We are family: New Mexico Jazz Festival 2014 Pasatiempo, inside
The New Mexic
an’s Weekly Maga
zine of Arts, Enter
tainment & Cultu
re
July 18, 2014
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Friday, July 18, 2014
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Missile brings down Malaysia jet Plane carrying 298 crashes in Ukraine; analysts trying to find who’s responsible for ‘terrorist act’ Rains ease drought Recent precipitation has helped the state as a whole, but water levels remain below average. PAGE B-1
Waiting for a raise Tipped workers will receive lower hourly pay than promised when the county’s amended ‘living wage’ ordinance takes effect. PAGE B-1
Police reach out to city’s homeless Officers distribute food in effort to get to know those living on the streets. PAGE B-1
By Sabrina Tavernise, Eric Schmitt and Rick Gladstone
INSIDE
ing out what it called a terrorist attack. U.S. intelligence and military officials said the plane had been destroyed by a Russian SA-series missile, based on surveillance satellite data that showed the final trajectory and impact of the missile but not
People examine the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane that was shot down near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine, on Thursday.
Please see MISSILE, Page A-6
DMITRY LOVETSKY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
u Disaster challenges Moscow, could exacerbate crisis in Ukraine. PAGE A-6
The New York Times
GRABOVO, Ukraine — A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 298 people aboard exploded, crashed and burned Thursday in a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists, blown out of the sky at 33,000 feet by what Ukrainian and U.S. officials described as a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile. Ukraine accused the separatists of carry-
3 killed in medevac crash
Hospital contract hinges on staffing Ongoing dispute puts negotiations in jeopardy By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
Differences over staffing standards threaten to unravel contract negotiations between Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and the union that represents the hospital’s 500 nurses and technicians. Christus St. Vincent made its final offer to the union Wednesday, and the proposal faces a vote Sunday. The 12-member negotiation committee for New Mexico District 1199 of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees unanimously recommended that its members reject the hospital’s offer, despite a monetary reward the hospital is offering the bargaining unit if it ratifies the deal by Sunday. “This is like blood money, making you accept something you don’t agree with,” said union President Fonda Osborn, referring to a 1 percent cash bonus that the hospital has promised employees if the ratification deadline is met. In the case of some higherpaid nurses, the enticement to ratify ranges from $500 to $600. “We outright told them we’d like a contract vote by this weekend,” said Pearl Mohnkern, vice president of human resources at Christus and lead negotiator for the hospital. The current three-year contract between the union and the hospital expires July 31. Rejection of the hospital’s offer would trigger the union to issue a 10-day notice of intent to strike. “We have made clear our goal for a new three-year contract to be ratified by Sunday, July 20,” said Bruce Tassin,
New Mexico State Police personnel climb a rocky mesa to examine the wreckage of a medical transport helicopter that crashed early Thursday, several miles north of Newkirk. The helicopter had taken off from Santa Fe. M.E. SPRENGELMEYER/THE GUADALUPE COUNTY COMMUNICATOR
Helicopter left S.F. to pick up patient in Tucumcari; cause of accident unknown By Robert Nott The New Mexican
T
hree people were killed when a Santa Fe-based medical helicopter crashed Thursday morning in rugged, isolated terrain in Eastern New Mexico, state police said. Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the helicopter registered to Arizona-based TriState CareFlight was carrying a pilot and two crew members when it went down near Newkirk, shortly before 3 a.m. Identities of the victims have not been released, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation. The flight crew did not issue any sort of mayday or emergency call suggesting the aircraft was in trouble, Lunsford said. The helicopter, which left the
Santa Fe Municipal Airport around midnight, was headed to Tucumcari to pick up a patient when it slammed into the side of what is known as Mesa Rica. Damyan Brown, a spokesman for the state police, said the crash scene is about 3 miles north of Interstate 40 and a mile and a half east of N.M. 129 in Guadalupe County. “The burning wreckage was located by a rancher on private property,” Lunsford said. “The aircraft was destroyed in the accident.” The rancher, Phil Bidegain, told The New Mexican that a Quay County Central Dispatch staffer called him around 3 a.m. to see if he had heard about a crash or if he knew anything about it. He said he and his foreman drove out to the scene, where they saw no survivors. He said the crash site is about 12 miles from his home.
Afternoon storms possible. High 88, low 59.
Index
Calendar A-2
Tucumcari
Mesa Rica, site of helicopter crash 25
Las Cruces 10
The New Mexican
Members of both the Newkirk Volunteer Fire Department and Santa Rosa Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene around 3:20 a.m. Newkirk fire Chief Robert Hall said the crash site is about 150 feet above the base of the mesa.
The Associated Press
An Israeli tank gets into position along the IsraelGaza border on Thursday. Israel has launched a largescale ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, escalating a military operation to try to destroy Hamas’ weapons arsenal, rocket firing abilities and tunnels under the border. ARIEL SCHALIT/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Classifieds C-2
Albuquerque
By Karin Laub and Ian Deitch
PAGE B-4
PAGE B-2
Santa Rosa
Ground offensive could lead to political entanglements as civilian casualties mount
Today
Helen Viola Long, June 15
Santa Fe 40
When his crew arrived on the scene, flames from the wreckage were about 4 feet high, he said. “We had no way of getting water up there,” he said. “We weren’t sure if there was still anyone on board.” Although there were patches of clouds in the sky, he said, it was not raining, and the moon was “visible on and off.” David Craft, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said the cloud ceiling in that area around the time of the crash might have been in the 1,000to 1,500-foot range, with winds blowing 10 to 15 knots — with possible higher gusts — from east/northeast. He said rain did hit Tucumcari around 3:20 a.m. M.E. Sprengelmeyer, reporter and publisher of the Guadalupe County
Please see CRASH, Page A-5
Israel invades Gaza Strip after Hamas rejects truce
Please see STAFFING, Page A-5
Obituaries
Rio Grande
Comics C-10
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Crosswords A-8, C-3
Lotteries A-2
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The heavy thud of tank shells, often just seconds apart, echoed across the Gaza Strip early Friday as thousands of Israeli soldiers launched a ground invasion, escalating a campaign of
Sports B-5
Time Out A-8
Generation Next C-1
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
heavy air bombardments to try to destroy Hamas’ rocket-firing abilities and the tunnels militants use to infiltrate Israel. “There is a tank shell every minute,” said an official in the Gaza security operations room, who said all of the seaside strip’s border areas were being shelled and that Hamas fighters were exchanging fire with Israeli troops near a northern Gaza town. Israel launched the offensive late Thursday after becoming increasingly exasperated with unrelenting rocket fire from Gaza on its cities,
Please see GAZA, Page A-5
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