A new Taos-area resident is the subject of a search near the Taos Ski Valley. Reports say 61-year old Walter Scheib has been missing in the woods since Saturday. The last trace of Scheib, a former White House chef to Presidents Bill Clinton and George-W Bush was the car he left behind at the trail head. Search teams, including some on horseback with dogs say they are very concerned, because they do not believe he was prepared to spend more than a few hours in the woods. They don’t know where Scheib specifically planned to go, and they fear he was unprepared, carrying very little with him. Tracking him has proven difficult. Officials say recent bad weather could have wiped out any clues. Searchers say Scheib has hiked in the area before. They’re also searching creeks and rivers, because they say Scheib also likes to fish.
New Mexico State Police say a 69-year-old man has died after the motorized glider aircraft he was operating crashed at a Taos airport. Authorities say officers were called around 8 a.m. Thursday to Taos Regional Airport and found the man's body along with the wreckage of the glider. State Police say the bod is that of Herbert Waterhouse, of Arroyo Hondo. The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the cause of the crash. Authorities did not release any further details.
There will be a new system to assist judges in sentencing criminal defendants to better determine which pose the highest risk to the community. It will be implemented on a trial basis next month in two of New Mexico's busiest courts— in the 2nd Judicial District and Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque. The new protocol will rank defendants into four categories meant to measure how likely they are to re-offend before their trial or to not show up for trial. The system also aims to safeguard against low-risk defendants lingering in jail while awaiting trial. Despite being announced after the recent uproar over conditional release of the primary suspect in Memorial Day’s murder of Rio Rancho Police officer Gregg Benner, developing the tool has been in the works for some time. Judges already do similar assessments of defendants, but the protocol will provide for a uniform process. Metro Court Presiding Criminal Judge Sandra Engel tells the Albuquerque Journal that judges will still have judicial discretion.
The capital spending bill signed this week by Governor Susana Martinez featured more than 70 line item vetoes that trimmed a bit over one million dollars from the almost 300 million dollar bill. The bulk of the bills’ funding will come from severance tax bonds. In Santa Fe County, the capital outlay bill contains some 16 million dollars earmarked for upcoming projects including 680-thousand dollars for much-needed repairs and improvements at the Palace of the Governors. That adobe structure is billed as the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States.
The queen of the annual Espanola fiesta who had her crown stolen may be kicked off her throne thanks to angry comments about her mother's crime-plagued town. The 2015 Espanola Fiesta Council is scheduled to discuss the future of Fiesta queen Angelina Vigil. Vigil, who’s 24, attacked Espanola on social media and said she hated visiting the city after her mother's home was burglarized and the crown was stolen this week. She later apologized. The theft of the crown generated a "Find the Crown" search on social media by organizers of the annual summertime fiesta. They say the crown has a lot of historical value to the region where Latinos idealize its past under Spanish rule.
Heads-up to drivers on Interstate 25 south of Santa Fe. The New Mexico Department of Transportation reports upcoming lane closures on I-25 at the interchange with Cerrillos Road-State Highway 14. Starting Monday, from midnight-to-six-a.m., lanes of I-25 both northbound and southbound will be reduced to one lane. NMDOT says Tuesday will see northbound traffic of the interstate will be reduced from nine-am until 3-30pm. Also on Wednesday, from 8-30 until three-pm, southbound lanes will be reduced to a single lane from 8-30am through three-pm.
Santa Fe Weather: Mostly sunny today and tomorrow with highs in the upper 80s, with a chance for showers and thunderstorms both days. Tonight: Expect partly cloudy skies with the overnight low, 59 and a ten-percent chance for precipitation.