Morning Word: Bang, Bang

APD killed someone again
A man in Albuquerque was shot dead yesterday evening by an unnamed Albuquerque police officer during a traffic stop. The cop wasn't hurt. It happened near the center of town. Police have released few other details so far.

You can't park here

The city of Santa Fe has

it receives from on-street parking meters since it doubled rates last summer, rising from $1.41 million last fiscal year to $2.33 million this year. Visitors and businesses downtown are still sour over the higher fees, but at least the number of citations for parking violations has also declined.

She walks the line
Last Friday, after the US Senate rejected the latest attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal Obamacare, Governor Susana Martinez issued a vague statement "urging Congress to keep trying to fix the Affordable Health Care Act." This distinguishes her from other Republican governors who accepted federal funding for Medicaid expansion and have criticized attempts at repeal. In New Mexico, 40 percent of residents are covered by Medicaid, which would be cut under recent plans to repeal Obamacare.

Lost in the mail

In the last five years, plutonium and other weapons-grade chemicals were

across the

country at least 25 times. Of those incidents, 11 times shipments either originated with the Los Alamos National Laboratory or passed through it. More recently in June, officials at the Los Alamos National Lab admitted they’d “improperly shipped unstable, radioactive plutonium in three containers to two other government-owned labs via FedEx cargo planes."

Higher ed in New Mexico under examination
The New Mexico Higher Education Department is considering ways to reorganize its university system. The effort includes over 100 faculty members, lawmakers, and others spread across three committees examining higher education in other states and what it would take to bring change to New Mexico. The department's findings will be presented to the legislature at the end of the year.

Car wreck strains Española resources
A single drunk driving wreck in Española requiring 14 people be transported to a hospital exposed the lack of emergency dispatch services available in the town. Ambulances from Taos, Santa Fe and Rio Arriba County had to be called in for assistance. The Rio Grande Sun reports that the Presbyterian Española Hospital is only required to run one ambulance at a time for a county that is about the size of Connecticut.

Farmington judge charged
A judge from the Aztec Magistrate Court has been charged with 13 counts for recording telephone conversations. The criminal charges stem from six instances where suspended Judge Connie Johnston recorded telephone calls in nonpublic areas of the courthouse. They were filed following the disclosure of records by Johnston for a civil complaint (which Johnston may settle).

Federal concealed-carry bill under consideration
A federal bill would make it easier to transport guns by allowing states to recognize permits from other states. New Mexico has stricter requirement for background checks and firearms safety training than about 25 states, according to the group Americans for Responsible Solutions, which opposes the legislation. New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce is co-sponsoring the bill.

Thanks for reading! The Word understands it's a dangerous business walking out your front door.

Subscribe to the Morning Word at sfreporter.com/signup.

Santa Fe Reporter