More pueblos join firework ban

Two pueblos have agreed to join a fireworks ban amid New Mexico's dangerously dry conditions. 

Santa Clara Pueblo and the Santa Ana Pueblo agreed last week to join a ban on fireworks on the reservation after meeting with Gov. Susana Martinez. 

The governor recently met with leaders from all 22 pueblos and told them about the effects of the state's extreme drought. 

Martinez says this is the worst drought the New Mexico has seen in 118 years. Officials hope to have a list next week of all the pueblos that have banned fireworks.

More pueblos join firework ban

Gov. refuses to disclose work records

Gov. Martinez

More than six months after the attorney general ruled that the work records of Gov. Susana Martinez’s security detail are subject to public disclosure laws, her administration is refusing media requests for details on past expenses of State Police officers who travel with her and her husband, citing safety.

 The Santa Fe New Mexican reported June 20 that the Republican administration says there is only $123.94 in expenses for food for the officers who accompanied Martinez’s husband, Chuck Franco, on a six-day 2011 Louisiana alligator-hunting trip because they were hosted privately. 

But it refused to say who was the host and denied the paper’s request to see food receipts the administration said covered the officers’ meals in New Mexico on the first and last days of the trip.

Gov. refuses to disclose work records

15 NM health care providers fail audit

Fifteen New Mexico providers of mental health and substance abuse services failed to meet standards, overbilled the federal and state government by tens of millions of dollars, and may have taken part in fraudulent activities, according to a new state audit released Monday. 

New Mexico Human Services Department officials said the audit found that "errors and overpayments were so widespread that the business and billing practices of every provider (in the audit) warrants careful scrutiny." It also found "mismanagement, fraud, waste and abuse" in the treatment of potential suicide victims, including disregard for follow-up care and basic policies. 

Department Secretary Sidonie Squier said that, as a result of the audit, Medicaid payments would stop immediately to all 15 providers and out-of-state managers would be brought to New Mexico to manage behavioral health care services for patients.

15 NM health care providers fail audit