Morning Word: Modern-Day Train Robbery

Train heists are not in the past in New Mexico

By Peter St. Cyr

Just like out of the Wild West, thieves are making off with lots of loot from BNSF rail cars traveling through New Mexico. Two people were arrested for taking more than $200,000 in high-tech gear, including television monitors and new computers. KRQE has the modern-day train robbery story.  Auto burglaries are back on the rise in Santa Fe, up 47 percent in the first seven months of the year. Read more at the Santa Fe New Mexican.  Less than a week after the appellate court ruled against assisted suicide, the ACLU and the Disability Rights Legal Center have appealed to the state’s high court to make a final decision on “one of the most private, intimate decisions made in a lifetime—how we face our own deaths.” Matthew Reichbach has the story.  Two top executives at the Public Service Company of New Mexico have filed a notice that they won’t submit to depositions by New Energy Economy in the power replacement plan after being ordered to do so by an independent hearing officer. Read why at the Santa Fe Reporter.   Vincent Martinez was only on the job as the chief of staff at the PRC for a few years. Now that he's resigned, people are expressing concerns that the agency faces "stormy days" again. Read their view here.  Environmentalist are protesting the amount of royalties coal mining companies are paying.

"Our lands are being auctioned off to coal companies for pennies," [activist Colleen] Cooley said. "Our communities, specifically Diné tribe, have not prospered from coal for the last 50-plus years. Poverty and unemployment, we're still at 50 percent unemployment, we're still at poverty-level conditions...We need to start transitioning to cleaner energy now." 

At the same time Gov. Susana Martinez is considering introducing legislation to all local governments to impose teen curfews, the FBI is releasing numbers that show they’re not really effective.

The state's credit rating could be downgraded if officials haven't set aside enough funds to cover a $100 million discrepancy in the government's checkbook.

It's one of her favorite things to do, so Gov. Susana Martinez sat down to read a book with children at the start of the school year in Clovis.

If you're in town or headed to Santa Fe for Indian Market this weekend, you'll want to check out SFR's big cover story

online here

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Have a great weekend. We'll be back Monday, a half hour earlier.

Santa Fe Reporter

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