Get ready to go round and round at one Westside intersection Albuquerque city workers will begin installing a roundabout at Tierra Pintada Boulevard and Mirehaven Parkway in the Tierra Oeste neighborhood on the city’s far Westside. Construction is expected to last through the rest of the year. “This is a major project that will bring […]
Elise Kaplan
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Local Government
Last chance to speak out on proposed $1.4 billion city budget
Want to weigh in on how the city should budget its money? The public is invited to share its thoughts with Albuquerque city councilors at a committee meeting Thursday. The Committee of the Whole (COW) will meet May 9 to hear resident input on the mayor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025. HOW TO PARTICIPATE: […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Local Government
City councilors seek to reverse immigrant friendly policy
Councilors Brook Bassan and Renée Grout are co-sponsoring a bill that would reverse the city’s Immigrant Friendly Policy to allow police to contact federal authorities if an undocumented immigrant is charged with certain violent crimes or drug offenses. The bill to amend the current policy, introduced at the Albuquerque City Council meeting Monday night, was […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov.
Low-income homeowners to get help with heating and cooling upgrades
Albuquerque has received a grant that city officials say will help improve the health and finances of low-income homeowners. The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department awarded the city $1.7 million to expand its retrofitting efforts in improving work energy efficiency. Through the Community Energy Efficiency project, income-qualified homeowners will receive free energy […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Housing & Homelessness, Local Government
City Council hears from the public — and some stuffed animals — at Monday meeting
A packed chamber greeted the Albuquerque City Council for a five-hour meeting May 6 where the council spent some money, approved getting some grant money and heard heartfelt public comments about immigration policies in the city. Standing Room Only More than a dozen residents turned out to voice their concerns about a proposed amendment that […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Local Government
City record keepers are bringing the clerk’s office into the digital age
Last year, the Albuquerque City Clerk’s Office digitized over a million public records in order to make them more accessible to citizens who file Inspection of Public Records Act requests, as well as city departments that need access to records. And they’re still going. “Currently we have 9,000 boxes and we also have 58 pallets […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., New Mexico Statewide News
Judge halts controversial requirement for 180-day school year
A district court judge late Friday issued a temporary restraining order preventing the New Mexico Public Education Department from enforcing a rule that mandates at least 180 days of instruction for all schools in the state. For now, four-day-a-week schools are allowed to convene for 155 days next year, the current standard. The New Mexico […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Local Government
AFR ambulance gets a new home — in Ukraine
The city of Albuquerque is sending one of the fire department’s decommissioned ambulances to its sister city of Kharkiv in Ukraine as the country continues to face Russian attacks. The 2011 Ford F6G ambulance is in good working condition, said Sara Mannal, a city spokesperson. She said city leaders and community members wrote messages of […]
Posted inCourts, Justice & Safety
Fresh eyes and new technology: Digging into the cold case killing of a rookie cop in Mountainair
It was the evening of May 7, 1988, and while most of the town of Mountainair attended a talent show at the high school, a rookie cop remained at the police department — in a cramped room atop a narrow staircase above town hall. Stephen Sandlin, a 21-year-old who had joined the four-man force a […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Courts, Justice & Safety, Local Government
BCSO arrests ‘Al Capone’ of retail theft
A man who sheriff’s deputies say was at the center of Albuquerque’s largest organized retail crime operation was arrested earlier this month. Raul Fernando Garcia, 42 — dubbed the “Al Capone” of retail theft by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office — was arrested on April 15. He is facing multiple charges including organized retail crime, […]