Morning Word: DREAMers React to Legal Block

I

mmigrant children have been dealt a big setback by a federal judge in Texas. Last November, the DREAMers celebrated executive action that would block their deportation. Now, they're scrambling to figure out what to do next. That, plus what's going on down by the river and a look inside the Roundhouse.

It's Thursday, February 19, 2015

Immigrant children and families in New Mexico are expressing disappointment that a federal district judge in Texas has blocked President Barack Obama's executive order that would have shielded them from deportation. The White House is appealing the ruling that would impact an estimated 34,000 people in New Mexico. See the story at KOB 4.  Longtime Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima says a 12-month battle over raising the minimum wage has left "battle scars" but was worth it. Read more at the Las Cruces Sun-News.  The 185-year-old La Sagrada Familia Church was rededicated at a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Michael Sheehan earlier this week.

Restorations cost about $600,000. Read it at the El Defensor Chieftain.  The percentage of teens drinking and driving in Clovis has been cut in half since 2007, according to a new survey.

A DWI grant help officials expand their education programs and buy wonky "drunk goggles" and provide driving simulator programs. Read more at the Clovis News Journal.  While that study is encouraging, other new data shows a high rate of drug dependence and alcohol abuse among pregnant women. Read more at the Deming Headlight.  The Taos County clerk says her office plans to recount contested Questa School Board election ballots on Monday. Read more at the Taos News.  Silver City school board members are giving Superintendent Lou Streib a pay boost to $126,000. Some members of the public think the board members violated the Open Meetings Act. Read more at the Silver City Sun News.  Former Albuquerque Public School Board Superintendent Winston Brooks is suing the district for $125,000. He contends interim Superintendent Brad Winter violated his termination settlement agreement with disparaging comments.

Scott Sandlin has the details.  Albuquerque City Councilors want trail construction in the bosque halted. Democrats, on a party line vote, said they want Mayor Richard Berry's administration to get more public comments on the plan before continuing. They could put money for the project in a reserve fund, but the mayor could veto their measure. See it at KOB 4 . 

New Mexico Legislative News:

• If you thought this was the year lawmakers might cap interest rates on payday loans, forget about it. The Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee voted to table the measure
• –Santa Fe New Mexican.
•  
• US Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham had everyone's attention in Santa Fe on Wednesday. Reporter Dan Boyd says she encouraged state lawmakers to focus on the economy and "declare a war on poverty."
• –
• ABQ Journal
• . 
• Democrats says that's exactly what they're trying to do with a bill they claim will create 73,000 jobs
• –Las Cruces Sun-News.
• Reporter Joey Peters writes that right-to-work legislation has hit a snag in the house
• –
• SFR
• . 
• Veteran journalist Winthrop Quigley has been doing a lot of reading lately. In his "Up Front" column this morning he writes, "there is no economic case for or against right-to-work laws." Instead, he sees the controversial measure as a pure political power play
• –ABQ Journal
• . 
• Two powerful state senators says they will not vote to blast the right-to-work bill onto the Senate floor, but Sens. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and Sen. Mary Kay Pappan, D-Las Cruces, say they will vote for it if it makes it through the committee process
• –Joe Monahan
• . 
• Lawmakers are still arguing about whether to increase teacher pay
• –Santa Fe New Mexican
• . 
• Reporter Staci Matlock, who's been covering the fracking ban in Mora County, writes that Rep. Nate Gentry's, R-Albuquerque, measure to ban local government interference with oil and gas production has made it through the House Energy and Environment Committee
• –Santa Fe New Mexican
• . 

Santa Fe Reporter