95 percent containment on destructive NM wildfire

Alamogordo Daily News - A New Mexico wildfire that destroyed 242 homes and businesses is now 95 percent contained as crews finish mopping up around the fire's perimeter.

Crews demobilized some equipment Friday as they restored containment lines around the 69-square-mile Little Bear fire to a more natural state. Firefighters were also able to take advantage of rain on the blaze's southern end. The lightning-caused fire is burning near Ruidoso and started June 4. Businesses in Ruidoso are open despite some road closures due to fire operations. Meanwhile, crews continue fighting the Whitewater-Baldy blaze, the largest fire in the state's recorded history at more than 465 square miles. That fire remained 87 percent contained Friday. It began as two lightning-caused blazes on May 16 that merged to form one giant wildfire. Read More News New Mexico

95 percent containment on destructive NM wildfire

New Mexico warden cleared in rape investigation

Gregg Marcantel

KOB - The New Mexico Corrections Secretary has cleared a high-level administrator of wrongdoing after an investigation into alleged prison rape by one of his former employees. Our 4 On Your Side's Chris Ramirez has been investigating this case and has the latest. Secretary Gregg Marcantel announced Thursday that former Los Lunas State Prison warden Anthony Romero did not thwart an FBI investigation into alleged rape by his former employee, a prison captain. Marcantel said Romero will return to his present job as deputy director of adult prisons on Monday. That job is a promotion from his previous job as prison warden. While Romero was under investigation, he was reassigned to do special projects for the department. The investigation began after a lawsuit filed by a former prisoner claimed Romero impeded an FBI investigation into allegations of prison rape that allegedly occurred at the prison while Romero was in charge. According to the lawsuit we first told you about a month ago, then-prison captain Kenneth Carrejo allegedly handcuffed an inmate to office furniture and raped him several times. But Marcantel told reporters Thursday that the department internally investigated those claims against Romero and found he had done nothing wrong. Read More News New Mexico

New Mexico warden cleared in rape investigation

Courtesy of Conservative Daily News

     

janice2012.us

Holder Held in Contempt by GOP and Democrats

Eric Holder

Washington Post -The House of Representatives voted 255 to 67 Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress, capping months of partisan bickering over an ongoing congressional investigation into Operation “Fast and Furious.”
More than 100 Democrats left the House floor before the vote, but 17 moderate Democrats stayed behind and joined with Republicans in voting for contempt, robbing the Obama administration and congressional Democrats of its main argument that the vote was a blatant partisan maneuver to discredit Holder and the White House in an election year.
All but one of the 17 Democrats has previously been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, which said it would be tracking Thursday’s vote in determining future endorsements. In a letter to lawmakers last week, the NRA said, “It is no secret that the NRA does not admire Attorney General Holder.” But the gun rights group said it supported the contempt resolution because the Justice Department was obstructing a congressional investigation. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Holder Held in Contempt by GOP and Democrats

News New Mexico began July 1, 2010

From our family at News New Mexico to your family in New Mexico as we finish our second year, we want to say thanks for the two years we have been a part of each other’s lives.

This program started July 1, 2010. Much has changed but at the core of our mission, at the core of each day is our commitment to provide news and commentary to New Mexico communities about New Mexico and about best practices.

To everyone who makes this program possible we thank you and look forward to our next year in New Mexico.

News New Mexico began July 1, 2010

Schott Solar to close Albuquerque plant; 250 lose jobs

NewsNM Swickard: What about the 130 million dollars the State of New Mexico gave to get them to come to New Mexico? Are we, the New Mexico taxpayers, out the money? From KOAT-TV.com - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Schott Solar will close down its Albuquerque plant by the end of the summer, Action 7 News has learned.  Employees told Action 7 News that the company will cease manufacturing operations as of Friday, shedding more than 200 jobs. The company will keep a small staff through the end of the summer until they close down the entire plant. Schott is offering a severance package of two months of pay and benefits, but a lot of folks leaving told Action 7 News that is far different than having a place to show up every day. When the company announced plans for a plant back in 2008, it was thought that the facility would employ 1,000 New Mexicans.  The company plans to continue operations in the U.S., but not in New Mexico. Read more

Schott Solar to close Albuquerque plant; 250 lose jobs

Paychecks for thousands of state workers will be short Friday

From the Santa Fe New Mexican - by Kate Nash - The State Department of Finance and Administration says more than 7,000 state employees will not get the entire paycheck amounts they are owed on Friday because of a software glitch. Some of the 7,111 employees who will receive checks with the incorrect amounts will get paid for 40 hours of work while others will get 56 hours of pay instead of 80, said DFA spokesman Tim Korte. The state is investigating the problem and plans to bring in a third party to analyze the situation and the PeopleSoft software in use by the state. In the meantime, the state hopes to make up the difference in the checks by issuing supplemental checks on Friday, but Korte said it could be Saturday before all employees get their full pay. In one pay period in May, state employees didn’t get their paychecks on time after a human error caused them to be sent late. Read more

Paychecks for thousands of state workers will be short Friday

Aguilar essay lands entire family a free trip to D.C.

The Aguilar Family from Rio Rancho in D.C.

From the Rio Rancho Observer - by BY GARY HERRON - Can there be a greater trip for a high school student than a free one to Washington, D.C.? Yeah, maybe, but the June jaunt to the nation’s capital was just right for the Aguilar family of Rio Rancho. Under the spires of the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Va., Rand McNally recently awarded two grand prize winners from among 12,000 essays submitted in the “America the Beautiful” short essay contest. Although Celina Aguilar’s entry wasn’t a grand prize winner, her family enjoyed the bounty of her essay – that trip to D.C. Celina, ranked third in her Cleveland High School Class of 2013, said she’s always been a pretty good essay writer, which is what the winners were based upon. Jennifer Aguilar said her daughter has a great sense of humor in addition to her writing skills and that she plays cello in the CHS orchestra, or “Dork-estra,” as Celina joked. Launched in March, “America the Beautiful” asked this simple essay question: “What’s the one place in the U.S. that truly inspires you?” Subjects ranged from hometowns to the special memories about places visited, to meaningful landmarks. Aguilar wrote about Corrales, where she spent her early years — all of her grandparents live in the village — and its wildlife, beauty and family memories. Celina Aguilar, busy with calculus and psychology classes at CNM this summer, said she plans to be a pharmacist someday. Read more

Aguilar essay lands entire family a free trip to D.C.

Woman arrested for library fines that were not hers

From the Clovis News Journal - by By Robin Fornoff  - Lori Teel says she doesn't use the Portales Public Library, never has, and probably never will after what happened to her the night of June 12. Teel, pregnant and the mother of four small children, was arrested, handcuffed and hauled away to jail in front of her kids for failing to pay library fines of $35.98. "My children are still traumatized by it," Teel said. Teel and her attorney Eric Dixon filed notice Tuesday that she intends to sue the city of Portales and Roosevelt County for false arrest and because of the way she was treated by courts and police. Dixon said Teel was never given notice by the city before it sought charges against her. Court records show the charges against Teel were dismissed Monday at the request of City Attorney Stephen Doerr. Teel says she didn't owe the money because she didn't check out the materials and doesn't even own a library card. Dixon called the library's charges "bogus." "I was very, very upset by it," Teel said Thursday morning. "I have never in my life been in jail ... never have I ever been in trouble." Teel was arrested by Roosevelt County Sheriff's deputies when they discovered the outstanding warrant against Lori Teel. Dixon called Lori Teel's arrest outrageous. He said in addition to money damages — Teel had to post $610 bond to get out of jail — Teel wants the city to stop using the criminal process to collect library fines."They need to give people a chance and listen to people and not treat people like animals," Teel said. Teel's arrest stems from a bench warrant issued by Municipal Judge Frederick Arnold and what Dixon described as a series of bureaucratic errors. Court records show notice of the past due materials was mailed to a home Dixon said Teel hasn't lived in since she was a child. When she didn't appear in municipal court after a summons was mailed to the same address and returned marked "return to sender: not here," Arnold issued a bench warrant for failure to appear in court. Read more

Woman arrested for library fines that were not hers

Alamogordo declares emergency at Bonita Lake

Bonita Lake north of Ruidoso

From the Alamogordo Daily News - Alamogordo has once again stopped pumping water from Bonito Lake after concerns that it has become unusable because of runoff from the charred watershed surrounding the lake.  The Alamogordo City Commission declared an emergency at Bonito Lake on Tuesday night because of damage caused by the Little Bear fire burning in the area, a necessary step in receiving federal assistance to repair the lake.  "This is required as part of the FEMA process," said utilities director and interim Public Works director Brian Cesar. "FEMA will be in Alamogordo on Thursday morning to begin the process for the flooding and debris we had deposited at Bonito Lake last Friday." Cesar said the city stopped drawing water from Bonito Lake on Friday.  He said the lake was continuing to be drained Wednesday and was about 9 feet below the spillway. He said divers were going to continue working on the lake Thursday.  He said portions of the watershed surrounding Bonito Lake suffered heavy damage as a result of the Little Bear fire.  "It's basically bare earth and sticks where the pines used to be," Cesar said. Cesar said the city stopped drawing water from Bonito Lake last Friday. It had previously done so earlier in the month as a precaution but began drawing water from Bonito again.  The lake supplies Alamogordo with about 15 percent of its water. Read more

Alamogordo declares emergency at Bonita Lake