Tuesday’s Top Stories

Tuesday’s Five Facts

[1] VIDEO: Black SUV nearly hits group with anti-Trump signs in Nob Hill – New video shows the moment an Albuquerque driver rams into a man with an anti-Trump sign in Nob Hill. Police say two men were sitting in the bed of a truck holding an anti-Trump sign when a black car pulled up and began arguing with them. During that interaction one of the men in truck sprays mace. The black car drives away, then later comes back and can be seen driving into the truck. One of the men in the truck is seen pulling a gun and aiming it at the black car before the black vehicle drives away. APD says they are looking for the black vehicle.

[2] Ex-security guard accused of attacking homeless man, shooting dog – Martin Sandoval is accused of assaulting a homeless man and killing his dog. Sandoval was arrested on June 15 after police say he punched a homeless man near Coors and Old Airport, while falsely claiming to work as a security guard at a nearby business. According to a criminal complaint, Sandoval also shot and killed the man’s dog. Sandoval recently pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in a separate case after beating a homeless man with a baton last October. At the time, Sandoval was working as a security guard at a Walgreens. Sandoval is facing charges of violating probation, battery and extreme cruelty to animals.

[3] Rain likely after the heat-up – Monsoonal moisture inbound will start to dampen high temperatures ahead, but from many areas today around Albuquerque and to the southeast, it will still not only be hot, but most likely, still rain-free. The flash flooding risk will be generally higher today in the burn scars surrounding Santa Fe with an even more widespread chance later this week. Some large hail in the northeastern plains are more likely later on, in addition to frequent lightning and strong winds as a backdoor cold front starts to move through late today.

[4] AFR adding NE Heights paramedic unit – Albuquerque Fire Rescue is trying out a new paramedic unit that will respond to lower-risk emergency calls. Medic 9 is a paramedic unit that will be housed at Station 9, near Eubank and Menaul. The unit will respond to calls across the northeast heights. AFR says Medic 9 will cover calls related to substance abuse and mental health. The department will review the unit’s impact in August to determine if they will make it a permanent unit.

[5] Mural production begins at Bernalillo County headquarters – A new mural “Windfall” is coming to Bernalillo County’s Alvarado Square. Created by the artist Ivan Toth Depeña, the mural depicts Albuquerque skies, the Rio Grande, Bosque and Sandia mountains. The project has a $200,000 budget and is funded through the county’s art in public places ordinance. The mural is about 30% complete and is scheduled to finished by the end of July.

SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – The City of Santa Fe says it stands firmly against the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing law enforcement to arrest homeless people for sleeping in public places. Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber says the SCOTUS decision from two weeks ago not only fails to address the root causes of homelessness but “perpetuates a cycle of instability and marginalization for some of our most vulnerable citizens.”

Mayor Webber says the primary reason people are without homes is the lack of affordable housing. He says Santa Fe will remain a strong advocate for the rights of unhoused people.

SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico state lawmakers are heading back to the Roundhouse this week for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public safety special session.

It’s been in the works for months now and with just three days left to prepare it seems legislative leaders aren’t feeling very confident about the governor’s top goals.

“The unintended consequences of passing something that is not ready are far too great,” said Speaker of the House Javier Martinez. 

“Unfortunately, it feels a little bit like the governor’s throwing spaghetti up against the wall to see what sticks,” said House Minority Leader Rod Montoya.   

Martinez and Montoya appear to be on the same page when it comes to Lujan Grisham’s special session agenda.

“We just don’t think that a special legislative session is the place to do it, given how complex these bills are,” said Martinez. “These are very, very complicated areas of law. As one of my colleagues said, this is actually kind of rocket science.”

He’s talking about the governor’s plan to rework New Mexico’s criminal and civil competency laws. They’re proposals that consumed nearly half a dozen legislative meetings ahead of the special session, and are still far from the finish line.

“The committees that have seen these bills have seen variation after variation after variation of bill that, frankly, the legislators, are unwilling to bite on any one of them,” said Montoya. 

But that’s not because lawmakers don’t support the big picture idea.

“Do I think that these things need to be addressed? Absolutely. Will they have an impact? Yeah, they will,” said House Minority Whip Alan Martinez. 

And not for lack of trying either.

“We’ve been working diligently, very hard over the past several weeks, six dedicated interim committee meetings to these issues, countless staff hours, countless legislative hours working on these different concepts,” said Martinez. “We just don’t think that we’re in a place where there’s agreement.” 

But it seems both sides do believe the special session may be much shorter than anticipated.

“We’re not even sure necessarily if there will be a session, or if there is a session. We don’t know if we’re gonna walk in and gavel down because there’s no consensus and walk out the door,” said Montoya. 

“Whether or not we have a special session, whether or not it lasts 15 minutes or lasts a today, this work is going to continue, right? A special legislative session is not the end all be all for these issues,” said Martinez. 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say one of the other big concerns here is the price of a special session. It costs taxpayers roughly $50,000 a day to bring lawmakers back. Without some type of consensus ahead of time, it seems that money could go to waste.

So what are the big hangups on the competency bills? It seems lawmakers want more time to address constitutional concerns.

These bills would essentially force some New Mexicans into behavioral treatments against their will, and there are a lot of potential issues there.

Some lawmakers also raised concerns about the simple lack of behavioral health resources across New Mexico, and suggest these bills might be putting the cart before the horse.