Governor Susana Martinez is proposing a budget containing a three-percent spending increase on education and state government programs next year, but no across-the-board pay raise for public employees. Instead, about a third of the state workforce will be in for raises. Her spending plan also calls for making permanent the Job Training Incentive Program, and ten million dollars for grants to help the state and local communities invest in infrastructure projects to attract specific companies to the state. *****0107 Martinez-1 :42***** Legislative Finance Committee Chair, Representative Lucky Varela of Santa Fe had this response following the Governor’s budget presentation: *****0107 Varela 1 :32***** LFC Chair, Lucky Varela.
Both of New Mexico’s U-S Senators joined the majority on Monday and voted in favor of Janet Yellen to serve as Chair of the Federal Reserve. Democrat Martin Heinrich credited Yellen’s understanding of the nation’s central bank during her previous service there. Heinrich added, quote, “She has also shown an understanding that the Fed’s decisions can and do affect families struggling to get by in an economy where wages are too low and unemployment is too high.” Tom Udall, New Mexico’s other Democratic Senator, also applauded Yellen’s confirmation.
Drivers in Santa Fe will get a reprieve from the unmanned speed enforcement vans. That’s because the city’s contract with Redflex Traffic Systems for the equipment and ticket processing has expired, and the vehicles won’t be on the streets until both parties reach a new deal. A police spokeswoman says the negotiation process could take up to a month.
New Mexico State Police have identified—and charged—the wrong way motorist who refused to stop during Saturday on I-25 and was later shot by a state trooper. Officials say 72-year-old Albert Urban of New York is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and aggravated fleeing. They say Urban refused to pull over, and was forcibly stopped south of Las Vegas and drove aggressively toward a trooper who shot him.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe has incorporated dozens of its parishes as nonprofits; a move that an attorney says could be an attempt to protect church assets from lawsuits. The attorney who represents victims of clerical sexual abuse tells the Albuquerque Journal that incorporating parishes as separate entities allows them to argue they have no responsibility for abuses at other parishes.
Santa Fe Weather: Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly cloudy, the high today, 44. Tonight: Partly cloudy and a low of 24. Tomorrow: Partly cloudy with a high of 47.