Officials Making Plan To Reduce San Juan River Pollution - The Daily Times, The Associated Press
Officials are working on a plan to eliminate pollution in San Juan County rivers after a study found they contain significant levels of bacteria indicating the presence of human feces.
The Daily Times reports that a two-year study released in late February showed bacteria associated with human and animal waste in the San Juan and Animas rivers. It found that human feces polluted the rivers most.
The San Juan Watershed Group and the San Juan Soil and Water Conservation District to present the study and hold three public outreach meetings. The last meeting was Monday.
The groups are now working to complete a Lower Animas Watershed Base Plan by the fall. San Juan water district natural resource specialist Melissa May says the plan is required to get EPA funding.
NM Governor Reappoints Prosecutor To Public Defender Group - The Santa Fe New Mexican, The Associated Press
The New Mexico governor's reappointment of a career prosecutor to the Public Defender Commission has revived lawmakers' questions about whether Susan Riedel is legally qualified for the post.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that Riedel resigned from the commission before its January 2014 meeting to run for attorney general but lost the race. Gov. Susana Martinez reappointed Riedel on Friday.
The announcement prompted State Rep. Brian Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat, to say the governor "has it out for" public defenders and the accused who can't afford an attorney.
Democratic lawmakers questioned the legality of Riedel's first appointment in July 2013. They said Riedel did not have the necessary experience with the defense system.
Riedel did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
PED Fined For Records Law Violation – Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Public Education Department must pay a $485 fine and opposing attorney’s fees for violating the state’s open records law.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Santa Fe District Judge Sarah Singleton ruled PED made a reasonable attempt to find the records requested by a teachers’ union. However it did not respond in a timely and thorough manner.
The state chapter of the National Education Association filed a lawsuit in September 2014 against PED claiming violations of the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act.
The group sought documents to validate the assertion by PED Secretary Hannah Skandera that 99 percent of teachers were rated effective under an older evaluation system. She used that figure to argue for a new, controversial evaluation system that was implemented in 2013.
NEA Spokesman Charles Goodmacher called the ruling a success for New Mexico’s students and teachers and said it proves there is no factual basis for the 99 percent assertion. But PED said the agency stands behind the claim.
Santa Fe Commission Delays Vote On $40M Hospital Expansion – The Associated Press
Santa Fe officials are delaying a vote on whether to allow a proposed expansion of a hospital that is one of the city's largest private employers.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the Santa Fe Planning Commission decided Thursday to postpone the vote on the $40 million expansion of Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center until August.
The plan calls for a new 65,000-square-foot, two-story hospital wing that would house more private rooms.
Area residents say they are worried about the increased traffic and construction noise the project would generate.
Commission members also have similar concerns.
The hospital wants the new building completed by 2018.
The commission will now vote Aug. 6.
Gov. Martinez: New Mexico Needs Tougher 'Three Strikes' Law - Russell Contreras, Associated Press
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says the state's "three strikes" laws are weak and don't do enough to take violent criminals off the streets.
Martinez said this week she'd like to see tougher "three strikes" laws in New Mexico and hopes lawmakers examine it next session.
The Republican says the "three strikes" law is so narrow that no inmate currently is serving a life sentence under it.
Rep. Paul Pacheco, an Albuquerque Republican, says he'll be introducing legislation to revamp the law and add more violent crimes. But Pacheco says he doesn't want any reforms to add "unintended consequences" for the state.
The push for tougher "three strikes" laws comes after a repeat offender fatally shot a Rio Rancho police officer during a routine traffic stop in May.
Pumping, Treating Of Kirtland's Jet Fuel Plume Begins – Associated Press
Gov. Susana Martinez says a pump-and-treat system designed to clean up a massive plume of jet fuel at the edge of Albuquerque is now in use.
She made the announcement this week and praised her administration for putting pressure on the U.S. Air Force to clean up the plume.
First detected in 1999, the fuel leak is believed to have been seeping into the ground for decades. Estimates of the amount of fuel spilled range from 6 million to 24 million gallons.
The greatest concern has been that the spill would contaminate drinking water wells in the Southeast Heights. The treatment system is part of an effort to keep the contamination from reaching those wells.
After treatment, some of the water will be used on Kirtland Air Force Base's golf course.
Motel Intruder Killed By Ex-CNN Reporter Identified – Albuquerque Journal, Associated Press
The man shot and killed by a former CNN journalist at a Northwest Albuquerque motel has been identified as Tomorio Walton, age 27.
Walton has no criminal record in New Mexico, reported the Albuquerque Journal. Albuquerque Police Department spokesman officer Tanner Tixier said Walton had absconded from parole out of Memphis, Tenn. Police don’t know how long he was in Albuquerque.
Police are still sorting out details around the shooting. Former CNN anchor Lynne Russell says her husband, former CNN reporter Chuck de Caro, exchanged gunfire with the deceased man after the he entered their room at a Motel 6 on Albuquerque's western edge and demanded jewelry.
Russell tells The Associated Press her husband was shot three times and is recovering at a hospital. She told CNN on Thursday he was doing better.
Martinez: Christie Like Many 'Friends' Eyeing GOP Nomination – Associated Press
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says she knew her friend New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would jump into the race for the GOP presidential nomination.
But she stopped short of endorsing him Wednesday and said many of the Republican candidates were her friends.
Christie declared his candidacy for the 2016 GOP nomination at a rally at his old high school in New Jersey on Tuesday. He then went directly to the early-voting state of New Hampshire.
Christie and Martinez have campaigned for each other during their respected races for governor.
Christie says he and Martinez "try to govern in the same way."
Martinez, a Republican, is the nation's only Latina governor.
Special Election Fills Vacant Seat On Navajo Nation Council – Associated Press
A Utah man is the Navajo Nation Council's newest member, winning a seat vacated by the tribe's vice president.
Unofficial results from a special election this week show Herman Daniels Jr., of Monument Pass, winning the post. He defeated several others for the job.
Daniels served on the council in 2010 and 2011, filling in for his father who died while in office. He'll represent four Navajo communities on the 24-member council.
The Navajo Nation's vice president, Jonathan Nez, was re-elected to the post last November. He resigned in May to be sworn in as vice president following a belated election.
Daniels has been the president of the Oljato Chapter since 2013.
A date for him to be sworn in as a Tribal Council delegate hasn't been set.
Petition To Protect Wild Mustangs Under ESA Rejected – Associated Press
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a proposal to list the North American wild horse as a threatened or endangered species.
Friends of Animals and The Cloud Foundation filed a petition last summer seeking Endangered Species Act protection for tens of thousands of mustangs they say are threatened with extinction on federal lands across 10 Western states.
The conservationists argue the horses constitute a distinct population segment that has evolved as a native species over thousands of years separate from domesticated horses.
But the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded in a new 90-day finding refusing to study the matter further that, effectively, a horse is a horse.
It said the petitioners failed to prove that the behavior of the wild mustang herds is significantly different from that of domestic horses.
El Malpais Monument Begins Bat Flight Programs – Associated Press
Officials at El Malpais National Monument in western New Mexico say rangers will begin presenting bat flight programs starting Friday.
The free programs will be held every Friday over the next two months at the El Calderon Trailhead southwest of Grants.
Rangers say the bat flights out of El Calderon are a tradition at El Malpais. Thousands of bats emerge from the cave in the evening in a swirling pattern, spreading out to hunt insects during the night.
El Malpais' system of caves and lava tubes is home to more than a dozen species of bats. The monument also features the remnants of several major volcanic eruptions that date back 100,000 years.
Conservationists Sue To Protect Mexican Gray Wolves - Associated Press
A group of conservation organizations has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its policies on Mexican gray wolves.
The Western Environmental Law Center filed the suit in Tucson this week on behalf of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and Friends of Animals.
The groups claim the federal government isn't doing enough to protect Mexican wolves, an endangered species. They take issue with a final rule issued in January that caps the Mexican gray wolf population at 300 to 325 wolves, prevents wolves from colonizing in certain areas and allows more killing of the wolves by federal agents and private landowners.
A survey released in February showed 109 wolves in Arizona and New Mexico, more than at any time since a re-introduction program began in 1998.