Morning Word: Powell Accused Of Manipulation

• Republican Party bosses claim incumbent Public Land Commissioner Ray Powell is trying to
• manipulate the automatic vote recount
• , which is headed to the State Supreme Court before it even starts.
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• Wednesday’s fundraising email from the Republican Party of New Mexico accused Powell — described as a “power-hungry extreme democrat” — of trying to include “highly questionable” provisional ballots in the recount. The email also charged that Powell has “orchestrated buckets of extreme-liberal money that are pouring into his ‘after-election’ campaign coffers” from “extreme environmental groups to fund as many as 40 attorneys.

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• Powell contends he just wants every vote cast to be counted and state election codes to be enforced. The Republicans say a hand recount could take a month and cost more than a $1 million.
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• Should teachers and school district employees who serve in the Legislature get paid their salaries while they’re in session? Albuquerque Public School Board member Marty Esquivel
• wants a legal opinion on the matter.
• He wants to know if those payments violate the state’s anti-donation law.
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• Speaking of pay, there’s
• a huge wealth gap
• in New Mexico. Reporters Jeri Clausing and Susan Montoya Bryan found public sector employees, unlike in other states, on average, earn more than private sector employees. The income disparities, critics say, are likely due “to the state’s inability to diversify its economy.”
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• ABQ Free Press posted
• a disturbing lapel camera video
• from 2012. It shows narcotic detectives, assisted by a SWAT unit, whispering their presence to serve a search warrant and only giving the suspected drug dealers three seconds to respond before busting through windows. District Attorney Kari Brandenburg told the paper the case was never prosecuted, because the raid “was a clear violation of their constitutional rights.”
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• Journalist Joey Peters spent the day looking at the
• changing media scene in New Mexico.
• He also writes that
• New Mexico Compass
• , a great local Lodestar, has decided to shut down its online news site after two years.
• 
  
• Lobo basketball fans got some coupons from WisePies Pizza and Salad when they arrived for the big I-25 rivalry game with the New Mexico State Aggie’s Wednesday night. They also
• got assurances
• that the famed arena, now sponsored by the restaurant, will always be known as “The Pit”. Geoff Grammer, who covers Lobo basketball for the Albuquerque Journal,
• has the game highlights.
• Spoiler alert: The Lobos take Round 1: 62-47
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• Before his school lost in Albuquerque, NMSU President Garrey Carruthers sent Oklahoma State University a check for $10. The
• annual payment is part of a settlement
• that allows the Aggies to continue to use the original “Pistol Pete” mascot on a limited basis. The Albuquerque Journal
• described the agreement
• as “somewhat of a draw.”
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• There are numerous health stories in the news this morning: Some Albuquerque apartment residents claim they’re
• getting sick from leaky gas heaters.
• KRQE’s Kim Holland reports the New Mexico Gas Company has red-tagged some of the old furnaces after technicians’ meters measured toxic fume levels.
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• Zoe Baillargeon, at the Santa Fe Reporter, writes officials in the capital city want to
• change the landscape of health care
• with proactive services.
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• New York City and Los Angeles city parks have stopped using synthetic turf made from ground up and recycled tires
• citing health problems.
• In Albuquerque, the state’s largest school district, according to KOB’s Stuart Dyson, is monitoring research, but hasn’t yanked any of its own rubberized fields from schools yet.
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• A one-year-old toddler is recovering from the measles. It’s the
• first reported case
• in New Mexico since 2012, but nationwide cases have tripled. The state Department of Health is encouraging folks to get immunizations.
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• Globally renowned artist Ray Abeyta, who grew up in Española, was killed in a motorcycle accident in New York on Sunday. The 58 year old was known for his Baroque Spanish-colonial style paintings. Several of them are
• the exhibited at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
• NHCC Curator Tey Marianna Nunn knew Abeyta.
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• There's always a piece of New Mexico in his work. They may be global, they may be international, they may be hemispheric, but he always ties in a thank you to his grandma, or a low rider.

Santa Fe Reporter