Morning Word: Big Decisions Loom in Santa Fe

It's Monday, June 8, 2015

Three months after the end of the regular legislative session, lawmakers return to Santa Fe today to vote on capital outlay money and a tax package. Read it at the Santa Fe New Mexican.  As lawmakers consider their votes, reporter Steve Terrell says the capital outlay funding bill is already a big win for a key negotiator Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming. Read why here.   Gov. Susana Martinez wants the lawmakers to consider giving a tax break to New Mexico companies working on satellites and laser weapons for the Department of Defense.

Read it at ABQ Free Press. Over at NMPolitics.net, some readers are expressing frustration that deals ahead of the special session were made behind closed doors; they are concerned about the lack of transparency. Read their views here.  Attorney General Hector Balderas says the state’s criminal justice system needs an overhaul after a plea deal left a drug addict on the streets. That addict, Andrew Romero, is now charged with killing a Rio Rancho police officer. Read it at the Albuquerque Journal.  An investigation into how the Albuquerque Police Department purchased Tasers continues, but not much information about the results is being provided to city councilors.

Rob Perry, the city’s chief administrative officer, says there is no influence being exerted. Dan McKay reports. Fire protection costs at the Spaceport are increasing. Read it at the Las Cruces Sun-News.   Meanwhile, New Mexico Transportation Department officials want Congress to extend a deadline for the Rail Runner to comply with expensive new safety requirements.

Colleen Heild has details.  US Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, are proposing strict new payday loan rules. Read it at the Los Alamos Daily Post.  Michael Coleman reports that while some Republican governors around the country are bailing out on the Common Core program, Gov. Susana Martinez and Education Secretary Hanna Skandera are “holding firm.”

Read it at the Albuquerque Journal.  If you missed them on Sunday, here are two important stories to catch up with this week: The Albuquerque Journal used its Sunday morning cover to report on modern-day slavery, where human traffickers force women into prostitution. Read Lauren Villagran's story here. Also on Sunday, Santa Fe New Mexican journalist Margaret Wright put together an interesting story about some of the challenges organizers face putting together that Manhattan Project park in Los Alamos.

Wright even talked to a 95-year-old former scientist about his memories of the clandestine bomb-building project.

Read the fascinating piece here. 

Santa Fe Reporter