Latest news with #SourceNewMexico
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Union calls on Española School Board to intervene in student immigration data dispute
The Española Valley High School football picture in an undated photo. A teachers union is calling on the Española School Board to intervene after an effort last month at the high school to collect student immigration data. (Photo courtesy EVHS) The National Education Association of New Mexico sent a letter Tuesday to the Española School Board asking for a 'full and detailed explanation' of who authorized Española Valley High School's directive to teachers last month, ostensibly as part of a standardized test, to collect students' immigration statuses. The union also accused the district of deleting the information it collected, which leaders said amounted to 'destruction of evidence during an open union investigation.' That prompted the union to file a Prohibited Practice Complaint with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board of New Mexico. 'We fear not only the impact these actions have on our membership but the students as a whole,' the union wrote in the letter. 'We are writing to seek your help to rectify these matters. The district and staff deserve to have a school district that is lawful and free of fear and intimidation.' A teacher posted on Reddit on April 21 that they had reached out to the union after teachers were asked to collect the data as part of the WorkKeys standardized test, an assessment that the ACT created to measure job readiness. An ACT spokesperson told Source New Mexico last month that it never seeks that information, saying its collection is 'not a requirement for taking our exams and is not information we collect or use in any way.' Española high school sought students' immigration status as part of standardized test The letter calls on the school board to, by June 2, provide copies of all internal communications and documents regarding the directive; an 'explanation of the rationale' for later deleting the collected data; and confirmation about whether the data was ever transmitted to ACT, Inc. In an interview Tuesday with Source New Mexico, NEA-NM spokesperson Edward Webster said the district needs to 'stop playing the game' with the union and teachers about what happened and be transparent about what happened and why. Eric Spencer, the Española superintendent, did not respond to an email Tuesday afternoon from Source New Mexico. The school board meets this evening at 6 p.m., but the matter is not on the agenda. School board president Javin Coriz did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon. The effort to collect the data occurred amid fears that that information could be turned over to federal immigration authorities, and a few months after border patrol agents boarded a Las Cruces swim team's school bus. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently said in an interview with Source that the state is continually beating back efforts by the federal government to collect private data about New Mexicans, including immigration data. The Legislature also passed several bills aiming to keep immigration data out of federal hands. The state Health Care Authority also recently denied a request from the federal Agriculture Department for cardholder data of those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program assistance.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Union calls on Española School Board to intervene in student immigration data dispute
The Española Valley High School football picture in an undated photo. A teachers union is calling on the Española School Board to intervene after an effort last month at the high school to collect student immigration data. (Photo courtesy EVHS) The National Education Association of New Mexico sent a letter Tuesday to the Española School Board asking for a 'full and detailed explanation' of who authorized Española Valley High School's directive to teachers last month, ostensibly as part of a standardized test, to collect students' immigration statuses. The union also accused the district of deleting the information it collected, which leaders said amounted to 'destruction of evidence during an open union investigation.' That prompted the union to file a Prohibited Practice Complaint with the Public Employee Labor Relations Board of New Mexico. 'We fear not only the impact these actions have on our membership but the students as a whole,' the union wrote in the letter. 'We are writing to seek your help to rectify these matters. The district and staff deserve to have a school district that is lawful and free of fear and intimidation.' A teacher posted on Reddit on April 21 that they had reached out to the union after teachers were asked to collect the data as part of the WorkKeys standardized test, an assessment that the ACT created to measure job readiness. An ACT spokesperson told Source New Mexico last month that it never seeks that information, saying its collection is 'not a requirement for taking our exams and is not information we collect or use in any way.' Española high school sought students' immigration status as part of standardized test The letter calls on the school board to, by June 2, provide copies of all internal communications and documents regarding the directive; an 'explanation of the rationale' for later deleting the collected data; and confirmation about whether the data was ever transmitted to ACT, Inc. In an interview Tuesday with Source New Mexico, NEA-NM spokesperson Edward Webster said the district needs to 'stop playing the game' with the union and teachers about what happened and be transparent about what happened and why. Eric Spencer, the Española superintendent, did not respond to an email Tuesday afternoon from Source New Mexico. The school board meets this evening at 6 p.m., but the matter is not on the agenda. School board president Javin Coriz did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon. The effort to collect the data occurred amid fears that that information could be turned over to federal immigration authorities, and a few months after border patrol agents boarded a Las Cruces swim team's school bus. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently said in an interview with Source that the state is continually beating back efforts by the federal government to collect private data about New Mexicans, including immigration data. The Legislature also passed several bills aiming to keep immigration data out of federal hands. The state Health Care Authority also recently denied a request from the federal Agriculture Department for cardholder data of those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program assistance.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's push for Southwest uranium will face stiff state review
Mount Taylor viewed from Laguna Pueblo in an undated photo. As President Trump seeks to fast-track uranium mines in the Southwest, experts said a robust state review processwill stand in the way. (Photo by Jack Delano via Library of Congress website) Recent federal activity suggests the Trump administration has two long-stalled uranium mines near New Mexico's Mount Taylor on its radar. Earlier this month, a federal infrastructure agency included Roca Honda and La Jara Mesa uranium mines on a new list of 20 projects nationally that advance 'the President's directive to take immediate action to facilitate domestic production of America's vast mineral resources,' according to a statement from the council. Then last week, the U.S. Interior Department announced that a proposed uranium mine in Utah would be subject to only a 14-day federal review period, shortening what is commonly a years-long process. Source New Mexico spoke with state officials, outside experts and longtime anti-uranium advocates about what defense New Mexico will have against the federal government's efforts to restart uranium mining here for the first time in 50 years. While experts said hard-fought cultural protections are unlikely to present much of an obstacle, they expressed confidence that state regulations will hold up against federal encroachment. 'I think that the realities weigh against the administration's ignorant and uninformed policies that suggest to the public that these kinds of projects will happen overnight,' said Christopher Shuey, a public health researcher closely monitoring uranium developments here. 'They won't.' Private companies have sought to develop the La Jara Mesa and Roca Honda mines for more than a decade, though interest heated up with Trump's executive order seeking to boost domestic energy production. Soon after, Cibola National Forest leaders named both mines priority projects, and then uranium company Energy Fuels then struck a controversial deal with the Navajo Nation that would allow it to transport ore from Roca Honda across the reservation. Meanwhile, Laramide Resources indicated on its state permitting application a desire to expedite the next step of its La Jara Mesa project. DJ Ennis, program manager for the state's Mining Act Reclamation Program, confirmed to Source NM there's been a 'renewed interest' from uranium mining companies seeking to break ground in New Mexico. But even if the federal government tries to fast-track mining here, Ennis said the state will take its time and fully review both mine proposals, which it is empowered to do under the 1993 New Mexico Mining Act, and in lieu of a federal law. Trump administration expedites permitting for Utah uranium mine to a two-week process 'The feds are going to do what the feds are going to do,' Ennis told Source. 'It does affect us, in that it would be good if the state and the feds were on the same pace and page of permitting. But if that is not the case, the default then becomes the state's permitting process, and we have a robust permitting process.' At the federal level, new uranium mines are subject to environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act, which Trump's recent orders have accelerated. But that has no bearing on the state's ongoing review, Ennis said. If it came down to it, Ennis said, the state could issue daily fines and potentially even deploy state police officers to stop uranium extraction at the Roca Honda or La Jara Mesa sites if the companies did so without a state permit. So if Trump were to order a truncated federal review of the La Jara Mesa mine like he did the Velvet-Wood mine in Utah last week, and then the Forest Service issued a rushed environmental impact statement that selected its preferred alternative of extracting uranium, and then company proceeded to break ground, the state would step in and stop it, Ennis said. 'I'm not sure what that looks like, if it involves state police to enforce the order or courts,' Ennis said. 'But it is a state law that we are enforcing.' Eric Jantz, attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, said the state's permit review should offer the public some reassurance that nothing will happen immediately. He also suggested that his organization would consider suing if the federal government sought to fast-track New Mexico uranium mines. Long-stalled NM uranium mines now 'priority projects' at Cibola Forest, leader tells employees 'I suspect that if the Forest Service either ignores its obligations under NEPA because of this executive order or its own regulations, that litigation will probably ensue,' he said. That's because, Jantz said, he sees little basis for an 'energy emergency' that Trump claims is the reason to fast-track the mines. 'If there's one thing to impart, it's that this whole notion of premising expedited environmental reviews on some sort of emergency is preposterous,' he said. 'No emergency exists, and there's no reason why the usual environmental reviews can't continue.' While experts and observers expressed confidence in the state's capacity to hold off a federal push to expedite mining, they said it remains unclear whether efforts by local Indigenous tribes and pueblos to protect Mount Taylor as a cultural and religious site will add another layer of protection. In 2007, as several mining companies moved forward with plans to extract uranium from the Mount Taylor area, five tribes made the unusual step of sharing stories about their ancestral and spiritual connections to the mountain. That rare disclosure of tribal creation myths marked an early milestone in a multi-year battle to create a 400,000-acre Traditional Cultural Property, drawing a line around Mount Taylor recognized by the state of New Mexico. Among other things, the designation aimed to give Indigenous people a voice in opposing uranium or other mining interests. After mining companies sued in 2009, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that the designation should stay intact. Since then, the pueblos have maintained opposition, with the All Pueblo Council of Governors in December issuing a resolution to state regulators that 'Mount Taylor, known by various traditional names is a sacred landscape, central to the cultural identity, traditional practices, and religious activities of numerous Pueblos and other tribal nations.' Even though the Navajo Nation agreed to let uranium eventually be transported from Roca Honda across the reservation, it has also long opposed any new mines in the Mount Taylor area, Stephen Etsitty, the Navajo Environmental Protection Agency director, said recently. Uranium transport through Navajo Nation sparks concerns in New Mexico Designation of Mount Taylor as a traditional cultural property has yet to emerge as an issue in the state permitting process, Ennis said. The designation requires federal and state parties to consult with tribes, but a collision awaits between private mining interests and cultural protections, Ennis said. 'The intersection of those two is a difficult question to answer,' he said. 'I don't know that we'll know until we get to the end of the process.' Shuey, who has advocated against the mines since 2009 as a researcher with the Southwest Research and Information Center, said the recent federal fast-tracking prompted him and colleagues to review what the TCP designation actually meant for protecting Mount Taylor. 'We've been asking this question for the last several weeks,' he said. 'My understanding is that the impact of the TCP would be more of a, 'Pay attention to this site from the standpoint of cultural resources, and make provisions to mitigate any types of impact to cultural resources' type of thing.' Even without an outright ban on mining or around the TCP, Shuey said, he expects greenlighting the mines to take years, during which time opponents will watchdog the process. 'A lot of these folks have lived through the 80 years of the uranium legacy. They've learned across generations of the impacts of mining,' he said. 'And so I think there's a lot of not only institutional memory but institutional knowhow of evaluating mining proposals and offering intelligent and compelling comments and testimonies.' He likes their odds against a Trump administration that seems to 'not be particularly interested in understanding or knowing the impacts of mining,' he said, but instead has a 'weird, visceral notion that we just need more of these minerals for a variety of purposes, and we're going to go get them.'
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
By the #s: Where measles has made it in New Mexico
(Rimma Bondarenko/ Getty Images) A measles case was confirmed this week in the sixth New Mexico county this week, populous Sandoval County — much farther north than previous cases. State health officials alerted the public that they could have been exposed to the virus at a Trader Joe's in Albuquerque, along with a big medical center in Rio Rancho. As of Friday, there are 74 confirmed cases across New Mexico, state health officials told Source New Mexico. In addition to providing daily updates on the virus' spread, health officials also provide dates, times and locations where people may have been exposed, along with a list of places where people can walk in to receive vaccines. Read all of Source's measles coverage here. Infected people have been in a Denny's in Hobbs, a school gym in Lovington, a preschool in Las Cruces and various medical clinics in southern and northern New Mexico in recent months. Measles symptoms begin with a cough, runny nose and eye redness, before progressing to fever and rash that starts at the head before moving down the body. Health officials advise that people who have measles can infect others from four days before the rash appears and remain contagious four days after the rash is gone. In addition to Sandoval County, New Mexico has now seen confirmed cases in Chaves, Curry, Doña Ana, Eddy and Lea counties. Currently, more than 1,000 measles cases have been reported nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The health department encourages people with symptoms who have been exposed to measles to call NMDOH Helpline at 1-833-SWNURSE (1-833-796-8773) for guidance in English and Spanish. If planning to see a doctor or visit an emergency room, call first so health care providers can plan for a visit by someone who may have measles. See a map below showing statewide exposure sites, along with vaccine clinic sites and other information:
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
By the #s: NM's new military-controlled border zone is not a ‘60-foot buffer.' It's 400 square miles
From left to right: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks and United States Attorney for New Mexico Ryan Ellison stand along the New Mexico-Mexico border in a recent visit to tout recent border arrests. (Photo courtesy USAO) Earlier this week, the United States Attorney's Office in New Mexico announced that 82 people have already been hit with the novel misdemeanor charges for 'unauthorized entry into the New Mexico National Defense Areas,' a crime punishable by up to one year in prison. That charge follows the United States Interior Department land transfer along New Mexico's southern border to the U.S. Army, allowing federal troops to now detain and transfer individuals to federal law enforcement for criminal charges. Interior officials said the land transfer was intended to 'safeguard sensitive natural and cultural resources,' and also crack down on illegal border crossings. In touting the new measures, Defense Department officials have said the change simply amounts to converting the 'Roosevelt Reservation,' which they describe in a news release as a 60-foot buffer zone along the borders Mexico shares with New Mexico, Arizona and California, into what is basically an extension of the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Huachaca in Cochise County, Arizona. However, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich's office contended in an email Friday to Source New Mexico that the DoD description mischaracterizes the actual size of the area. Heinrich spokesperson Caty Payette cited the Public Land Order that lists all the new parcels that are affected, along with a map showing a swath of southern New Mexico under the newly created 'Emergency Withdrawal Area.' 'It's much further than just the 60-foot Roosevelt Reservation and has huge implications for anyone unwittingly driving along Highway 9 who might pull over to stretch their legs and unwittingly trespass on a military base,' Payette said in an email. According to a Source New Mexico analysis, the area in the 'Emergency Withdrawal Area' is 406 square miles, an area more than twice the size of Albuquerque. 'We think it's an important technicality that speaks to the seismic impact of the administration's action,' Payette said. This digital rendering approximates the new militarized zone based on a publicly available map. We used Google Earth to overlay the image and trace it onto a basemap, which created a 400-square-mile polygon. Because we hand-traced the shape of the new zone, some edges may be inaccurate.
