The price tag for providing health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income New Mexican is on the rise, and state lawmakers are concerned future costs will be unsustainable. New Mexico is one of the states that opted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Enrollments have surged and federal aid will soon be scaled back, putting more pressure on states to come up with the difference. Republican Representative Jason Harper of Rio Rancho described it as a ticking time bomb. Harper and other members of the Legislative Finance Committee discussed the program's costs during a meeting Tuesday in Santa Fe. State officials are requesting nearly one-billion dollars' from the general fund for the program in the 2017 fiscal year.
The City of Santa Fe has employed a small-donor matching program in its city elections and a similar program is being considered in Albuquerque. The study comes as the New Mexico Public Interest Research Group, or “PIRG” has released a study showing how such a program could be employed in all elections. The New Mexico PIRG'sJordynJagels: *****102815-Jagels-2 :14*****Jagels says a small-donor program would allow candidates to spend more time with people as opposed to candidates catering to special interests. *****102815-Jagels-3 :23***** The Federation of State PIRGs recently joined 12 other leading government reform organizations to release a comprehensive policy agenda to curb the impact of big money in our elections that includes small donor matching as a key recommendation. Jagels says two bills are being considered in Congress that would implement a public-funding proposal nationwide.
A civil case involving two utility companies' role in one of the largest wildfires in New Mexico's history is expected to land on the hands of a jury. Attorneys from both sides made their cases Tuesday in Bernalillo before state District Judge Louis McDonald. Now jurors must decide if the two utilities are to blame for the blaze. The Las Conchas fire started when an aspen tree fell onto power lines that stretched through national forest land in the Jemez Mountains. Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative operated and maintained the power lines. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Incorporated provides the cooperative with electricity and is also named as a defendant. There are more than 300 plaintiffs in the case. The threat of post-fire flooding continues to loom for the tribes and the monument.
Environmentalists have sued to overturn a plan for pollution controls at a coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation. In a complaint filed Monday, three environmental groups allege that a federal advisory group met in secret to craft the plan and denied the public an opportunity to weigh in. The Interior Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are named as defendants. Neither agency immediately returned requests for comment Tuesday. The EPA had proposed cutting haze-causing nitrogen oxide emissions by 84 percent at the Navajo Generating Station near the Arizona-Utah border. The advisory group offered an alternative adopted by the EPA. The proposal gave the power plant owners more time to implement pollution controls. The coal plant powers a series of canals that deliver water to Tucson and Phoenix.
Santa Fe police are searching for the person who threw a Molotov cocktail at a home last week. KRQE-TV reports it happened Friday night inn the 500 block of Alarid Street. The explosive caused a brush fire after igniting some leaves. The home is a summer rental property. Witnesses say the person responsible threw the Molotov cocktail from a moving car. No description of that vehicle yet.
Santa Fe Weather: Mostly sunny today with the high 56. Tonight: Mostly cloudy with the overnight low down to 35. Tomorrow: Partly sunny with a slight chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms with Thursday's high in the mid-50s.