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After passing US House, Hermits Peak Fire aid act won’t hit the Senate for weeks
A bipartisan effort to get more money in the hands of victims of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire is on its way to the United States Senate after clearing the House on Thursday, but it won’t be considered again until at least September. The bill is an effort to fully compensate those who lost homes […]
Ronchetti has to walk a fine line on abortion as election nears, expert says
New Mexico’s Republican candidate for governor emphasized in public comments that the overturn of Roe v. Wade is a chance for “measured dialogue” on abortion and that his position — that abortion should be banned after 15 weeks, with exceptions — is “a very reasonable position that most in New Mexico will support.” That Mark […]
State to hire two uranium mine officials, a first step in cleanup effort
One of the new jobs will be advertised in early August and will pay between $67,000 and $108,000. The other job will be advertised sometime this fall and will pay between $58,000 and $97,000.
Three things FEMA could do better, according to a Congresswoman fielding NM fire victims’ calls
When the ash finally settles from the biggest fire in New Mexico history, it will take congressional might to change how the Federal Emergency Management Agency handles disasters like the one here, according to the member of Congress whose district is left scarred by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon blaze. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez said […]
FEMA reverses course on ‘safe-to-occupy’ home after pressure. But what about everyone else?
After initial denials, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reversed course and will provide the maximum in disaster aid to a family whose house was the first destroyed by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire. The agency previously provided four reasons to deny aid to Kathryn Mahan and her family for their destroyed home in Las Dispensas. […]
Roads flooded, barn damaged, but not ‘worst-case scenario’ yet in the burn scar, reports indicate
The National Weather Service got at least seven reports of flooding over the weekend in the scar of the biggest fire in state history. Residents of northern New Mexico have been watching rain clouds with a sense of dread since the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire burned more than 340,000 acres of the Santa Fe National […]
NM legal aid attorney: FEMA system ‘broken,’ but don’t give up
A lawyer overseeing a slew of damage claims from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s aid process needs an overhaul. Michelle Garcia, an attorney with New Mexico Legal Aid, encouraged those seeking FEMA relief to reach out for legal help to a coalition of lawyers who are helping with claims. […]
FEMA gave 4 reasons for denying aid to an NM family who lost their home. All were wrong.
Less than a week after a prescribed burn escaped from a crew near Hermits Peak, the wildfire ripped across an area about four miles northeast and destroyed the home Kathryn Mahan and her husband built in 2015 and have lived in since. On April 12, the 400-square-foot home was reduced to a pile of ash […]
A prescription for disaster
More than 11 weeks after a prescribed burn escaped containment lines 12 miles north of Las Vegas, the public is finally learning more about what went wrong to cause the biggest fire in New Mexico history. In the meantime: Thousands evacuated, homes and livelihoods destroyed, a water supply imperiled, a wilderness reduced to ash. Over […]
Major mistakes the Forest Service made in starting biggest fire in New Mexico history
A short-staffed fire crew lit a fire in a megadrought while underestimating the complexity of the climate and the value of what could be lost, review shows.
Leger Fernandez: Forest Service ‘undervalued’ NM region where prescribed burn was ignited
The Forest Service’s first big error when it came to a recent escaped prescribed burn in Northern New Mexico was deeming the area where the agency ignited the fire to have only “moderate” value, U.S. Rep Teresa Leger Fernandez told Source New Mexico. The detail was included in an 85-page report released Tuesday, a review […]
NM reaches $32M settlement for 2015 Gold King Mine spill that turned the Animas River yellow
State officials on Thursday gathered in Farmington to announce a $32 million settlement with the federal government after its contractors caused nearly 1 million pounds of heavy metals to flood into the watershed serving parts of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation seven years ago. On Aug. 5, 2015, contractors for the Environmental Protection Agency […]