PRISONER TRANSPORT-SEX ASSAULT
Prisoner transport officer sentenced for sexual misconduct
(Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a former private prisoner transport officer to two years in prison after sexually assaulting a woman in his custody.
The Albuquerque Journal reported Friday that 51-year-old James Baldinger of Minnesota was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Albuquerque for inappropriately touching a restrained woman without her consent.
Prosecutors say Baldinger was working for Prisoner Transportation Services of America in July 2017 when he touched the woman while taking her from Kentucky to Bernalillo County on an out-of-state warrant.
U.S. Attorney John Anderson says Baldinger "committed a grievous violation of the public trust" by using his law enforcement authority over the woman.
Anderson says the plea shows the U.S. Attorney's Office will hold people who violate inmates' rights accountable.
___
OIL BOOM-POLITICS
New Mexicans wary of candidates' proposed drilling bans
(Information from: Carlsbad Current-Argus, http://www.currentargus.com/)
CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — Democrat front-runners for the party's presidential nomination have promised to ban oil and gas leasing on federal lands if elected.
The Carlsbad Current Argus reports that has caused some concerns in New Mexico, where the industry was credited for billion-dollar budget surpluses in recent years. Much of the revenue has been funneled to educational initiatives.
U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small is a Democrat who represents an area of New Mexico that includes one of the most prolific energy basins in the United States.
She says shutting down drilling in New Mexico today would mean shutting down schools tomorrow.
Torres Small says she opposes a full ban on oil and gas activities, instead advocating for energy production to be done responsibly while minimizing environmental harm.
___
ASYLUM-GLOBAL CRACKDOWN
US joins in global movement to make asylum harder to obtain
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The U.S. has sent a Honduran migrant back to Guatemala in a move that marked a new phase of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Asylum was once an afterthought in American immigration policy. But it has taken center stage as Trump aligns the U.S. with the European Union and other wealthy nations that are making it increasingly hard to obtain.
Thursday's flight marked the first time the U.S. sent an asylum-seeker back to Guatemala under a new policy. It forbids anyone who travels through another country to the U.S.-Mexico border from applying for asylum there.
The man had an option to file an asylum claim in Guatemala, but he decided against it and returned to Honduras.
Trump has called asylum "a scam" and declared that the U.S. is "full."
BOY SCOUT RANCH
Boy Scouts mortgage vast New Mexico ranch as collateral
One of the most spectacular properties owned by the Boy Scouts of America is being been mortgaged to help secure the youth organization's line of credit.
The Boy Scouts say there is no plan to sell the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. It is being used as collateral to help meet financial needs that include rising insurance costs related to sex-abuse litigation.
The move dismayed a member of Philmont's oversight committee, who says it violates agreements made when the land was donated in 1938. The BSA disputed his assertion.
The mortgage document was signed by top Boy Scout officials in March. But members of the Philmont Ranch Committee only recently learned of the development.
The ranch is a popular destination for hiking and camping trips.
MISSING AND MURDERED-NATIVE AMERICANS
AG Barr to unveil plan on missing, murdered Native Americans
PABLO, Mont. (AP) — Attorney General William Barr is announcing a national plan to address cases of missing and murdered indigenous people as concerns mount over the level of violence they face.
Barr will make the announcement Friday about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative on the Flathead Reservation in Montana.
The plan adds specialized coordinators in 11 U.S. attorney's offices who would coordinate the law enforcement response for cases of missing indigenous people.
It also allows for tribal or local law enforcement officials to ask the FBI to bring additional tools, including child abduction teams, evidence response teams and victim services workers.
The Justice Department will also undertake an in-depth analysis into its data collection practices and federal databases to identify additional ways to improve data on missing persons.
ASYLUM-WAITING IN MEXICO
Asylum-seekers in Arizona to be bused to Texas, then Mexico
PHOENIX (AP) — Asylum-seekers who cross the border through Arizona are now being bused by immigration authorities to Texas, where they can be sent to Mexico to await their U.S. immigration court hearings.
The government said its highly criticized program known colloquially as Remain in Mexico is now in effect all across the Southwestern border. That includes the Tucson Sector, which comprises a large chunk of Arizona.
The Washington Post first reported the news that authorities plan on busing migrants from Arizona to El Paso to be sent to Mexico.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed that migrants apprehended in Arizona will also be subject to the program, called Migrant Protection Protocols.
The government has forced over 55,000 asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico. The migrants often wait in squalid camps, and many are kidnapped, robbed or extorted.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA-NEW MEXICO
New Mexico extends hearings on medical cannabis rules
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is extending opportunities for public comment on changes in medical marijuana regulations aimed at bolstering health protections and patient access.
Winter weather and icy roads delayed the opening of a hearing Friday on proposed rule changes to requirements for testing of cannabis and cannabis-derived products for the presence of heavy metals, pesticides and potency.
The state Health Department says public comment will be extended to a date in January that has yet to be determined.
The proposed rules also would create cannabis consumption areas to be operated at approved dispensaries. Certain additives would be prohibited for cannabis products that are inhaled.
That includes an additive suspected as a source of vaping-related lung injury. Packaging would change to avoid confusion between cannabis products and ordinary food or candy.
CHRONIC DISEASES
Health officials: New Mexico chronic disease deaths decline
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's health department says death rates in the state from chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and stroke declined last year, but rates of suicide, homicide and unintentional injuries were up.
The latest numbers are outlined in the state's highlights of vital statistics for 2018. Deaths from flu and pneumonia also rose in 2018 from the previous year.
Life expectancy at birth for people in New Mexico in 2018 was 78.1 years, a slight decrease from 78.2 in the prior year. Life expectancy declined for males from 75.3 to 74.9, while life expectancy for females increased from 81.2 to 81.5 years.
The birth rate in the state continued to decline to a record low of 11 births per 1,000 people.
Prisoner transport officer sentenced for sexual misconduct
(Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a former private prisoner transport officer to two years in prison after sexually assaulting a woman in his custody.
The Albuquerque Journal reported Friday that 51-year-old James Baldinger of Minnesota was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Albuquerque for inappropriately touching a restrained woman without her consent.
Prosecutors say Baldinger was working for Prisoner Transportation Services of America in July 2017 when he touched the woman while taking her from Kentucky to Bernalillo County on an out-of-state warrant.
U.S. Attorney John Anderson says Baldinger "committed a grievous violation of the public trust" by using his law enforcement authority over the woman.
Anderson says the plea shows the U.S. Attorney's Office will hold people who violate inmates' rights accountable.
___
OIL BOOM-POLITICS
New Mexicans wary of candidates' proposed drilling bans
(Information from: Carlsbad Current-Argus, http://www.currentargus.com/)
CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — Democrat front-runners for the party's presidential nomination have promised to ban oil and gas leasing on federal lands if elected.
The Carlsbad Current Argus reports that has caused some concerns in New Mexico, where the industry was credited for billion-dollar budget surpluses in recent years. Much of the revenue has been funneled to educational initiatives.
U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small is a Democrat who represents an area of New Mexico that includes one of the most prolific energy basins in the United States.
She says shutting down drilling in New Mexico today would mean shutting down schools tomorrow.
Torres Small says she opposes a full ban on oil and gas activities, instead advocating for energy production to be done responsibly while minimizing environmental harm.
___
ASYLUM-GLOBAL CRACKDOWN
US joins in global movement to make asylum harder to obtain
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The U.S. has sent a Honduran migrant back to Guatemala in a move that marked a new phase of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Asylum was once an afterthought in American immigration policy. But it has taken center stage as Trump aligns the U.S. with the European Union and other wealthy nations that are making it increasingly hard to obtain.
Thursday's flight marked the first time the U.S. sent an asylum-seeker back to Guatemala under a new policy. It forbids anyone who travels through another country to the U.S.-Mexico border from applying for asylum there.
The man had an option to file an asylum claim in Guatemala, but he decided against it and returned to Honduras.
Trump has called asylum "a scam" and declared that the U.S. is "full."
BOY SCOUT RANCH
Boy Scouts mortgage vast New Mexico ranch as collateral
One of the most spectacular properties owned by the Boy Scouts of America is being been mortgaged to help secure the youth organization's line of credit.
The Boy Scouts say there is no plan to sell the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. It is being used as collateral to help meet financial needs that include rising insurance costs related to sex-abuse litigation.
The move dismayed a member of Philmont's oversight committee, who says it violates agreements made when the land was donated in 1938. The BSA disputed his assertion.
The mortgage document was signed by top Boy Scout officials in March. But members of the Philmont Ranch Committee only recently learned of the development.
The ranch is a popular destination for hiking and camping trips.
MISSING AND MURDERED-NATIVE AMERICANS
AG Barr to unveil plan on missing, murdered Native Americans
PABLO, Mont. (AP) — Attorney General William Barr is announcing a national plan to address cases of missing and murdered indigenous people as concerns mount over the level of violence they face.
Barr will make the announcement Friday about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative on the Flathead Reservation in Montana.
The plan adds specialized coordinators in 11 U.S. attorney's offices who would coordinate the law enforcement response for cases of missing indigenous people.
It also allows for tribal or local law enforcement officials to ask the FBI to bring additional tools, including child abduction teams, evidence response teams and victim services workers.
The Justice Department will also undertake an in-depth analysis into its data collection practices and federal databases to identify additional ways to improve data on missing persons.
ASYLUM-WAITING IN MEXICO
Asylum-seekers in Arizona to be bused to Texas, then Mexico
PHOENIX (AP) — Asylum-seekers who cross the border through Arizona are now being bused by immigration authorities to Texas, where they can be sent to Mexico to await their U.S. immigration court hearings.
The government said its highly criticized program known colloquially as Remain in Mexico is now in effect all across the Southwestern border. That includes the Tucson Sector, which comprises a large chunk of Arizona.
The Washington Post first reported the news that authorities plan on busing migrants from Arizona to El Paso to be sent to Mexico.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed that migrants apprehended in Arizona will also be subject to the program, called Migrant Protection Protocols.
The government has forced over 55,000 asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico. The migrants often wait in squalid camps, and many are kidnapped, robbed or extorted.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA-NEW MEXICO
New Mexico extends hearings on medical cannabis rules
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is extending opportunities for public comment on changes in medical marijuana regulations aimed at bolstering health protections and patient access.
Winter weather and icy roads delayed the opening of a hearing Friday on proposed rule changes to requirements for testing of cannabis and cannabis-derived products for the presence of heavy metals, pesticides and potency.
The state Health Department says public comment will be extended to a date in January that has yet to be determined.
The proposed rules also would create cannabis consumption areas to be operated at approved dispensaries. Certain additives would be prohibited for cannabis products that are inhaled.
That includes an additive suspected as a source of vaping-related lung injury. Packaging would change to avoid confusion between cannabis products and ordinary food or candy.
CHRONIC DISEASES
Health officials: New Mexico chronic disease deaths decline
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's health department says death rates in the state from chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and stroke declined last year, but rates of suicide, homicide and unintentional injuries were up.
The latest numbers are outlined in the state's highlights of vital statistics for 2018. Deaths from flu and pneumonia also rose in 2018 from the previous year.
Life expectancy at birth for people in New Mexico in 2018 was 78.1 years, a slight decrease from 78.2 in the prior year. Life expectancy declined for males from 75.3 to 74.9, while life expectancy for females increased from 81.2 to 81.5 years.
The birth rate in the state continued to decline to a record low of 11 births per 1,000 people.
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