Latest news with #RaúlTorrez
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico joins 22 other states in lawsuit over education funding freeze
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez spoke with reporters on Wednesday about his and 22 states attorney generals' lawsuit against the Trump administration over education funding. Next to Torrez is Bill Rodriguez, who directs the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program at Santa Fe Public Schools. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia on Monday afternoon filed a lawsuit in federal court in Rhode Island asking a judge to order the Trump administration to lift a freeze on $7 billion meant for K-12 and adult education. GOP members of US Senate protest Trump freeze of $6.8B in school funding The money comes to the states through seven different federal grant programs meant for student learning and achievement; after-school programs; teacher training; and adult education and literacy. At a news conference with public school officials in Santa Fe on Wednesday afternoon, Torrez said the funding freeze undermines not only education, but also public safety in the long run. 'What happens to the kids who no longer have high-quality educational support in the summer?' Torrez asked. 'All of that impacts their ability to succeed in the education system and makes them far more likely to end up in the criminal justice system.' Bill Rodriguez, who directs the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program at Santa Fe Public Schools, said approximately 60 after-school staff in the state's capital serve 700 families and their students in 13 elementary and K-8 schools. Those workers are asking if they should start looking for new jobs, he said. 'Without the program, students' academic growth could be impacted, and parents may be faced with making the difficult decision to leave their children at home alone, or being watched by older siblings after school,' Rodriguez said. According to the lawsuit, the U.S. Education Department has approved New Mexico's grant funding plan since 2015, most recently on April 25, and state officials and school districts expected to receive more than $44 million on July 1. Schools weren't notified of the freeze until the day before that deadline on June 30, giving them almost no time to mitigate its impacts on families, school employees and children, said Peter McWain, executive director of curriculum and instruction at Santa Fe Public Schools. 'Without 21st Century funding, districts like Santa Fe Public Schools cannot give reasonable assurance of 21st Century after-school programming for this coming school year,' McWain said. '21st Century programming supports children who, without this funding, have nowhere else to go.' Kristie Medina, superintendent for Raton Public Schools in rural northeastern New Mexico, said the freeze will have a direct and devastating impact on students in her district and across the state. 'In New Mexico, where many students live in rural, low-income, multi-lingual communities, these funds are not extra, they're very essential to each and every community,' Medina said. Torrez said he finds it ironic that Trump issued an executive order seeking to make English the official language of the United States, and yet cut support for students who want to learn English. 'They want to more fully participate in the American Dream and in American society, and making these kinds of cuts will have a dramatic impact on their ability to do that,' he said. The lawsuit notes that the New Mexico Constitution requires the state government to provide funding so that teachers can be trained to be proficient in both English and Spanish, and have the ability to teach English. It also points out that state law makes it a goal for New Mexico's public schools to make all students, including English language learners, bilingual and biliterate in English and a second language, either Spanish or a Native American language. All three of New Mexico's representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives last week asked the Trump administration to lift the freeze, including Rep. Gabe Vasquez, who himself was an English language learner. Trump administration withholding $44M in education funding from New Mexico Ian Gates, with the New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network, urged the state Public Education Department to find funding to continue to support 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Gates said New Mexico allocated $15 million to after-school programs in its annual budget during the most recent legislative session, and 'we know that approximately $5 million has not been allocated' to programs in the department's Community Schools Bureau. 'These $5 million could be a lifeline for 21st Century Community Learning Centers that have been defunded,' Gates said. 'We urge the Secretary of Education to identify the additional $5 million if this crisis continues to ensure that students and families have a safe and engaging place after 3 p.m.' Source NM asked a spokesperson for the Public Education Department for comment and will update this story as needed. The other states suing the Trump administration over the education freeze include Rhode Island, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin; along with the District of Columbia. The lawsuit points to eight other times in the last half year that federal courts have blocked the Trump administration from unilaterally freezing or withholding other kinds of federal funds, and asks the court to do the same here. Alongside the lawsuit, the states also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, which, if granted, would allow temporary relief while the lawsuit plays out. Torrez said a hearing on that motion has not yet been scheduled, and his office anticipates that will happen sometime in the next week. If the states prevail in that hearing, Torrez said, the court would order the administration not to cut the funding and the status quo would remain. 'Finding quality help to make sure and childcare and after school programs that weighs on every parent's mind,' he said. 'How are you going to go and find out where your child is going to be in a way that's safe, where they're learning something? I'm trying to bring at least some reassurance to those families and those educators within the next several weeks, but this is something that is going to impact everybody.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico joins multi-state suit over slashed mental health funding. Here's why.
Jul. 1—New Mexico is joining 15 other states in suing the Trump administration over the halted flow of $1 billion in federal mental health grants axed by the Department of Education earlier this year. The grants were introduced in a 2022 bipartisan piece of legislation called the Safer Communities Act, passed on the heels of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 children and two adults. In April, the education department announced it would be terminating those grants. "It is one of our greatest responsibilities to protect the mental health and safety of our children," New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement on Tuesday. "The Department's decision to abruptly eliminate this funding is not only reckless, but it also defies the law and threatens to dismantle programs that are saving lives." The discontinuation of the grants occurred nearly a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March to dismantle the Department of Education and as the administration worked toward cutting costs through the Department of Government Efficiency. The education department did not respond to a request for comment on why it chose to cut those grants. The cuts could have major effects across the state. For instance, the Central Region Educational Cooperative, or CREC, has been operating off a five-year, $6.5 million federal grant to provide mental health services to seven rural school districts: Belen Consolidated Schools, Estancia Municipal School District, Jemez Valley Public Schools, Magdalena Municipal School District, Mountainair Public Schools, Quemado Independent Schools and Vaughn Municipal Schools. "Removing these services means that students don't get the support ... their mental health is compromised. These are rural school districts, so there's no access to those services," said Velinda Pearson, CREC's school-based mental health program coordinator. "Working parents aren't going to drive their kiddo an hour or two hours away to get the service every week." Pearson added that the team had just reached full staffing in September, but if funding isn't salvaged, she and the rest of her staff could be out of jobs by December. "We are looking at other options. ... We'll try everything we can to continue the services," Pearson said. She said the plan written into the grant was to bill Medicaid for services provided after five years. But on Tuesday, with the passage of the budget reconciliation package by the Senate, sweeping cuts to Medicaid were made, which could alter that plan. Pearson met with the state's Public Education Department in June to discuss possibly filling the funding gap, but said that the department requested additional data. PED did not respond to a request for comment sent Monday, asking if it would help plug funding gaps. "New Mexico is experiencing a significant mental health crisis with one of the highest rates of suicide in the U.S. The defunding of programs like ours is alarming and upsetting," Pearson said. "We need to stop playing politics off the backs and lives of our most vulnerable communities and all come together in this fight to stop people's pain and suffering." The other states that joined the lawsuit are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NM attorney general and two manufacturers cap diabetes drug costs in settlements
A pharmacy manager retrieves a bottle of antibiotics. (Photo by) Under settlement agreements reached earlier this year and announced by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Wednesday, two insulin manufacturers have committed to make the diabetes treatment cheaper for New Mexicans. 'These are huge wins for New Mexicans who have struggled with the outrageous cost of insulin,' Torrez said in a statement. 'These agreements will help people stop rationing medication, avoid financial hardship, and focus on staying healthy. We are holding drug manufacturers accountable and making access to life-saving treatment more equitable.' New Mexico Department of Justice spokesperson Lauren Rodriguez told Source NM that the agreements provide insured patients who might have a high deductible or copay the option to pay cash instead of using their insurance, and to pay no more than $35 for a monthly supply of insulin, Rodriguez said. The New Mexico state law enacted in 2020 that caps insulin costs at $25 remains in full force and is not preempted or replaced by the new settlements, Rodriguez said. Instead, the agreements are 'additive protections mainly aimed at helping cash-paying and uninsured patients, while deferring to state law when it offers better pricing,' she said. As many as 207,600 adults in New Mexico, or approximately 11% of the state's adult population, have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Without the caps, patients in other states could pay $150 per month or more, especially if they require multiple variations of the drug, Stateline reports. More states are doing what they can to cap insulin costs High out-of-pocket costs have historically forced many patients to choose between buying insulin and meeting other basic needs, NMDOJ said in a news release. The settlements result from the agency's independent investigations into insulin pricing practices, NMDOJ said. The state's agreement with Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, signed on April 18, requires the company to maintain its Insulins ValYou Savings Program, which allows patients who pay out-of-pocket to receive a month's supply for $35. The Sanofi settlement also requires it to maintain its Patient Connection Program, which allows uninsured patients who aren't eligible for Medicaid and whose annual household income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty line to receive insulin for free. Under the settlement, Sanofi must also provide patients live phone and translation support in Spanish, Hmong, Somali and Mandarin Chinese; and participating pharmacies will receive training to help patients enroll in affordability programs. The settlement with Novo Nordisk Inc., signed on May 19, requires the company to maintain its MyInsulinRX Program, which offers diabetes patients the option to pay $35 or less for a monthly prescription. Under the agreement, Novo Nordisk must also continue its Patient Assistance Program, which offers insulin for free. The settlement also requires Novo Nordisk to notify pharmacies about available discounts at the point of sale, help patients enroll on the spot and offer live phone and website chat support in Spanish. Reporter Danielle Prokop contributed reporting to this story. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
NMSU making progress on hazing reforms, NMDOJ says
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico State University is making progress on implementing reforms in response to a hazing incident involving the university's men's basketball team, according to the New Mexico Department of Justice. Remains of found in Santa Fe National Forest identified as 1950s wrestler, actor Following the hazing incident during the 2022-2023 basketball season, the NMDOJ released a report in December 2024 which identified seven areas of concern and provided 35 recommendations to NMSU aimed at improving campus safety, accountability, and compliance with federal law. Attorney General Raúl Torrez said NMSU has implemented nearly two-thirds of the 35 recommendations outlined in the report. 'In response to our report, Title IX and Hazing on Campus: Lessons Learned from New Mexico State University, NMSU has taken swift and decisive action, completing nearly two-thirds of the 35 recommendations outlined by our office and making substantial progress on the rest. I encourage every university in New Mexico to review this report and adopt similar reforms to foster safer, more supportive environments for their students,' Torrez stated in a news release. NMSU President Valerio Ferme said that the university is still working to make more improvements. There's still work to be done to ensure our campuses are places where everyone, especially students, can safely pursue their educational and professional goals. We have an incredibly devoted group of leaders who are committed to making us better, and we will continue to dedicate time and resources to address hazing and harassment to the best of our abilities,' Ferme stated. The hazing allegations involved now former players Deshawndre Washington, Kim Aiken Jr., and Doctor Bradley who were accused of sexually harassing and assaulting their teammates and student managers. Aiken and Bradley, have already taken plea deals for their role in the scandal. As part of the plea deals they provided testimony against Washington and will be sentenced after Washington's trial which has been delayed multiple times. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NM AG opposes U.S. House GOP efforts to restrict state laws on AI
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology has made it easier to create believable but totally fake videos and images and spread misinformation about elections, experts say. (Tero Vesalainen / Getty Images) New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez recently signed onto a letter backed by 39 other attorneys general opposing efforts by U.S. House Republicans to restrict states for the next decade from passing laws related to artificial intelligence. 'Artificial Intelligence will be the most impactful technology of our generation and states must have the ability to shepherd its progress in a safe and responsible way,' Torrez said in a statement. 'While Congress has failed to act, we've worked hard to develop new proposals—like House Bill 401—which would have penalized the use of AI-generated content for harassment, extortion, or defamation, and created tools to detect harmful synthetic media and unmask bad actors. Though it didn't pass, strong state-level protections are still urgently needed, and states must have the flexibility to regulate this emerging technology if Congress refuses to act.' Republicans added the clause restricting states' laws on AI to the U.S. House budget bill congressional they hope to pass before Memorial Day. The measure, advanced on May 14, as part of the House Energy & Commerce Committee's budget reconciliation proposal. Exceptions to the state ban would include laws that 'remove legal impediments to, or facilitate the deployment or operation of' AI systems. In their letter, the AGs write that the 'promise of AI raises exciting and important possibilities. But, like any emerging technology, there are risks to adoption without responsible, appropriate, and thoughtful oversight. In the absence of federal action to install this oversight, over the years, states have considered and passed legislation to address a wide range of harms associated with AI and automated decision-making.' Those harms include 'deep-fakes designed to mislead voters and consumers,' the letter notes. In addition to HB401, which did not make it out of the state House Commerce & Economic Development Committee during the most recent legislative session, New Mexico Democrats backed a so-called Artificial Intelligence Act, which did not make it through the session, but would have created a state regulatory AI framework. A signed memorial created an AI working group for the Legislative Education Study Committee, aimed at making recommendations on AI's use in education, among other topics.
