New Mexico news

• Trump makes call for new White House doctor’s virus advice

  17-08-2020 15:56
  
  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has found a new doctor for his coronavirus task force — and this time there’s no daylight between them.
  Trump last week announced that Dr. Scott Atlas, a frequent guest on Fox News Channel, has joined the White House as a pandemic adviser. Atlas, the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center and a fellow at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution, has no expertise in public health or infectious diseases.
  Bu
  
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• Taller cubicles, one-way aisles: Office workers must adjust

  17-08-2020 15:54
  
  NEW YORK — Bergmeyer, a design firm in Boston, has erected higher cubicles, told employees to wear masks when not at their desks and set up one-way aisles in the office that force people to walk the long way around to get to the kitchen or the bathroom.
  “The one-way paths take me a little out of the way, but it was easy to get used to,” said Stephanie Jones, an interior designer with the company. “It actually gives me the opportunity to see more people and say a quick hel
  
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• Phoenix man wanted in connection with triple murder arrested

  17-08-2020 15:54
  
  PHOENIX — A suspect wanted in connection with the killing of his pregnant wife and another man in September 2018 has been arrested, according to federal authorities.
  The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service took 48-year-old Dimas Coronado Chafino into custody Thursday at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on a felony warrant.
  Authorities say Chafino fled the country after the triple murders.
  He is being held on $2 million bond on suspicion of three counts of first-degree murder plus kidnapp
  
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• Inmate fire crew in western Colorado to be dissolved

  17-08-2020 15:54
  
  ASPEN, Colo. — A loud, distant hum reverberated from a tree stand neighboring several Snowmass homes on a recent morning.
  Several dead brush and branch piles could be seen neatly stacked among the small patch of trees from the village roadway. Trunks were bare of their lower branches. And up a hill in the stand between two homes, dead trees were being cleared out and pushed through a wood chipper machine, chopped into tiny pieces spread back over the tree stand floor as mulch.
  “Clean
  
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• Coronavirus hasn’t devastated the homeless as many feared

  17-08-2020 15:54
  
  SAN FRANCISCO — When the coronavirus emerged in the U.S. this year, public health officials and advocates for the homeless feared the virus would rip through shelters and tent encampments, ravaging vulnerable people who often have chronic health issues.
  They scrambled to move people into hotel rooms, thinned out crowded shelters and moved tents into designated spots at sanctioned outdoor camps.
  While shelters saw some large COVID-19 outbreaks, the virus so far doesn’t appear to have
  
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• Arizona reports 883 more coronavirus cases, 14 more deaths

  17-08-2020 15:54
  
  PHOENIX — Arizona health officials report 883 more confirmed COVID-19 cases with 14 additional deaths.
  The latest numbers released Sunday push the state’s totals to 193,537 cases and 4,506 known deaths.
  According to Johns Hopkins University data analyzed by The Associated Press, seven-day rolling averages of daily new cases in Arizona and of daily deaths in the state have sharply declined over the past two weeks.
  COVID-19-related hospitalizations in Arizona peaked about a month ago f
  
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• Texas National Guard soldier dies in training at Fort Hood

  17-08-2020 15:53
  
  FORT HOOD, Texas — A Texas Army National Guard soldier has died during a training exercise at Fort Hood, according to the Texas Military Department.
  Sgt. Bradley Moore, 36, of Mansfield died Thursday during land navigation training according to a news release on the department’s website.
  The statement said foul play is not suspected and the death remains under investigation.
  Moore’s death is devastating, Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, the adjutant general for Texas, said in the statem
  
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• Some radioactive Savannah River Site waste headed to Texas

  17-08-2020 15:53
  
  AIKEN, S.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy is planning to send a few gallons of radioactive wastewater from a South Carolina nuclear reservation to Texas, where it will be treated and disposed.
  The Aiken Standard reports the upcoming move will expedite the cleanup of nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site operated by the Department of Energy. The transfer follows an Energy Department decision to re-interpret the definition of “high-level radioactive waste.”
  Approximately eig
  
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• Girl’s family searching for killer 25 years after death

  17-08-2020 15:53
  
  SALT LAKE CITY — Over the past 25 years, as leads in the killing of 6-year-old Rosie Tapia appear and disappear, life has gone on for her family. Lewine Tapia, the girl’s mother, and her children have gotten older. Rosie’s older sister, Emilia Elizondo, who was 18 years old and babysitting the night Rosie was kidnapped, has now died.
  After all this time, though, the family hasn’t lost hope. And they’re just as upset about her death — and that they’ve nev
  
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• Farmers pay Arizona city official with goat for outside job

  17-08-2020 15:52
  
  PHOENIX — An Arizona city official making $107,000 a year resigned after an investigation found he used city workers for an outside job involving an attempt to secure irrigation water for farmers who paid him with a goat.
  The investigation found that the possibility of cash down the road also was discussed by Frank Stevens, the now-former former water resource portfolio manager for the city of Surprise, the Arizona Republic reported.
  According to a report obtained by the newspaper through
  
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• 5 people wounded in shooting at flea market in San Antonio

  17-08-2020 15:52
  
  SAN ANTONIO — At least five people were wounded, including one critically, in a shooting at a flea market in San Antonio on Sunday, police officials said.
  The gunfire erupted about 11:30 a.m. at Mission Market during a dispute on the grounds, according to Police Chief William McManus.
  “This is the result of some type of argument. I don’t know if the argument was between gang members or just people who knew each other or didn’t know each other,” McManus said.
  McManus
  
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• 2 released from Texas home amid standoff after officers shot

  17-08-2020 15:49
  
  CEDAR PARK, Texas — A man at the center of a hostage situation near Austin, Texas, involving his family after three police officers were shot released his brother, sister and family pet on Monday but remained inside the home with his mother, police said.
  Police have been in negotiations with the man for more than 16 hours since the officers were wounded Sunday afternoon at the home in Cedar Park, interim police chief Mike Harmon said.
  The man’s mother had called police after he kicke
  
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• Shelter leader has passion

  17-08-2020 14:30
  
  Estella Weitz
  Haven House Interim Executive Director Estella Weitz now has the “interim” prefix removed from her title.
  Weitz, who previously worked 10 years as a client services coordinator for the Safe Haven domestic violence program in Tarrant County, Texas, moved to New Mexico with her husband and son three years ago. One year later, she was working under previous Executive Director Roberta Radosevich, who earlier this year announced she’d be retiring.
  “Roberta and I
  
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• Shopify revenue doubles in era of coronavirus

  17-08-2020 08:05
  
  Bloomberg
  Shopify nearly doubled its revenue in the second quarter, crushing analysts’ estimates as a flood of merchants moved their businesses online during the coronavirus pandemic.Sales grew 97% to $714.3 million from the same quarter a year ago, Ottawa-based Shopify said in a statement Wednesday. Analysts had expected about $512 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Gross merchandise volume, a key metric that represents the value of all goods sold through Shopify’s pla
  
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• Virus shakes dairies, but outlook is improving

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  Eastern New Mexico News
  Cows feed at Caballo Dairy in Arrey, in Sierra County, in May. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) 
  The dairy industry was just humming along in early January. Milk prices had been holding steady around $17.50 per hundredweight – roughly 15.625 cents a pound – and producers were making a decent profit.
  And then the rest of 2020 happened. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic rocked every corner of the globe, the U.S. dairy industry got hit with some devastat
  
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• UNM reviewing future Innovate ABQ plans

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  With the University of New Mexico back at the helm, the Innovate ABQ high-tech development zone in Downtown Albuquerque could soon enter a new, accelerated phase of growth.
  UNM purchased the seven-acre property at Broadway and Central in 2014, and then handed ownership, management and development over to Innovate ABQ, a nonprofit whose board of directors includes leaders from the city, county and business community.
  Under the nonprofit, Innovate ABQ gained significant initial momentum, with the
  
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• The Executive’s Desk: Show leadership by joining company’s front line

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  It seems impossible, but these unprecedented times have become even more unprecedented.
  For CEOs, there are many elements of our businesses requiring our time and energy – from financials to personnel, and from brick and mortar to health and safety. With so much uncertainty, all these elements could take up all our time and more.
  Brent Beardall is the President and CEO of WAFD Bank
  However, for leaders, this is also an opportunity to connect with our customers, to listen to them, to reassu
  
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• Postpone vacation until less stressful time for boss

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  Dear J.T. & Dale: I was told there’s going to be a second round of layoffs at my company, and I will likely lose my job. Apparently, my company is losing money and they’ll have to cut staff in order to stabilize the business. What I don’t understand is why they cut so many lower-level employees, but the executives get to keep their jobs. – Taylor
  J.T.: It’s a valid question. Some executives make so much money that eliminating one of them would save multiple lowe
  
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• Invalid S corporation election fairly easy to fix

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  Q: My friend and I formed an LLC on Feb. 12, 2019. After speaking to an accountant we decided to make this an S corporation. We filed a Form 2553 with the IRS on April 11, 2019. We were told that this was well within the time limit for making the S election and that the form would convert our LLC into a corporation for tax law purposes. The form was signed by me and by my friend.
  Because neither of our tax preparers dealt with businesses very much, we hired a new preparer for the 2019 corporate
  
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• Grant helps paper company go green

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  A family-owned Albuquerque paper company has landed a state grant that will help it plot a more sustainable future.
  Earlier this month, the New Mexico Economic Development Department awarded a $100,000 grant through the Local Economic Development Act to Roses Southwest Papers, which has produced napkins, toilet paper and other paper products for hospitals and restaurants since it was founded in the mid-1980s by Roberto and Rose Marie Espat.
  “This is a homegrown manufacturing company that s
  
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• GOP ignores record in fight with NMOGA

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  Normally I don’t get involved in internecine disputes. However, after reading the Who’s-on-First scenario being played out in the papers, I decided to chance it. The feud between former allies Steve Pearce, oilman and former Republican congressman, and Ryan Flynn, executive director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, flared in Pearce’s guest column in the Journal (Aug. 9).
  Days earlier, also former Congressman Harry Teague, a Democrat, had endorsed Yvette Herrell, a Rep
  
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• Editorial: State needs to ‘show us the beef’ justifying its 100% dine-in ban

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  Daily food service losses of $4.2 million. Thirty-two thousand restaurant employees back on unemployment. Permanent closure of beloved eateries.
  And New Mexico is now meeting all but one of its self-imposed requirements for easing restrictions in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.Given all of the above, the New Mexico Restaurant Association is justified in asking for the data that led to our state being one of only three in the nation with a complete ban on indoor dining. As representatives
  
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• Building on vision for ABQ West Side

  17-08-2020 08:02
  
  Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
  The Amazon fulfillment center being built by BH DevCo west of Albuquerque should be completed in 2021. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
  The last two decades have seen millions of square feet of development go up on the West Side of the Albuquerque metro area.
  In the area known as Upper Petroglyphs, near Interstate 40 and Atrisco Vista, none of it has happened by chance.
  Recent developments in the area – including ongoing construction of a new Ama
  
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• Going with the flow: Computer tool tracks water’s changing impact in the warming Arctic

  17-08-2020 07:41
  
  Understanding water’s path through the world can help planning for a changing future
  
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• ‘We’re back to regular school’

  17-08-2020 06:48
  
  Heather Valois checks out a laptop to Marcos Herrera, a junior at Highland High School. Albuquerque Public Schools started remotely Wednesday, with the first week devoted to distributing technology and virtual visits with students, in addition to the start of lessons. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
  Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
  Online learning in New Mexico has been a target for critics, but it’s the learning mode for hundreds of thousands of children due to the novel coron
  
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• Pelosi to call House back into session to vote on USPS bill

  17-08-2020 06:42
  
  WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is calling the House back into session over the crisis at the U.S. Postal Service, setting up a political showdown amid growing concerns that the Trump White House is trying to undermine the agency ahead of the election.
  Pelosi is cutting short lawmakers’ summer recess with a vote expected the Saturday after the Democratic National Convention on legislation that would prohibit changes at the agency as tensions mount. President Donald Trump&r
  
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• Pelosi calls House back into session to vote on Postal bill

  17-08-2020 06:42
  
  WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the House back into session over the crisis at the U.S. Postal Service, setting up a political showdown amid growing concerns that the Trump White House is trying to undermine the agency ahead of the election.
  Pelosi is cutting short lawmakers’ summer recess with a vote expected the Saturday on legislation that would prohibit changes at the agency as tensions mount. President Donald Trump’s new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, has sp
  
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• Undersheriff accused of criminal solicitation

  17-08-2020 06:26
  
  SANTA FE – A New Mexico undersheriff is accused of ordering his subordinates to draw guns on other officers who arrested his boss in May, officials said.
  Prosecutors say Rio Arriba County Undersheriff Martin Trujillo ordered his deputies to respond to the Rio Arriba County station, where other officers were gathered to execute a warrant on Sheriff James Lujan.
  Lujan faces a number of charges, including allegations that he arrived at a SWAT scene intoxicated and interfered with the operatio
  
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• UNM professor gets award for work as a mentor

  17-08-2020 06:25
  
  Angela Wandinger-Ness, Ph.D, a professor in the University of New Mexico
  Angela Wandinger-Ness
  Department of Pathology, has received the 2020 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.
  She was among 12 researchers honored on Aug. 3 in an online ceremony presided over by Robert Mayes, program director for Excellence Awards in Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation, according to a news release.
  The award has been called “the Natio
  
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• Problems with parking, racing close Guadalupe Trail, Second

  17-08-2020 06:25
  
  STREET RACERS CLOSE SECOND:
  Mark Perea emails, “I was wondering if you can help me out. Second Street directly underneath Avenida César Chávez has been closed for at least a month, maybe longer. I have called 311, but they were no help. They just passed me off to another department, who passed be back off to 311. I, along with plenty of other people, use this corridor to commute to work, and having this street closed adds to the hassle of trying to find a way through all of t
  
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• New ABQ building code may be delayed

  17-08-2020 06:25
  
  A USEagle Credit Union under construction in Albuquerque. Albuquerque City Council members on Monday will consider delaying implementation of a new building code that would raise energy-efficiency standards for all new buildings and major renovations in city limits. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
  Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
  Albuquerque’s effort to implement a new city building code may be delayed until 2021 amid concerns from the business community and at least one city c
  
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• Planning for New Mexico’s water future

  17-08-2020 06:21
  
  Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
  Every drop of water matters in a dry state such as New Mexico. But state efforts to create a 50-year water plan have been complicated by a tight budget, limited staff and persistent drought.
  In January, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Office of the State Engineer requested that the Legislature allocate $750,000 to kick-start the plan.
  Lujan Grisham had campaigned on the promise of a 50-year water plan that would engage communities and identify emergi
  
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• New Mexico’s film industry in preproduction

  17-08-2020 06:19
  
  After months of being shut down, the New Mexico film industry is scheduled to resume, with COVID-safe practices. Above, Steven Bauer and Michael Mando during filming of the fifth season of “Better Call Saul.” (Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television)
  Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
  Despite a monthslong shutdown, the New Mexico film industry brought in nearly $400 million in direct spending to New Mexico in fiscal year 2020.
  According to the New Mexico Film Office, the direc
  
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• NCAA doc sees narrow path to play as Fields starts petition

  17-08-2020 06:15
  
  The NCAA’s chief medical officer says there is a narrow path to playing college sports during the coronavirus pandemic and if testing nationwide does not improve, it cannot be done.
  Meanwhile, one of college football’s biggest stars sent out a petition Sunday, calling on the Big Ten to play football this fall.
  Dr. Brian Hainline told CNN late Saturday that “everything would have to line up perfectly” for college sports to be played this fall. Much of the fall college spor
  
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• States wrestle with playing high school football amid COVID

  17-08-2020 06:14
  
  THRALL, Texas — As heat waves rose from the crackling grass next to a cotton field that stretched far into the distance, Rick Porter watched his young football players struggle through a preseason practice.
  Under every helmet was a masked player, breathing deep amid the dust and stifling heat topping 100 degrees fahrenheit (38 degrees celsius). August in Texas can be cruel and the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a new set of obstacles in the way.
  “Social distancing!” Porter yel
  
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• As the NBA playoffs begin, here are 10 things to know

  17-08-2020 06:14
  
  The NBA playoff pool is deeper than ever this season.
  Playoff teams will split a record $23,287,266 for making the NBA postseason, a figure that’s up about $1.6 million from last year.
  And the Milwaukee Bucks stand to grab the biggest share of a pool ever, if they win the NBA title. The Bucks would split $6,827,848 if they won the NBA championship, based on the formula worked out by the NBA.
  The Bucks have already secured $1,606,897 from the pool by having the best record in the NBA, the b
  
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• Man charged with killing girlfriend

  17-08-2020 05:19
  
  An Albuquerque man has been charged in the death of his girlfriend after he stabbed her and then himself at her apartment on Friday, according to police.
  Shaun McBurnie
  Shaun McBurnie, 51, is charged with an open count of murder for killing Michelle Darrell, also 51, at the Chelsea Apartments near Montgomery and Louisiana, the Albuquerque Police Department said in a news release.
  Residents at the apartment complex said they saw McBurnie leave the apartment with a knife around 7 p.m. Friday and h
  
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• To’hajiilee braces for pandemic amid water crisis

  17-08-2020 05:02
  
  As many states prepare to reopen, COVID-19 has just begun to exert its grip on To’hajiilee, a Navajo community of 2,000 people about 20 miles west of Albuquerque. As the To’hajiilee chapter president, I fear that our ongoing water crisis — which could be largely solved by the construction of some basic infrastructure — will severely hamper our efforts to contain the spread of the disease.
  Our entire community relies on a single well with a history of unreliable service. F
  
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• Enrollment down; could cost district money in future

  17-08-2020 04:00
  
  Rio Rancho Public Schools main office.
  (File photo/ Rio Rancho Observer)
  As if things weren’t going badly already for schools across the U.S., and elsewhere, Rio Rancho Public Schools Superintendent Sue Cleveland had more bad news for the school board at its Aug. 10 meeting.
  Enrollment is down this year, which is an issue because funding is based on the number of students.
  “It could be a very large problem for next year,” she said, adding that districts are funded for previous-
  
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• New COVID-19 cases continue to plunge

  17-08-2020 00:18
  
  Medical personnel test people at the Lovelace Medical Center in Downtown Albuquerque in May. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
  Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
  New Mexico reported 113 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday as the state continued a downward trend.
  The Department of Health also reported that three more people have died due to complications from coronavirus, all of whom had underlying conditions. They are:
  ⋄ A woman in her 80s from Bernalillo County.
  ⋄ A woman in her
  
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