Audits of MLK Commission delayed due to investigation
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Audits of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission for the past three years cannot be completed due to an ongoing investigation by state prosecutors.
State Auditor Wayne Johnson on Friday released the audit for the 2014 fiscal year but included a disclaimer because there wasn't enough information to render an opinion.
The 2015, 2016 and 2017 audits are pending because state auditors don't have access to adequate financial records to substantiate the balances presented on the commission's financial statements.
The commission had requested waivers for 2015 and 2016. Johnson denied the request, saying that completing the past due audits will help provide the public with a clear view of the financial picture.
The former head of the commission was indicted earlier this year on fraud, embezzlement and other charges.
ROLLING STUDY HALLS
New Mexico district tapped for 'rolling study halls' program
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Google is partnering with the Santa Fe public school district to give students with long commutes the ability to ride buses outfitted with Wi-Fi and an onboard tutor.
Democratic U.S. Congressman Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel got a demonstration Friday of the "Rolling Study Halls" program.
Students participated in a coding activity during the bus ride. Then, the school district hosted a discussion with Lujan and Rosenworcel about the digital divide.
Lujan says if airline passengers can access the internet at 30,000 feet, students on the ground should also have Wi-Fi in their buses to get homework done.
Lujan has introduced legislation aimed at broadening access by allowing the commission's E-Rate program to reimburse schools that place Wi-Fi technology on school buses.
ALBUQUERQUE-HOMELESS EMPLOYMENT
Albuquerque has employed hundreds of homeless since 2015
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque officials say a program aimed at providing work to people who are homeless has resulted in 6,666 one-day-long jobs since September 2015 for people living on the streets or panhandling.
Mayor Tim Keller's office release the figure Friday in a statement that credited the "There's a Better Way" program with giving people a chance to earn a fair wage for daily work.
The program launched by former Mayor Richard Berry transports workers to a Solid Waste Management Department job site, where they clear litter and weeds. St. Martin's Hospitality Center, a local nonprofit, tries to connect them with services at the end of the day.
The mayor's office says the program over the past three years has employed 1,575 workers in total, and 76 have gained permanent employment as a result of the program.
ALBUQUERQUE GIRL KILLED-THE LATEST
The Latest: DA clears man of murder charge in girl's death
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed murder and sexual assault charges against a man arrested two years ago in the death of a 10-year-old Albuquerque girl whose dismembered remains were found in her family's apartment.
Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez says there is no physical evidence that Fabian Gonzales raped Victoria Martens. Instead, a lab analysis found another unidentified male's DNA on her body.
Witness statements and cell phone data also show Gonzales and the girl's mother, Michelle Martens, were not at the apartment when the girl was killed.
Both had been charged with murder in the girl's death until Friday, when Martens pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death and Torrez announced the new revelations.
Court records indicate a third suspect, who is Gonzales' cousin, still awaits trial on murder and other charges.
IMMIGRATION SEPARATING FAMILIES-THE LATEST
The Latest: ACLU says government wrong to detain families
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ACLU is disputing a Trump administration claim that it has to detain families indefinitely because of a court ruling barring it from separating them.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, said requirements in a case settlement known as the Flores agreement don't conflict with the order issued in San Diego on Tuesday that required the government to reunify immigrant families separated at the border.
The Department of Justice said in a court filing Friday in Los Angeles in the decades-old Flores case that the ruling requires it to keep families detained in order to keep them together.
Gelernt said the government has a constitutional obligation to release parents who don't pose a flight risk or danger, and that parents can choose to release their children if they don't want them to be in a family detention center.
The administration's zero tolerance policy has resulted in the separation of thousands of kids from their parents at the border.
HELICOPTER CRASH-ZIMBABWE OPPOSITION LEADER
Autopsy lists Zimbabwe opposition leader's crash wounds
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An autopsy shows a key Zimbabwe opposition leader suffered skull and rib fractures in a fiery helicopter crash that killed him, his wife and three others in New Mexico earlier this year.
State medical investigators released autopsies for Roy Bennett and his wife, Heather, on Friday, nearly six months after they died in the wreck outside Raton as they were traveling to a friend's property in the area.
The autopsy for Heather Bennett showed she suffered head and chest injuries, as well as burns that covered most of her body.
Autopsies for the other crash victims killed were released last month.
The Bennetts' deaths were met with an outpouring of grief in Zimbabwe after the crash. A white man who spoke fluent Shona, Bennett had won a devoted following among Zimbabweans for passionately advocating political change.
ARMED ROBBERY-SUSPECT KILLED
Suspect yells 'I have a gun' before being shot by police
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque police say a suspect in an armed robbery yelled that he had a gun before he was shot and fatally wounded by an officer during a chase that ended in front of a grocery store.
Police have released details and body camera footage from the June 16 shooting involving Richard Rivera.
Rivera and a woman were suspected of holding up a Verizon store and then fleeing in a stolen van. Police say Rivera fired at officers during the chase.
The van was finally stopped and video shows an officer running after Rivera while yelling at him to stop. He fired as Rivera approached the grocery store entrance.
Surveillance camera footage shows Rivera looking back and reaching for his right hip before the shots are fired. Police say Rivera had left the gun in the van before running.
NEW MEXICO BUDGET-COURTS
New Mexico courts to resume full business hours
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's state courts will have enough money to resume full business hours for the public for the new fiscal year that starts in July.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Judith Nakamura made the announcement Friday, saying she's grateful lawmakers provided resources in the state budget for courts to meet their constitutional and statutory obligations.
Monday marks the start of the first business day for the 2019 fiscal year, but court officials say several clerk's offices have already started offering a full eight hours for customer service.
Funding and staffing shortages in recent years had forced about half of magistrate courts statewide to close clerk's offices for a portion of one day each week. A third of district courts also reduced the hours that clerk's offices were open to the public.