This story was originally published by Source New Mexico. New Mexico’s primary election will determine who will appear on the general election ballot this November. Primary election day will be held on June 4. Early voting begins May 7. These dates can affect whether voters can participate in the primaries being held by political parties in the state.
Corrections and clarifications were added to this story on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 11:30 p.m. This investigation is a collaboration between Source NM and reporters from the Daily Lobo at the University of New Mexico. Two New Mexico correctional facility officers have been accused multiple times of abusing and harassing incarcerated people. This past year, the prison guards Lt. Christian Trujillo and Sgt. Danny Pelayo were both named three times in civil complaints and civil rights lawsuits. Trujillo and Pelayo work at the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Clayton. Civil complaints allege the guards have been involved in a lengthy pattern of abuse against incarcerated people. Their personnel files show that the incidents did not prevent them from moving up the ranks. Settlement negotiations haven’t gone anywhere, court records show.
This story was originally published by Source New Mexico. In line with the wishes of the people he harmed more than three years ago, Steven Ray Baca will not spend any more time in jail. Baca, 34, is a failed Albuquerque City Council candidate and Trump supporter who brought a concealed handgun to a peaceful protest on June 15, 2020 at the statue depicting Spanish colonizer Juan de Oñate called La Jornada at Tiguex Park in Albuquerque’s Old Town neighborhood.
This story was originally published by Source New Mexico Celerah Hewes lives in southeast Albuquerque. On Aug. 6, she was driving home from the grocery store and happened to see the smoke plume from the Atkore United Poly Systems fire. “Otherwise I would never have known,” she said. “I would have stayed in my house, my swamp cooler on, and maybe had no idea that there was an air quality issue.” As of Tuesday, city and state authorities still have not said publicly how much smoke the fire generated. They also have not provided any detailed documentation of where the smoke went. Through a spokesperson, the city of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department said the smoke drifted south by southeast “away from populated areas.”
In the wake of KUNM news director Hannah Colton’s death, a common refrain by friends, loved ones and community members circulated: “Check on your friends, and reach out if you need help.” As two people who were very close to Hannah, we hear and appreciate the gesture. Creating communities of care and resilience is important. But checking on Hannah, asking that she reach out, did not solve the underlying problems that led to her death. Hannah was a journalist who led a chronically understaffed and resource-deprived newsroom, no different than most other newsrooms and many nonprofits. Every day she confronted very real structural violences of a world organized around profit and white supremacy.
Solutions by The State News
