Morning Word: Human Services Secretary Under Pressure to Resign

Earnest Pressured to Quit

State Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, is

after agency employees refused to answer questions about a practice of manipulating food stamp applications to avoid having to process them on an emergency or expedited basis.

Ortiz Y Pino says he also hopes state lawmakers can get some answers out of those officials and take action to prevent future issues.

"Then maybe put some language into their appropriation next year that makes clear that this can't be tolerated," he told KOB in an interview Wednesday.
Medical Services Firm Loses Prison Contract 

Justin Horwath reports that the New Mexico Corrections Department has decided not to renew a medical services contract with Corizon.

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Insurer Reconsiders Health Exchange

Blue Cross Blue Shield, which withdrew from the state’s health exchange last year when they were denied permission to increase rates 54 percent, has decided to

Art School Sold in Santa Fe

A firm in Singapore plans to buy the financially struggling

.

The Santa Fe City Council recently approved an extension of Laureate International Universities’ lease for the 62-acre campus along St. Michael’s Drive at $2.2 million a year, the same amount as the city’s bond payments for the land. The agreement gives Laureate the right to purchase the property and the right of first refusal, should the city obtain an offer for the property from another buyer. [City spokesman Matt] Ross said that right will transfer to Raffles Education Corp. if the sale closes.
Border Officers Accused of Abuse

Residents along the US-Mexico border in El Paso and New Mexico face

from US Customs and Border Protection officers, according to a complaint filed by a coalition of advocacy groups earlier this week.

The complaint, filed on behalf of 13 people, also said the officers have harassed border crossers with legal documents and threatened retaliation when the residents promised to report the violations.
Gary Johnson Picks Running Mate

William Weld, a popular former Republican governor of Massachusetts, has agreed to run as Gary Johnson’s vice president candidate

later this month in Orlando. The two shook hands on the deal last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jones Caught Moonlighting

PRC commissioner Sandy Jones, who earns more than the secretary of state, state auditor and state treasurer, has a side job. But

Jones, who was at utility rate training on Coronado Island in San Diego this week, told KRQE News 13 by telephone that actively running a business shouldn’t preclude holding down an elected job as a PRC commissioner. “I don’t think that’s an unreasonable expectation, for people to know that you’ll have a business,” Jones said. “I think the question is, is how you balance that; the business life with the job at hand for the state.”
PNM Executives Earn Big Bucks

We missed this yesterday, but while electric customers in New Mexico brace for a double-digit rate increase, PNM Resources’ shareholders approved

for the utility's top five executives. Some shareholders wanted the compensation to be tied to carbon reduction goals, but that idea was rejected.

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