Early this morning, volunteer dentists began working on patients who have neglected their dental health. The event is at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center downtown, where for the first time in Santa Fe, the Mission of Mercy is providing free basic care today and tomorrow – no questions asked. The Santa Fe New Mexican says volunteer dentists expect to serve about 600 northern New Mexicans each day. Despite the fact that dental health is key to overall health, people who can’t afford regular exams put off getting them. And that can lead to gum disease, losing teeth, and stomach and heart ailments. The New Mexican reports about 57-hundred people have received acute care from the Mission of Mercy since its free dental clinics began in New Mexico six years ago. It is sponsored by the New Mexico Dental Association Foundation. It says the problem is not a lack of dentists in the state, but rather the cost, and the rural nature of New Mexico that results in the lack of dentists and doctors outside of metropolitan areas. The event at the convention center runs until 5:30 p.m. today and tomorrow.
Also planned outside the convention center this morning at 10:00 is a rally in support of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Supporters will gather at 10 on the lawn in front of the main Post Office on Federal Plaza – a short distance from the convention center – and march from there, accompanied by percussionist and chanting. The event is called “Flash for Bernie.”
Health care workers are raising concerns about closed-door meetings as New Mexico forges a plan to rein in spending on Medicaid by some $400 million under a new state budget. An advisory group is scheduled to deliver its first recommendations Friday on reducing Medicaid reimbursement rates for medical procedures to health care providers. Union representatives say they were shut out of a meeting of the advisory group this week, as tensions rise over cost containment measures needed by July. The state has underfunded Medicaid by $85 million between now and mid-2018, and will forgo more than $300 million in federal matching funds as a result. The Human Service Department that oversees the state Medicaid program says recommendations by stakeholders will be made public — though meetings were kept closed.
The U.S. Postal Service has announced it will commemorate Bandelier National Monument on a forever stamp his summer. The stamp image was previewed yesterday, as the fourth of 16 stamp images to be revealed over a three-week period to celebrate the National Park Service's 100th anniversary. Tucked into northern New Mexico's ancient canyons, Bandelier has a long human history that stretches back more than 11,000 years. It is located near present-day Los Alamos. Other National Park forever stamps unveiled feature Acadia National Park, Arches National Park and Assateague Island National Seashore.
A 56-year-old New Mexico man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for transporting a 13-year-old Missouri girl across state lines to engage in sexual activity. U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson says Raymond C. Vallia III of Albuquerque was sentenced Wednesday in Kansas City. He pleaded guilty in November to transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity. The Henry County, Missouri, Sheriff's Office responded to a home in March 2015 to investigate a report of a missing girl. Officers determined the girl met Vallia on the Internet, and he had picked her up at her home. New Mexico State Police stopped a vehicle matching a description of Vallia's the next day. The girl was found in the vehicle, and Vallia was arrested.
Authorities say shots were fired during a road rage dispute near an Albuquerque elementary school, prompting a lockdown at the school. Deputy Felicia Romero, a Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, says no one was injured in the dispute Thursday afternoon, which authorities are continuing to investigate. The sheriff's office has not released names in connection with the road rage dispute, but says it involved a blue Nissan Pathfinder and a white, four-door Buick. Authorities say the road rage incident began near a busy intersection about two miles from Sierra Vista Elementary School. The lockdown was lifted later Thursday afternoon, and parents were then able to sign out their children.
An Arizona woman who served prison time in connection with the 2009 disappearance of her baby has been extradited from New Mexico where she was arrested for a probation violation. Authorities say 29-year-old Elizabeth Johnson was booked into a Phoenix jail Thursday and awaits a court hearing. Johnson was arrested last week for violating the terms of her probation. None of the allegations stem from the case of her missing 8-month-old son Gabriel, who has never been found. Among other things, Johnson is accused of failing to get approval before traveling out of New Mexico or associating with a person with a criminal record and not notifying probation officials when she got married last December. Johnson was released from Arizona's Perryville prison in July 2014 after serving about 17 months.
New Mexico's attorney general is stepping up pressure on administrative staff at the Legislature to turn over subpoenaed documents in a criminal corruption investigation of former Sen. Phil Griego. The attorney general's office filed a rebuttal Thursday to the continued refusal to release records by the Legislative Council Service. The council service helps lawmakers draft legislation and says it is duty-bound to protect correspondence with legislators and other documents to preserve the integrity of the legislative process. Griego has pleaded guilty to charges including fraud and bribery. Prosecutors allege he used his role as a senator to arrange a $51,000 commission on the sale of a state-owned building in downtown Santa Fe.
Pope Francis has insisted that individual conscience should be the guiding principle for Catholics negotiating the complexities of sex, marriage and family life in a major document that rejects the emphasis on black and white rules for the faithful. In the 256-page document "The Joy of Love," released today, Francis makes no change in church doctrine. But in selectively citing his predecessors and emphasizing his own teachings, Francis makes clear that he wants nothing short of a revolution in the way priests accompany Catholics. He says the church must no longer sit in judgment and "throw stones" against those who fail to live up to the Gospel's ideals of marriage and family life. will forgo more than $300 million in federal matching funds as a result.He said of the church: "We have been called to form consciences, not replace to them."