Morning Word: AG Fights for Griego Records

AG Demands Evidence in Griego Case

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas wants Legislative Council Services attorneys to provide his prosecutors public documents ahead of Phil Griego’s preliminary hearing. The attorney general claims a failure to produce the evidence shows a “willful blindness to the undisputed facts and represents a hairsplitting, hyper-technical approach that serves neither the integrity of the legislature nor the public’s interest in seeing official corruption investigated or prosecuted in the State of New Mexico.” Rather than link to a news story, we’re posting the

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Border Towns Resist Trumps' Wall

The Las Cruces Sun-News published a great piece about residents in towns along the border

against Donald Trump’s wall-building plans.

PED Blasted

National Education Association of New Mexico President Betty Patterson believes the New Mexico Public Education Department is “

Patterson blasted PED “over a special-education analysis that said many districts either overreported or underreported hours for workers such as speech therapists, social workers and audiologists.” And state Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, says the results from an

show the state needs to allocate more money for special education programs.

UNM Plans HSC Integration

After the controversial UNM regents' vote to bring the Health Science Center back under their control, the school is

the group's separate legal and communication activities.

Buckman Structure Litigation

Daniel J Chacón reports, “The city-county board that oversees Santa Fe’s system for diverting and treating water from the Rio Grande voted Thursday to

for possible litigation over problems with the facility.”

Panhandling in Santa Fe

SFR’s Maria Egolf-Romero reports, “As tourist season ramps up in the City Different, police are

, talking about how it can (and can’t) be dealt with, and pointing to city programs as alternative options to incarceration.”

Libertarian Candidates Previewed

Journalist Andy Lyman, who is planning to travel to Orlando to cover the Libertarian Party’s 2016 presidential nominating convention, has

and their stands on a variety of issues, including legalizing cannabis.

Former Republican New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is hoping to capitalize on the negative tones of the Democratic and Republican primaries and legitimize his third party candidacy to voters disgusted with the two-party system this fall. But first he must beat a crop of candidates, some of whom who are more eccentric than a Trump, Sanders, Cruz or Carson could ever dream of being.
Cockfighting Bust

We haven’t heard about

for a long time, but the illicit activity is back in the news.

Officers seized 56 roosters, which they say were prepped for cockfighting, from an Albuquerque home this week. 

The birds were found by officers executing a search warrant at a home near Central NE on Wednesday after a monthslong Animal Welfare Department criminal investigation. Though the birds weren’t severely injured, police say their combs and other appendages were cut for fighting.

Officers also seized syringes used to inject the birds and knives that cockfighting trainers attach to roosters’ legs for deadlier fights.

Remembering Rob DeWalt

As you can imagine, it’s been a difficult week for SFR after we learned about food critic and culture columnist

on Tuesday. DeWalt's husband, Jason Hopper, says a Celebration of Life event for friends and family will be held on Wednesday, April 13, at 5:30 pm at the Museum Hill Café. If you want to help the family offset funeral expenses, consider making a donation on this

page. Former SFR cultural editor Gwyneth Doland will be compiling DeWalt’s weekly newsletter, The Fork, until a permanent columnist is hired.

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