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Morning Word
NM Supreme Court stays abortion bans
The state Supreme Court on Friday granted New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s request to stay—or suspend—restrictive abortion ordinances in Lea and Roosevelt counties, as well as the cities of Clovis and Hobbs. The court additionally directed the parties to submit briefs addressing legal issues, including the legal impact of New Mexico’s recently enacted Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Act, which prohibits local governments from restricting access to health care in the way the aforementioned governmental bodies have attempted. “The order by the Supreme Court advances the fight to ensure that New Mexico remains a safe haven for women seeking reproductive healthcare,” Torrez said in a statement. “This extraordinary writ and the legislation just passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor will make it clear that everyone in the state of New Mexico has a protected, constitutional right to make their own healthcare decisions. Given the attacks we are seeing in Texas and across the country, I am proud to stand with our Legislature and the governor to continue this fight.” The anti-abortion ordinances are part of a concerted strategy by anti-abortion activists to employ the federal anti-obscenity law the Comstock Act to restrict access to abortion medication—a legal ploy such activists say they hope to advance to the US Supreme Court.
DOH reports more allegations of abuse/neglect
The state health department on Friday reported an additional 6,815 unannounced “wellness” visits to people receiving services from the department’s Developmental Disabilities Waiver program, from which 45 additional incidents of alleged abuse and neglect were identified—all now under investigation; Secretary of Health Patrick Allen and Aging and Long-Term Services Secretary Katrina Hotrum-Lopez, who is serving as acting Developmental Disabilities Supports Division director, were among those conducting the visits. “The number of incidents requiring investigation speaks volumes about the absolute necessity and importance of these unannounced visits,” Allen said in a statement. “We launched these mass visits with an all-hands-on deck mentality, and these numbers demonstrate a need for a comprehensive re-evaluation of the Developmental Disabilities Supports Division and the Division of Health Improvement oversight. We must take every single step to assure New Mexicans living with developmental disabilities are receiving the proper care they deserve.” The wellness checks follow the state’s termination earlier this month of contracts with four providers after allegations of misconduct resulting in “severe and life-threatening injuries to a client.” Shortly thereafter, state officials and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a series of actions—including the wellness checks. State House Republicans last week wrote a letter requesting Inspector General Christi A. Grimm for the US Dept. of Health and Human Services independently investigate the situation to “ensure complete transparency regarding these suspected and unacceptable incidents” and to “preclude the inevitable possibility that the New Mexico Department of Health will fail to take necessary steps to prevent such cases in the future.”
Appeals court vacates former tax secretary’s convictions
The state Appeals Court on Friday vacated two felony convictions for former Taxation and Revenue Secretary Demesia Padilla. In a nutshell, the split ruling reversed Padilla’s 2021 convictions for embezzlement and computer access with intent to defraud or embezzle on technical grounds. The state initially charged Padilla in Santa Fe County’s First Judicial District, but granted motions from Padilla’s legal team to dismiss due to an improper venue. The same charges were then filed in Sandoval County—where the alleged crimes had occurred—and a grand jury indicted Padilla but, her lawyers said, the statute of limitations for the felonies had expired six months prior. As the Albuquerque Journal reports, Judges Katherine Wray and Miles Hanisee said state lawmakers only intended the statute of limitations paused in limited circumstances, whereas dissenting Judge Megan Duffy dissented and said the five-year statute of limitations under state law should have been extended and the charges were, in fact, filed in a timely manner. Padilla’s lawyer, Paul Kennedy, tells the Albuquerque Journal: “We’re grateful for the court’s opinion. Demesia has been waiting for a long time for vindication on this issue.”
Rust AD convicted on negligent gun charge
Rust Assistant Director David Halls on Friday pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon under a plea agreement with the First Judicial District Attorney’s office. Under that agreement, Halls, 63, agrees to a conviction of a petty misdemeanor, for which he received a six-month unsupervised suspended sentence. Halls also will pay a $500 fine; participate in a firearms safety course; complete 24 hours of community service; and has agreed to cooperate in forthcoming hearings in the case. His lawyer, Lisa Torraco, described Halls as “extremely traumatized” and “rattled with guilt,” in the wake of the Oct. 21, 2021 on-set fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Halls’ hearing, which was held by video, marked the first appearances for special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, whom DA Mary Carmack-Altwies appointed last week to replace her. Carmack-Altwies’ withdrawal, former US Attorney in Virginia John P. Fishwick Jr. tells the LA Times, “gives the appearance that the prosecution does not have confidence in the case.” Carmack-Altwies’ departure followed former special prosecutor Clovis Republican state Rep. Andrea Reeb’s pullout in response to legal objections from Rust actor/producer Alec Baldwin’s legal team. All told, trial attorney and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani tells the Times, “The New Mexico DA is on its heels…I’ve never seen a prosecution botch a case so much before we’ve even gotten to the preliminary hearing.” The DA has charged both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed with involuntary manslaughter for their roles in Hutchins’ death; preliminary hearings are scheduled to begin on May 3.
COVID-19 by the numbers
Reported March 31: New cases: 214; 675,125 total cases. Deaths: 0; Santa Fe County has had 401 total deaths; 9,115 total fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 89; patients on ventilators: five
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent March 30 “community levels” map shows improvement for New Mexico, with just two counties—Cibola and McKinley—yellow with medium levels, down from four last week, none red and the rest of the state with green—aka low—levels. Corresponding recommendations for each level can be found here.
Resources: Receive four free at-home COVID-19 tests per household via COVIDTests.gov; Check availability for additional free COVID-19 tests through Project ACT; CDC interactive booster eligibility tool; NM DOH vaccine & booster registration; CDC isolation and exposure interactive tool; COVID-19 treatment info; NMDOH immunocompromised tool kit. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453. DOH encourages residents to download the NM Notify app and to report positive COVID-19 home tests on the app.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
The US Basketball Writers Association recently awarded Albuquerque Journal sports writer Geoff Grammer its Jim O’Connell Award for beat writing excellence. It’s been a dramatic year, certainly, for men’s college basketball in the state, and Grammer’s coverage has appeal for both the die-hard fans and the intermittently interested. On a recent episode of his Talking Grammer podcast, Grammer provides an in-depth interview with now former UNM starting power forward Josiah Allick, who recently announced his intention to transfer—the fourth Lobo to do so since the season ended.
Santa Fe startup pitches the “sharks”
Parting Stone, the Santa Fe-based startup that has won hundreds of thousands of dollars through entrepreneurial pitch competitions and state grants with its unique humanist approach and technological solution to storing cremated remains—will be featured on the 7 pm April 7 episode of ABC’s program Shark Tank. The reality TV show describes itself as a venue to provide “budding entrepreneurs the chance to secure business deals that could make them millionaires.” In an Instagram post, founder Justin Crowe said when he was pitching his business on the show, “I shared the story, lessons, and achievements that our team of 29 worked hard for—that is what got us to air. We are going into April and into this amazing opportunity with new highs in monthly sales and record production efficiency.” While the past few years were difficult and struggles remain, he said, “feeling strong and being able to share our service and our story on the Shark Tank stage in front of 10 million+ people is a massive win for everyone who has believed in us.”
Come for the wine, stay for the untaxed social security
The online Luxury Travel Magazine includes Santa Fe in its list of “five gourmet destinations to unlock the flavors of the US.” In Santa Fe, the magazine writes, most roads “lead to chili peppers” and “locals pass its seeds along like secrets.” The story recommends trying the “New Mexican specialty,” the green chile cheeseburger, and points visitors toward the “green chile cheeseburger trail.” The story also recommends what it calls the “Santa Fe Chocolate Trail, where those with a sweet tooth can try ancient Meso-American-style elixirs,” although it does not specify where the chocolate trail is (nor do we have any idea, though we suspect the story is referring to one or all of Kakawa Chocolate House’s locations). Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta also gets a shout-out, as it does in this recent Wine Enthusiast story on “nine food festivals every drinker should know.” Unrelatedly (kind of) Santa Fe also makes Money Talks News’ list of 12 “great places to retire in the mountains,” because we’ve got art, skiing, pueblos, senior centers and recently stopped taxing social security for most seniors.
Red flag warning
Today will be very windy, according to the National Weather Service, which forecasts a sunny day with a high temperature near 53 degrees and west wind 20 to 25 mph increasing to 30 to 35 mph in the afternoon, with gusts as high as 50 mph. As such, portions of the entire state are under wind advisories from 9 am to 6 pm, with winds up to 80 mph likely in the south central mountains east through Lincoln County and into Chaves County. With such high winds, the state also is under a red flag warning for critical fire weather, with fires sparking over the weekend in both Socorro and Torrance counties (with no estimates on size or containment status available at press time for the first, but with the latter contained, officials say). After 6 pm, a high wind warning remains in effect; temperatures will plummet and tomorrow’s highs will be in the 20s with a chance for snow.
Thanks for reading! The Word has become increasingly stressed about ensuring her plants are sufficiently watered after listening to the sounds of stressed plants crying.
