Santa Fe New Mexican, May 14, 2014

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New Mexico improves ranking with increased spending on pre-K Page B-1

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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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Scholars honored

3 ELECTIONS 2014

Three vie to replace outgoing assessor By Bruce Krasnow The New Mexican

County assessor’s race

County clerks get to hand out marriage licenses, while county commissioners get to award grant money. The job of Santa Fe County assessor, however, is all business. Since the three men seeking the position are all Democrats and there is no Republican running for the position,

the winner of the June 3 primary election will almost certainly succeed two-term incumbent Domingo Martinez. Phillip Pacheco, a mapping supervisor in the Assessor’s Office, argues his math and technical background gives him an edge in an increasingly

EU court gives people control over Web results

digital profession. He maintains the county has the technology to the handle reappraisal efforts without hiring outside contractors. “We can do it in-house,” he said. “We have a lot of technology now, and it’s a powerful tool.” Gus Martinez, the top appraiser in the office, has been at the front lines, answering public inquiries.

He wants to “bring back constituent services” by going throughout the county and answering questions about the assessment process. “People can’t always make it downtown,” he said. “I want to bring this information to them.” Sef Valdez, a construction company owner, maintains he is the out-

Please see ASSeSSOR, Page A-4

SPRING STORM BRINGS SURPRISE SNOWFALL

By Craig Timberg and Michael Birnbaum The Washington Post

Mostly sunny and warmer. High 60, low 37. PAge A-8

Obituaries

Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com

Santa Fe Institute 2014 Community Lecture The series continues with “Is Free Will an Illusion?” by Daniel Dennett of Tufts University, 7:30 p.m., James A. Little Theater, New Mexico School for the Deaf, 1060 Cerrillos Road, no charge, www.santafe.edu.

Index

Calendar A-2

Classifieds C-3

Democratic candidate Lawrence Rael takes the governor to task on child welfare. LOCAL NewS, B-1

The New Mexican

could proceed as soon as mid-June. Meanwhile, ballots have been mailed to all creditors, equity security holders and others who can vote to accept or reject the plan. “Everyone appears to be on board. … The sale is a very good thing,” Trujillo said. The sale includes the land, 86 independent and assistedliving units and a two-story, 45,000-square-foot central building, as well as all fixtures, equipment,

A group that advocates for New Mexico’s poor says the state Human Services Department has been slow to process applications for food benefits and health care, leaving many people to languish in hunger in violation of a 15-year-old legal agreement. On Thursday, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty will ask U.S. District Judge Ken Gonzales to order the department to honor a 1998 federal court settlement, in which it agreed to the timely processing of applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. The center states in court documents that SNAP benefit processing has fallen by 23 percent since September, and an estimated 20,000 people in the state have lost their food benefits since the backlog began. Lawyers for the department, in court pleadings, blamed any application backlog on the rollout of the Affordable Care Act last fall, which coincided with the launch of a new state computer system to administer benefits. Matt Kennicott, a spokesman for the Human Services Department, amplified that point. He said complaints about slow processing were “absolutely incorrect.” “The increase in applications is due mainly to Obamacare and transfers from the federal exchange coming in large, sporadic batches instead of daily beginning in November, as they were supposed to,” Kennicott said. “By March, the volume of monthly Medicaid applications, including transfers from the federal exchange, had more than tripled. In September 2013, we received 19,609; in March, we received 61,674.”

Please see RAINBOw, Page A-6

Please see SNAP, Page A-6

A group of Texas State University students and chaperones prepare to embark on a 7-mile hike and two nights of camping near the Santa Fe ski basin, which received several inches of snow Tuesday. Read more about the spring storm, which also brought colder temperatures and snow to the city, in today’s Local News section, Page B-1. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN

Calif. firm plans to revive RainbowVision Bankruptcy Court must approve $7.5M sale of gay-friendly retirement community in Santa Fe The New Mexican

A California company that owns assisted living facilities in three states is poised to buy RainbowVision, a gay-friendly Santa Fe retirement community, for $7.5 million. The federal Bankruptcy Court must approve the liquidation plan, filed last month, which has the backing of RainbowVision’s chief creditor, Los Alamos National Bank. A confirmation hearing is scheduled for May 30. The buyer is LifeHouse Health Services, a Culver City, Calif., company that owns 25 assisted living facilities in Michigan, Illinois and California. The bank, which had $21.5 million in outstanding loans and interest at the time RainbowVision filed for bankruptcy, is “taking a huge loss,” a lawyer for RainbowVision said. The bank will probably receive under $7 million if the plan is approved

Comics C-10

Crosswords C-4, C-9

LifeHouse Health Services of Culver City, Calif., is poised to pay $7.5 million to acquire RainbowVision, a gay-friendly Santa Fe retirement community that filed for bankruptcy. RainbowVision’s chief creditor, Los Alamos National Bank, is ‘taking a huge loss,’ a lawyer for RainbowVision said Tuesday, but the bank’s president says the deal is ‘good for Santa Fe.’ NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

because of provisions to cover losses of some, but not all, unsecured creditors out of the $7.5 million LifeHouse is paying for the property. But bank President Steve Wells said the bank has “reserves for these types of things.” And the plan, he said, is “good for Santa Fe, good for the people already involved in the property and in the best interests of the bank.” Denise Trujillo, a lawyer for RainbowVision, said Tuesday the sale

Lotteries A-2

Opinions A-7

Sports B-5

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035

Taste C-1

Three sections, 26 pages

Time Out C-9

165th year, No. 134 Publication No. 596-440

BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM

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Travel C-2

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Rael releases new ad

By Patrick Malone

By Anne Constable

John Joseph Cigliano Jr., May 9 Orcibiana Vasquez Romero, May 9 Helen McGavran Corneli, 87, May 9 Desiree Gonzales, 17, Santa Fe

Santa Fe-raised chef John Rivera Sedlar will helm Eloisa, named after his grandmother. TASTe, C-1

State says it has plan to speed SNAP processing as case goes to court

Please see CONTROL, Page A-5

Today

Drury restaurant lands renowned chef

Group: Benefits backlog is hurting hungry

Search engines required to remove personal info at request of individuals

Europe’s highest court stunned the U.S. tech industry Tuesday by recognizing an expansive right to privacy that allows citizens to demand Google delete links to embarrassing personal information — even if it’s true. The ruling has potentially wideranging consequences for an industry that reaps billions of dollars in profit by collecting, sorting and redistributing data touching on the lives of people worldwide. That includes more than 500 million people in the European Union who now could unleash a flood of deletion requests

The city’s best and brightest high school seniors are recognized as Super Scholars. LOCAL NewS, B-1

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