in a global economy.”


Right now, however, he said trademark and tax professionals aren’t talking to each other enough.  This means that companies owning intellectual property are missing opportunities to inform the tax authorities about the company, with potentially damaging consequences: “Your tax position affects your brand and could affect you there.”


The report focused on Europe due to the variety of tax regimes, Marowits said.  It is part of a two-year education plan that will include reports from other regions and webinars on topics such as transfer pricing.


As the report states: “The tax environment is constantly changing.  For this reason, it is important to identify key emerging trends and expected legislative changes in advance, to be prepared.  Specific upcoming changes discussed are the OECD Digital Taxation Project and the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive.


In his presentation at the opening ceremonies, INTA 2022 President Zeeger Vink of MF Brands Group emphasized the need to properly recognize brand assets in accounting rules.  On April 30, INTA’s Board of Directors passed a resolution stating that “Accounting standards should not require a blanket exclusion of trademarks and complementary intellectual property that are developed from recognition as assets on corporate balance sheets.  A Presidential Task Force on Intellectual Property Reporting for Trademarks will further examine this topic.


Intellectual Property Growth Drivers


In his speech at the opening ceremonies, the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Daren Tang, said that innovation and creativity have led to increased use of WIPO systems.  Record venture capital investment has decoupled the link between GDP and R&D, he added, with companies turning to digital technologies: these account for 6% of patents and “digital” is among the first five words in trademark searches.


Tang said there have been “many more growth drivers for intellectual property since 2010”, with increased filings in countries like Brazil, India, Indonesia and Mexico: “More and more more people see intellectual property as relevant, and more and more countries see intellectual property as important for growth.


In response, WIPO is setting up a Strategy House as part of its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.  Mr. Tang said he would take a “more customer-centric approach” and help “change the narrative around IP”.  In addition, as part of the Organization’s efforts to promote inclusion and diversity, WIPO Deputy Director General Lisa Jorgenson has been named the first Champion of Intellectual Property and Gender Equality. of the Organization, responsible for encouraging the involvement of women in intellectual property.


Vidal on tackling trademark backlog


USPTO Director Kathi Vidal addressed the May 3 meeting.  She said brand protection is more important than ever and added, “We [the Biden Administration] believe in strong intellectual property rights – I want to make that very clear.


Trademark filings in the United States jumped 27.5% in 2021, and there is now a backlog of 544,000 unexamined classes.  The expectation of first action amounts to approximately 7.8 months and the expectation of sale to 12.8 months.  “Please know that we are doing what we can to resolve this issue,” Vidal said.  She said the offices have hired 32 trademark examiners to support the 335 they currently have and are rolling out new technology.


It is also expanding its resources dedicated to combating bad actors, she said: “We are strengthening the protection of our registry, and combating sophisticated and evolving criminal schemes remains a top USPTO priority.”


As part of its efforts to promote inclusivity, the USPTO launched the Council for Inclusive Innovation initiative, which is chaired by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo, with Vidal as vice chair.


Metaverse, NFT and durability


The educational program of the Annual Meeting was organized around seven axes: Building a better society through brands;  additional rights, regulatory issues and trademark restrictions;  law enforcement and anti-counterfeiting;  Innovation and the Future of Intellectual Property;  professional development;  The business of brands;  and regional updates.


This year, the focus was on issues related to metaverse, blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with many sessions on these topics being held.  Speakers discussed ongoing NFT and trademark cases such as Nike vs. StockX and Hermès versus Mason Rothschild.


Sustainability topics were also popular, with sessions on implementing a green IP strategy and eliminating counterfeit products in a sustainable way.


As part of its initiative to create a culture of sustainability, INTA has encouraged registrants to offset their carbon footprint.  He also offered the opportunity to donate to Ukraine Refugee Relief and hosted a reception for the INTA Foundation, which works to expand educational and professional development opportunities in intellectual property for diverse underrepresented populations.


Next year’s INTA Annual Meeting will be held in Singapore May 16-20, with both in-person and virtual options.


Image Source: Depot Photos
Author: Vadim Vasenin
Image ID: 195224554 



							

                

            

        

            

            

                
First American Financial acquires Mother Lode for $300 million
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Read next: First American Financial Completes Acquisition and Expands Product Line


First American previously telegraphed its quest to buy Mother Lode and said the deal would close this month during an earnings call.  During the earnings call, DeGiorgio was asked if the acquisition would mean the company would incur additional debt.


“So in March we had $813 million in cash from the holding company,” he replied.  “So the acquisition of Mother Lode is $300 million. Obviously we can fund that without incurring any additional debt. And we repurchased about $100 million of stock in April. So really, on a pro basis forma, we’re at about $400 million. It’s a very comfortable place. I mean, one thing that we feel good about is that we got the debt deal done last year, where we raised $650 million at a rate of 2.9% and it turned out to be a good deal in hindsight.So effectively what we did was we pre-borrowed for the “Mother Lode okay. So we’re just going to fund with cash on hand.


On the earnings call, he acknowledged a slight decline in buy revenue: “So organically, excluding acquisitions, we’re looking at our buy revenue, it’s going to be slightly down – 2%, 3%, whatever. thing like that – based on what we’re seeing today,” he said. “Obviously we have this situation where orders follow, but we get a big advantage in the average price per case. organically, I think we’re a little less stable. I think once you add in acquisitions, we’ll have high single-digit buy revenue.”


First American describes itself as “a leading provider of title, settlement and risk solutions for real estate transactions.”  First American also provides data products to the title industry and other third parties;  assessment products and services;  mortgage service;  home warranty products;  banking, trust and wealth management services;  and other related products and services.  With total revenue of $9.2 billion in 2021, the company offers its products and services directly and through its agents in the United States and abroad.  This year, the company was named one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine for the seventh consecutive year.



                

            

        

            

            

                
Regional ready: New Mexico State will tackle a busy field in Albuquerque
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – After winning the WAC Women’s Golf Championship, the NM State Women’s Golf Team heads north to Albuquerque to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships.  The only team to represent New Mexico State, the Aggies have an edge over the competition after playing the UNM Championship Course earlier this season.


DEPARTURE
• NM State will make its seventh NCAA regional appearance in the past eight seasons after winning the WAC Tournament.
• The Albuquerque Regional is loaded with top teams from across the country.  No. 2 Oregon, No. 11 Florida, No. 13 Texas and No. 23 Arizona all remain in the national top 25.
• Every member competing for the Aggies has played on the UNM Championship Course in the past calendar year.
• Valentina Origel will kick off competition for the Aggies at 8:55 a.m. Monday morning.  Origel will be followed by Meiji Tungprapunvong, Arantza Armas Stenner, Alison Gastelumand Amelia McKee.
• On Monday, the Aggies will be paired with Sam Houston and Northern Arizona.  At the WAC Women’s Golf Championship, the Aggies beat Sam Houston by three strokes.
• The Aggies will start the opening day of the regionals on the tenth hole.  Louisville, North Texas and Oklahoma will also tee off at 8:55 a.m. on the first hole.



++NM State++



                

            

        

            

            

                
Wildfire threatens ‘cultural genocide’ in New Mexico villages
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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By Andrew Hay


TAOS, NM (Reuters) – Miguel Gandert isn’t sure if his family’s 19th-century log home was burned down by a New Mexico wildfire, but he fears the blaze could destroy an Indo- much older than the United States.


The wildfire is the largest currently in the United States and threatens a chain of villages in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains where Gandert can trace the roots of European and Mexican settlers as well as Native Americans.


The blaze burned countless homes in the Mora Valley, and strong winds on Sunday threatened mudbrick ranch houses, churches, chapels and watermills dating back to the early 19th century.


“It’s almost a form of cultural genocide that’s going on and fire is the enemy,” said Gandert, a retired University of New Mexico professor who spent childhood summers fishing and helping out on the family farm in the village of Mora.


Some resident families have been in New Mexico since the late 17th century and more than half of Mora County, which has a population of 4,500, remained to defend homes, police said.


Working-class families in the communities of Holman and Cleveland used their own bulldozers and machines to scrape firebreaks alongside firefighters, said Mora-born Gabriel Melendez.


They are driven by “querencia,” or love of place, grounded in a religious sensibility for the land they pray for in Catholic churches and chapels known as “moradas,” Melendez said.


“You lose an inheritance, you lose the value of those homes,” said Melendez, a 69-year-old retired American studies professor whose nephew remained in Holman.  “People will rebuild, and they will work to mend the fabric of this torn culture, but it’s a big challenge.”


Those who evacuated feel devastated, said Patricia Marie Perea, whose loved ones left San Miguel County for Albuquerque.


“Three hundred years of ancestry is there in my family,” said Perea, assistant professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at the University of New Mexico.  “All of this makes it difficult, if not impossible, to leave.”


(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Leslie Adler)



                

            

        

            

            

                
State tourism officials visit Roswell
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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“The goal of our tour is really to dive deep into some of the programs that will be offered in the coming fiscal year, either an expansion, or a change, or an added benefit that relates specifically to business, industry, attractions , interested parties,” Antoinette Vigil, Deputy Secretary for Tourism, told the crowd. 


Guest speakers discussed grants related to beautification, rural infrastructure, event support and maintenance, and marketing, among other resources. 


Some of these programs are already used by the city of Roswell, a city heavily dependent on foreign visitors. 


“For the City of Roswell, we have such an iconic brand, it’s something that our downtown businesses rely on us to help bring visitors to their business, to our local restaurants,” said Junita Jennings, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Roswell. 


Jennings, who manages the city’s marketing efforts, said in 2022 the city had received a total of $157,096.50 and for the coming year it had so far requested $143,655. .  Much of that money is for city marketing, like the $9,000 the state received from the Google Ads Department to promote the city’s annual UFO festival. 


The city also received funding for the Department’s Marketing and Advertising Program, which is used for print, billboard and digital advertisements marketing the city.  Themes go beyond the UFOs and extraterrestrials that Roswell is known for and also include the city’s outdoor riches, including its museums and outdoor riches, as well as activities such as hiking, bird watching and fishing. ‘astronomy. 


“It’s about making memories and having this adventure of exploration,” Jennings said.


Beyond marketing, the city also hopes to apply for a $50,000 grant from the Department to make improvements to its visitor center, located downtown.  The city has already set aside $300,000 and hired an engineer for the project. 


Improvements to the center are expected to include expanded parking and digital kiosks where visitors can inquire and make lists of local attractions they want to visit. 


With pandemic restrictions now relaxed, Jennings said she thought people were eager to travel again. 


“After being locked up these two years, it’s about getting out there, and you know, being able to explore all that we have to offer,” Jennings said. 



                

            

        

            

            

                
Imprint-Government – Albuquerque Journal
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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Mesa del Sol Tax Increment Development District #1
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Notice of Adoption of
Resolution


Notice is hereby given of the title and general summary of the subject matter contained in a resolution, duly passed and approved by the Board of Directors of Mesa del Sol Tax Increment Development District No. 1 on April 28, 2022, relating to the the authorization and issuance of the District’s Short Term Tax Bond, Series 2022 (the “Bond”).  Full copies of the resolution are available for public viewing during normal and regular business hours from the District Clerk, c/o Lawrence Rael, City of Albuquerque, 1 Civic Plaza, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102.
The title of the Resolution is:


A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE ISSUE OF THE DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT OF TAX INCREMENT MESA DEL SOL NO.  1 SHORT-TERM TAXABLE OBLIGATION ON TAX INCREASE REVENUES, SERIES 2022 IN THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT NOT EXCEEDING $1,237,949 TO FINANCE THE ACQUISITION AND PAYMENT OR REIMBURSEMENT OF CERTAIN INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS PUBLIC, TO BE SECURED BY GROSS TAX INCREASE REVENUES GENERATED IN THE DISTRICT NO.  1;  AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A SERIES 8 DEED PROVIDING THE SPECIFIC FEATURES AND CONDITIONS OF THE BOND, SUBJECT, IF NECESSARY, TO THE REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF THE NEW MEXICO FINANCIAL AUTHORITY, AN EIGHTH ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT, BOND PURCHASE AGREEMENT, APPLICATION FORM AND OTHER AGREEMENTS AND CERTIFICATES RELATING TO THE BOND;  AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF THE BOND TO THE PURCHASER OF IT;  RATIFICATION OF PRIOR COMPLIANT ACTIONS;  AND REPEAL OF PRIOR INCONSISTENT ACTIONS.


A general summary of the subject matter contained in the resolution is presented in its title.  This notice constitutes compliance with § 6-14-6 NMSA 1978.


Newspaper: May 7, 2022






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Sheryl Arvizu, wife of NMSU chancellor, charged with battery on household member
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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LAS CRUCES — The wife of the chancellor of New Mexico State University was arrested on Thursday for domestic violence.


Sheryl Arvizu, 58, is charged with battery on a member of the household, a misdemeanor.


Arvizu is married to Dan Arvizu, 71, who became chancellor of NMSU in 2018.


Jail records report that Sheryl Arvizu was arrested Thursday at a home in Las Alturas.  Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart confirmed that deputies responded to a “family disturbance call.”  Further details of the incident likely won’t be available until the court system reopens on Monday.


Sheryl Arvizu was taken to the Doña Ana County Detention Center at 10:25 p.m. Thursday and later released on her own recognizance.


NMSU spokesperson Justin Bannister released a statement to the Sun-News Friday night: “Dan Arvizu and his family are currently going through deeply personal issues. He asks the community to grant his family privacy during this time.”



Dan and Sheryl Arvizu have been married since 2017, according to an article in the Albuquerque Journal.


by Dan Arvizu curriculum vitae on the NMSU Chancellor’s Search website, it says: “Married to former Sheryl K. Tatman. We are the proud parents of our blended family of eight adult children and eight grandchildren.”


This is a developing story.


Lucas Peerman can be reached at [email protected] or @LittleGuyInATie on Twitter.





                

            

        

            

            

                
Areas with the most expensive homes near Albuquerque
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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(STACKER) – Buying a home is one of the most important investments there is.  More than a place to live, home ownership is an asset whose value can increase considerably.  Given the current state of the real estate market, housing affordability plays a key role for buyers.  As of May 4, 2022, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 5.73%.  Due to the general rise in mortgage rates, house prices have increased significantly.  According to the National Association of Realtors, the national median home price is $375,300, up from just over $356,000 this time last year.







Although home prices have been inflating across the United States, there are definitely some areas that are priced higher than others.  Location, size, age and condition are all factors that contribute to home value.  Whether you choose to put your home buying plans on hold in the hope that the market will cool down or you are looking to buy as soon as possible, it is good to find out about the market in different cities.


Stacker compiled a list of cities with the most expensive homes in Albuquerque using data from Zillow.  Cities are ranked by the Zillow Home Values ​​Index for all homes as of March 2022. Cities with at least three years of historical data were included.  The graphs in this story were created automatically using Matplotlib.


#24.  Estancia, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $137,610
– Price variation over 1 year: +8.4%
– Price variation over 5 years: +43.4%


#23.  Moriarty, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $151,128
– Price variation over 1 year: +14.6%
– Price variation over 5 years: +42.8%


#22.  Belen, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $168,266
– Price change over 1 year: +26.0%
– Price variation over 5 years: +66.9%


#21.  Jarales, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $193,665
– Price change over 1 year: +23.0%
– Price variation over 5 years: +61.9%


#20.  Cuba, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $227,564
– Price variation over 1 year: +24.8%
– Price variation over 5 years: +36.7%


#19.  Pena Blanca, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $234,829
– Price variation over 1 year: +12.6%
– Price change over 5 years: +51.0%


#18.  South Valley, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $239,512
– Price variation over 1 year: +20.8%
– Price variation over 5 years: +69.6%


#17.  Los Lunas, New Mexico


– Typical value of a house: $241,628
– Price variation over 1 year: +23.2%
– Price variation over 5 years: +65.6%


#16.  Lake Cochiti, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $257,288
– Price variation over 1 year: +31.6%
– Price variation over 5 years: +70.6%


#15.  Carnuel, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $279,679
– Price variation over 1 year: +17.2%
– Price variation over 5 years: +62.9%


#14.  Jemez Springs, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $281,731
– Price variation over 1 year: +22.0%
– Price variation over 5 years: +61.6%


#13.  Peralta, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $295,143
– Price variation over 1 year: +24.4%
– Price variation over 5 years: +66.7%


#12.  Albuquerque, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $296,671
– Price variation over 1 year: +19.4%
– Price variation over 5 years: +57.2%


#11.  Rio Rancho, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $305,987
– Price variation over 1 year: +23.6%
– Price variation over 5 years: +68.6%


#ten.  Bernalillo, New Mexico


– Typical value of a house: $316,446
– Price variation over 1 year: +26.9%
– Price variation over 5 years: +63.7%


#9.  Bosque Farms, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $335,910
– Price variation over 1 year: +21.3%
– Price change over 5 years: +59.0%







#8.  Algodones, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $342,886
– Price variation over 1 year: +22.8%
– Price variation over 5 years: +56.5%


#7.  North Valley, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $357,250
– Price variation over 1 year: +19.4%
– Price variation over 5 years: +57.8%


#6.  Tijeras, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $383,327
– Price variation over 1 year: +15.5%
– Price variation over 5 years: +59.8%


#5.  Cedar Crest, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $413,992
– Price variation over 1 year: +17.6%
– Price variation over 5 years: +57.3%


#4.  Sandia Park, New Mexico


– Typical value of a house: $446,630
– Price variation over 1 year: +15.6%
– Price variation over 5 years: +55.4%


#3.  Placitas, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $595,169
– Price variation over 1 year: +15.0%
– Price change over 5 years: +56.0%


#2.  Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico


– Typical value of a house: $604,513
– Price variation over 1 year: +18.6%
– Price variation over 5 years: +46.1%


#1.  Corrales, New Mexico


– Typical home value: $627,993
– Price variation over 1 year: +20.4%
– Price variation over 5 years: +59.8%



                

            

        

            

            

                
State certifies New Mexico State University graduate student union
                

                    
                    

                    
                    

                        
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                        Katharine J. Norris
                        
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LAS CRUCES — Workers graduating from New Mexico State University have obtained union certification through the state labor board.


A call from NMSU is unlikely, which means graduate student union leaders will soon schedule meetings with university administration to formally discuss the concerns.  Your priorities?  Tuition discounts, more health care options, and higher pay for the more than 900 graduate students who also work at the university.


Matt Varakian, a fourth-year astronomy graduate student involved in the union effort, urges administrators to take “quick action” to make a difference for graduate students.  He hopes there can be changes before the start of the next school year in August 2022. He describes the changes demanded by the union as “long overdue”.


The average NMSU graduate student worker earns $12,123 a year after paying tuition and fees, according to a union press release.



“Our number one (priority) is to get tuition coveragehopefully fall 2022,” Varakian said. “We’ve been pushing that specifically in the last two months.”


Class of 2022:Three future New Mexico State University graduates share their stories


Other goals of the union include discussing the structure of graduate schools, ensuring proof of employment transparency, and establishing proper procedures for students who may encounter poor working conditions.


Matt Varakian, a fourth-year astronomy graduate student involved in the union effort, addressed the group of graduate students who came carrying signs to the New State University Board of Regents meeting. -Mexico on Monday, March 14, 2022. He asked them to continue advocating for their union efforts and the remission of tuition fees.


Varakian added: “It’s important to note that these issues have been talked about ever since – I’ve been here for about four years, they’ve been talked about all that time.”


The union certification comes about a year after graduate workers initially union cards submittedrepresenting the majority of graduate student workers, in May 2021.


NMSU will not appeal


The NMSU could appeal the state labor board’s decision to grant a union, but on Thursday NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu pledged to support the union.



“I had a very positive and productive meeting with several of our graduate assistants yesterday morning,” Arvizu wrote in a note posted to Twitter.  “The State Public Employees Labor Relations Board voted to certify their union earlier this week and I have informed them that NMSU will not be appealing this decision. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with our graduate assistants as we work to address the concerns they have raised.”



Varakian was cautiously optimistic about the certification and confirmation that NMSU will not appeal the certification.


He described the process of union negotiations as “complex”.


“It will take work to figure out how NMSU can provide these things that we are asking for,” he said.


Challenges for international students


In previous presentations and discussions, union leaders of graduate workers at NMSU explained that international graduate students are a particularly vulnerable group.



International students often have to rely more on health care and university resources than graduate students from the United States.


Maxwell Abbey, a Ghanaian student working on his masters in public health, said living with the financial resources provided by the university was “a struggle”.


Education:Single mom finds inspiration to finish college from her 2-year-old son


Abbey said he earned around $1,800 a month during the eight-month school year.  Her monthly tuition comes down to about $1,000, leaving her $800 to cover room and board for the month. 


“You’re always thinking about where your next meal is coming from,” he said.


Abbey said tuition discounts and affordable healthcare are the two key elements to keeping herself and other international graduates afloat.  He said both would be a “relief”.


Another international graduate student, who asked to remain anonymous, said he would not recommend NMSU to other international students at this time and would instead recommend a school that offers a tuition discount.


“If they make it difficult, we can’t speak for the school,” the student assistant said.  But, the student said, he would recommend NMSU if the administration made the changes requested by the union.


Both international students said they were excited to be part of a union that could bargain with NMSU.


“We never sat down to imagine a day like this, where people are going to come together and use their voice, build that collective voice to bring about that change,” Abbey said.  “To see this happen now is like a dream come true. I don’t have the right words to express it, but it gives me so much joy to know that we have come together and are fighting.”



Report for America staff member Miranda Cyr can be reached at [email protected] or @mirandacyr on Twitter.  Show your support for the Report for America program at https://bit.ly/LCSNRFA.