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Learning from NM mistakes, Forest Service to better heed drought factor before burns
The United States Forest Service announced big changes to the way it will authorize prescribed burns in light of mistakes the agency made in igniting what became the biggest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history. The agency released a 107-page review of its prescribed burn practices on Thursday. It came after a 90-day pause on […]
Sanctioned encampments will be legally allowed, after ABQ Council fails to override mayor’s veto
In the latest chapter of a months-long saga, the Albuquerque City Council on Wednesday opted to allow the establishment of “safe outdoor spaces” within the state’s largest city, an effort to give unsheltered folks a safe place to stay overnight. At the meeting, the Council failed to muster the six votes required to override a […]
US executive branch acknowledges NM Downwinders for the first time
A top official with President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday acknowledged the federal government’s role in sending cancer-causing dust into the lungs of thousands of New Mexico residents when it detonated the world’s first atomic bomb in 1945. The 15-minute meeting Wednesday morning was the first acknowledgement by the executive branch of the feds’ role […]
Coronado Park residents need more help to find stable housing, survey shows
Finding safe and stable housing for the former residents of a now-closed Albuquerque encampment will require more effort from the city’s service organizations, as those who needed help “were not well served by traditional outreach methods,” according to a team who surveyed them. City staff and Albuquerque StreetConnect, a Heading Home program, surveyed 94 people […]
As Forest Service wraps up 90-day pause on burns, NM scientist fears what comes next
The United States Forest Service chief is planning to release results soon of a department-wide evaluation of prescribed burning, a review that came after an escaped burn in New Mexico that eventually became the largest in the state’s recorded history. On May 20, which was 105 days ago, United States Forest Service Chief Randy Moore […]
New Mexico has $47 million left to help homeowners fearing foreclosure
A state agency announced this week that it would be merging two pandemic-era programs aimed to keep people housed despite economic upheaval, and officials said that millions are still available for those who need it. The Homeowner Assistance Fund comes out of a $10 billion allocation in the federal American Rescue Plan Act. It’s there […]
Gallup hospital staff didn’t report death of patient during call system breakdown, report says
Someone admitted to a beleaguered Gallup hospital died this year after being forced to ring an old-fashioned hand bell to call for help instead of being able to use a modern call-light system, a report shows. The failed call-light system was one of several major issues at the hospital that prompted a group of doctors […]
N.M. seeking ideas for how to spend Gold King Mine settlement, but no direct cash to individuals
New Mexico is accepting applications to help it spend $10 million in settlement money from the Gold King Mine Spill, which turned rivers yellow in 2015 and caused immense economic and environmental damage in the region. But some lawmakers in Northwest New Mexico on Tuesday questioned during a legislative meeting why the funds can only […]
City officially shuts down Coronado Park, leaving some to find new place to sleep
City officials put up fences around Coronado Park near Downtown Albuquerque on Wednesday, the official closure of a place where as many as 125 unsheltered people once camped. Mayor Tim Keller made the announcement about closing the park last month, surprising many. The move comes amid a housing shortage in the city and right after […]
Cannon Air Force Base ducking public meetings about ‘forever chemical’ risk, neighbors say
Dairy farmers and advocates near Cannon Air Force Base say officials there are stonewalling their call for transparency and more public forums to discuss PFAS contamination. In October 2018, representatives from the military base just outside of Clovis approached Art Schaap, a dairy farmer on more than 3,500 acres adjoining the base, and told him […]
Witnesses detail Santa Rosa arrest of man suspected in Muslim shooting deaths in New Mexico
The arrest of a suspect connected to the shooting deaths of four Muslim men in New Mexico occurred at an exit off Interstate 40 near Santa Rosa, N.M., several witnesses and local police told Source New Mexico. The arrest occurred overnight near Exit 277, according to a Santa Rosa police dispatcher and an employee at […]
NM’s nuclear waste site could be open ‘forever’ despite 2024 closure date, advocate warns
Shipments of nuclear waste to the nation’s only deep geological repository for the hazardous material show no signs of slowing in the coming years, despite the current permit calling for the plant to begin closing in 2024. The future of shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant east of Carlsbad was the subject of debate […]