City tightens law on booze in public

The Santa Fe City Council on Wednesday outlawed carrying an open container of alcohol in a public place not licensed to serve or sell alcohol, such as a park. City and state laws already banned the drinking of alcohol in unlicensed public places. But Assistant City Attorney Alfred Walker said that to arrest someone, city police had to see someone "placing the beer can or the alcohol container to their lips." Councilor Patti Bushee said she introduced the amendment due to the increasing numbe ...

Senate leader: No rush on PRC reforms

Until this week, bills that would ask New Mexico voters this November to adopt reforms at the troubled Public Regulation Commission appeared to be that rarity of rarities around the state Capitol: roadblock-free legislation. Three reform measures sailed through the House of Representatives with nary a sighting of a "no" vote in any of the committees that reviewed them or on the House floor. But suddenly, the bills have run into a challenge: Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen. ...

Task force targets property crime: Joint effort aims to make headway in cutting burglaries

Irene Pfeffer, 89, was asleep when someone smashed through her glass sliding door. The burglar was in her wallet and out the door before Pfeffer, who is hard of hearing, woke up to find glass speckled across the floor. It was around 3 p.m. Jan. 16, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when her son, District Judge Stephen Pfeffer, got a call from his sister. "We weren't sure if the person was still in the house," Judge Pfeffer said. Santa Fe police arrived at the house north of Fort Marcy park and ...

[Read chat transcript] Legislative Lunch Live Blog

Things are heating up with just a week to go in the 2012 Legislative Session. Wednesday's activities at the Roundhouse include more talk about drivers licenses and budgets, among much more.  What do you want to know about? What bills are you following? Ask any of the reporters, politicians, lobbyists or fellow readers who join us online in our free-for-all, open live blog discussion of the session. It starts at noon right here on your computer or mobile device. And throughout the sessio ...

Online ad led to arrest in child-sex sting

Court documents say one of the four men arrested last week on charges of soliciting a minor had drawn the attention of Santa Fe police when he ran a personal ad on Craigslist looking for a "slut." A search warrant shows that after a four-week investigation, police on Feb. 3 seized multiple computer hard drives and cellphones from the Buckman Road home of Jared Oshell, 35. The document filed in state District Court outlines a sting operation by the Santa Fe Police Department's Crimes Against ...

Man wanted in Albuquerque death dies in standoff

ALBUQUERQUE -- A man wanted to connection with the death of an Albuquerque man has died following a bizarre standoff with authorities. Wes Brannon was pronounced dead Tuesday in Mora County after authorities said Brannon slammed into a parked deputy's car and officers fired on him. State Police did not say whether Brannon died from gunshot wounds or from the crash. Police believe that Brannon was link the death of Albuquerque resident Greg Miller whose body was found Tuesday. Police said t ...

House sends immigrant driver's license bill to Senate

The state House of Representatives on Wednesday once again voted to pass a bill that would repeal the state law that allows undocumented immigrants to get New Mexico driver's licenses. The bill, strongly supported by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez but labeled a wedge issue by some Democratic opponents, now goes to the Senate. The Senate last year heavily amended a similar House bill, effectively killing it, and many expect that to happen again. Following a nearly four-hour debate, the Hou ...

Eight hopefuls announce bids for Santa Fe County offices

The deadline to file as a candidate in Santa Fe County races is still more than a month away, but a handful of hopefuls have already announced their bids to seek elected positions. Incumbent County Commissioners Kathy Holian, who represents District 4, and Liz Stefanics, who represents District 5, both have announced they will seek a second term. As of Tuesday, no one had announced a challenge to either woman. Holian has said she wants to continue work on land-use issues she has started at t ...

Paving firm probe heads to grand jury

Nearly two years after an investigation was launched into allegations of theft and fraud against a paving contractor that did millions of dollars of work for Santa Fe city and county governments, the case appears to be moving toward resolution. Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia confirmed Wednesday that the First Judicial District Attorney's Office this week began submitting evidence involving Advantage Asphalt to a grand jury. "My main investigator in the case has been working with them, ...

Local news in brief, Feb. 9, 2012

City adjusts vehicle-forfeiture rules The Santa Fe City Council on Wednesday tweaked the city's vehicle-forfeiture ordinance. Among other changes, the amendment: • Allows forfeiture after the owner's second drunken-driving case, rather than the third. • Increases the period for a vehicle owner to contest an impoundment, and for the city to respond, to 15 days, rather than 10 days. • Gives a vehicle owner whose vehicle was wrongly seized 72 hours, rather than 24, to pick th ...

Legislative roundup, Feb. 9, 2012

Days remaining in session: 7 Social promotion: Two bills that would end "social promotion" of New Mexico elementary school children cleared the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. Senate Bill 96, sponsored by Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, was amended by the committee to include provisions giving parents the right to oppose retention if they get involved in school interventions for their children. A number of Democrats had criticized the bill in its original form, insisting that it i ...

State District judge says he's resigning this month

LAS CRUCES -- A New Mexico district judge accused of bribery is resigning. Judge Michael Murphy of Las Cruces announced Wednesday that he will retire from the bench, effective Feb. 24. The resignation was approved by the state Supreme Court as part of an agreement to end all disciplinary investigations of Murphy, who was also accused of making offensive and biased remarks to court employees. The retirement, however, does not impact the criminal case pending against the former judge. Murphy wa ...

Senate confirms governor's nominee for energy post

The Senate has confirmed John Bemis as secretary of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. Bemis, an attorney with experience in oil and natural gas law, won confirmation unanimously in the Senate on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, was the only vote against Bemis when the Rules Committee recommended his confirmation. Wirth questioned Bemis about his support for renewable energy and his views on the power of counties to restrict oil and gas p ...

House approves $5B state budget proposal

The House on Wednesday gave bipartisan support to a proposed budget that will spend $5.6 billion on public education and other government programs next year, and provide for higher take-home pay for educators and state workers. The measure heads to the Senate for consideration after clearing the House with the backing of all 70 Democrats and Republicans. “This was a joint effort to do what is best for all New Mexicans,” Rep. Henry Kiki Saavedra, an Albuquerque Democrat, said in a sta ...

Senate confirms Indian Affairs nominee

Indian Affairs Secretary Arthur Allison won Senate confirmation Wednesday despite questions about allegedly illegal cigarette sales at his family’s store on the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico. The Senate voted unanimously for Allison’s nomination. He is the first Navajo to hold the cabinet-level job of leading the Indian Affairs Department, which coordinates programs involving tribal governments and the state.  Earlier in the day, Democratic Sen. Dede Feldman of Albu ...

Dimas aware of public safety needs

Seated behind an electronic piano keyboard, the candidate looked at sheet music illuminated by two white light bulbs. The dance floor at the Fraternal Order of Police lodge darkened, and the band struck up a tune. Without a hint of irony, Bill Dimas, a former magistrate, sang backup vocals into the microphone: "Can I get a witness?" The fundraiser for Dimas' campaign drew a big enough crowd that there was talk of calling the fire marshal. His band, Surprize Package, used the event to stage a ...

Mother claims Ortiz teacher attacked son, says she'll sue

Issues surrounding a physical altercation between an Ortiz Middle School music teacher and a 13-year-old student could wind up in court. The student's mother said Tuesday that she plans to sue over allegations that the teacher physically attacked her son during a Jan. 25 incident that the boy says started when he didn't stop talking in choir class. The teacher resigned after the school district placed him on administrative leave, an action he described in his resignation letter as condoning ...

Familiar faces run again in City Council District 4

The next Santa Fe city councilor from south-central District 4 won't be a new face on the governing body. While neither candidate is an incumbent, both have served on the council before. Carol Robertson Lopez, if elected, would serve side by side with the councilor who ousted her from a council seat in the 2006 city election by a narrow margin. Lopez, a retired state worker who directs a children's charity, says the current race represents a new day. Dimas was elected to the City Council 25 ...

• + Related:   Dimas aware of public safety needs
• + Related:   Lopez concerned about middle class

Fierro pushes for April release from prison

Carlos Fierro might be released from prison as early as April or as late as August, the state Corrections Department said Tuesday. The former Santa Fe attorney and lobbyist was sentenced to seven years in prison for vehicular manslaughter after a November 2008 drunken-driving incident in which he hit and killed 46-year-old pedestrian William Tenorio. Because of good-time credit earned in prison, Fierro could be released early. The exact date, however, depends on the outcome of a department ...

Voters OK tax levy for schools

By a margin of about 3-to-1 in a light turnout, Santa Fe school district voters on Tuesday approved renewal of a mill levy expected to generate about $12.7 million annually from property taxes over the next six years. Among other uses, revenues from the 2-mill levy will be used to update technology, buy computers, improve libraries, provide playground and physical-education equipment and musical instruments, as well as perform minor repairs to existing school facilities. The levy, which can' ...

Report raises option of shutting Atalaya school, to parents' dismay

Many Atalaya Elementary School parents are unhappy about a new report suggesting, among other things, that the school district consider closing Atalaya and sending the students to nearby elementary schools. The 32-page "Atalaya Elementary School Facility Program and Recommendations" report, prepared by the Albuquerque-based Hartman + Majewski Design Group, also offers three options for renovations and additions to the existing school, and one option that calls for the demolition of the facili ...

Local news in brief, Feb. 8, 2012

Chimayó retreat plans scaled down A new version of a spiritual retreat planned near the Santuario de Chimayó will be unveiled at an open house scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in Chimayó at the Holy Family Parish Hall on N.M. 76. As proposed late last year, the $2.5 million Jardin de los Niños Spiritual Retreat would have included 8,000 square feet of new construction, including overnight rooms, kitchen facilities and a conference room. But Gil Martinez, a ...

Bighorn sheep skulls to be auctioned

Eight desert bighorn sheep skulls go on the auction block this week to raise money for preserving the once-endangered animals. The skulls with spectacular horns have been found around Southern New Mexico, often in national forests or on Bureau of Land Management land in the "bootheel" area. But because the animals have been protected in New Mexico for more than 30 years, the skulls have been kept by the state Department of Game and Fish. Desert bighorn sheep were classified as endangered ...

Voter ID bills again stall in committee

In what has become an annual ritual at the state Legislature, a House committee on Tuesday voted along party lines to effectively kill measures that would require voters to present photo identification before casting ballots at the polls. During a two-hour hearing before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, Republicans argued that people voting under someone else's name -- or at least the potential of such fraud -- is a serious problem. "There is a crisis in confidence," said Re ...

Legislative roundup, Feb. 8, 2012

Days remaining in session: 8 Fireworks bill fizzles: The Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee tabled a bill Tuesday that would have given the governor and local governments more power to restrict fireworks during times of high fire risk. The vote was 6-4, with three Republicans and three Democrats agreeing to table the legislation. Gov. Susana Martinez called for such a bill last summer when forest fires -- including the Las Conchas Fire near Los Alamos -- raged across the stat ...