News New Mexico

NM Supreme Court allows water manager to decide rights

New Mexico's highest court is allowing the state's top water manager to decide proposed water rights transfers to increase flows in the drought-stricken Pecos River.

The state Supreme Court ruled Monday the state engineer's office can move ahead with an administrative hearing on a proposal to transfer water rights to allow more pumping of groundwater near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico. The water will go by pipeline into a reservoir to boost river flows.

The justices rejected arguments by a ranching family that State Engineer Scott Verhines has a conflict of interest in deciding the water proposal by the Interstate Stream Commission.

The Supreme Court tossed out an Eddy County district court judge ruling that stopped the state engineer from holding a hearing, which now will start in June.

Economic decline hurts El Paso airport

NewsNM Swickard - Nope, not just economic decline. The TSA has caused some people, myself included, to prefer to drive rather than fly, an odd change for someone like me who loves to fly. I have not been up in a commercial aircraft for six years. From the El Paso Times - by Evan Mohl - The El Paso International Airport is facing a decline in passenger traffic and additional cancellations of flights -- something that is causing growing concern among city leaders. Tight economic times and ongoing challenges of airline companies have caused city officials and leaders to search for ways to maintain and increase the airport's flights and passenger traffic.
     The airline industry's struggles with profitability, increasing fuel costs and mergers have drastically affected small and midsize airports that depend on airlines for business, said Brent Bowen, professor and head of aviation technology at Purdue University.
     The El Paso airport, with a taxpayer-funded budget of about $48 million, is not immune. The airport's traffic is down 15 percent since 2010, said Monica Lombrana, the city's director of aviation. Lombrana also said Southwest Airlines, which operates more than half of El Paso's daily flights, plans to stop its direct flight to San Diego in the near future. The announcement comes a few months after the airline stopped its two nonstop flights to Albuquerque.
     "It's a pretty stark situation for medium-sized airports," Bowen said. "And it has pretty much everything to do with the airline industry, which those airports have little or no control over." Read more

Swickard: Trading Liberty for Safety

The problems in Boston this last week have brought up other problems that arose from dealing with the attack upon the Boston Marathon and the subsequent capture of an alleged terrorist. Constitutional Rights were not in effect for citizens of the area because there was an emergency.

It has been said there was not enough time for the proper judicial authority so it was skipped. We are a nation of laws so when the government does not abide by laws I become concerned. Perhaps this was an unfortunate instance when the problems of law-breakers required our nation of laws to not be a nation of laws. What concerns me is not this time, which is gone, it is the next time.It is ever so easy the first time to find a reason to not abide by our Constitution and to not give American Citizens their rights since this was an emergency.

What about the next time and the time after that? Have we forfeited all of our Constitutional Rights because of an attack upon our nation? I would hope not. More so, if we have to lean one way or the other, which way should we lean: toward a tyranny of the government where citizens are forced at gunpoint to obey the authorities or liberty that requires the authorities to abide by the laws of private property search?

Me, I am for the government never having a time when we trade our Constitutional Rights for safety. So what I would like is two-fold: first, an understanding why proper channels were not used in Boston to detain an entire town and to search house by house. But that is something that happened so perhaps it is water under the bridge. More important, can our government just shut down towns without judicial review? Likewise, can the authorities shut down a state or even the entire nation without judicial review?

Could there be a day when every American is confined to home without paperwork? Could we find a day when every home in American is searched without judicial review? Could the newspapers be shuttered and the Internet cut off? Could the cable networks be stopped and there be no one to write about it?

Perhaps we should be talking about this in Congress and our state Legislatures. If we do not talk now, we may not ever. Will you trade safety for your liberty? Read Column

Roswell Horse slaughter house passes inspection

The attorney for a proposed horse slaughterhouse in southeastern New Mexico says a federal inspection Tuesday went well and the plant hopes to be in business soon.

Attorney Blair Dunn says agriculture officials found no issues at Valley Meat Co. and told the owners they are recommending a grant of inspection be issued immediately. Dunn says he expects final approval for the plant to come in a matter of days.

Valley Meat Co. has become ground zero for an emotional, national debate over a return to domestic horse slaughter.

The company hopes the inspection ends a yearlong political drama that has left it idle and made owner Rick De Los Santos and his wife, Sarah, targets of vandalism and death threats.

NM Supreme Court to hear arguments in water case

The New Mexico Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in a case challenging the state's ability to pump groundwater in southeastern New Mexico.

The state has been pumping water from wells between Artesia and Carlsbad to augment flows in the Pecos River. The pumping is part of a drought management strategy aimed at delivering water to downstream users in New Mexico and Texas.

Other users are complaining that the state's pumping has lowered the area's water table.

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling challenging the state's process for transferring water rights to the well field.

LULAC faults NMSU in presidential search

A civil rights group is faulting New Mexico State University for not including them in the advisory and selection process of naming a new president.

The New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens said in a letter Monday that it was being excluded and faulted NMSU for the low number of Latinos on the school's board of regents.

Paul "Pablo" Martinez told the board of regents in a letter that LULAC was included with the recent selection of University of New Mexico President Bob Frank.

NMSU spokeswoman Julie Hughes says the board has received LULAC's letter and is in the process of responding.

Community forums of the five presidential finalists began this week.

Hanna Skandera on News New Mexico Wednesday

NewsNM - Swickard - We will be talking public education with Hanna Skandera, the Public Education Department Secretary Designate at 7:00 a.m. If you have questions, please use our feedback link to send them. The hosts will be Michael Swickard and Bob Endlich.

APD to increase service aides

The Albuquerque Police Department plans to increase its ranks of police service aides -- civilian employees who aren't sworn police officers but who perform some of the same duties.

Chief Ray Schultz says the department wants to increase the number of aides to 60 from the current 21.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque's police service aides write initial reports on some crimes and collect some basic evidence. Aides don't carry guns while on duty and don't have arrest power.

Schultz says hiring more aides will free up regular officers to respond to more serious situations faster and create an apprentice program for aides to become regular officers.

NM delegates reintroduce Columbine-Hondo legislation

Members of New Mexico's congressional delegations are trying again to designate the 45,000-acre Columbine-Hondo area in Taos County as wilderness.

Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, on Monday reintroduced legislation to give the area permanent wilderness status. A companion bill is expected to be introduced in the House Tuesday by Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat who represents northern New Mexico.

Located in the Carson National Forest, the Columbine-Hondo has been managed as a "Wilderness Study Area" since 1980. The Columbine-Hondo includes lush forests and alpine meadows that are home elk, mule deer, mountain lions, black bears, and bighorn sheep.

Udall and Heinrich say giving the area permanent wilderness status will increase profitable tourism opportunities and provide for continued traditional land uses, such as hunting and grazing.

State Dems’ chief to step down

From the Santa Fe New Mexican - by Steve Terrell - At the end of the month, Javier Gonzales will step down as state chairman of the Democratic Party. But, Gonzales insists, he will not be leaving politics. However, he’s not necessarily thinking about some behind-the-scenes, party-elder position. In fact, Gonzales said in a recent interview, he’s considering running for some elected office.
     “I was raised believing in public service,” Gonzales said. “I’ll probably spend the summer evaluating options that I might have, whether it be on the elected side or other, and make a decision at that point. I certainly don’t plan on leaving politics.” He declined to say which office or offices he’s considering running for.
     Back in the mid-1990s, when he was serving on the Santa Fe County Commission, Gonzales made little secret that he was interested in running for Congress. But now he says that’s not on his horizon, as long as incumbent U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat, holds the seat. Luján, Gonzales said, is a longtime friend and former schoolmate.
     He said serving in an elected office isn’t the only way to “influence good outcomes for your state.” He said his work on the Board of Regents for New Mexico State University is one example. In the recent interview, Gonzales talked about his tenure as party chairman — the high points and the low — as well as the immediate future of the Democratic Party, which next year faces the task of trying to unseat a popular Republican governor in Susana Martinez. Read more

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