New Mexico
RECA has expired. What's next?
Help for people sickened by radiation from nuclear tests and uranium mining, including here in New Mexico, is coming to an end after 34 years.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Help for people sickened by radiation from nuclear tests and uranium mining, including here in New Mexico, is coming to an end after 34 years.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expired Friday after U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson didn’t call a vote on a bill to extend and expand it.
That’s despite a 69-30 U.S. Senate vote in March.
The expiration left New Mexicans, who worked in uranium mines and were downwind of nuclear tests, in wonder. What’s next for them and their families?
“I’m the fourth generation in my family to have cancer since 1945. And unfortunately, now I have a 24-year-old niece who’s diagnosed with thyroid cancer,” said Tina Cordova, co-founder and executive director of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.
Advocates like Cordova are never giving up. For her and others, it’s a lifelong fight – but this is a massive setback.
“While they play politics, we’re gathering up our resources for someone to have cancer treatment. We’re having bake sales and car washes and selling cattle so we can meet our health care needs,” Cordova said.
Lawmakers are using this energy and support to chart the next steps for RECA.
Starting Tuesday, the House Rules Committee will decide which amendments could be made to the National Defense Authorization Act.
“There’s over a thousand amendments and ours is one of them,” U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez said.
Cordova is pressing local Republican leaders to call on their counterparts in Congress.
“The Republican Party of New Mexico knows and has supported our efforts to expand RECA in the past. They know that radiation exposure is not discerning. It’s affected the young, the old, the black, the white, and the Republican and the Democrat alike,” she said.
Just a simple extension isn’t enough either. With RECA the way it is, it doesn’t cover New Mexico downwinders and their families, like Cordova and her family.
Rep. Leger Fernandez says people already covered aren’t budging either.
“They’re saying no. The Navajo Nation, whose members can benefit from the existing RECA, have passed a resolution calling for the expanded RECA,” she said.
While the RECA program has expired, the office will still process claims submitted before June 10. The office will remain open until they’ve addressed all of the claims.
KOB 4 reached out to the Republican Party of New Mexico for a response to Cordova’s call to them. Chairman Steve Pierce issued the following statement:
“During my time in Congress, I supported the RECA program to provide compensation for the victims of radiation exposure from United States nuclear testing. The main challenge has always been to negotiate a bill that is fair to all parties involved. From the outside, it appears the Senate bill has provisions that House leadership is currently not willing to accept. The issue is bipartisan, so I trust that negotiations are ongoing, which will see that the program continues. Even if the bill expires, provisions can be incorporated to mitigate any disruption to the program.”
We also reached out to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office for a statement. However, we have not heard back from them yet.
RUIDOSO, N.M. (KRQE) – Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham presented the state Medal of Valor to three New Mexico National Guardsmen for saving people during the storms. Staff Sgt. David Perez, Sgt. Carlos Mendoza and Specialist Roberto Veledias were clearing debris and moving heavy equipment with three other guardsmen on June 29 when floodwaters threatened four people.
Albuquerque Fire Rescue shares video of last week’s flooding in Ruidoso
Perez and Veledias rescued the four people while Mendoza got another guardsman out of danger.
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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 – Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Location: Northwest corner of the Santa Fe National Forest in the Cuba Ranger District, approximately 27 miles north of Cuba, NM.
Start Date: July 18, 2024
Size: 2,745 acres with a planned perimeter of 7,000 acres
Percent completed: 35 %
Cause: Lightning
Vegetation: The wildfire is burning in ponderosa pine, pinyon-juniper, and oak.
Resources: 36 personnel including aerial resources
Overview: Santa Fe National Forest will manage the fire as a Type 3 incident with a confine and contain strategy. This means crews will manage the fire within a predetermined area (confine) and use points to stop the fire’s spread (contain). To accomplish this strategy, crews will conduct firing operations using aerial and hand ignitions within a 7000-acre planned perimeter as early as July 25 and use roads, hand lines, and natural barriers as containment lines.
The fire is burning in the Moya National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) project area and a landscape that has been thinned and treated with prescribed fire in the past. The primary objectives for the Tanques Wildfire are to provide for firefighter and public safety and improve wildlife habitat.
Highlights: Fire held within the fire perimeter overnight. Today, aerial ignitions, conducted by a helicopter, continue within the project area. Crews are managing fire activity and preparing for thunderstorms later this evening.
Weather: After a relatively calm night Thursday night, an uptick in afternoon thunderstorm activity in the fire area is forecast Friday through the weekend.
Closure Order: A temporary area and road closure is in effect to protect the public’s health and safety during firefighting operations for the Tanques Wildfire. The closure order is available on the Santa Fe National Forest’s website – Closure Order 03-10-02-24-11 .
Safety: The health and safety of firefighter and the public are always the highest priority. Please avoid the area while crews manage the Tanques Wildfire. Drones and firefighting aircraft are a dangerous mix and could lead to accidents or slow down wildfire operations. If you fly, we can’t.
Smoke: Smoke may be visible from communities along Highway 112 including El Vado and Llaves, NM and from the Jicarilla Apache Nation Indian Reservation. View an interactive smoke map on AirNow Fire and Smoke Map. To learn more about smoke impacts visit Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Smoke Resources (nm.gov).
Fire Information:
Contact Claudia Brookshire, Public Affairs Officer, Santa Fe National Forest
Phone: 505-607-0879 (available from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm)
Email: claudia.brookshire@usda.gov
Links: Santa Fe National Forest website, New Mexico Fire Info, Inciweb, and Santa Fe National Forest social media (Facebook and X).
Tanques Wildfire updates will be provided weekly.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.
Johnny James has become popular for showing off the quirks of New Mexico’s culture but who is he? We took a cruise and got to know him more.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There’s a local man who’s been skyrocketing to stardom, simply by making videos about New Mexico’s unique culture.
Phrases and things only New Mexicans know. Johnny James is sharing with the world:
- “Down here in New Mexico, we got our own way of doing things. And we DEFINITELY got our own way of saying things.”
- “You wanna go check out that new chicken place that just opened up real quick, errr what?”
- “The classic New Mexican phrase…ombers.”
Johnny James is an unintended influencer, having some fun with his own culture. He started making videos on social media during the pandemic. There’s a certain unfiltered authenticity that has garnered him hundreds of thousands of followers.
“I started making videos from a real point of view, from us down here, for us down here. And it just cracked off,” he said.
Johnny’s life hasn’t always been something you’d want to share online.
“Totally fair to say. Straight up, I’ll be all the way honest… from like 13 to when it was done, I grew up in the streets selling dope,” he said. “I got kicked out of school in the 11th grade. Had my ‘jito when I was 16. I always kinda credit him for shifting my trajectory.”
Now, at 39 years old, Johnny has four boys and has a career in music, podcasting, cannabis and, one that he hates to admit, influencing.
He knows having an influence can be a good thing.
“If I can be like, look… we have similar backgrounds but if you take a different route, look where we are now,” he said.
Johnny is using it good. Recently, he started a GoFundMe to raise money for people affected by the Ruidoso fires and flooding. As expected, New Mexicans have turned out, raising more than $70,000.
People know Johnny. When we cruised Central with him in his ’64 Impala lowrider, many people spotted him from a mile away so we had to stop a few times.
See the full cruise and story in the video above.
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