The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office is investigating Saturday’s fatal crash on State Road 30 on the San Ildefonso Pueblo that appears to be alcohol-involved. The New Mexican reports that a 37-year old Santa Cruz woman was heading south on the highway Saturday morning when a northbound vehicle swerved and collided into her car, killing her. The 36-year old Los Alamos man driving the other vehicle was airlifted to a hospital with his 40-year old female passenger where they were treated to for non-life-threatening injuries.
New Mexico's health insurance exchange is looking for suggestions and comments as it develops a plan to become financially stable over the long term. The exchange will need to be fully self-sustainable by New Year’s Day 2016. That's when federal grant funds for operations will no longer be available. Starting this January, the exchange will also need to fund its program for small business health insurance options. Officials say the exchange has been working on its plan over the past year and the goal is to have minimal impact on New Mexicans and insurance companies. The plan calls for imposing assessments on insurers to raise revenue. The exchange board of directors will accept written comments through December 19th. The board has also scheduled a meeting that same day in Santa Fe.
The U.S. Census Bureau will be embarking on a massive hiring campaign starting this week. Officials say they will begin interviewing and testing candidates for temporary field representative jobs Wednesday at the New Mexico Workforce Connection office in Albuquerque. The interviews will continue every Wednesday and Friday through March 27. Those who are hired will help with the 2015 American Housing Survey. Their duties will include conducting telephone interviews with selected households from May through August. The jobs are temporary and the pay rate is $13.55 an hour. The workers will also get paid for mileage, which means they must have a valid driver's license and a reliable vehicle with insurance.
An attorney for victims who claim they were sexually abused by priests in the Diocese of Gallup in New Mexico wants insurance and financial records from the Franciscan Friars. The Albuquerque Journal reports that claimants attorney James Stang has filed motions asking a federal bankruptcy judge to force two Franciscan provinces to hand over the records. An attorney for one of the provinces filed a motion Monday, saying the action shouldn't be required because the alleged abuses happened years before the province was established. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in November 2013 because of mounting claims of clergy sex abuse. The diocese includes parishes in six counties in New Mexico, three counties in Arizona and seven American Indian reservations.
Sandia National Laboratories is teaming up with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The two have signed a memorandum of understanding in which the lab will help identify and develop programs and exhibits that focus on space exploration, renewable energy, water and nanotechnology. The museum will evaluate initiatives of interest to Albuquerque and the region. Lab director Paul Hommert says Sandia and the museum have a common interest in exposing young people to science, technology, engineering and math. He says the agreement signed last week serves as a vehicle to strengthen the relationship that the lab already has with the museum. In the past year, Sandia pitched in 70-thousand dollars for technical equipment to help provide museum visitors with state-of-the-art learning in science, technology, engineering and math, or “STEM.”
Two mining industry groups are appealing a federal judge's ruling upholding an Obama administration ban on new hard-rock mining claims near the Grand Canyon. The appeal by the National Mining Institute and the Nuclear Energy Institute asks the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule a decision dismissing their challenge to the ban. U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell ruled in October that former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar did not abuse his discretion or violate any laws when he banned new claims in 2012. An American Indian tribe and five conservation groups plan to join the Obama administration in opposing the appeal.
The city of Las Cruces is set to ring in the New Year with its own take on the ball drop. The Las Cruces Sun-News says a 15-foot chrome steel chile pepper will be hoisted above Las Cruces Avenue and Main Street on Dec. 31. Organizers say the giant pepper, powered by solar technology, will drop 60 feet at midnight. Residents will decide if the 400 feet of LED lights covering the chile pepper will light up green or red. The drop will take place as part of a city street party which will include a grand marshal and a Chile Drop queen.
Santa Fe Weather: Sunny today with the high, 49. It’ll be mostly clear tonight, with the overnight low down to 24. Tomorrow: Partly sunny with the high 50.