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World briefs

August 25

France French president Francois Hollande dissolved all cabinet positions in the government on Monday amid political infighting in the Socialist party. Prime Minister Manuel Valls offered his government’s resignation, and has been tasked by the president to form a new government, which will be announced on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. The resignation came after Valls accused Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg of being overly critical and disloyal to the party after calling for “a major change in our economy policy,” ABC News reported. France’s economy has been struggling in the wake of austerity measures, with unemployment around 10 percent and little economic growth this year.

News

SFRB funding applications get earlier deadline

Aydan Sparks | August 24

The UNM Student Fee Review Board has made changes to the guidelines for organizations requesting funding for the new school year. The deadline for student organizations to submit their applications for funding has been pushed forward to Sept. 5, as part of a compromise set forth over the summer by UNM President Robert Frank. In a joint statement on Friday with ASUNM President Rachel Williams, GPSA President Texanna Martin said the two groups worked together over the summer to make changes that would adhere to the new guidelines.

New Mexico women’s soccer Head Coach Kit Vela awaits questions from the media at the Tow Diehm Athletic Center on Wednesday. New Mexico Athletic Director Paul Krebs announced Friday that 22 women’s soccer players will be suspended for one game and Vela will be suspended for one week without pay for a hazing incident that occurred last week.

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Women's soccer team, coach suspended for hazing

Thomas Romero-Salas | August 24

Twenty-two Lobo women’s soccer players will serve a one-game suspension, and head coach Kit Vela will be suspended for one week without pay after last week’s hazing incident, New Mexico Athletics Director Paul Krebs announced Friday. As punishment for the Aug. 17 incident involving all of the team’s athletes, Vela is not permitted to have any contact with her team beginning today. Assistant coaches Jorge Vela and Krista Foo have been issued letters of reprimand; the two assistants will run the team’s day-to-day operations until the head coach’s return. “We believe the disciplinary measures we have taken today send a clear message about the gravity of the incident: that it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Krebs said. “We feel we have a full understanding of what happened that night through the facts we received from the third-party investigation.”

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The Howl: Aug. 23, 2014 episode.

August 23

Did the first week back at UNM monopolize your time? Miss any of the big news? Catch up with this week's episode of The Howl.

News

Campus employee faces grand jury for murder

Jonathan Baca | August 21

A UNM employee will face a grand jury on charges of second-degree murder after two previous failed indictment attempts. A date for a grand jury trial against Amy Herrera has not yet been set. She is currently out on a $100,000 bond. In July 2012, police were called to the home of Amy Herrera, a Health Sciences Center employee, where she and her husband Marc Herrera were holding a party for a UNM exchange student they were hosting, according to police reports.

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CAPS goes digital with new online tutoring

Matt Reisen | August 21

This semester a new program will help students bring tutors into the comfort of their own home — electronically. Anne Compton, associate director of the Center for Academic Program Support, said CAPS will debut its new Online Learning Center on Monday, which allows students to receive tutoring from their own computer. The Online Learning Center, a combined effort of CAPS, Extended University and New Media and Extended Learning, will give tutoring to students who may be too busy, or too far removed, to physically go to the CAPS office, but still need assistance, she said.

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry gets doused with water as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge Thursday at Civic Plaza. Berry became the latest to participate in the viral video event that has drawn awareness to ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

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Berry challenges President Frank to feel the chill

Daniel Montaño | August 21

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness for ALS Thursday in Civic Plaza. After getting doused with four buckets of ice water, the mayor called out five individuals to take the challenge — Ian Anderson, publisher of Albuquerque Business First; Kent Waltz, editor-in-chief of the Albuquerque Journal; Bill Anderson, general manager of KRQE News 13; Mike Burgess, general manager of KOB Eyewitness News 4 and UNM’s own President Bob Frank. Four out of five have accepted the challenge, including Frank, who will be releasing a statement Monday in the President’s Weekly Perspective.

News

Bookstore: New buyback system drops used book cost

Robert Salas | August 21

Student’s wallets may feel light after leaving the bookstore, but Carrie Mitchell, UNM Bookstore director, said her used book prices have been falling steadily since 2012. In May 2012, UNM Bookstores implemented a new buyback system that has helped to drop the average price of used books by about 20 percent, or an average of about $13 per book, she said. “Which adds up to quite a bit, especially when you’re talking about 10,000 books a year,” she said.

New Mexico women’s soccer Head Coach Kit Vela awaits questions from the media at the Tow Diehm Athletic Center on Wednesday. UNM Athletic Director Paul Krebs confirmed at the press conference that the team did commit acts of hazing.

News

Details of women's soccer hazing incident emerge

Thomas Romero-Salas | August 20

The New Mexico women’s soccer team did commit an act of hazing while attending several parties Sunday night, UNM Athletics Director Paul Krebs confirmed. During a nearly 40-minute press conference Wednesday, Krebs and head coach Kit Vela discussed the incident, which allegedly involved underage drinking and freshman players being sprayed with “soap and water.” Krebs said the incident involved the entire women’s soccer team, but that none of the players were forced to drink. The Athletics Department cancelled the team’s season opener at Texas Tech due to the investigation.

UNM professor David Correia speaks at a vigil for APD shooting victim Armand Martin on May 4. Charges against Correia, stemming from his arrest on June 2, for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a nonviolent sit-in at the office of Mayor Richard Berry, were dropped.

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Correia: 'dropped charges justify protest'

Daniel Montaño | August 20

The City of Albuquerque will not pursue charges against UNM Associate Professor David Correia, according to court documents. Correia was charged with felony assault against an officer after being arrested while participating in a July 2 sit-in protest at Mayor Richard Berry’s office.

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Neuroscience reveals detail of killer kids

Sayyed Shah | August 20

University researchers have published a study revealing that children and adolescents who have committed homicide often have physical abnormalities in the brain. The study comes in the wake of the fatal beating of two Albuquerque homeless men, which was allegedly committed by three teenagers.

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Athletes' brains scrutinized in concussion study

Sayyed Shah | August 20

As part of The Mind Research Network’s concussion study following UNM athletes, Brain Safe Project researchers have advised additional medical care and brain testing for at least 29 Lobo athletes after “incidental findings” were reported in their MRI scans. So far the research conducted by the scientists has yielded some interesting results.

Desi Baca holds up a photograph of Sgt. Pete Padilla and Pfc. Manuel Mora with other Boy Scouts at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Aug. 11. Baca was scout leader at the time that Padilla and Mora were members and was present when the appropriation of funds for the memorial were purposed.

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Locals provide support to memorial

Stephen Montoya | August 20

Sgt. Pete Padilla and Pfc. Manuel Mora, Albuquerque natives who died during the Vietnam Conflict, are still very much alive in the memories of friends, mentors and complete strangers. State Sen. Richard Romero said he grew up with Padilla and jumped at the chance in 2012 to help find the money to build the memorial for the two men.

Pedro Gutierrez, freshman anthropology major, and Frankie Flores, program assistant for the LGBTQ Resource Center, set up for UNM Community Day during the Welcome Back Days on Wednesday. UNM was recently ranked on Campus Pride’s LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index with a score of 4.5 out of 5 stars, the highest score in the state.

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UNM has resources to take pride in, index says

Jonathan Baca | August 20

UNM recently ranked on the Campus Pride network’s LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index, with a score of 4.5 out of 5 stars — the highest score in the state. The index awards scores based on eight separate criteria, including counseling and health, campus safety and academic life.

During a live demonstration Tuesday with the Daily Lobo, Net Medical Xpress CEO Dick Govatski, left, shows how his company’s Telemedicine Intensive Care Unit Carts operate. The system allows doctors to remotely diagnose patients, using this interface. This screenshot was captured by Jonathan Baca.

News

Health Sciences Center receives telemedicine grant

Jonathan Baca | August 19

Thanks to a $15.1 million grant to UNM Health Sciences Center from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, remote rural hospitals across the state will soon have the next best thing to their very own neurosurgeon. The grant, which is the largest UNMH’s Neurosurgery Department has ever received, will go toward setting up a telemedicine network that will allow emergency room doctors in rural hospitals to connect directly with neurosurgeons at UNM Hospital.

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UNM Crime Briefs

Erika Eddy | August 19

Aug. 3 UNM Police Department responded to a tip from an anonymous witness about a person breaking windows at the southeast entrance to Scholes Hall.

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Alleged hazing cancels women's soccer opener

Thomas Romero-Salas | August 19

The New Mexico women’s soccer season opener has been cancelled due to an ongoing investigation into an alleged hazing incident, athletic director Paul Krebs announced Tuesday. On Monday, the UNM Athletics Department announced it was using an outside investigator to determine the details of the incident and interview team members. The game, originally scheduled for Friday at Texas Tech, would have been the season opener for both teams.

Councilors Klarissa J. Peña and Rey Garduño discuss the agenda during the Albuquerque City Council meeting on Monday. Garduño’s resolution to pass a motion to have lower marijuana penalties put on the ballot for the next elections passed by a 5-4 vote.

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City Council votes in favor of adding pot penalties to ballot

Tomas Lujan | August 19

Albuquerque voters might have the chance to vote on whether or not marijuana penalties should be lessened. Late Monday evening The Albuquerque City Council voted 5-4 in favor of allowing a measure that will reduce marijuana penalties to be put on the ballot in November. This initiative seeks to reduce those penalties in the Albuquerque area to a civic penalty of $25 for anyone found in possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, regardless of prior transgressions for the same offense. According to current statutes, penalties for a first offense include a fine between $50 and $100, up to 15 days in jail, or both.

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Downtown campus plan in progress

Daniel Montaño | August 18

After 18 months of planning, the grand vision of Innovate ABQ is coming into focus. The design firm Perkins and Will publicly presented its initial master plan for Innovate ABQ to the Board of Regents on Aug 8, explaining the different possibilities for the future of the venture.

News

Women's soccer hazing incident investigation launched

Thomas Romero-Salas | August 18

The New Mexico women’s soccer team may have partaken in a hazing incident over the weekend, according to a UNM Athletics Department press release issued early Monday evening. The Athletics Department is using an outside investigator to determine the details of the incident and interview team members.