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WED: New Mexico Diocese To Sell Off Properties In Online Auction + More

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New Mexico Diocese To Sell Off Properties In Online Auction – Associated Press

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe will be auctioning nearly 140 parcels of property next month as it seeks to settle a raft of sex abuse claims.

Church officials announced Tuesday that an online auction will begin Sept. 21. Opening bids will start as low as $500 for vacant pieces of property that are spread throughout three counties in central New Mexico. Another auction is planned for November.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2018 to deal with a surge of claims.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled last October that lawyers for clergy sex abuse survivors can file lawsuits alleging the archdiocese fraudulently transferred millions of dollars in property and other assets to avoid bigger payouts to victims. That decision in the Chapter 11 reorganization case opened the door to what could be a multimillion-dollar boon to hundreds of victims who filed claims. It also could result in costly legal appeals that would tap funds that would otherwise be used to pay claims.

A top church official, the Rev. Glennon Jones, said earlier this year that progress was being made in collecting donations for the bankruptcy settlement. He also warned that should the bankruptcy fail, nothing would be safe from liquidation to pay for legal costs and settlements.

He reiterated his warning in a more recent posting on the archdiocese website, saying the case needs to be settled to avoid lawsuits being filed against individual parishes and those parishes possibly being forced to sell parish halls or even churches to pay legal bills.

Hospital Physicians Seek To Unionize Amid Pandemic Turmoil - By Morgan Lee - Associated Press

Physicians at Rehoboth McKinley Christian hospital in Gallup have taken the first major step toward unionizing to pursue collective bargaining on employment provisions, hospital staff and a union official said Tuesday.

The majority of roughly 30 physicians at the hospital have signed and submitted union authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board, said Sue Wilson, spokeswoman of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists. A vote on unionization could still be required by the hospital operator, she said.

The push to unionize follows both financial turmoil and harrowing encounters with COVID-19 at the hospital in the trading post city of Gallup on the edge of the Navajo Nation.

Physicians are concerned about the hospital's financial standing and whether it can sustain a high standard of care for patients amid recent layoffs, said Mary Poel, a pediatrician at Rehoboth McKinley Christian.

"I know that rural hospitals have to cut right now any frivolous things from their budgets because of COVID and getting back on our feet," she said. "We want to be sure that we have enough providers so that patients get the care they need. It really doesn't have anything to do with compensation levels at this time."

Hospital spokeswoman Ina Burmeister said notice of union organization was received late Tuesday and is being evaluated.

Plano, Texas-based Community Hospital Corporation in May announced a three-year contract extension to operate the 60-bed hospital.

The county-owned facility serves a community that was pummeled by early waves of the pandemic. In May 2020, Gallup was closed to outside visitors and encircled by police barricades by order of the governor in a desperate effort to limit the spread of the virus.

New Mexico Shrinks Reliance On For-Profit Prison Operators - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press

New Mexico is on the cusp of finalizing prison takeovers that will reduce private prison operations to 25% of inmate beds, amid a plunge in prison population numbers statewide.

Corrections Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero briefed a panel of state lawmakers Wednesday on negotiations by her agency to take over day-to-day prison operations from CoreCivic at the 744-bed Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Grants, and from GEO Group at the 590-bed Guadalupe County Correctional Facility at Santa Rosa in southern New Mexico.

In November 2019, New Mexico took over a prison operations in Clayton at a facility previously run by GEO Group.

"Once we complete the takeover of these next two institutions, we will have reduced New Mexico's private prison dependency to less than 25%," Tafoya Lucero said. Private operators oversaw nearly 50% of available prison beds in early 2019.

She said the state takeovers at Grants and Santa Rosa are scheduled for completion in November, and they will result in increased entry-level salaries for corrections officers of just over $20 an hour, up from as low as $15.50 at private facilities. Lease agreements will likely leave private operators in control of facility ownership and maintenance.

The administration of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has rebuffed calls by state legislators for an immediate exit from the for-profit prison industry, aiming instead to negotiate a gradual withdrawal and avoid potentially costly disruptions.

Democratic state Sen. Linda Lopez of Albuquerque applauded the shift away from for-profit prison operations.

"It's so encouraging to hear about the state, what I call, reclaiming our facilities," she said. "This gives hope."

In January, President Joe Biden ordered the Department of Justice to wind down its reliance on privately run prisons, directing the attorney general not to renew contracts.

At the same time, New Mexico's prison population has undergone a precipitous decline in numbers since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic that leaves more than one-fourth of available beds empty, amid precautions against the spread of the virus at lockups and in the court system, state corrections officials said at the a wide ranging hearing on prison initiatives.

More than 550 prisoners have been released since April 2020 under an executive order from the governor to commute sentences for prisoners who are eligible for early release, with the exception of several serious crimes.

Tafoya Lucero said the state prison population has declined overall to 5,617, from 6,567 at the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. The population exceeded 7,300 as recently as 2017.

At Santa Rosa, half the prison building is closed for lack of inmates and staff.

The state has said it can do without at least one prison at Springer, as economic development officials explore alternative plans at the site to support local employment.

But Tafoya Lucero cautioned against further prison closures because the state could see a surge in new inmates as courts resume criminal proceedings that were delayed by the pandemic.

She highlighted the state's obligation to provide adequate prison cell space for each inmate under a legal settlement in early 2020.

"What will happen when we do start to see additional prosecutions take place — does that mean that we have more people?" Tafoya Lucero said. "Ultimately it is very important that we made sure there is enough space for everybody who is incarcerated."

School Starts In New Mexico With Many Masked, Few Vaccinated - By Cedar Attanasio And Susan Montoya Bryan - Associated Press / Report For America

The incoming and outgoing New Mexico education secretaries on Wednesday launched the fall semester with appearances at a high school pep rally packed with around 1,000 mask-wearing teenagers as top health officials issued another plea to residents to help limit the spread of COVID-19.

Ahead of the rally, students talked and hugged. One friend jumped into another's arms.

Inside, they were seated next to one another on the bleachers as they participated in a chant session with the principal and with Kurt Steinhaus, who will become public education secretary next week after Ryan Stewart leaves the post.

"Show up, it matters," Steinhaus said, leading the chant of the same phrase at Highland High School in Albuquerque.

Steinhaus and school officials were upbeat, highlighting that the students in attendance had overcome much adversity over the past year.

But there will likely be more ahead.

State Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase and Dr. Christine Ross, the state epidemiologist, warned that confirmed COVID-19 case counts this week are 10 times higher than just four weeks ago. They also noted during a briefing with reporters that the positivity rate — which is the percentage of positive cases among those who are tested — is more than three times higher than it was in early July.

"It's the rapid rise that has caught us by surprise and is quite alarming," Ross said.

Health officials pointed to modeling that showed New Mexico will likely see around 1,000 new infections a day by the end of the month and that those new infections will likely mean more hospitalizations and deaths in the weeks after that.

They also cited studies that have shown vaccinated people can become infected and spread the virus to others.

"This is a real thing. It changes how we think about things," Scrase said, adding that masks, hand-washing, social distancing and avoiding large crowds still work to prevent infection.

Scrase and Ross also shared models that showed reductions in the number of daily cases are possible if all students and staff are required to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

Statewide, about 40% of youth ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated. That's far lower than the 65% inoculation rate among New Mexico's adults.

Albuquerque Public Schools promoted vaccines to parents and students and hosted clinics on campuses this spring and summer, but many students still don't have shots. Similar efforts were made in Las Cruces.

Among the immediate challenges for Steinhaus is keeping children in New Mexico's public school system after enrollment dropped about 4% last year.

Statistics show that the state's growth in homeschooling drove the enrollment decline amid high demand for teen workers across the U.S. The resurgence of the COVID-19 virus threatens to keep enrollment down.

Most school districts have adopted some version of the state's mask mandates as classes resume. However, there is an ongoing legal battle with members of the Floyd school board who were recently suspended by the Public Education Department for making masks optional. The rural district serves about 225 students.

Lawyers for the board members filed a motion Wednesday in state district court seeking to rescind the suspensions and to request a hearing on the matter. They contend the state has overstepped its authority.

___

Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter.

Energy Giant Promises More Perks In New Mexico Utility Case - By Susan Montoya Bryan - Associated Press

A top executive with global energy giant Iberdrola is promising more perks if local governments and others in New Mexico clear the way for a proposed multibillion-dollar utility merger that could affect the way power is produced and distributed in the state for years to come,

Iberdrola's chief development officer, Pedro Azagra Blázquez, was cross-examined Wednesday during the first day of an evidentiary hearing on the proposed acquisition of Public Service Co. of New Mexico by Iberdrola subsidiary Avangrid. Utility executives and other experts will be testifying over the next several days.

It will likely be fall before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission makes a final decision on the merger.

Supporters say the deal could boost renewable energy development in New Mexico. Critics  are concerned about the potential for rate increases and Connecticut-based Avangrid's track record of poor customer service and power outages among the utilities it operates on the East Coast.

Azagra Blázquez acknowledged during questioning by attorneys for the state's largest county and one of its largest water utilities that Iberdrola and Avangrid would be willing to offer more rate credits and economic development funds if the groups would not oppose the deal.

He also confirmed that the company would be willing to include $1 million for a science and technology scholarship program for students in New Mexico's largest metropolitan area. Another $1 million would go toward apprenticeship programs for high school and college students there.

Of the 150 jobs Iberdrola and Avangrid are promising, most would be in the Albuquerque area, he said.

Public Service Co. of New Mexico serves more than a half-million customers around the state. Consumer advocacy groups and environmentalists have been pushing for funds for communities in more rural areas, particularly those in northwestern New Mexico that will be affected by the expected closures of a pair of coal-fired power plants in which PNM is vested.

Azagra Blázquez also was questioned about the board that would control the New Mexico utility if the merger is approved. He said Spain-based Iberdrola would subject itself to the authority of the state Public Regulation Commission, dismissing concerns that have been raised about regulatory control given the corporate structure of Iberdrola and Avangrid.

Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the environmental group New Energy Economy, objected to testimony about the perks. As a consistent critic of the deal, she suggested company executives were making side deals contrary to rules that all parties must be a part of settlement talks.

She called the promises "Christmas tree bonuses," saying more details were needed.

The proposed merger has spurred questions about the companies' transparency, as well as conflict-of-interest allegations that stretch to the state attorney general's office.

During questioning, Azagra Blázquez could not say how customers' monthly bills would be affected by the additional proposed rate credits, economic development funds or any investments in generation and transmission infrastructure that could be used to export power to markets beyond New Mexico.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham supports the merger, but her office said this week that any proposal that fails to make New Mexico residents a first priority would be problematic.

Retired Court Justice To Take Reins Of Child Welfare Agency - By Morgan Lee And Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America

The head of the state's foster care and child welfare system was replaced Tuesday as New Mexico grapples with the effects student isolation during the pandemic and wages a longstanding struggle to improve childhood wellbeing.

Recently retired Supreme Court Justice Barbara J. Vigil will take the reins of the Children, Youth and Families Department on Oct. 1, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced at a Tuesday news conference.

Vigil previously worked on issues of juvenile justice and recidivism with the Republican administration of former Gov. Susana Martinez, leading a multi-agency review in 2017 that called for more services that prevent young people with infractions from reverting to crime.

Lujan Grisham highlighted Vigil's roots in the community as a native of New Mexico and lengthy career in public service, including a decadelong stint in the state Children's Court division.

Vigil briefly recalled her own personal encounter with family disruption as a 12-year-old, when the death of her mother marked a sudden transition from life in a home with five siblings to Catholic boarding school.

"That understanding will enable me to come to the table with a perspective of service and understanding that the decisions that we make in government about children and how we protect them and ensure that they're safe is made with the utmost transparency and with the utmost commitment to their well-being," Vigil said.

She'll take over an agency with more than 1,000 full-time employees and an annual general fund budget of $170 million, where challenges abound.

New Mexico this year ranked 49th among states in broad measures of child wellbeing from the Annie E. Casey Foundation that measures childhood access to education, health care, economic resources and social stability at home. The pandemic upended access to classrooms and community services for children.

The new appointment marks the departure of agency Secretary Brian Blalock, a former San Francisco Bay Area lawyer and child welfare advocate who is expected to return to California to support his wife's career.

Blalock, appointed at the outset of the Lujan Grisham administration in 2019, helped vastly reduce a backlog of investigations into child abuse and neglect reports as the agency also expanded its employment of front-line workers at its protective services division.

The state also has increased services for infants and expanded "kinship care" that places neglected or abandoned children with extended family or close family friends, according to an agency progress report.

Blalock's tenure was marred by concerns about the agency's use of an auto-deleting messaging app.

Two former officials with the Children, Youth and Families Department have sued the state under whistleblower protection laws after raising concerns that automatically deleted messages ran afoul of state record retention laws. The agency has shifted to new software.

Vigil said the agency must strike a balance with public disclosures and safeguarding the privacy and welfare of children.

"We also must be open and responsible to the public with respect to how we investigate and the processes that we follow to make sure that we are caring for the public's trust," Vigil said. 

Other key Cabinet positions are in transition, as Lujan Grisham runs for reelection in 2022.

The state is still looking for new permanent secretaries to lead the departments of Health and Workforce Solutions. Last month, the education secretary was replaced and a new head of public safety was named.

New Mexico Hospital Officials Push For More Vaccinations - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press

Top officials with New Mexico's largest hospitals made another plea Tuesday for more people to get vaccinated, saying they want to avoid the staffing and bed shortages that hospitals in other states are seeing as COVID-19 cases rise nationwide. 

Officials with University of New Mexico Hospital, Lovelace Health System and Presbyterian Healthcare Services said during a briefing with reporters that they have been busy this summer with patients needing care for other illnesses and medical needs that had been put off over the last year. They are worried that if the latest surge worsens, resources could be be stretched thin again. 

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 infections currently are about one-quarter of what they were last winter. The latest data available from the state Health Department shows close to 100 people were admitted over a seven-day period as of Aug. 2.

The data also shows that people 35 and older accounted for most of the hospitalizations and that Hispanics and Native Americans were among those more likely to be hospitalized.

Hospital officials said that while most patients admitted for COVID-19 are unvaccinated, they noted that about 7% had been fully vaccinated. They also said the demographics of those who are becoming ill is changing because most older people have been inoculated.

"We're seeing people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. We're seeing people who do not have chronic underlying immuno-compromising diseases," said Dr. Vesta Sandoval, the chief medical director at Lovelace. "They're people who are relatively healthy who are not vaccinated who have been exposed and then are developing severe disease."

At University of New Mexico Hospital, Chief Quality and Safety Officer Dr. Rohini McKee said there have been only a handful of vaccinated patients who have required hospitalization for COVID-19. 

"No vaccine is 100% effective. We know that from all the vaccines that we have been used to all these years, and this is no different," she said. "But it does keep you out of the hospital and it keeps you alive and we have overwhelming evidence to prove that."

In all, the state has recorded nearly 2,100 breakthrough infections — or about 334 cases per 100,000 fully vaccinated people — from February through Aug. 2.

About 65% of residents 18 and older and more than 40% of those 12 to 17 have been fully vaccinated, according to the state health department.

Dr. Karissa Culbreath, the medical director of infectious disease at TriCore Reference Laboratories, said her company is seeing increasing positivity rates and that testing is still important regardless of vaccination status.

"It could be possible to transmit the virus to those among us that may not yet be vaccinated either because they're not eligible based on their age or they just haven't made the decision yet," she said. 

The doctors also stressed the importance of hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks as a hedge against COVID-19 and other illnesses such as influenza.

Hospital Physicians Seek To Unionize Amid Pandemic Turmoil - By Morgan Lee Associated Press

Physicians at Rehoboth McKinley Christian hospital in Gallup have taken the first major step toward unionizing to pursue collective bargaining on employment provisions, hospital staff and a union official said Tuesday.

The majority of roughly 30 physicians at the hospital have signed and submitted union authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board, said Sue Wilson, spokeswoman of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists. A vote on unionization could still be required by the hospital operator, she said. 

The push to unionize follows bothfinancial turmoiland harrowing encounters with COVID-19 at the hospital in the trading post city of Gallup on the edge of the Navajo Nation. 

Physicians are concerned about the hospital's financial standing and whether it can sustain a high standard of care for patients amid recent layoffs, said Mary Poel, a pediatrician at Rehoboth McKinley Christian.

"I know that rural hospitals have to cut right now any frivolous things from their budgets because of COVID and getting back on our feet," she said. 

"We want to be sure that we have enough providers so that patients get the care they need. It really doesn't have anything to do with compensation levels at this time."

Hospital spokeswoman Ina Burmeister said notice of union organization was received late Tuesday and is being evaluated.

Plano, Texas-based Community Hospital Corporation in May announced a three-year contract extension to operate the 60-bed hospital.

The county-owned facility serves a community that was pummeled by early waves of the pandemic. In May 2020, Gallup was closed to outside visitors and encircled by police barricades by order of the governor in a desperate effort to limit the spread of the virus.

New Mexico Diocese To Sell Off Properties In Online Auction - Associated Press

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe will be auctioning nearly 140 parcels of property next month as it seeks to settle a raft of sex abuse claims. 

Church officials announced Tuesday that an online auction will begin Sept. 21. Opening bids will start as low as $500 for vacant pieces of property that are spread throughout three counties in central New Mexico. Another auction is planned for November.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2018 to deal with a surge of claims. 

A U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled last October that lawyers for clergy sex abuse survivors can file lawsuits alleging the archdiocese fraudulently transferred millions of dollars in property and other assets to avoid bigger payouts to victims. That decision in the Chapter 11 reorganization case opened the door to what could be a multimillion-dollar boon to hundreds of victims who filed claims. It also could result in costly legal appeals that would tap funds that would otherwise be used to pay claims.

A top church official, the Rev. Glennon Jones, said earlier this year that progress was being made in collecting donations for the bankruptcy settlement. He also warned that should the bankruptcy fail, nothing would be safe from liquidation to pay for legal costs and settlements.

He reiterated his warning in a more recent posting on the archdiocese website, saying the case needs to be settled to avoid lawsuits being filed against individual parishes and those parishes possibly being forced to sell parish halls or even churches to pay legal bills.

Navajo Nation Reports 16 New COVID-19 Cases, 1 More Death - Associated Press

The Navajo Nation on Tuesday reported 16 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death.

The latest numbers pushed the tribe's pandemic totals to 31,666 cases and 1,384 known deaths.

Based on cases from July 23 to Aug. 5, the Navajo Department of Health has issued a health advisory notice for 19 communities due to uncontrolled spread of COVID-19.

"The data here on the Navajo Nation still shows that the majority of new cases are the result of in-person social and family gatherings where people let their guard down and often don't wear masks," tribal President Jonathan Nez said in a statement Tuesday. "We have to keep our guard up at all times and limit visits with family members in other households for the time being until we see a reduction in the spread of the virus."

The Navajo Nation reservation is the country's largest at 27,000 square miles and it covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Legal Group Backs US Review Of Indigenous Boarding Schools - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press

The American Bar Association's policymaking body has voted in favor of a resolution supporting the U.S. Interior Department as it works to uncover the troubled legacy of federal boarding schools that sought to assimilate Indigenous youth into white society. 

The  resolution, adopted Monday by delegates at the bar association's annual meeting, calls for the Biden administration and Congress to fully fund the initiative and provide subpoena power to the Interior Department as it gathers and reviews reams of records related to the schools.

The measure also supports legislation that would create a federal commission to investigate and document all aspects of the boarding school system in the U.S., including issuing reports regarding the root causes of human rights abuses at the schools and to make recommendations to prevent future atrocities.

"Putting a light on what is occurring here is so critical because we know that if we do not learn from this history, we are doomed to repeat it," Mark Schickman, a San Francisco-based attorney who serves as a special adviser with the bar association, said as he introduced the resolution.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, announced the boarding school initiative following news that hundreds of bodies were being discovered on the grounds of former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada. 

Experts say the initiative will be difficult because records are scattered across jurisdictions — from the bowels of university archives to government offices, churches, museums and personal collections. 

"The department is compiling decades of files and records to begin a proper review that will allow us to organize documents, identify available and missing information, and ensure that our records system is standardized," said Melissa Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department. 

The agency also is building a framework for how it will partner with outside organizations to guide the next steps of the review. 

Consultations with tribes are expected to begin in late fall. Schwartz said those discussions will be focused on ways to protect and share sensitive information and how to protect gravesites and sacred burial traditions.

In the United States, the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 and other laws and policies were enacted to establish and support Native American boarding schools nationwide. For over 150 years, Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation.

The discoveries in Canada and the renewed spotlight in the U.S. have stirred strong emotions among tribal communities, including grief, anger, reflection and a deep desire for healing.

Patricia Lee Refo, president of the American Bar Association, said the resolution adopted Monday was born from her visit to the Navajo Nation in July. She met with tribal President Jonathan Nez, the speaker of the tribal council and the all-female Navajo Nation Supreme Court. 

Nez has said the troubling history of Indigenous boarding schools deserves more attention to educate people about the atrocities experienced by Native Americans and the intergenerational effects of the boarding school experience.

The Native American Bar Association last year adopted a resolution calling on Congress to introduce legislation focused on reparations for the treatment of American Indians and Alaska Natives. 

The resolution adopted Monday by the American Bar Association includes language in support of legislation that would establish the first formal commission in U.S. history to investigate, document and acknowledge past injustices of the federal government's cultural genocide and assimilation practices through its boarding school policy.

Brad Regehr, a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Saskatchewan and the first Indigenous person to serve as president of the Canadian Bar Association, spoke Monday at the American Bar Association meeting. Choking up, he said he and his grandfather were survivors of Canada's residential school program.

Between the 1880s and 1990s, he said 150,000 Indigenous children in his country were forcibly removed from their families and placed in schools far from home. As many as 25,000 children, including toddlers, never returned, he said.

Regehr talked about the calls to action crafted following nearly a decade of work by Canada's truth and reconciliation commission and the ongoing discoveries of children's remains.

"That has hit me hard, and it hits and it continues to hit many Indigenous people hard," he said, "but it's also hit many Canadians hard for the first time ever."