Morning Word: Sanctuary Status puts SF Police Funding at Risk

GOP legislation would punish local jursidictions that don't cooperate with feds

By Peter St. Cyr

US House Republicans have proposed police department funding cuts for cities like Santa Fe that offer undocumented workers sanctuary.

Uriel J Garcia has the details.  City of Albuquerque officials say they don't believe recent violent crimes at city motels, including the attempted robbery and shooting of a former CNN producer, will impact tourism this summer. See it at KOB. At the same time, more residents are ditching the state’s largest city. Bloomberg News ranks Albuquerque in the Top 20 for emigration. Read more about the exodus here. Still, housing sales in New Mexico are on track to set an annual record.

Read it at ABQ Business First.  Meanwhile, another record has been set: More New Mexicans died from drug overdoses in 2014 than ever before.

 Read more at the ABQ Journal.  Key road construction projects in New Mexico could be halted if Congress doesn’t authorize new funds and federal highway workers end up furloughed Aug. 1

See it at KRQE.  Easter Seals El Mirador, a behavioral health care provider in Santa Fe, wants a court to review a controversial audit that claims it owes $127,000 in Medicaid overbilling. Justin Horwath has details.  Gov. Susana Martinez continues to defend her embattled Tax and Revenue Department secretary. State Auditor Tim Keller claims Demesia Padilla pressured staff employees to give a former client preferential treatment. While the governor told reporter Steve Terrell she hasn’t talked to Padilla about the claims, she added she continues to have faith in Padilla until she sees evidence that she shouldn’t. Read more at the Santa Fe New Mexican.  Meanwhile, the auditor’s probe, which has been turned over to the attorney general’s office, doesn’t appear to be fazing Padilla. She spoke with Journal reporters Dan Boyd and Deborah Baker.

Read more at the ABQ Journal.  After being ordered to mediate a new power replacement plan at its coal plant in Northern New Mexico, PNM may be close to reaching a deal with other stakeholder groups.

Even if a deal is reached, it would still have to be publicly vetted. Public Regulation Commissioners, who are elected to represented consumer interests, will have the final vote on the plan.

Kevin Robinson Avila reports. 

Finally, this week’s guest on “Report from Santa Fe” is Jennifer Raymond, a professor of neurobiology at Stanford University. She’s in New Mexico talking about the importance of diversity in the scientific workforce.

Watch Lorene Mills’ interview with Raymond on New Mexico PBS TV at 8:00 on Sunday morning.

That's it for another long news week. Have a super weekend and see you back here on Monday for another big state news roundup.

Santa Fe Reporter

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