Give it back
Three prominent New Mexico Democrats say they'll make charitable donations equal to the amount of campaign cash they received from private prison companies. US Sen. Martin Heinrich, Congressman Ben Ray Lujan and Attorney General Hector Balderas all took thousands from either the GEO Group or CoreCivic, two massive private prison companies that have seen their market value rise as the Trump administration has rolled out its immigration policy. New Mexico in Depth first reported on the donations last week.
Behind the wheel
Santa Fe police arrested Jamie Hughes on Saturday after folks in the Primo Colores neighborhood called 911 to report her as a possible drunken driver. Hughes was driving an Easter Seals van and transporting special-needs passengers. The Easter Seals chapter claims it had no idea Hughes had two recent DWI arrests and that a background check and driver's license didn't show anything. The group blames the state, which didn't return phone calls from reporters because that's kind of what the state does these days.
A chance for change
Nine years after his release from prison, and fresh off a stint as a newspaper reporter in New Mexico, Barron Jones has signed up with the ACLU on a prison reform project called the Campaign for Smart Justice. The nationwide effort focuses on ways to reduce the number of people who are in prison. The US leads the world in incarceration and estimates are that for every dollar spent keeping someone locked up, there are at least another 10 dollars in social costs. That makes it a $1 trillion problem.
Pearce wants payment
Steve Pearce's attorney has given the state until Thursday to have a firm pay-by date in July. The state owes Pearce's campaign more than $130,000 in legal fees after the Republican candidate for governor sued the state to be able to use federal campaign cash in a state-level race ($). The secretary of state lost and a judge awarded legal fees to Pearce. If the state doesn't respond, Pearce's attorney says they'll demand payment plus additional costs, which is estimated to total $180,000.
Pre-K shuffle
Gubernatorial candidates Steve Pearce and Michelle Lujan Grisham have differing opinions ($) on funding early childhood education. At a recent conference on child wellbeing, Pearce said he wouldn't increase spending until problems with the K-12 education system are fixed (so, it might be a while). Lujan Grisham says she wants to find a way to spend $57 million more on pre-kindergarten programs.
Lujan Grisham stakes big lead over Pearce
An early poll by Survey USA and KOB-TV shows Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham with an 51-38 percent lead over Republican Steve Pearce in the race for governor. It's really early in the race, which most political analysts say doesn't start in earnest until Labor Day, but the poll provides something of a baseline going forward.
If it’s not weevils, it’s crooks
We've all muttered that phrase to ourselves at one time or another—assuming we're all pecan growers. The crop is a multi million-dollar one down south, and growers are hoping a New Mexico law will make it easier to catch people who are stealing nuts from massive pecan groves. The Pecan Buyers Licensure Act requires those buying nuts in the shell to collect a whole bunch of info about where they're getting the pecans. The nuts are pricey, making a night time raid to rake downed pecans appealing for some thieves.
Another one bites the dust
Most of the Carson National Forest in Northern New Mexico is closing tomorrow morning as the drought tightens its ugly, cracked-skin, calloused grip on the state. A fire started near Pot Creek and Sipapu over the weekend and has grown to 85 acres. Since it's going to be hot and dry for the forseeable future and we do pathetic things like get excited over a 20 percent chance of rain, seems like it might be an understandable move.
Thanks for reading! The Word is considering shooting its own YouTube video about how hot it is and hoping it goes viral. The cash will roll in and you might think we'd do something neat like fund fire education, but nope, we'd buy a pool.
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