New Mexico’s Democratic members of Congress announced Thursday that the U-S Department of Veterans Affairs has approved—conditionally—nearly 16-million dollars for the New Mexico State Veterans' Home in Truth or Consequences to build a new 59 bed facility. Among other improvements, the project includes new Alzheimer’s beds and a new rehabilitation section for inpatient and outpatient services. A news release says the facility needs to meet certain conditions to receive the funds. The State Veterans' Home—the only nursing facility in the state dedicated specifically to serving veterans and their families—has planned the construction of the new facility since 2008, and the project is estimated to cost 30 million dollars. It has already secured 12-and-a-half million dollars in state match funding and plans to request additional funding during the current state legislative session.
Santa Fe Police have arrested a 21-year old man in a recent string of robberies. Police spokeswoman, Lieutenant Andrea Dobyns says the suspect was taken-in on Thursday afternoon. *****Dobyns-1 :30*****Dobyns says Police received several tips from the public that assisted SFPD in identifying and arresting Armijo.
Santa Fe City officials want people to know that a rumor regarding the use of the commercial herbicide “Roundup” on city parks is just not true. City spokesman Matt Ross says, quote: "The Parks and Recreation Department is not using and is not planning to use any unauthorized pesticides or herbicides, including Roundup.” The city has a comprehensive pest management plan approved by the city council.
New Mexico legislators have approved a measure revamping the way some things work in the state House of Representatives. The proposed changes affect panels that vet legislation before it is voted on by all members of the legislature. House Resolution One passed with a 37-30 vote on Thursday after two hours of debate from Democrats who opposed the measure. The proposal merges some committees and changes committee names. The panel that deals with voters and election issues would be eliminated while the agriculture and water committee would now include wildlife. Labor issues would be considered in the business and employment committee instead of the labor committee. Republicans say it will make committees more time efficient. Democrats say important issues will be overlooked and that the changes send the wrong message.
Ethics and transparency are considered vital aspects of the democratic process. But New Mexico’s Legislature lacks some essential elements—that contention in a new Legislative Guide produced by New Mexico In Depth. One of the publication’s suggestions includes saving legislative webcasts. New Mexico In-Depth Director Trip Jennings: *****012315-Jennings-3 :34***** In the publication, which has been widely distributed at the Roundhouse, Jennings and several contributors explore the state's political transparency levels. The report is also available at the website, N-MInDepth-dot-Com.
New Mexico courts have requested a nine percent increase in funding over last year to address hundreds of thousands of cases that remain open. During her State of the judiciary address, Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Vigil asked lawmakers to fund the courts with nearly 172- million dollars for the new fiscal year that begins in July. Vigil says trial court judges averaged 23-hundred cases per judge in 2014, and that the extra money would fund new judges, court-appointed attorneys, drug courts and court interpreters, among others. She also says magistrate courts are severely underfunded needing more than three-million to keep up with their caseloads.
A third group is withdrawing its support for Public Service Company of New Mexico’s plan to close half of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station near Farmington. Western Resource Advocates notified state regulators in a filing Thursday that it could no longer support the plan. The group was one of several organizations that signed off on a settlement agreement last October backing the plan to replace the electricity that would be lost by the closure of two units at San Juan. Last week, Energy Industries Association and New Mexico Independent Power Producers backed out over concerns about the costs of PNM's plan. The latest filing expresses concern the utility or one of its affiliated companies could end up acquiring additional coal power to fill the gap.
Santa Fe Weather: Sunny today through tomorrow, today’s high, 35—it’ll reach 42 tomorrow. Tonight: partly cloudy with the overnight low, 19.