County officials have determined that Santa Fe Studios has met its requirement to provide a half-million hours of work at above minimum wage. Co-owner Lance Hool hailed the findings of the county staff audit of its numbers, saying the studios “will continue to be a powerful employment generator for New Mexico.” Now that it has met its hiring obligation, Santa Fe Studios no longer has to reimburse the county for water rights and infrastructure and $10-million worth of construction funding that the state provided. But in a news release, the county says the studio is still obligated to pay off a loan backed by the county to build its giant stages on Highway 14 south of Santa Fe in 2011. The county agreed recently to allow Santa Fe Studios to extend its agreement to pay $2.34-million by June 13, after it had defaulted on the loan in December. It must also come up with more than $200,000 in fees and penalties by then. Several major motion pictures have been filmed at the studio site, including, “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” and “The Ridiculous Six.”
Oilfield companies doing business in New Mexico and West Texas have paid workers $1.5 million in back wages and damages following a federal investigation. The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division announced Thursday that Nova Mud Inc., Nova Hardbandings LLC, and Nova Sand LLC violated overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The companies paid employees fixed semi-monthly salaries without regard to the number of hours they actually worked. Federal officials say that resulted in overtime violations when the employees worked more than 40 hours a work. The companies signed an agreement with the department requiring them to take proactive measures to ensure workers are paid accordingly in the future. One measure calls for setting up an anonymous complaint system for employees.
Officials with New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs say state museums and historic sites will be closed Easter Sunday. The closure includes the New Mexico Museum of Art and New Mexico History Museum near the Santa Fe Plaza as well as the Museum of Indian Art and Culture and the Museum of International Folk Art on Museum Hill. State historic sites from Jemez Springs to El Camino Real in central New Mexico and Fort Selden and Fort Sumner in the southern part of the state will also be closed. The museums are scheduled to reopen Tuesday morning.
The New Mexico Supreme Court has upheld the convictions of two men who were sentenced to life in prison for separate killings in 2013. The court yesterday affirmed the convictions of Daniel Murrell for beating a man to death, armed robbery and other crimes in a case that originated in Clovis. The court also upheld the convictions of Paul Reynolds in the murder of a Tularosa woman and the theft of her vehicle. Prosecutors had said the victim and her husband had taken Reynolds in on several occasions, including on the day she was killed. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is pleased with the rulings. He described the crimes as brutal and said keeping the most violent offenders in prison remains a priority for his office.
A criminal case against an influential former state senator is shining a light on awkwardly close ties among judges and politicians in the New Mexico state capital. Several recusals have happened even before the defendant, a politician, can be arraigned. Five state district court judges have recused themselves without detailed explanations from overseeing a case of fraud and other charges against former Sen. Phil Griego. The 67-year-old Democrat is accused of using his role as a legislator to receive personal compensation from a private company in the sale of a state-owned building in Santa Fe. Political observers say the recusals paint a frustrating picture of delays and special treatment when it comes to the prosecution of some prominent ex-officials in New Mexico. Griego's prosecution and other high-profile cases have prompted calls for ethics reforms in New Mexico state government. Still, the most recent session of the New Mexico State Legislature saw no ethics reform bills passed.
A credit ratings agency is reaffirming a top grade for New Mexico general obligation bonds, even as the state grapples with declining revenues from the oil and natural gas industry. The New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration on Thursday announced the triple-A bond rating from Moody's Investor Services. Moody's says the rating reflects the state's conservative financial management practices as well as relatively stable and adequate reserves. New Mexico expects to draw down it general fund reserves during the fiscal year ending in June to help balance general fund revenues and spending amid weak energy prices. The Finance and Administration Department told Moody's that reserves should fall to about 7.9 percent of general fund spending by the end of the current fiscal year, down from 11.6 percent the previous year.
Department of Corrections officials say they are lifting a lockdown that has been in place at prisons across the state since two inmates fled a transport van two weeks ago. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Rose Bobchak says that visitor hours will resume at all prisons Friday, although some lockdown restrictions will remain in place for the correctional facility in Lea County. The lockdown has been in place since March 10, the day after two prisoners with violent criminal histories escaped from a transport van that was stopped for gas along a southern New Mexico highway. The two were apprehended days later in Albuquerque.
States and Indian tribes are getting ready in case runoff from melting snow stirs up potentially toxic metals in two rivers after a massive spill from a Colorado mine last August. More than two dozen agencies said Thursday they'll monitor the Animas and San Juan rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah at about 18 sites. A crew led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inadvertently triggered the 3 million-gallon spill at the Gold King Mine Aug. 5 during preliminary cleanup work. The EPA estimates it released 880,000 pounds of metals into the rivers. Some settled to the bottom and could be stirred up when snowmelt swells the rivers. It isn't clear what effect the melting snow will have. Officials say that so far they don't expect above-average runoff.
In southern New Mexico, Dona Ana County Treasurer David Gutierrez has been indicted on charges related to public corruption and faces a jury trial to determine if he should be removed from office. Prosecutors say a county grand jury has formally accused Gutierrez of corruption in office or gross immorality by a public official. They say the charges stem from accusations that Gutierrez offered a woman working in his office $2,000 to have sex with him. The incident allegedly occurred in 2014. Charges weren't filed until after county officials formally requested that the district attorney's office investigate. If convicted as charged in the criminal case, prosecutors say Gutierrez could face up to 18 months in prison. They say if he's found guilty in the removal case, Gutierrez would be immediately removed from office.