Today is December 18th, the date when Former New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran has promised to turn herself in at a county jail to serve 30 days as partial punishment for siphoning money from her election account to fuel a gambling addiction. She has been ordered to report Friday morning to the Santa Fe County Adult Correctional Facility. Duran, once among the state's top elected officials, is expected sleep in a 6-by-8-foot cell and wear khaki scrubs. The 60-year-old from Tularosa resigned from office in October, and she pleaded guilty to felony counts of embezzlement and money laundering. The transgressions have led to calls for a major overhaul of state campaign finance and ethics laws. Under a plea agreement, Duran had the opportunity to withdraw her pleas, but she did not do so.
New Mexico state auditors have tracked down 5,406 evidence kits from rapes and sexual assaults that never were tested for DNA to help identify criminals. The tally was announced Friday by state Auditor Tim Keller. His oversight agency has conducted an exhaustive search for the untested sexual assault kits at law enforcement agencies across the state after earlier inquiries went partially unanswered. Auditors plan to review internal controls that led to the backlog and identify ways to speed up the testing and analysis of evidence.
A recently concluded study shows that New Mexico’s program providing 25 supplementary days of school to tens of thousands of students in Kindergarten through third grade, might not be all it’s cracked up to be. New Mexico’s Legislative Education Study Committee Thursday heard a report that although the K-3 Plus program does boast significant short-term gains in participating students’ math, reading, and writing proficiency, over time, that advantage flattens out. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Damon Cann, an associate professor of political science at Utah State University, presented the study, says New Mexico’s current 24-million-dollar investment in what Governor Martinez this month called a “successful” K-3 Plus program, may not be paying off. A new bill in the upcoming legislative session seeks to more than double that financial investment to bring the program to more schools and students. Cann says increased participation might turn K-3 plus into a winning strategy—55% of New Mexico students between Kindergarten and 3rd grade already participate, but Cann says one of the barriers to long-term improvement is that when participating students return for the new school year, they have to start back at the beginning with students who did not receive K-3 plus instruction.
In further education news, New Mexico's Secretary of Education has been dropped from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Albuquerque Public Schools' chief finance officer. A First District Court judge ruled Thursday that Hanna Skandera was named in the suit for actions related to her job responsibilities and that makes her immune under tort law. Don Moya sued Skandera, former superintendent Luis Valentino and the APS Board of Education a few weeks after he was placed on administrative leave in early August. The suit says Moya raised concerns about a contract awarded to a Denver company whose chief operating officer had worked with the newly hired deputy. Moya's attorney contends Skandera and Valentino conspired against Moya. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Moya will remain an APS employee at least through Feb. 15.
Former Rio Arriba County Sheriff Tommy Rodella has lost his second appeal of a civil rights violation conviction, for which he’s currently serving 10 years in prison. The Albuquerque Journal North reports the 10th Circuit US Court of Appeals in Denver maintains that Rodella did not have probable cause to arrest 26-year-old Michael Tafoya in an off-duty traffic stop in March 2014, and that testimony given by three other motorists who said they’d experienced aggression from Rodella during traffic stops was admissible. Rodella was accused of provoking Tafoya’s speeding and stop sights violations through intimidating driving leading up to the March 2014 traffic stop that landed Rodella in lockup. The incident has been referred to as “bizarre” and an act of “road rage.” Rodella is the husband of New Mexico Democratic Representative Debbie Rodella.
An officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed teen was highlighted in a U.S. Justice Department report has been named as the Albuquerque police union's vice president. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Justin Montgomery says he never set out to be involved in a shooting, and it doesn't represent the entirety of his career. The shooting of 19-year-old Andrew Lopez was found to be justified.Montgomery’s appointment comes just as union president, Stephanie Lopez, resigns from her post amid charges that she battered her 14-year-old daughter over a utilities shutoff notice. Lopez has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Budget legislation that's speeding toward approval in Congress includes an additional $600 million to fight wildfires next year but no long-term fix to firefighting's havoc on the U.S. Forest Service budget. The Forest Service spent a record $1.7 billion fighting fires this year. Year after year, the agency must borrow from other programs to keep up with ever-growing cost of fighting fires. The Obama administration wants to address the problem by treating wildfires like other types of natural disasters for funding purposes. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, supports a long-term solution, but she says paying for wildfires like the government's response to hurricanes and tornadoes needs more review. U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Robert Bonnie calls the funding increase a Band-Aid solution that also neglects to make forests more resilient to fire.
And now this extended weekend forecast for Santa Fe: Bad news for winter sports enthusiasts might be good news for just about everyone else: today marks the beginning of a reprieve from a cold and snowy week in Northern and Central New Mexico. Today in Santa Fe, sunny, with a high of 38 degrees; tonight, mostly clear, with an overnight low down to 22. Tomorrow, mostly sunny and a bit warmer, with a high near 45, Saturday’s nighttime low, 24 degrees; Sunday, sunny with a high around 40 and an overnight low near 20.