New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez is in the nation’s capital today, attending a White House event welcoming Pope Francis to the United States and meeting with federal officials. The governor's office says she left New Mexico on Tuesday and will return Friday. Martinez, the nation's only Latina governor, also was part of a U.S. delegation that traveled to Rome in 2013 to greet the then-new pope and attend his inauguration.
Senator Tom Udall has announced that he and his New Mexico Congressional colleagues have introduced a bill in response to the recent toxic mine spill in Colorado that also fouled rivers in New Mexico and Utah. Udall says the “Gold King Mine- Spill Recovery Act” requires the Environmental Protection Agency to compensate New Mexico- communities that were impacted. It also requires the EPA to keep monitoring the water quality in the Animas and San Juan rivers, and Udall says it would help prevent future disasters. *****092315-Udall-2 :31***** An EPA contractor accidentally triggered the spill of millions of gallons of wastewater in August as it was doing excavation work on the inactive Gold King mine near Silverton, Colorado. The plume turned the Animas a sickly yellow color as the pollution tainted with heavy metals flowed downstream to New Mexico and Utah.
New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran’s back at work, and she’s not talking. Duran’s staffers say the two-term Republican and third-in-line for the governorship came to work Tuesday and plans to be in the office most of the week. This, despite her facing charges of funneling campaign contributions into personal bank accounts and withdrawing cash at casinos around the state. Duran pleaded not guilty earlier this month to dozens of fraud, embezzlement and money- laundering charges. Despite calls for Duran to resign, her attorney has vowed to fight the charges.
Santa Fe Opera's last performance was at the end of August, and it has recently closed it's books on the season. Artistic reviews were mixed, but patrons still turned out. It was their first chance to see phase one of the three-year renovation plan. Alan Dee sat down with Tom Morris, Santa Fe Opera's Director of Administration, to get his take on the business end of the season.
*****092315-AlanDee-AM-Opera- Runs :52 Q: Std*****
Santa Fe Police are crediting a citizen’s tip that helped them identify and then capture the serial robber who they believe has been robbing businesses for nearly two-weeks. Officers, along with the SWAT team, arrested 49 year old Curtis Lucksinger Tuesday at a home on South Meadows Road. Lucksinger was arrested on a warrant for the attempted robbery of Dion’s, which occurred Monday. Violent Crimes detectives believe he is responsible for a total of seven robberies that have occurred since September 10th. Police say Lucksinger would enter businesses and pass the store clerk a note demanding money. According to witnesses, Mr. Lucksinger would imply that he was armed with a weapon. Detectives will continue the investigation and file the rest of the charges with the District Attorney’s Office.
As part of a first-of-its-kind review, State Auditor Tim Keller’s office has finished examining nearly 450 governmental entities in New Mexico. The office released the findings Tuesday seeking to make transparent information about the financial health of state and local governments. The review is also an effort for this information to be both more transparent and accessible. State auditors looked at data from state agencies, cities, counties and school districts and other units. Just a small percentage of the public entities were found to have audit opinions that didn't fairly represent their financial conditions. Officials say the most common findings stemmed from payroll issues. Others involved compliance with state law, budgets and grant programs. Nearly half of the findings were repeated, which officials say reflects the need to focus on corrective action.
Santa Fe Weather: Partly cloudy today with a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms, the high 72. Tonight: Partly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms, the overnight low, 49. Tomorrow: Partly cloudy and breezy with showers and thunderstorms, tomorrow’s high, 81.