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Today's News

  • State auditor serves subpoenas to REDI Net contractors

    The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor Friday issued three subpoenas to three different companies connected to bringing broadband to northern New Mexico, Westco Distribution, HP Communications Inc. and Broadband Planning Group.

    The companies are involved in a special project under the name REDI Net. Discussion for the regional project began in 2009, and started in 2011.

    “It took two years and three subpoenas, but we’re finally getting documents that could explain what happened to a million federal dollars and 12 miles of expensive fiber optic cable,” State Auditor Wayne Johnson said. “Our office is now reviewing the documents that these subpoenas produced, and we’re sharing the documents with the REDI Net Board and the independent auditor for further examination. These federal dollars were meant to help create jobs in northern

    New Mexico with state-of-the-art internet communications. New Mexicans deserve to know that those dollars were used for their benefit, as intended.”

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  • Woman shoots and wounds 4 at YouTube, shooter is also dead

    By JEFF CHIU and SUDHIN THANAWALA, Associated Press

    SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) — A woman opened fire at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday, wounding four people before she shot and killed herself and prompted panic as employees hid and tried to flee, police and witnesses said.

    Officers and federal agents swarmed the company's headquarters complex in the city of San Bruno as multiple 911 reports came in reporting gunfire.

    San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters that the victims have gunshot wounds and were taken to hospitals.

    A spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital says it received three patients. Spokesman Brent Andrew says a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition.

    The hospital was expecting more patients but Andrew did not know their conditions.

    Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers patted down people to make sure none had weapons, and police vehicles surrounded the area.

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  • Los Alamos History Museum pushes back on anti-atomic bomb exhibit

    The Los Alamos History Museum will not host a traveling exhibition organized by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum until museum officials can determine how it portrays the history of the atomic bomb.

    The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition, which features articles of clothing, exposed plates and other personal items from victims, aims to draw attention to the horrors of the bombs that destroyed both cities.

    The exhibit is now in Budapest, Hungary, through the end of August. It will move to France and Belgium later this year.

    Los Alamos Historical Society Executive Director Heather McClenahan said that contrary to previous reports, the exhibit was never scheduled by the museum and then cancelled.

    “The headlines in the Japanese media are completely inaccurate and incorrect,” she said Tuesday. “We never cancelled the exhibit because we had never agreed to host it.

    “And we’ve never refused to host the exhibit,” she continued. “In fact we’re still in discussion with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki museums to eventually host that exhibit some time in the future.”

    The biggest hurdle is the subject of nuclear disarmament and how it’s portrayed through the exhibit.

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  • Assets in Action: Sometimes we have to relinquish the control

    I was so proud last weekend of the youth of our nation standing up to let their voices be heard, it was indeed heard by the entire world.

    We need to make that a possibility for every youth. As adults, we need to teach children how and when to speak up so, to have the impact they want or the outcome they desire.

    As adults, we may get too anxious to make our point or feel like the place and time just never arrives. There is a time and a place, sometimes we just have to relinquish the control and take the ride.

    When does this wisdom come? I’m not sure it is the same for everyone. Some are just born or happen to be in the right place, at the right time. Some have to be forged if you will, pushed and pulled, even if they don’t understand why, especially when things are so easy. Are you willing to put in the work?

    You see, as you read this column, I am on the final eve of my 49th year. I turn 50 and while that is child’s play in this town, it is a pretty big number. My brother Nick likes to say, it is the 21st anniversary of our 29th birthday.

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  • Balderas sues Trump to block citizen question on census form

    New Mexico Attorney General Balderas filed yet another lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump and his administration, this time to block a question on the census form that asks for citizenship information.

    Balderas joined a coalition of attorneys general, cities and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors in filing a lawsuit seeking to block the question in the 2020 census.

    The lawsuit argues that demanding citizenship information would lower census turnout in states with large immigrant populations, threatening those states' fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College, as well as billions of dollars in critical federal funds for education, infrastructure, Medicaid and more.

    They argue that the U.S. Constitution requires that the Census Bureau determine "the whole number of persons in each state" and would cause a population undercount that would harm cities and states.

    "New Mexico will be the State hardest hit by this unconstitutional attempt to suppress participation in the census, and we cannot afford to lose billions of dollars in Medicaid and other federal funds that will result," Balderas said in a release Tuesday. "Immigration status is irrelevant to the census, and I will aggressively fight against this attempt to intimidate New Mexican families."

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  • LANL misses waste shipment deadline to prevent future errors

    Los Alamos National Laboratory officials said Tuesday the decision to miss the state’s deadline to ship hazardous waste was made intentionally, even though the violation could cost the lab up to $1 million in fines, to ensure lab officials could find a solution to prevent duplicating the same shipping error in the future.

    “We’re always striving to do the right thing. We know we’re not perfect, but we always do our best to be compliant. In November, we caught numbering errors on two hazardous waste drums that we self-reported,” said LANL Spokesman Peter Hyde. “In the interests of safety, we took the precautionary measure of pausing certain shipping until we were confident that we had fully addressed the issue. We are working closely with the state to evaluate our processes and procedures to make sure that our shipping program is in compliance with all regulations.”

    In November 2017, LANL sent a shipment of one incorrectly labeled hazardous waste drum to a waste treatment facility in Henderson, Colorado, called Veolia ES Technical Solutions.

    LANL officials discovered the error and notified Veolia on Dec. 12, the same day that Veolia acknowledged they received the drum.

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  • Lawsuit may disqualify New Mexico Democrat in governor race

    SANTA FE (AP) — A Democratic candidate for governor of New Mexico is seeking to disqualify a rival candidate from their party's June primary election.

    Court records obtained Monday show gubernatorial candidate and former media executive Jeff Apodaca has accused state Sen. Joseph Cervantes of failing to submit enough petition signatures to run for the Democratic nomination for governor.

    The lawsuit alleges that about 1,400 signatures submitted by Cervantes are not valid, leaving him shy of registration requirements to run.

    Apodaca says the signatures were checked against state voter registration records and included duplicate names, non-Democrats and unregistered individuals.

    Cervantes campaign officials had no immediate comment on the challenge.

    U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham also is seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Congressman Steve Pearce. Pearce has no primary challengers.
     

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  • Martinez appoints prosecutor to fill District Court vacancy

    SANTA FE (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez has appointed prosecutor Jason Lidyard to fill a vacant judgeship on the 1st Judicial District Court which serves Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties.

    Lidyard has served as a prosecutor with the 1st Judicial District Attorney's Office since 2011 and his appointment Friday as a judge fills a vacancy created when Judge Jennifer Attrep became a state Court of Appeals judge.

    Lidyard previously worked as an attorney in Cleveland and Portland, Maine, and as a legislator staffer for the Colorado General Assembly in Denver.
     

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  • UNM softball breaks losing streak against Fresno State

    For the first time since April 4, 2014, The University of New Mexico Lobos topped the Fresno State Bulldogs on Thursday night with a two-run, walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh from junior Monica Salas. The 4-3 victory breaks Fresno State’s 11-win streak over UNM.

    With the win, the Lobos improve to 9-24 on the season, 3-4 in Mountain West play, while Fresno State (17-15) is now 2-2 in league competition.

    Sophomore Jensen Main started in the circle and pitched six effective innings before allowing three runs in the top of the seventh. She gave up just five hits in 6.1 innings and looked to be headed for her second career shutout before the Bulldogs rallied in the seventh. Senior Krissy Fortner closed out the final two outs in the top of the seventh with the Lobos down one to claim the win.

    The Lobos were leading 2-0 heading into the top of the seventh before a one-out, two-RBI double off the wall from Fresno State’s Hayleigh Galvan. Galvan drove in second-baseman Miranda Rohleder, who led off with a double, and pinch-runner Dolly Stevens to tie it up, 2-2.

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  • Atomic City Update: District play offers chance for Hilltoppers to live up to potential

    With the non-district portion of baseball and softball season in the rearview mirror, it’s time to see what the teams at Los Alamos High School are really made of. 

    For both teams, it was a very up-and-down start to the season, as consistency was hard to come by. 

    I have watched both teams quite a bit, and they can be very exciting. It’s fun to see Arthur Steinkamp and Jacob Rutten pitch for the baseball team, and Reyna Lucero brings a ton of excitement to the mound for the softball team. 

    But with the baseball team standing at 7-7, and the softball team at 7-6, the hope is that they are able to string some wins together now that district play is underway. And if that’s possible in any district, it’s 2-5A. 

    This year is similar to previous years, where LAHS tries to challenge itself during non-district play, only to roll through the district schedule with relative ease. Last year, the softball team entered district play with a record of 6-6, and then went 11-1 to claim the district championship behind an explosive offensive attack that feasted on lesser pitching. 

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