Santa Fe State Senator Peter Wirth says he will sponsor a proposed constitutional amendment to reform the state's bail system, which he calls "broken." Wirth, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says his bill will be introduced during the 2015 30-day session of the State Legislature. The Democrat's proposal puts forward two key reforms, one of which would allow judges to deny bail before trial for the most high-risk, dangerous defendants. Another reform would allow for the release of low-risk defendants who are being held in jail simply because they do not have the means to make bond. If approved in the legislature, a measure would go before voters in November 2016. Arthur Pepin, director of the state's administrative office of the courts, says New Mexico's judiciary endorses a bail reform constitutional amendment.
Limits on the hunting and trapping of bears and cougars throughout New Mexico have been considerably eased after a controversial set of actions Thursday by the State Game and Fish Commission The actions taken allow for more black bear hunting in all but two of the state's game management districts as well as the doubling of cougar hunting limits. Phil Carter is with Animal Protection New Mexico: *****082815-Carter-1 :12***** When the Commission announced its ruling, the overflow crowd was outraged. Beverly Cotton of Wild Earth Guardians telling KSFR: *****082815-Cotton-1 :18***** The Game and Fish panel also delayed a decision on an appeal filed by federal officials who are seeking to release endangered Mexican gray wolves as part of recovery efforts in the Southwest.
The New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau has issued a “boil water advisory” for the Las Campanas Water System. The NMED advisory issued Thursday after bacteriological contamination was detected in repeat drinking water samples from the water system’s distribution system. Las Campanas Water System is a community public water system just west of Santa Fe serving approximately 400 people. This advisory only applies to the drinking water from the Las Campanas Water System, and does not extend to any other surrounding water systems.
Both the New Mexico Health and Environment Departments have a plan in place for you to determine air quality without relying on specialized equipment. It relies on using your own visibility. Allison Scott-Majure (Major) handles communications for the State Environment Department. *****082815-Scott-Majure-2 :22***** And if visibility below three miles: *****082815-Scott-Majure-4 :26***** She says when visibility is below one mile, everyone should be staying indoors. Scott-Majure notes that New Mexico is a dusty state and the Environment Department typically issues air quality advisories in the early spring of nearly every year because that’s when the winds kick-up.
Documents show it took more than 90 minutes for members of a federal cleanup crew to issue a warning about a toxic spill because they were initially trapped and scrambling to escape the flood they had accidentally unleashed from a Colorado mine. The documents released Thursday by the federal Environmental Protection Agency contained new details on the three-million-gallon spill on August fifth 5 that fouled downstream rivers in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The EPA is facing increasing political pressure to explain how the accident happened despite prior warnings that it could occur. The inactive mine is located on a remote mountain at an elevation of 11-thousand feet.
Santa Fe Weather: Partly sunny today with a 40-percent chance for mainly afternoon showers and thunderstorms, with the high, 81. Tonight: Mostly cloudy with a continued 40-percent chance for showers, the overnight low, 58. Tomorrow: Partly sunny, with the chance for showers and thunderstorms dropping to 30-percent, and tomorrow’s high reaching 81.