Just a few months after announcing a task force to overhaul campaign finance practices in New Mexico, state officials are still not clear on how many violations are being investigated. The Farmington Daily Times reports that Secretary of State Dianna Duran's office is still compiling referrals of possible violations to send to Attorney General Hector Balderas. Balderas' office released one violation referral from Duran on Friday. More are expected to be disclosed by June 10th. Balderas and Duran formed a joint task force in February to review issues of campaign finance reporting, enforcement and the referral process. The newspaper found Duran's office only collected four-percent of roughly two-thousand fines imposed on candidates who were found in violation. Furthermore, Duran waived one-third of them.
Santa Fe school children on free or reduced-price lunch programs won't be without during their summer break thanks to a new program. The New Mexican reports that the Lunch Box Express will begin delivering free sack lunches today to three mobile home communities on Santa Fe's south side. The Food Depot, a nonprofit food bank that serves nine counties in northern New Mexico, is delivering the food on a Santa Fe Public Schools bus. Each sack will contain nonperishable food, fresh produce and cold milk. Organizers say they expect to feed at least 50 children at each site. The program is modeled after one in Denver. It will run until August 14th.
The Santa Fe Public Library’s children’s summer reading program begins today at all three branches. Director of Library Services, Patricia Hodapp, says it’s for kids through age 12, and offers them weekly recognition and feedback to keep them reading when school is out. *****060115-Hodapp-2 :24***** At the end of the program in late July, parties are held at each branch to recognize participating kids as well as a drawing for the grand prize-- five girl's bikes and five boy's bikes, along with helmets and bike locks. *****060115-Hodapp-4 :28***** Hodapp says the more often the kids to record their reading, the more entries they get in the drawings for the bikes, pointing out that the program’s grand prize incentives young readers. Hodapp says the popular summer reading program attracted nearly14-hundred students last year.
High-speed Internet has become essential to the everyday lives of most Americans, but it has yet to reach many New Mexico rural communities. The New Mexican reports that some rural residents say they feel taken advantage of. They are stuck with snail-paced service while being charged prices that exceed faster plans in urban areas. A lack of competition and government incentives and the high cost of installing fiber-optic cables in thinly populated areas drive up prices for rural service. The Federal Communications Commission last week proposed a dramatic expansion of a subsidy program designed to help low-income Americans get high-speed internet. It looks promising for low-income city dwellers but doesn't address the gaping divide between urban and rural residents. The FCC says estimates that 14 million people in rural areas still lack access to fixed broadband service.
Authorities say a seven-year-old Albuquerque boy has died from the cherry picker accident that killed his father and cousin and injured two other children. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Kevin Raschick died at the University of New Mexico Hospital on Friday from injuries related to the Sunday accident. Police say the cherry picker that carried Kevin, his father, brother, cousin and a neighbor toppled over from a strong gust of wind and crashed 50 feet to the ground, throwing all five people from the lift. Gary Gillard, a friend of the Raschick family, says the boy's mother gave permission for her son's organs to be donated. Gillard says Kevin's older brother, 10-year-old Bobby Raschick, is in stable condition. He says the 10-year-old neighbor is on life support.
The chairman of a joint city-county zoning commission in Roswell who supported a controversial marijuana farm proposal has not been reappointed. The Roswell Daily News reports that Royce "Pancho" Maples failed to get reappointed by the Chaves County commissioners Thursday but does not believe the loss is related to his pro-marijuana stance.
Santa Fe Weather: Mostly sunny this morning, then becoming partly cloudy with isolated showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. The high will reach 89. Tonight: Partly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms and a low down to 55. Tomorrow: Mostly sunny with highs in the 80s.