New Mexico
NM statewide graduation rates down since last year
The New Mexico Public Education Department on Friday released statewide graduation rates for the class of 2014-15, which shows declines in rates in most categories over the year before, though numbers remain up since the beginning of Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration.
Statewide graduation rates fell by 0.7 percent in the 2014-15 school year over the year before – from 69.3 percent to 68.6 percent. Those declines were seen most sharply in migrant students, who saw a 25 percent decrease in graduation rates.
Other sharp declines were seen in the African American population (down 3.3 percent) and the Asian population (down 6.5 percent). Rates for Caucasian students fell by 2.1 percent from the year before.
Graduation rates improved slightly for American Indian students (up 1.2 percent) and students with disabilities (1.9 percent).
The state’s largest district, Albuquerque Public Schools, saw year-over-year declines in every group aside from students with disabilities, whose rates were up 4.8 percent.
But Asian (down 7.8 percent), American Indian (down 5.8 percent) and African American students (down 5.6 percent) all saw steep year-over-year declines in graduation rates.
SKANDERA TOUTS RATE INCREASE SINCE RICHARDSON ADMINISTRATION
Education Secretary Hanna Skandera touted the administration’s increase in overall graduation rates since the last school year of the Bill Richardson administration – the 2010-11 school year.
Graduation rates statewide for all students increased 5.6 percent over that time period. The biggest increases were in students with disabilities (12.3 percent), ESL students (8.1 percent), Hispanic students (7.9 percent) and economically-disadvantaged students (7.1 percent).
But when comparing Skandera’s first year as secretary-designate, the 2011-12 school year, to this past year’s rates, the results are not as flattering: graduation rates for students statewide have declined by 1.8 percent, which includes a 10.4 percent decrease in migrant graduation rates and an 8.3 percent decrease among African American students.
The only graduation rate increase over that time period has been a 3.3 percent increase in students with disabilities.
“While our graduation rate remains higher than when we first took office, we still have to get more of our kids across the graduation finish line,” Skandera said in a statement.
Rio Rancho and Las Cruces districts also saw rates decline since last year. But districts in Santa Fe, Bernalillo, Bloomfield, Clovis and Espanola all saw increases – some by more than 5 percent.
Belen saw its graduation rate jump by 14 percent over the past year.
View a breakdown of state and APS numbers here. For reports from all districts over the past several years, click here.
Santa Fe bans city employees’ travel to NC, Miss. after anti-LGBT laws passed
The mayor of Santa Fe said the city will ban all non-essential travel by city employees to North Carolina and Mississippi after the states passed anti-LGBT legislation in recent weeks.
A city spokesman says a ban for travel to Indiana passed last year is extended to the two new states.
Mayor Javier Gonzales announced the extended ban in a Facebook post Tuesday.
“Incredibly sad to see another state pass anti-LGBT legislation. Santa Fe will continue the policy of banning all non-essential travel to States that pass hateful legislation that promotes discrimination,” he wrote in the post.
Mississippi passed legislation signed by the governor in the past week that allows individuals and institutions to deny services to the LGBT community on a religious basis.
North Carolina also in recent weeks passed a law that changed anti-discrimination laws based on people’s sexual orientation and requiring transgender people to use bathrooms of the gender listed on their birth certificates.
Multiple businesses and film companies have said since that they will not do business in either state.
Similar measures passed by the Georgia legislature were vetoed by the state’s governor, and Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s governor said he would issue an executive order banning discrimination by state contractors against LGBT employees.
Santa Fe also last year passed an ordinance requiring single-stall bathrooms to be gender-neutral.
It is unclear how often Santa Fe city employees travel to either North Carolina or Mississippi, but a message was left with a city spokesman.
Santa Fe paramedic accused of charging $11K to dead man’s credit card
A Santa Fe paramedic was arrested Monday on charges he allegedly used a dead patient’s credit card to buy more than $11,000 worth of items.
Santa Fe police arrested Michael Harcharik, 31, after investigating the case over the weekend. The daughter of the dead man reported the fraudulent activity Friday when she tried to close his bank account and discovered it had been used, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Police told the New Mexican Harcharik stole the man’s credit card when he and other paramedics were dispatched to the dead man’s home March 25.
Police found multiple instances on surveillance footage from Santa Fe retailers in which Harcharik used the debit card – sometimes while wearing his Santa Fe Fire Department jacket and driving a city-owned ambulance, according to the New Mexican.
He allegedly made nearly 50 different transactions, which included a $1,600 riding lawnmower. He is charged with credit card theft and fraudulent use of a credit card. The warrant for Harcharik said officers observed grass that was “very short and appeared to have been recently mowed.”
“[My father] died on Good Friday; I guess this guy went to town over the Easter weekend,” the dead man’s daughter told KOB.
Santa Fe spokesman Matt Ross said Harcharik is being placed on alternate duty and won’t have any public interaction while the investigation is ongoing. Ross said that duty would be determined by supervisors.
“We felt the best option was to continue to have this person performing non-public work duties as the investigation moves forward,” Ross said. “These are very serious allegations and we take them extremely seriously.”
“Like all Santa Feans, we are deeply concerned by the details beginning to emerge, and we want to assure the public that under no circumstances are these allegations representative of the high standards we demand from the members of the Santa Fe Fire Department,” SAID Fire Chief Erik Litzenberg. “The public’s trust is critical to our job as Firefighters, EMTs, and Paramedics, and we have extensive training and protocols in place to guide members of our department in exactly these types of situations.
Harcharik’s warrant for his arrest carried a $20,000 bond. Two battery against a household member charges against him from 2010 were dismissed without prejudice by an assistant district attorney in December of that year.
FBI, DHS flew secret surveillance missions over Albuquerque in recent months
ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Multiple surveillance aircraft equipped with high-tech thermal imaging cameras and “augmented reality” systems have been flying over Albuquerque since last fall, piloted by FBI and Department of Homeland Security agents.
KOB has confirmed at least two planes owned by the FBI through shell companies have flown multiple missions – sometimes for more than an hour at a time – over the city. A Buzzfeed News investigation shows even more planes have also flown over the city, though those could not be independently confirmed by KOB. Continue reading
Search warrant details casino shooting that left man dead, officer wounded
A federal search warrant unsealed last Thursday says the man shot and killed by a Laguna officer at Route 66 Casino struggled with the officer and pulled a gun before he was killed.
The FBI has released minimal information regarding the shooting, which left Mario Sandoval dead. Officer Peter Tanzilli was shot during the altercation.
The search warrant, which was executed March 25 on the silver Lexus Sandoval and another man arrived in to the casino, details the events that led to the shooting.
It says the men pulled into the casino parking lot in the Lexus just before midnight March 23. The car had been reported stolen the day before, allegedly by Sandoval.
As Sandoval and the still-unidentified man approached the casino after parking, they were confronted by Tanzilli at gunpoint. The FBI released lapel video from Tanzilli just hours after the shooting showing the initial confrontation.
What the video did not show, and what is detailed in the warrant, is that when Tanzilli confronted the two – and after the unidentified man ran off – Tanzilli took Sandoval to the ground.
As Tanzilli tried to handcuff him, Sandoval allegedly turned onto his back, pulled out a gun and shot Tanzilli in the pelvis. The warrant says Tanzilli fell to the ground and returned fire, hitting Sandoval.
Sandoval was found outside the driver’s side of the stolen Lexus, which “appeared” to have bullet holes in it, according to the warrant.
The warrant search turned up Sandoval’s license, seven different cellphones, two glass pipes, a scale, a 9mm cartridge case and a bullet.
Española Valley Schools superintendent resigns amid basketball coach’s firing
Española Valley Public Schools Superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez resigned from her role at the district Wednesday evening at a school board meeting in which the board discussed her role in high school basketball coach Richard Martinez’s firing, which also happened sometime Wednesday.
Martinez had been on paid leave since late March for unknown reasons, but sources confirmed to KOB Wednesday night Martinez was fired sometime before 9:45 p.m.
Gutierrez’s resignation will be effective May 6, but the school board voted to place her on leave until then. The board voted 3-2 to accept her resignation. She was named acting superintendent of the district last April and was to stay on as interim superintendent until at least June.
Many parents of students at Española Valley High School and community members from the valley divided into camps at Wednesday’s meeting: those in support of Martinez and those who say he works his kids too hard.
Martinez guided his team to a 5A state championship this year – the second in the school’s history under his guidance. Many in the community have been strongly supportive of him since he was placed on leave.
Some reports said Martinez had been originally placed on leave for leading a prayer at a game, though that was strongly questioned Wednesday. Some parents scoffed at the idea – noting that with a predominantly-Catholic population, “everyone prays” in Rio Arriba County, according to one parent.
“I have completed my investigation,” Guetierrez said. “The coach has the results of that investigation, and it would be up to him what he shares with the press.”
Gutierrez refused to comment further on the allegation or investigation into Martinez.
It is unclear what events led to Gutierrez being pressured to resign or her eventual resignation at this time.
“The School Board would like to thank Bobbie for her service to the District,” Board President Pablo Lujan said in a statement issued to KOB after the meeting. “Superintendent Gutierrez filled in when we needed immediate help stabilizing the management of the District. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
“I am grateful for the Board having given me the opportunity to serve the District, its students, parents, and staff,” Gutierrez wrote in a statement. “Española is full of kind and wonderful people who rely on our schools to increase the education opportunities for our students. I will miss the talented staff and wish to thank the community for its support of the schools.”
New Mexico Activities Association spokesperson Dusty Young said there are no pending sanctions against the high school or school district.
Myra Martinez has been named interim superintendent in the meantime.
Roswell plume site added to EPA’s Superfund priorities list
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wednesday added anarea in Roswell contaminated with harmful chemicals leftover from a dry-cleaning business to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites.
The Lea and West Second Street site in Roswell had been going through the procedures to get listed on the NPL since last September.
The site contains soil contaminated by chemicals from a former dry cleaners business that operated in the mid-20th century, an in-ground concrete separator tank and a groundwater plume, according to the EPA, which says that Roswell drinking water could potentially be contaminated by the plume.
One of the chemicals found at the site, tetrachloroethylene, can be potentially harmful to humans and has shown negative effects in animals exposed to it.
Roswell’s city environmental officer told KOB in September a prior Superfund site had been set up in Roswell near McGaffey and Main streets.
The Roswell site was among several added to the NPL Wednesday. The EPA also Wednesday proposed adding a cluster of mines in southwest Colorado to the NPL.
More information can be found here.
Albuquerque settles civil suit with undercover officer shot by own lieutenant for $6.5M
The city of Albuquerque has settled a federal civil lawsuit involving an undercover Albuquerque police detective who was shot by his own lieutenant in what the department called a botched drug bust in Jan. 2015 for $6.5 million.
The suit was originally filed last August. A U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge said Wednesday morning she had received notice of the settlement involving undercover officer Jacob Grant and his lieutenant, Greg Brachle, according to court records. Continue reading
Armed man killed by Roswell police; man allegedly pointed gun
Roswell police officers shot and killed a man late Saturday night after a the man allegedly pointed a shotgun at them during a standoff.
Officers were originally called out just before midnight Saturday when someone reported a pickup driving erratically and the driver waving a gun.
When officers pulled the man over in the driveway of a home in the 700 block of South Aspen Avenue, a passenger got out of the vehicle and told police the driver, 33-year-old Robert Guerin, had a gun.
Roswell police say Guerin got out of the truck shortly thereafter with a shotgun, which he repeatedly refused to drop.
Police spokesman Todd Wildermuth said officers tried to negotiation with Guerin for “about 20 minutes” as he moved around his pickup, then went and positioned himself behind another nearby vehicle.
Wildermuth said Guerin held the shotgun on the hood of the vehicle and eventually pointed it at three officers at the scene.
One of the officers fired once at Guerin, according to Wildermuth, striking him.
Guerin was transported to a local hospital, where he died.
The officer has not been named by RPD, but Wildermuth said the officer has been with the department for five years. The officer is on standard paid leave.
A joint team of Roswell police, New Mexico State Police and Chaves County sheriff’s deputies will investigate the shooting.
Guerin had two prior battery against a houshold member charges dismissed and pleaded no contest to a 2006 DWI charge.
Injured Laguna officer named; 1 dead, 1 sought after shooting at Route 66 Casino
The FBI says a Laguna police officer was shot Thursday morning at Route 66 Casino, but suffered only non-life threatening injuries.
The shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. The FBI said Thursday morning that one suspect died in the officer-involved shooting and that one person was still on the loose. Neither of those people have been identified.
Laguna Pueblo police Thursday afternoon identified the officer who was wounded as 37-year-old Peter Tanzilli, a five-year veteran of the department.
The pueblo said Tanzilli is a U.S. Air Force veteran. He is in stable condition at UNM Hospital.
Earlier Thursday morning, the FBI released lapel video of the suspects and a silver Lexus, with New Mexico plate NAJ 489, that the suspects arrived in at the casino just before midnight. Officers had been investigating the car as stolen, according to the FBI.
The video contains multiple pictures of the vehicle and lapel camera of an officer confronting two suspects.
One of the suspects is seen fleeing the officer. That man was wearing black shorts with a white stripe, a black jacket with white trim and black shoes with a white sole.
The FBI says that man is the suspect who is still wanted and on the run. Anyone with information on the shooting or suspect at large is asked to contact the FBI’s Albuquerque office at 505-889-1300.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs, New Mexico State Police, and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department all assisted the FBI with the investigation.
The case is still under investigation. Stay with KOB.com for updates.