By Bella Davis/NM In Depth Five New Mexico lawmakers want the state attorney general to establish a task force focused on missing and murdered Indigenous people. They’ve made the request via Senate Joint Memorial 2, which they introduced this week. The memorial puts on display the disagreement some lawmakers have with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s quiet shuttering last year of […]
Congress & Federal Gov.
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Courts, Justice & Safety
Four members of APD DWI unit added to DA’s list of untrustworthy officers
Four names were just added to the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office list of officers who have credibility issues—colloquially referred to as a Giglio disclosure. They are Honorio Alba, Joshua Montano, Nelson Ortiz and Harvey Johnson and their names appear over and over as the arresting officers in the list of more than 150 DWI […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Housing & Homelessness, Local Government
Joaquin Baca is ready to move forward and make the hard decisions
Joaquin Baca is picking up the torch. Baca, a hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service was elected in November to fill the City Council seat of longtime Councilor Isaac Benton, who served for 18 years. Baca represents District 2, which includes downtown, Old Town, the West Mesa and Pat Hurley neighborhoods and part of the […]
Posted inLocal Government
County Commissioners tip their hats to a local leader
A salute to Kiki Savaadra, keeping folks safe from arroyo flooding and continuing the 1/16th gross receipts tax for behavioral health initiatives all got the greenlight from the Bernalillo County Commission at its Tuesday meeting. Pennies Add Up A public hearing was held to approve continuing the 1/16th of one cent gross receipts tax for […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Courts, Justice & Safety
APD Chief addresses federal investigation into DWI officers
Five days after federal authorities searched the homes of Albuquerque Police Department officers and the office of a local defense attorney, department leadership provided additional details about the case and announced that it has launched an administrative investigation into the officers. None of the officers have been charged with a crime “at this point in […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Local Government
APD comes under fire at City Council meeting
Allegations of unchecked corruption, lack of leadership, lack of communication and a call for accountability dominated the Albuquerque City Council meeting Monday. Councilors had sharp words for leaders of the Police Department and Mayor Tim Keller after recent FBI raids on the homes of police officers as part of a federal investigation. The investigation led […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Courts, Justice & Safety, Local Government
How a cry for food sparked Christmas Day trouble in New Mexico’s largest jail for kids
By Joshua Bowling/Searchlight New Mexico The sun was setting as parents waited for the Christmas Day call from their incarcerated children, unaware of the fraught situation that had broken out hours earlier: a so-called “riot” at New Mexico’s largest jail for kids. The news media were depicting a violent uprising inside the Bernalillo County Youth […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., New Mexico Statewide News
New data shows a quarter of NM kids in poverty
Lowering New Mexico’s chronic childhood poverty rate continues to be a hard nut to crack, but advocates see some promise in new data and public policy initiatives. The annual “Kids Count” report issued Jan. 22 by New Mexico Voices for Children (NMVC) shows that almost a quarter of the state’s kids are stuck in poverty […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Courts, Justice & Safety
Ten percent of DWI cases filed by APD in 2023 have been dropped in fallout from FBI investigation
The Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office has now dismissed four felony DWI cases, in addition to 152 misdemeanor DWI cases, following a federal investigation into Albuquerque Police Department officers. This means that just over 10% of the 1,026 DWI cases submitted by APD officers in 2023 have now been dismissed. In addition to 106 cases […]
Posted inCongress & Federal Gov., Courts, Justice & Safety
The feds are investigating APD officers. What are some of the department’s other notable scandals?
Late Thursday, after months of investigation, federal authorities conducted “law enforcement activity,” at several homes of Albuquerque Police Department officers. At the same time, a local defense attorney’s office was also raided by the FBI. Then the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office dismissed 152 misdemeanor DWI cases, with DA Sam Bregman saying his “prosecutorial ethics” […]