The U-S Justice Department on Thursday will release the findings of its nearly year-and-a-half investigation into whether the Albuquerque Police Department, has a systemic pattern of excessive force that violates the Constitution. In a news release issued Monday afternoon, the Justice Department said officials from its Civil Rights Division would meet with city and police leaders after releasing the investigative findings to the public at a 10 a.m. news conference. Mayor Richard Berry last week asked the DOJ to “expedite” its investigation and “transmit those findings to me as soon as possible.” The DOJ investigation, officially launched in November 2012, aimed to determine whether APD “engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including use of unreasonable deadly force, in violation of the Constitution and federal law.”
With the pending release of the D-O-J investigation as a backdrop, hundreds of Albuquerque residents packed the City Council chambers for their first opportunity to comment APD's recent shootings, specifically, last month's killing of homeless camper James Boyd in the Sandia Mountain foothills.
Third-District Congressman Ben-Ray Lujan is calling for House Republican leaders to take action on an extension of unemployment insurance now that the Senate has passed legislation to extend what the Democrat calls a “critical safety net.” New Mexico Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich were among the 59-38 majority Monday who approved the extension. It's estimated that the legislation would benefit more than 14-thousand New Mexicans.
The New Mexico Department of Transportation is starting to look at our state’s transportation system and needs for the next 25 years. D-O-T planner Claude Morelli says changing demographics must be taken into account when making future plans *****040714-Morelli-1 :21*****Morelli says the D-O-T is holding a number of public meetings to discuss New Mexico's transportation needs in the years to come. More information, including meeting locations, can be found at the NMDOT website.
Holy Cross Hospital in Taos wants to ask voters across Taos County for a new tax to fund specific hospital departments. The Taos news says the hospital’s Board of Directors asked hospital administrators to prepare draft proposals for such a tax during the nonprofit’s meeting last month. The goal is to identify streams of tax revenue that could potentially fund the hospital’s intensive care unit, emergency, and obstetrics departments. Those departments have been major drivers behind the nonprofit’s financial losses
Relatives, friends and former colleagues filled the State Capitol Rotunda Monday to honor Former state Representative Max Coll, a Santa Fe Democrat who died last month at age 82. The Albuquerque Journal reports Coll was remembered at the memorial service as a “man of New Mexico,” a social liberal and fiscal conservative defined as much by his passion for rivers and canyons as his three decades in elective office. Coll retired from the House in 2004.
Santa Fe Weather: Sunny today, with a high near 65. Mostly clear tonight, with a low around 36. Tomorrow: Sunny, with a high near 72.