Marley's a ghost
Tuesday evening, the district attorney dropped felony and misdemeanor charges against Entrada protest leader Jennifer Marley. That's in advance of a hearing that had been scheduled for today to determine if police had amassed enough evidence that Marley assaulted a police officer with her cardboard protest sign, as well as trespassing on public property by protesting outside of a "free speech zone" established by police. It appears misdemeanor charges against seven other people are still pending.
Get in line
More primary doctors in town are turning to concierge care as a way to spend more time with patients instead of spending it filling out insurance forms. It's rejuvenated the practices of some monumentally frustrated primary care physicians, but it also reduces the number of patients they see—sometimes cutting their patient loads to just a tenth of the 2,000-2,500 people they had before going concierge. That means a growing shortage of primary care doctors is growing faster.
Mayor with a mandate
Thanks to changes in the city's election law, Albuquerque's next mayor will have a majority of the voters behind him when he takes office after winning a two-man runoff election. That might not be true for Santa Fe, which has seven mayoral candidates and no minimum threshold of votes to declare a winner. The city opted not to implement ranked-choice voting, though the system has now been certified by the secretary of state.
Show us your moneyed donors
The secretary of state unpacked new campaign finance rules aimed at requiring more disclosure from independent expenditure committees. Those groups have been freed from the bounds of normal campaign finance law, but they've also been allowed to keep the names of their donors secret. The new rules, which were fought by some of the groups to which they now apply, require disclosure of some donors after spending limits per ad or per election cycle are reached.
The promise
Albuquerque Public Schools board member Analee Maestas resigned her post Tuesday in the midst of an investigation into the La Promesa charter school, which she founded. The state auditor and others are looking into possible embezzlement and almost $700,000 in questionable charges. Maestas blames her daughter's substance abuse problem, and investigators have said Julieanne Maestas, who worked as the school's business manager, improperly deposited half a million dollars into her own accounts.
APS criticizes science standards
Add the state's largest school district to the list of those unhappy with proposed edits to the Next Generation Science Standards. The policy committee of the Albuquerque Public Schools board voted to send a letter of opposition to the state Public Education Department ahead of next week's hearing on the standards. The Next Gen standards have been ready to implement for years, but the PED dragged its feet on the recommendations of its own advisers and last month revealed changes to the curriculum that eliminate references to the age of the earth and delete some language on evolution and human-caused climate change.
Room at the inn
Just two hotel companies bid for a lease on the now state-owned property beneath Garrett's Desert Inn and the Santa Fe Bite restaurant. The bids, which are being evaluated by the State Land Office, promise at least $250,000 a year for the state, with at least a $100,000 signing bonus. The state got the property in a land swap with the Cochiti Pueblo, which got ancestral land that once was the thriving Dixon Apple Orchard. The land office agreed to design restrictions for the new property that prevent much larger-scale construction.
Sad SFUAD
Students at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, which will be closing its doors next spring, say budget cuts and the pending closure have left campus looking forlorn, empty and ugly. SFUAD's president says the focus is on the academic experience with just months to go in the college's life. The city of Santa Fe, which owns the property, is still weighing its options.
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