News
Cardio clinic offers more care
Charlie Shipley | July 18The UNM Cardiology Clinic opens this week, giving Westside residents access to a full range of cardiovascular diagnostic services.
News
News
Volunteers aid Los Alamos fire victims
Charlie Shipley | July 18When the largest fire in New Mexico’s history forced the evacuation of the city of Los Alamos, the UNM Medical Reserve Corps were on the ground to help. Luke Esquibel, a First Aid instructor at UNM Hospital, said medical volunteers donated more than 500 hours of their time during the first week of the blaze. He said he helped care for patients with special medical needs like high blood pressure, diabetes and respiratory problems.
News
UNM receives license to swill
Shaun Griswold | July 10Alcohol will be sold during Lobo football and basketball games this season. On Tuesday the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department granted UNM a liquor license for sales in suite- and club-level areas inside The Pit and University Stadium. “We have obtained the license, and we will move forward with our plans,” Sports Information Director Frank Mercogliano said. The action came after a contentious eight-month battle with the Albuquerque City Council. In November, the council cited public safety concerns when it denied UNM’s waiver request of a state law that bans alcohol sales within 300 feet of a school.
News
Mishap spurs new health clinic
Chelsea Erven | July 10An anti-abortion group opened a pregnancy resource center across the street from the UNM Center for Reproductive Health on July 1, after an ambulance responded to the UNM Center for an abortion gone wrong. On Feb 15, a 911 call went out from the UNMCRH when a 35-year-old woman was “unresponsive” after surgical abortion complications. “We have a patient who is crashing right now,” a clinic worker can be heard saying in a recording of the 911 call.
News
Faculty’s per diem in regents’ crosshairs
Kevin Forte | July 10The UNM Board of Regents is looking to amend the University’s per diem policies, which could mean traveling faculty would have to pay out-of-pocket for food.Regents Gene Gallegos and James Koch, members of the Regent Audit Committee, are concerned about following state law and making sure faculty have a clear per diem policy, UNM spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said. “Regent Gallegos and Regent Koch believe that our current policy is inaccurate or doesn’t exactly reflect what state law intends, and they want to look into that,” she said. The Board of Regents discussed changes to the policy at a June 27 meeting, but the issue was tabled until August.
News
Police raid office; find Garcia’s sex toys
Chelsea Erven | July 4Former UNM president F. Chris Garcia’s office at the Social Sciences Building wasn’t just filled with academic documents. Albuquerque Police raided the office June 23 and found a briefcase and cabinet full of sex toys, 21 pornographic videos and nine sex books, according to an unsealed search warrant obtained by the Albuquerque Journal. Detectives confiscated a computer and other electronic storage devices, along with notebooks containing information related to prostitution and the alleged online prostitution ring, “Southwest Companions.” Detectives said Garcia was on the website while at UNM.
News
Committee seeks criteria for new president
Hunter Riley | July 4The search to find UNM’s next president is on, and the regents, charged with the final decision, are working to figure out what students, staff and faculty want. President David Schmidly will vacate the post in May 2012, and a search committee, chaired by Regent President Jack Fortner, has been tasked with getting UNM constituents’ input on the new president.
News
Fire damages UNM facilities
Charlie Shipley | July 4The largest wildfire in New Mexico history continues to burn, forcing evacuations and destroying homes and property, including a UNM facility.
News
Wood questions regents’ hire
Kevin Forte | July 4Faculty President Richard Wood called for an internal review of the Board of Regent’s 2010 hire of Director of Internal Audit’s Manu Patel.
News
‘Let the one without sin cast the first stone’
Luke Holmen | June 27In Rev. Scott Sharp’s Sunday sermon, he reminded the congregation of F. Chris Garcia’s dedication to the church, his family and his community. Sharp, senior pastor of Central United Methodist Church, where Garcia regularly attended services with his wife, said Garcia was eager to help others and engage in ministry.
News
‘Burque pops’ helped recruit talent, police say
Elizabeth Cleary , Chelsea Erven and Luke Holmen | June 27Former UNM President F. Chris Garcia was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center June 23 on charges of promoting prostitution, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, according to Bernalillo County Detention Center records. Garcia, 71, was arrested for his alleged ties to a 1,400-member, multistate online prostitution ring called Southwest Companions.
News
‘Companions’ make bail
Chelsea Erven | June 27Former UNM President F. Chris Garcia went before Metropolitan Court Judge Sharon Walton June 24 for a felony first appearance on the charges of promoting prostitution, conspiracy and evidence tampering related to an online prostitution ring know as Southwest Companions.
News
Adopt ‘till employees drop
Elizabeth Cleary | June 27In a city where nothing save for the occasional convenience store stays open all night, at the end of last week it was never too late, or too early, to adopt a dog or cat from Animal Humane New Mexico. From June 22-24, Animal Humane NM hosted its 24/7 adoption event, the first event of its kind in New Mexico.
News
Fireworks not worth the heat
Hunter Riley | June 27With five wildfires burning in New Mexico, the Albuquerque Fire Department and Albuquerque Police Department are especially concerned about blazes during this year’s Independence Day celebrations.
News
Texting while driving: GTFO
June 27On June 16, Gov. Susana Martinez kicked off W82TXT, a new campaign against texting while driving. W82TXT encourages New Mexico residents to take a pledge against distracted driving. “I pledge to never text and drive,” the pledge reads.
News
Update: F. Chris Garcia's first court apperance, bond set at $35,000
Staff Report | June 24UPDATE: June 24 at 6:15 p.m. Garcia went before Metropolitan Court Judge Sharon Walton this afternoon for a felony first appearance on the charges of promoting prostitution, conspiracy, and evidence tampering.
News
APD: Former UNM President was high-ranking organizer of prostitution ring
Luke Holmen | June 23Former UNM President F. Chris Garcia was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center this morning on charges of promoting prostitution, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, according to Bernalillo County Detention Center records. Garcia, 71, was arrested for his alleged ties to a 1400-member, multistate, online prostitution ring called Southwest Companions.
News
Shortage may up standards
Christine Romero | June 20The state’s Higher Education Department is pushing to impose stricter requirements on the Lottery Scholarship to increase student accountability. Only 14 percent of New Mexico students maintain the Lottery Success Scholarship for four years, and the Higher Education Department Director of Financial Aid, Karen Kennedy, said more stringent requirements could change that statistic. “We want to make sure access isn’t restricted for any student, but we also want to make sure New Mexico sees successful outcomes,” she said. Proposed changes include requiring university students to take 15 credit hours per semester instead of 12 and maintain a higher GPA.
News
Less unsatisfied than before
Chelsea Erven | June 20A recent survey of UNM faculty and staff showed a slight increase in satisfaction with University administration, but there’s still room for improvement. The number of faculty and staff “dissatisfied” with University governance dropped by almost 6 percent, and UNM President David Schmidly said the change is a step in the right direction. “I am pleased that the survey shows incremental progress has been made, even though there is still a long way to go,” he said in a June 6 email.
News
Catron County’s endangered economy chosen over wolves
Chelsea Erven and Victoria Cardenas | June 20On June 12, the New Mexico State Game Commission severed its ties to The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Program. Residents of Catron County pushed the decision, Glyn Griffin, District 2 Catron County Commissioner said. “Much of the Game Commission’s decision was based on the hardships endured in this county,” she said in a press release. “Our biggest industry, logging, has been taken away by the spotted owl.
