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Capital High grad takes love of medicine to next level Aspiring physician attributes determination to school mentors who pushed him along the way By Robert Nott The New Mexican
Airport sees record traffic
Ronald Orozco wanted to dissect a cat. That’s how he got into Capital High School’s medical sciences program.
A child of immigrants and the first one in his family to attend college, Orozco should earn his bachelor’s degree in December at The University of New Mexico. And then, following a one-semester break, he is set to start at the UNM School of Medicine.
Orozco is the first to say that he got help from a lot of adults, but it was Lorraine Goldman who was instrumental in nurturing the program at Capital with fundraising and volunteers. It was Goldman who pestered Orozco to dedicate himself. She was one of several adults who were, in
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Ronald Orozco
Lorraine Goldman
Officials hope to expand services as Santa Fe Municipal Airport reports growing demand. PAGE A-9
King loses third campaign chief weeks ahead of election
LANL suit settled Lab reaches deal with a couple who say a supervisor made unwelcome sexual advances. PAGE A-9
Manager’s resignation is latest setback in AG’s bid for governor
Climate plan calls for coolant phaseout
By Uriel J. Garcia The New Mexican
and I appreciated the opportunity to help move Gary King and Democrats closer to victory in November. Unfortunately, I had put other aspects of my private and professional life on hold to come here to lend a hand, but I must now redirect my focus.” Breitbach said the “other aspects of my private and professional life” mentioned in the official statement referred to the fact that his 77-yearold mother was in the emergency room in Iowa last week with a heart condition. The announcement of Breitbach’s departure comes after a
Speed SUVs won’t be back on Santa Fe streets any time soon. The city’s Finance Committee voted 3-2 against a proposal from Redflex Traffic Systems, a Phoenixbased company that serves 250 cities in the U.S. and Canada, to administer the mobile photo-enforcement system. The city allowed its original contract with Redflex for the speed SUV program to lapse in January, then issued a new request for proposals. Redflex was the sole bidder. Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, who cast the deciding vote, said he doesn’t believe the program makes the community safer. “I don’t believe the data show that,” he said, although one report by the state Department of Transportation and The University of New Mexico found there were 2,200 crashes in the city in 2011, compared to 2,709 crashes in 2008, the year before the program started. He also raised concerns about the revenue sharing with Redflex and the state. Councilor Ron Trujillo, who spearheaded the initiative to bring the speed SUVs to the city, said, “This program is legit. All I can say is that this program is good for the community.” The councilors who voted against approving the contract with Redflex also said they were concerned about allegations by a former Redflex official that the company had bribed government officials in more than a dozen states, including New Mexico. The company acknowledged in its proposal to the city that a former vice president had “acted inappropriately” and was fired, along with other employees. But Redflex denied claims that employees nationwide were bribing government officials. In the most recent development, The Associated Press reported last week that former Redflex Traffic Systems CEO Karen Finley, 54, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Chicago, denying she funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and benefits to a retired Chicago official for his help in landing $124 million in city contracts. Finley, of Cave Creek, Ariz., was
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Obama administration to unveil new effort to curb global warming By Joby Warrick The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing to introduce major steps to phase out production of a popular chemical coolant used in refrigerators and air conditioners, citing growing evidence that the substance is contributing to the warming of the planet. The White House will announce on Tuesday a series of voluntary commitments by some of the country’s largest chemical firms and retailers to move rapidly away from R-134a and similar compounds used in nearly every office, home and automobile in the country, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the effort. The administration is simultaneously stepping up diplomatic efforts to encourage major U.S. trading partners to phase out production of the potent greenhouse gas, the officials said. The initiatives are being disclosed in advance of next week’s summit of world leaders at the United Nations to debate options for slowing the buildup of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The class of chemicals to which R-134a belongs — called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs — became popular as a replacement for Freon, the refrigerant banned since the 1990s for damaging the Earth’s ozone layer. Most HFCs are harmless to ozone, but collectively, they have become a significant driver of climate change — some are up to 10,000 times as potent per ounce as carbon dioxide, climate scientists say. The steps unveiled this week are
Gubernatorial candidate Gary King discusses his ideas for education as his running mate, Deb Haaland, and National Education Association New Mexico President Betty Patterson, right, listen during a town hall meeting Monday evening. King’s third campaign manager resigned last week, the campaign announced Monday. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
iting differences in management philosophies between himself and others working on Democrat Gary King’s gubernatorial campaign, King’s latest campaign manager, Keith Breitbach, has resigned. The shake-up, less than two months before the November general election, is the latest setback in King’s campaign to take the governorship from incumbent Republican Susana Martinez. Breitbach resigned Wednesday, but the campaign didn’t announce his departure until Monday. In a phone interview Monday, Breitbach said King “represents the Democratic banner well,” but he added, “Certainly, it was a campaign that had its challenges before I got here and some of those challenges were beyond my control. … My talents weren’t going to make a difference in the outcome.” Referring to Martinez’s huge financial advantage, Breitbach called King’s effort an “underresourced campaign before I got
C
Please see CLIMATE, Page A-4
Certainly, it was a campaign that “ had its challenges before I got here and some of those challenges were beyond my control. … My talents weren’t going to make a difference in the outcome.” Keith Breitbach, former campaign manager for Gary King there” and “when I left.” The King campaign announced Breitbach’s departure in the morning, several hours after Joe Monahan, citing unidentified King campaign staffers, broke the news on his blog. “I’m forever grateful to Keith for the positive impact he brought to my campaign. He’s a top notch professional who stepped in when we needed one. Breitbach got us through the summer and prepared us for the fall campaign,” King said in a news release. The same release quoted Breitbach: “New Mexico is a beautiful state filled with wonderful people
Study: Faulty wells, not fracking, taint water Researchers conclude fractured shale had no role in contamination By Henry Fountain The New York Times
A study of tainted drinking water in areas where natural gas is produced from shale shows that the contamination is most likely due
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City panel rejects new speed SUV contract
to leaky wells rather than the process of hydraulic fracturing used to release the gas from the rock. The study looked at seven cases in Pennsylvania and one in Texas where water wells had been contaminated by methane and other hydrocarbon gases. Both states have extensive deposits of gas-bearing shale that have been exploited in recent years as part of a surge in domestic energy production. Some environmental groups have suggested that
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hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, could cause the gas to migrate into drinking water aquifers. Shale-gas producers commonly drill a deep vertical well that is then extended horizontally in several directions into the rock, like spokes from a hub. In fracking, water and chemicals are injected at high pressures into these spokes, creating fissures and releasing the natural gas
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‘Before Bataan: N.M.’s 200th Coast Artillery’ An exhibit of historic photographs from the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives collection, 2-8 p.m., Jean Cocteau Cinema Gallery, 418 Montezuma Ave., 466-5528.
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Obituaries Chance Levi Chavez, 20, Sept. 14 Consuelo M. Gonzales, Sept. 8 Connie R. Lucero, Sept. 9 Jerome I. Valencia, 26, Sept. 10 PAGE A-11
Two sections, 28 pages 165th year, No. 259 Publication No. 596-440