New Mexico
New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs ask for $4 million in funding – NM Political Report
New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs is asking the legislature for a $4 million appropriation in recurring money from the general fund this year, executive director, Alexandria Taylor told NM Political Report. Taylor said the money goes to sustain services for the 15 sexual assault program providers and 11 sexual assault nurse examiners, often […]
New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs is asking the legislature for a $4 million appropriation in recurring money from the general fund this year, executive director, Alexandria Taylor told NM Political Report.
Taylor said the money goes to sustain services for the 15 sexual assault program providers and 11 sexual assault nurse examiners, often referred to as SANE, plus one satellite SANE provider.
Taylor said that of the $4 million, $2 million would replace federal dollars that will no longer be available starting July 1.
The federal dollars come from the Victims of Crime Act. The fund is sustained by fees and penalties awarded from federal criminal prosecution. But the VOCA fund has diminished over the years due to fewer fees and penalties in federal criminal convictions.
President Joe Biden signed a VOCA “fix it” bill in 2021 but Taylor said it did not change some of the problems, so the fund has not recovered. She said there is unpredictability as to whether the funds will ever recover.
“The VOCA fund is how some organizations got started. Historically, it was a stable core funding for programs,” Taylor said.
Taylor said there is no standalone bill this year, but that the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs has been advocating for the legislature to include the $4 million in the appropriation bill.
Taylor said that virtually all social issues that often dominate headlines, from crime to housing to substance abuse to child protective services are all related to sexual assault. She said that by underfunding sexual assault services, society “pays for it on the back end.”
“Often sexual assault providers are some of the only safety nets that exist. If we start to destabilize those providers, we’re only increasing the crisis. People have no idea the level of holding these programs provide in a community,” Taylor said.
Taylor said that the funding appropriated in recent legislative sessions has enabled sexual assault programing to grow across the state. She said that services have expanded in Valencia County and a SANE program now exists in that area. That helps to reduce driving times for victims of sexual assault who, because of the dearth of services in some rural parts of the state, have had to drive up to three hours to see a sexual assault nurse examiner. SANEs are specially trained to both examine a victim and to gather evidence if there is a future trial.
But, Taylor said the need still overwhelms the efforts to meet it. She said there is a two week to 10-month wait list for counseling for victims of sexual assault.
“We don’t have a program that doesn’t have a wait list for counseling services,” she said.
She said sexual assault services have expanded to Alamogordo, Carlsbad and Hobbs and that a provider in Las Cruces opened satellite offices in Deming and Truth or Consequences.
“For us it’s not just quantity, it’s the quality,” Taylor said.
She said the coalition is in the process of creating a sexual assault helpline and it will debut before June 30.
Taylor said data from Fiscal Year 2023 shows that sexual assault services in New Mexico served an additional 7,200 victims of sexual assault and 3,800 family members of those survivors. She said 40 percent of the 7,200 were children under the age of 18. She said 30 percent of them were located in rural areas.
“They don’t just see one person. We’re talking (about) the whole community needing support,” Taylor said.
She said that if the state doesn’t make up for the loss of the federal VOCA funding, the sexual assault providers around the state won’t be able to serve as many survivors and family members of those survivors. She said it would lead to staffing cuts, which in turn would mean fewer resources available to survivors.
“They’re already stretched thin,” she said.
She said therapeutic services would be significantly impacted, and the ability to ensure the SANE program has adequate funding would also be in jeopardy.
“It’s an impossible and critical situation,” Taylor said.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico faces flood and severe storm risks through the weekend, with Sunday bringing the best chance for more widespread rain statewide.
A small active stretch begins today and continues through the weekend across the Land of Enchantment. For your Friday, things are quiet to start off, just a bit breezy for the metro as the front had finally reached our area late last night.
Our winds will come down over the course of the morning, but may ramp back up in the afternoon with mainly gusty showers/storms nearby or ones that are able to make it into the metro. We have a 10% chance of rain in the metro this afternoon and evening.
By the early afternoon, storms will start building along mountainous terrain – favoring the central mountain chain and western mountains. Storms will move in a generally east-northeast direction. Eastern New Mexico has both marginal risks of severe weather and flooding threats for Friday. Primary threats concerning the severe weather will be strong damaging wind gusts and large hail.
A slightly higher severe threat across far Northeast New Mexico includes all modes of severe weather possible. However, the tornado threat is very low, only a 2% chance of an isolated spin up or two. Based off of this morning’s high-resolution model guidance, timing for storms will begin roughly between 11 a.m. -1 p.m. for the Sacramento Mountains, and just a couple of hours later for western mountainous areas and the rest of the central mountain chain.
If a storm forms upstream or over the burn scars near Ruidoso, rainfall rates could be potentially heavy, leading to the concern of burn scar flooding. No Flood Watches have been issued as of this morning. A low-end risk of flash flooding is spread across nearly all of eastern New Mexico.
The weekend is still looking fairly active, with Sunday seeing the highest overall coverage of rain thanks to a slow-moving cold front entering northeast New Mexico starting late Saturday afternoon/evening, clearing the state by midday Sunday. Each afternoon/evening throughout the weekend will also feature a flood and severe threat.
The flood threat will encompass nearly all of eastern New Mexico again on Saturday (low-end marginal threat) which then expands to all of eastern New Mexico on Sunday (also low-end, but most of Lea County is in a slighter higher risk). Concerning the severe threat, both Saturday and Sunday will be low-end potential as well. For Saturday this will include most of northeast and east-central New Mexico, just bordering the northern portions of Roswell. For Sunday, this shifts to far southeast New Mexico, including Hobbs. Both will have the same primary threats: hail and winds.
Another round of severe weather is looking likely as we kick off the first day of monsoon season on Monday for eastern New Mexico.
New Mexico
Florida bans shelter animal imports from Texas and New Mexico over flesh-eating screwworm
Screwworm concerns change animal shelter protocol
Florida agriculture officials implemented an emergency ban restricting rescue groups and animal shelters from bringing dogs and cats into the state from Texas and New Mexico after a flesh-eating parasite emerged out West. FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo reports.
TAMPA, Fla. – Florida agriculture officials implemented an emergency ban restricting rescue groups and animal shelters from bringing dogs and cats into the state from Texas and New Mexico after a flesh-eating parasite emerged out West.
Florida agriculture ban
What we know:
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson expanded screwworm restrictions on Wednesday, blocking the import of shelter and rescue animals from areas impacted by the New World screwworm.
Courtesy: United States Department of Agriculture
This parasitic, flesh-eating fly has been detected in Texas livestock and inside a dog in New Mexico.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture dashboard lists nine reported cases of the parasite so far.
Broken containment
Timeline:
“[It] was eradicated from the United States in the 1960s, and then eradicated from Mexico and Central America down south past the Darien Gap in Panama in the early 2000s,” said Edwin Burgess, an assistant professor of veterinary entomology at the University of Florida. “It’s recently broken containment from the region in Panama and has slowly made its way northward towards the U.S. border over the past two years.”
Previous Florida cases
The backstory:
Florida successfully defeated an outbreak of the same parasite a decade ago.
Screwworm cases popped up in Key Deer in the Florida Keys in 2016 and 2017.
During that outbreak, state and federal agencies launched a rapid response and quickly contained the flesh-eating flies.
Animals at highest risk
Why you should care:
Stray animals face the highest risk because they spend long periods outside and often suffer injuries that attract flies, Burgess said.
The fly larvae eat living flesh, making infestations incredibly painful for animals.
If travelers visit infected states, a well-maintained pet is unlikely to contract the parasite, but owners should watch for crawling larvae and a foul smell from a wound.
Tampa animal shelters
Local perspective:
Local operations around the Tampa area do not expect major disruptions from the state restrictions.
Organizations such as SPCA Tampa Bay and the Humane Society of Tampa Bay rarely bring in pets from outside Florida, typically doing so only during disaster relief situations.
Even then, local workers put every animal through strict health checkups.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from an interview with University of Florida veterinary entomologist Edwin Burgess and reviewed data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture dashboard by FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo.
The first case is about 2.5 months earlier than the first case last year.
SANTA FE, N.M. – The New Mexico Department of Health reports a Santa Fe County woman died from plague in the state’s first human case of 2026.
NMDOH said it has contacted people close to the woman and will conduct an environmental assessment to check for ongoing risk and make sure no other close contacts have symptoms.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of the woman who passed away due to plague,” said Erin Phipps, state public health veterinarian for NMDOH. “This tragedy emphasizes the need for heightened community awareness and for taking measures to prevent plague infections.”
What is plague?
Plague is a bacterial disease carried by rodents across much of the western United States, according to NMDOH. People can get it through bites from infected fleas from wild rodents or household pets, through direct contact with infected animals and, in lung infections, through coughing.
NMDOH said symptoms in people include sudden fever, chills, headache and weakness. The agency said people may also have painful swelling of a lymph node in the groin, armpit or neck, and doctors who suspect plague should promptly report it to the department.
How is plague treated or prevented?
The agency said prompt diagnosis and antibiotic treatment can greatly reduce the fatality rate in people and pets. NMDOH urged people to avoid sick or dead rodents and rabbits, clean up places near homes where rodents live, use DEET or permethrin products outdoors, use veterinarian-approved flea control for pets, get sick pets checked quickly and see a doctor for unexplained illness tied to sudden severe fever.
The department said more information and fact sheets in English and Spanish are available on the plague page of the NMDOH website.
Recent cases of plague
New Mexico recorded three human plague cases in 2025 and one in 2024, which was fatal. NMDOH also said three dogs have been diagnosed with plague in 2026 after one cat and four dogs tested positive in 2025.
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