A former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist who pleaded guilty to trying to help Venezuela develop a nuclear weapon is set to be sentenced. Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni will appear before a U.S. district judge in Albuquerque later today. Mascheroni and his wife, pleaded guilty in 2013 to offering to help develop a nuclear weapon for Venezuela through dealings with an undercover FBI agent posing as a representative of the Venezuelan government. Mascheroni’s wife, Marjorie RoxbyMascheroni, a former lab contractor, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for conspiring with her husband to sell nuclear secrets. Pedro Mascheroni faces up to five-and-a-half years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina. The U.S. government is not alleging Venezuela sought U.S. secrets.
New Mexico lawmakers want the new head of the state's child welfare agency to ensure federal dollars for services are used by the state rather than returned. Members of a Senate panel challenged Monique Jacobson, the incoming secretary of the Children, Youth and Families Department, during a meeting Tuesday. Jacobson outlined her top priorities for the agency, including tightening internal financial controls, improving communication with law enforcement and expanding services aimed at preventing abuse and neglect. Jacobson says she's excited to tackle the challenges ahead and promised to account for every dollar. Lawmakers expressed support and asked her to act with urgency. The CYFD has been hampered in recent years by staffing shortages, an overwhelming caseload and a series of high-profile abuse cases that have drawn criticism.
Santa Fe State Representative Brian Egolf is sponsoring a bill that addresses the public’s duty to report child abuse to a responsible official—meaning law enforcement or the CYFD (New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department). Egolf says the legislation is needed in light of an appeals court decision nearly two years ago that interpreted current law to say that only certain categories of people listed in the statute have such a duty. *****012715-Egolf-2 :23*****Egolf says the legislation broadens the definition and put into law what was commonly understood to be its meaning to begin with.
New Mexico's unemployment rate dipped for a second straight month. The state Department of Workforce Solutions reports that that the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December was 6.1 percent. That's down from 6.4 percent in November and down from 6.6 percent in December 2013. The department says the state's economy added 13-thousand-500 jobs during the year between December 2014 and December 2013, making it the one of the greatest year-over-year monthly increases since the Great Recession.
Imagine running a marathon—that’s 26-point-two-miles—each day for 100 straight days from the California coast to Times Square in New York—all to raise money for a charity that will provide clean drinking water and sanitation in Ethiopia. That’s exactly what Daren Wendell began doing on New Year’s Day. Wendell crossed into New Mexico from Arizona last week, and should be in Albuquerque tomorrow. *****012815-Wendell-3 :39***** Wendell says you can help him achieve his goal of serving 25-thousand people who don't have clean drinking water. *****012815-Wendell-2 :20***** Wendell, who’s from Canton, Ohio, is an experienced ultra-marathoner. He adds that support is “coming from everywhere,” and that he expects to end the journey on April 10th.
Santa Fe Weather: Sunny today with the high 52. Expect partly cloudy skies tonight with the low down to 31. Tomorrow-Partly sunny and a high of 45.