Authorities have released the identities of two people who were killed in a small plane crash in northern New Mexico. New Mexico State Police say 46-year-old Karen Ann Young and 47-year-old Thomas Spickermann, both of Los Alamos, died when the single-engine plane went down Friday near the Ohkay Owingeh Airport near Espanola. Police say Young is believed to have been the pilot and Spickermann the co-pilot. Federal Aviation Administration investigators are looking into the cause of the crash.
Drag racing apparently led to a crash that injured several people and knocked down a power line in Albuquerque.APD Officer Fred Duran says the crash happened early yesterday. According to Duran, at least three vehicles were drag racing. Several people were taken to the hospital but police did not know the nature of their injuries.
The escapade of two convicted felons came to a peaceful end Saturday, when Albuquerque police responded to a tip and found the second escapee at a northeast apartment complex. Lionel Clah's capture came less than a day after the capture of the other inmate, convicted murderer Joseph Cruz. Cruz was also found in Albuquerque. The two inmates were able to slip away from prison guards while traveling Wednesday night between Roswell and Las Cruces in a prison transport van. Two guards in charge of the pair and 3 others that night have been placed on leave as corrections department officials investigate. The head of the agency has not said how the two men ended up in Albuquerque early Thursday morning, free of shackles and handcuffs and dressed in street clothes. Clah and Cruz can be seen smiling on hotel video surveillance. US Marshals captured Cruz on Friday in Albuquerque, and his sister, Olivia Cruz, has been arrested on other charges. State police say they’re investigating whether she had anything to do with her brother’s escape. Meanwhile the woman whose apartment Cruz companion Lionel Clah was staying at says she was afraid he would harm her or others. The Albuquerque Journal reports Michelle Abeyta metClah at a neighbor’s house Thursday night and then let him stay at her apartment until Saturday, when she called police to say he was there. Abeyta was questioned by police, but the Journal says she has not been charged with harboring a fugitive.
A records request by The Associated Press finds that New Mexico legislative leaders rarely if ever communicate by work email and keep private details of breakfast and dinner appointments with industry and special interest groups. The Legislature's top leaders provided their appointment calendars and hundreds of emails from the first week in February in response to the request. Nearly all of the emails came from constituents; only three were outgoing messages. A small share of the work-related calendar appointments included names of individuals and none described the content of conversations. But the state’s top official hasn’t agreed to turn over her emails, yet. Gov. Susana Martinez's office says staffers have been busy reviewing legislation passed during the recent session. The AP sent open-records requests to the top lawmakers in all 50 states and most governors.
Emails about the governor’s inaugural ball fund have been published by the Santa Fe New Mexican, and they indicate the people in charge of the event didn’t want anyone to know how the money was spent. Sunday’s New Mexican revealed that more than $130-thousand dollars of the roughly $1-million the committee raised went to the governor’s top political man, Jay McCleskey and his wife. The documents were given to the newspaper by the inaugural committee’s executive director, Andrea Goff, who noted that she had questions about what happened to more than $366-thousand dollars the committee raised. The New Mexican quotes the governor’s spokesman blasting Goff in response to questions from the newspaper. Michael Lonergan said “Goff has proven to be a liar and a fraud who will desperately say anything to smear her political adversaries.” You can read more about this story in Sunday’s Santa Fe New Mexican.
A Santa Fe High School assistant boys basketball coach who was placed on paid administrative leave last week while an alleged hazing incident was being investigated has been cleared of any wrongdoing and is eligible to return to his teaching position today. That’s according to a district spokesperson. E.J. Lucero, a first-grade teacher at Ramirez Thomas Elementary School, was placed on leave March 4 pending the outcome of an investigation into events that occurred on a bus while the Santa Fe High Demons boys basketball team was returning from a game in Rio Rancho last month. He is not subject to any disciplinary action and is eligible for re-hire. Head coach David Rodriguez, who teaches at the high school, remains on paid leave. The school district spokesperson says the school district hopes to wrap up the part of the investigation involving Rodriguez “in the near future.” Video of the Feb. 5 incident taken from inside the bus shows several boys apparently voluntarily leaving their seats to go to the back of the bus where they were lightly pummelled by older boys in what has been described as a “freshmanizing” ritual, while coaches at the front of the bus appear oblivious. However, at one point the dark and grainy video shows the action in the back of the bus become more physical, and one boy ended up with a broken nose. Coach Rodriguez has said he wasn’t made aware of what had really transpired until a few days later, and he then voluntarily benched himself for one game. Superintendent Joel Boyd placed the coaches on leave last week pending further investigation into the incident and pulled the team out of the state tournament.