The New Mexico Court of Appeals has struck down a prior Bernalillo County District Court ruling that essentially allowed assisted suicide in the state. In a split decision Tuesday, a majority of the court concluded "that aid in dying is not a fundamental liberty interest under the New Mexico Constitution." A District Court judge previously ruled that a 1963 state statute making assisted suicide a fourth-degree felony in the state was invalid as applied to physicians who administer a lethal dose of medication to a terminally-ill patient. The Court of Appeals also reversed the district court's decision to stop the state from enforcing the 1963 law and instructed district courts to stop proceedings in further assisted suicide and right-to-die cases.
First District Judge Francis Mathew has ruled against the New Mexico Public Education Department in its effort to have him toss-out the lawsuit filed against it by the NEA-New Mexico. Francis making the ruling Tuesday. NEA-New Mexico Executive Director Charles Bowyer (boh-yer) says the suit is over the teacher-evaluation process put in place by rule by PED Secretary Hanna Skandera. Bowyer is critical of that evaluation system and says the lawsuit is about more than teachers; but rather the children in New Mexico Public Schools. *****081215-Bowyer-4 :22***** Betty Patterson, the President of NEA-NM, says the “observation portion” of the evaluation system began on the right foot: *****081215-Patterson-2 :19***** Patterson also says the PED evaluations over-tests students and is causing excellent teachers to leave the profession.”
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy will be visiting areas in the Southwest affected by contaminated wastewater that spilled from a Colorado mine. McCarthy's office says she will visit Colorado and New Mexico today. Congressional members from those states had sent letters to her earlier this week, asking her to come see the extent of the damage firsthand.
The City of Santa Fe Water Division says a contractor’s work installing a new water line across Siringo Street in preparation for a future water main replacement project on San Lorenzo Drive will require water to be shut off today between 9:30am and two-pm. The water shut-off location is along San Lorenzo Drive and at Nava Elementary, and an estimated 50-homes and the school will be impacted.
Public Service Company of New Mexico and two coal firms want a judge to stop the Santa Fe New Mexican from publishing documents the paper got accidentally from the Public Regulation Commission. PNM says it will suffer "irreparable harm" if its confidential business information and trade secrets are published by the newspaper. The utility wants to join in a lawsuit filed last week by the PRC seeking to block the newspaper from reporting on the information, which is related to the pending San Juan Generating Station case. According to the lawsuit filed in state District Court, a New Mexican reporter filed a public records request for emails between PNM and PRC regulators and was inadvertently given email attachments that contained the confidential documents.
Astronomers say early tomorrow morning between one-and-two-am. is the best time to watch the skies for the annual Perseids (pur-SEE'-ihdz) meteor shower. Didier Saumon (Dee-dee-ay So-mon), a Los Alamos National Laboratory astrophysicist, says tonight’s lack of moonlight will help people see the Perseids. *****081215-Saumon-1 :10***** Saumon says the Perseids consist of comet dust burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere. *****081215-Saumon-3 :36***** The best way to watch: lie down and look up — no telescopes needed.
Santa Fe Weather: Mostly sunny today with the high near 81. Tonight: Partly cloudy, the overnight low, 58. Tomorrow: Mostly sunny with the high near 85 and a 10-percent chance for showers and thunderstorms.