News New Mexico

Santa Fe officials say same-sex marriage legal in NM

Santa Fe Mayor David Coss and a City Council member say New Mexico county clerks should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and Santa Fe's city attorney says it'd be legal to do so.

Coss and Councilor Patti Bushee plan to introduce a City Council resolution on March 27 "recognizing" that same-sex marriage is legal in New Mexico. They have a legal memo in which City Attorney Geno Zamara says same-sex marriage is permitted in New Mexico.

Zamora says that's partly so because New Mexico law defining marriage is gender-neutral and lacks any prohibition on same-sex marriage.

Gov. in Rome for papal inauguration

Gov. Martinez

Gov. Susana Martinez is hoping Pope Francis will reinvigorate Catholics worldwide and fix any problems that are lingering from recent scandals.

Martinez was in Rome on Tuesday with a U.S. delegation led by Vice President Joseph Biden to greet the new pope and attend his inauguration and first mass.

She told Fox News Latino that the papal inauguration fell on the anniversary of the 2006 death of her mother Paula, who died of cancer. Martinez wants Pope Francis to bless a photo she has of her mother during her first communion.

Senator defends 11th-hour tax deal

From the Santa Fe New Mexican - By Bruce Krasnow - The chief architect of the last-minute tax deal that passed the New Mexico Legislature said he was unsure it had complete support from Gov. Susana Martinez until after she held her post-session news conference. State Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said his last meeting with the governor was Friday morning, March 15, and she indicated her opposition to a provision that might force local governments to raise taxes in order to compensate for lost state revenue.
     “Friday morning she said there was no deal,” Smith told The New Mexican. “At 10:30 a.m., she turned it off and said there was no deal, but I went ahead and had it drafted.”
     The “it” Smith refers to was a comprehensive tax bill that passed the Legislature in the session’s final minute Saturday. It includes one of the governor’s priorities — a lower corporate tax rate as well as a single-sales provision to reduce taxable business income. It also includes two measures valued by Democrats — an increase in film and television production credits and a combined reporting formula for taxation so big-box retailers will have to pay taxes to New Mexico for out-of-state activities. Smith’s bill has been criticized for the way it came together — it was approved by the House in the final seconds before the constitutionally required noon Saturday adjournment — and some say the final vote was past noon.
     Rep. Stephen Easley, a freshman Democrat from Santa Fe who voted against the bill, said the last 60 minutes soured what had been a collegial and respectful 60-day session. “It was a good session, everyone was treated fairly by the speaker until the last 30 seconds, when the fix was in,” he said. “There was no debate, no discussion on this bill. That was unfortunate.”
     But Smith said that is the nature of the Legislature: “I don’t know of any other way to do it when we’re running out of time.” Read more

Next big oil boom could be in northwestern NM

Executives from some of the nation's biggest oil and gas companies say the next big oil boom could take place in northwestern New Mexico.

The executives are in Farmington for a conference to discuss the potential for a previously untapped section of the San Juan Basin known as the Mancos shale.

Former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici says about 1.8 billion barrels of oil could be recovered from New Mexico reservoirs in the Mancos shale, which also extends into Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

The Albuquerque Journal says the successful extraction of oil and wet natural gas in the basin would bring relief to San Juan County.

Udall says thousands of New Mexicans owed tax refunds

U.S. Senator Tom Udall says more than 7,000 New Mexicans are owed more than $6 million by the Internal Revenue Service in unclaimed tax refunds from 2009.

The New Mexico Democrat is reminding residents that they only have until April 15 to claim their Monday. Udall says 7,100 New Mexicans are owed a total of $6.45 million from 2009, with a median refund of $567. And any that goes unclaimed will be kept by the Treasury.

Udall's offices says many refunds go unclaimed because filers are unaware they are eligible for a return.

State unemployment rate unchanged

New Mexico's unemployment rate in January is unchanged from December's revised rate.

Labor officials say New Mexico's unemployment rate of 6.6 percent is an improvement over January 2012 when the rate was 7.0 percent.

The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions says the rate of over-the-year job growth was 0.4 percent for January. That represents a gain of 3,500.

The largest employment gains were reported by the leisure and hospitality industry, which added 2,000 jobs since last year. The financial activities industry added 1,500 jobs.

Lottery scholarship program may be in danger

From KOB-TV.com - by Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - It was a must-do job for the state legislature – and it didn’t get done. Now thousands of New Mexico college students on lottery scholarships are wondering if they’ll be able to stay in school.

     Analysts say the scholarship fund will be $5 million in the red by July, with more and more students becoming eligible and tuition costs going higher and higher. At the same time, lottery ticket sales are on a downward slide. Less money coming in – more money going out. You don’t have to be a math major to figure out it’s going belly-up.
     The lottery scholarships are good for full tuition at New Mexico’s public universities and community colleges and other public higher education institutions. Students must graduate from a New Mexico high school or get a GED here, and maintain a grade point average of 2.5. In the 60 day legislative session that ended Saturday, lawmakers considered a proposal to raise that grade point average to 2.75, which would reduce the number of eligible students. That bill died in committee. Other proposals included limits on family income for scholarship recipients, and diverting money from the state’s tobacco settlement income. Nothing passed.
     For now, the state Higher Education Department seems to be willing to let the scholarships stagger on, awash in red ink – hoping that next year lawmakers can forge some kind of agreement. Read more

Iraq veteran family awarded $10 million in damages

Kenneth Ellis

Jurors have awarded more than $10 million in damages in the civil case of an Iraq War veteran who was fatally shot by an Albuquerque police officer three years ago.

Jurors announced the verdict Friday after several hours of deliberation.

The case stems from Officer Brett Lampiris-Tremba's 2010 shooting of Kenneth Ellis during a standoff in front of a convenience store.

Ellis suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. According to police, Lampiris-Tremba shot Ellis once in the neck after the veteran pointed a gun to his own head.

Airline to offer flights from Santa Fe to Phoenix

Great Lakes Aviation says it plans to begin offering flights between Santa Fe and Phoenix starting in May.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the airline already flies from Santa Fe to Denver and Clovis. However, the flights to southeastern New Mexico will end with the addition of the Phoenix connection.

The airline's announcement comes as the Santa Fe Municipal Airport waits to find out whether its control tower might lose its federal employees due to automatic budget cuts. Airport director Jim Montman says that decision won't be made until March 22.

Advertised online fares for the Great Lakes flights between Santa Fe and Phoenix start at $89 for a nonrefundable one-way ticket on a twin-engine turboprop airplane.

Breaking Bad bill gets second chance

New Mexico's "Breaking Bad" bill will get a second chance at being signed by Gov. Susana Martinez.

The original bill was vetoed by Martinez, but the original parts of the bill were absorbed into a larger tax package over the weekend. Martinez said she's happy with the proposal.

Even after a long day of filming one of the last episodes of "Breaking Bad," actor Bryan Cranston kept an eye on the Legislature and the future of the bill.

The bill increases the amount of return incentives to 30% from the previous 25%.

Co-star and Albuquerque native Steven Michael Quezada said the bill will help him produce his own independent series, "Duke City."

Cranston said the issue goes beyond the financial incentives. Additional incentives mean more jobs for New Mexicans working behind the camera.

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