Queries stall asphalt plant at landfill
An asphalt plant that was scheduled this month to start using rock blasted from Santa Fe's regional landfill is on hold following complaints from nearby residents who say they were caught unaware. The state Environment Department's Air Quality Bureau more than a year ago issued permits for the "hot-mix" plant at Caja del Rio landfill, southwest of Santa Fe. However, neighbors who only recently got wind of the project met with landfill executive director Randall Kippenbrock this week to voi ...
A chance to settle outstanding traffic tickets, before sweep
Santa Feans with arrest warrants issued because of traffic offenses will have a chance to take care of their cases without going to jail first. Defendants must show up at the Santa Fe County Magistrate Court at 8 a.m. on Nov. 21 to take advantage of the court's warrant forgiveness program, according to a news release from the state Administrative Office of the Courts. The program will not apply to defendants with warrants based on domestic-violence or drunken-driving cases. In additi ...
Area groups skipping out on audits
Even after state Auditor Hector Balderas warned 71 local agencies including schools and cities that their audits are late, 34 groups haven't turned in audit reports — and haven't explained to his office why not. In an attempt to remedy the situation, Balderas said Thursday he will forward the names of those scofflaw agencies to the Attorney General's Office. "I think it's really egregious that we identified them as at-risk, asked them to submit a report and they didn't submit a report, ...
GAO report: Valles Caldera Trust lacks solid plan
The group charged with managing the Valles Caldera National Preserve is five years behind schedule and suffers from weak planning, a new federal report says. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, which released its latest review of the preserve on Oct. 30, notes the Valles Caldera Trust has fallen short in its efforts to meet mandates Congress set for the Jemez Mountains property. Most problems stem from a mandate that the preserve pay for itself and be free of federal financial help b ...
Gene Edward Franchini, 1935-2009: Former chief justice had ‘passion for life and the law’
Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gene Edward Franchini, who died Wednesday, opposed mandatory sentencing, the death penalty and government secrecy. Franchini, 74, collapsed from a heart attack while addressing first-year law students at The University of New Mexico during his annual lecture on ethics. "He was an authentic person with exemplary integrity," Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward L. Chavez said in a written statement. "His passion for life and the law was contagious." ...
FBI says arrest made in slaying of N.M. nun
ALBUQUERQUE — Federal agents descended on a small community on the Navajo Indian reservation early Thursday to make an arrest in the slaying of a nun whose body was found in her home on church property. The FBI said it arrested one person in Navajo in the death of 64-year-old Sister Marguerite Bartz, but declined to provide other details. The nun's body was discovered after she didn't show up as scheduled for Sunday Mass in a neighboring community. "I'm sure that community hasn't ...
Local news in brief Nov. 6, 2009
Man stabbed at south-side mall A 21-year-old man was stabbed in the abdomen Wednesday night at Santa Fe Place mall, police said Thursday. The man said another man in a car confronted him about 7 p.m., then stabbed him in the left side of his stomach, said Sgt. Jason Wagner, a city police spokesman. The victim sustained serious injuries and was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he was expected to live, Wagner said. No description of the man who did ...
Police notes Nov. 6, 2009
The Santa Fe Police Department is investigating the following reports: • Officers arrested Edna Gonzales-Montoya, 48, 21 Camino de Pastores, on Wednesday and charged her with unlawful use of a license. Today's location of the Santa Fe police mobile speed trap: • 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.: Monterrey Drive between Santa Rosa Drive and San Juan Drive, near Kaune Elementary. After 8:30 a.m.: Hyde Park Road and Camino del Este. ...
Police test out speed enforcement SUV
If your Maserati — or even your Subaru — does 185, you've got a new enemy on the streets of Santa Fe. Some drivers may already have noticed the 2008 Ford Escape — painted red, white and blue and conveniently labeled "photo enforcement vehicle" — parked by the side of the road in various locations throughout town. So far, the unmanned sport-utility vehicle has been harmless to those who find the speed limit a mere suggestion. Police and the private company that owns it are still working out ...
GOP targets Denish on stimulus funds
State Republicans on Wednesday attacked Lt. Gov. Diane Denish for using thousands of dollars in federal funds to hire public information officers who were paid not only for organizing news conferences and writing news releases and speeches, but for working on Christmas cards, driving Denish to meetings and picking her up at the airport. The federal funds allocated to New Mexico in 2003 were meant to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Denish's office received a total of $225,000, though ...
PRC polls workers on ethics issues
One of state government's most scandal-ridden agencies recently asked employees to fill out an ethics survey as part of an "ongoing self examination as an agency." The survey distributed to Public Regulation Commission workers posed 32 questions about ethics and appropriate work behavior, including whether it's ethical for a commissioner to ask an employee to do a special favor for an entity that is regulated by the commission. Other questions included whether it's OK for a supervisor ...
Changes rattle wireless opponents
A rewrite of Santa Fe's telecommunication ordinance and a proposed new franchise are drawing opposition from people who say they would allow wireless firms to hide the location of their antennas. City Attorney Frank Katz said large parts of the existing telecommunication ordinance were deemed unconstitutional in 2004, but efforts to update it didn't begin until recently when two firms inquired about installing new systems. NewPath Networks of Seattle is proposing a distributed antenna ...
Farmers weigh in on Fort Sumner water pipeline project
Farmers from Eastern New Mexico showed up at a city Public Utilities Committee meeting Wednesday to voice both objections and support for a privately owned pipeline that would deliver water from Fort Sumner to the City Different. Berrendo LLC and its principal, Ron Green, have filed applications with the Office of the State Engineer to pipe groundwater 150 miles uphill to Santa Fe. The water would be sold to end users in the Santa Fe area, and some public infrastructure would be used ...
Court nixes challenge to higher pension payments
The state can continue collecting higher pension contributions from part-time government workers earning less than $20,000 a year, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The court unanimously rejected a legal challenge to part of a pension contribution change that's helping the state save more than $40 million a year to plug a budget shortfall. Starting in July, most state workers had to contribute an extra 1.5 percent of their salaries to pension programs, and the state reduced ...
Genoveva Chavez Center's spectator fee strikes some as unfair
The Genoveva Chavez Community Center recently began charging spectators at all sporting events $2. Beginning in 2004, spectators at basketball games and swim meets at the city-owned recreation center have been charged $1. Last year, the fee for swim meets went up to $2. In September, the spectator fee went to $2 across the board, including hockey games, which previously were free. Some hockey parents say that's not fair. "To pay $2 for a spectator fee when we're already rent ...
Murdered nun 'worked for peace and justice'
NAVAJO — Sister Marguerite Bartz had worried just weeks ago about crime in the community after someone broke into the St. Berard Mission Church and stole bingo money. Then she herself fell victim to a horrible crime. The beloved nun was murdered in her residence on church property, a killing that has rattled this impoverished town on the Navajo Indian Reservation and left parishioners in mourning. "She was like a mom to me," said resident Arlene Deche. "It was so sad to hear what ...
Roundhouse Roundup: Spin puts shine on election results
It was predictable that the smattering of elections in distant states this week would bring out New Mexico politicians who would spin the results as favorable to themselves. The Republican victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races gave New Mexico Republicans a chance to crow. State GOP chairman Harvey Yates released a statement headlined "Republican Victories in VA and NJ Sign of Future Wins in 2010." Gubernatorial candidate Allen Weh released a statement Tuesday night sa ...
Local news in brief Nov. 5, 2009
Cooper joins national arts panel Jill Cooper, wife of U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., was sworn in this week as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Cooper, former head of the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs, currently works with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian and sits on the Board of Visitors and Governors for St. John's College. She's also on the board of the Santa Fe Conservation Trust and Ford's Theatre in Washin ...
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