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Lawmakers hear ideas on teacher eval system
Loved to death
Acknowledging problems, education officials present potential solutions
Well-meaning conservationists might be contributing to monarchs’ decline. PAGE A-12
Two bodies found in Taos County Brothers both suffered bullet wounds, officials say. PAGE A-6
Funds would cover advertising in San Francisco. PAGE A-6
The New Mexican
Pelosi picks N.M. congressman to chair political committee
ABOVE: Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera speaks with Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Joel Boyd prior to the Legislative Education Study Committee meeting Monday.
By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced Monday that U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján of Santa Fe will chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political wing of the House Democrats. The committee is responsible for recruiting candidates, Ben Ray raising funds, Luján handling public relations and helping with getout-the-vote efforts. Pelosi told The Washington Post that Luján, 42, “is really a focused operational person. … I’m choosing him because of his political astuteness, and he can manage all
RIGHT: Skandera, seated next to Matthew Montaño, director of the Education Quality Division of the Public Education Department, addresses lawmakers. PHOTOS BY CLYDE MUELLER THE NEW MEXICAN
By Robert Nott The New Mexican
he state’s Public Education Department, acknowledging problems with collecting and interpreting data for the new teacher evaluation system, told the Legislative Education Study Committee that it has established measures to
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Please see LUJÁN, Page A-4
System keeps claimants hurt by vaccines waiting By Mitch Weiss, Justin Pritchard and Troy Thibodeaux The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — All but broken by her son’s violent and unexplained seizures, by so many panicked trips from the crib to the emergency room, Jeffrey McCord’s mom thought her desperate search for both answers and help was finally over. A respected neurologist had drawn a connection that a dozen other doctors missed: Jeffrey’s convulsions began days after a routine vaccination, the kind given safely to millions of American children. While Jeffrey’s injuries were devastating, his parents were told they might not have to bear the costs alone. The doctor explained that Jeffrey could apply for lifelong care
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New charges levied after fatal crash, hit-and-run By Uriel J. Garcia
Luján to head panel for House Democrats
‘Court’ meant to help causes more suffering
Santa Fean charged with homicide by vehicle, reckless driving, driving on a suspended license, lack of insurance and leaving the scene of an accident.
Sheriff’s office: Driver struck car near cemetery before continuing onto highway
$3M would expand ‘True’ campaign
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Jimmy Griego
paid for by the federal government. The program’s premise is simple: quickly and generously support people in the rare cases when a shot to prevent a sickness such as flu or measles instead is the likely cause of serious health complications. But 11 years would pass before the McCord family would receive its first check. And they are not alone in their frustration. A system intended to speed help to vaccine-injured Americans has instead heaped additional suffering on thousands of families, The Associated Press has found. To investigate vaccine court in depth, the AP read hundreds of decisions, conducted more than 100 interviews, and analyzed a database of more than 14,500 cases. That database was current as of January 2013; the government has refused to release an updated version since.
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address those challenges. But some on the committee, including Republican Sen. Gay Kernan of Hobbs, would still like to see the state decrease the percentage of student measurements, including test scores, used to make up 50 percent of that evaluation. “It’s not terribly out of line for us to consider that,” Kernan told
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Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
National Theatre Live in HD: ‘Skylight’ A revival of British dramatist David Hare’s 1995 play, 7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St., $22, 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org.
Obituaries Jean Chambers, 90, Santa Fe, Nov. 4 Danca Dixon, 92, Nov. 12 Henry Horak, 65
Mary L. Montoya, 82, Santa Fe, Nov. 13 Breanna Alyssa Vasquez, 22, Santa Fe, Nov. 11 PAGE A-8
Today Mostly sunny. High 41, low 18.
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Public Education Secretarydesignate Hanna Skandera during the committee’s meeting Monday. Kernan, a supporter of the system and Gov. Susana Martinez, has been more vocal over the past few months in articulating her concerns about using student test data.
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Authorities said Monday that drunkendriving suspect Jimmy Griego was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Santa Fe on Friday before he caused another accident near Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino in which a 40-year-old Española woman died. Online records show that Griego, 59, of Santa Fe has been charged with homicide by vehicle, reckless driving, driving on a suspended license, lack of insurance and leaving the scene of an accident. He is being held in the Santa Fe County jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said that before he caused the accident on U.S. 84/285 that killed Celeste Maestas, Griego hit another vehicle on St. Francis Drive near the Santa Fe National Cemetery before getting on the highway. No injuries were reported in that incident. Authorities said Griego and Maestas were both driving north near Pojoaque a little after 10:30 a.m. Friday when she veered out of her lane to avoid Griego. Her Chevy Impala went onto the shoulder of the highway, officials said, before she overcorrected and crossed into the southbound lane, collided with another vehicle and then slammed head-on into a concrete Jersey barrier. Maestas was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the southbound vehicle wasn’t injured, officials said. A relative who didn’t want to be identified said Monday that Maestas is survived by a 13-year-old daughter, a 10-year-old son and her husband of 21 years. The relative said Maestas was the manager of the Las Lomas apartment complex in Española. “She was a devoted wife and mother,” the relative said. “She just extended her love to anyone who needed it.” The sheriff’s office has said that emergency dispatchers received a call at about 10:30 a.m. Friday from a witness who
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Obama, insurers now allies under health law Partnership proves to be mutually beneficial By Robert Pear The New York Times
WASHINGTON — As Americans shop in the health insurance marketplace for a second year, President Barack Obama is depending more than ever on the insurance companies that five years ago he accused of padding profits and canceling coverage for the sick. Those same insurers have long viewed government as an unreliable business partner that imposed taxes, fees and countless regulations and had the power to cut payment rates and cap profit margins. But since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, the relationship between the Obama administration and insurers has evolved into a powerful, mutually beneficial
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partnership that has been a boon to the nation’s largest private health plans and led to a profitable surge in their Medicaid enrollment. The insurers in turn have provided crucial support to Obama in court battles over the health care law, including a case now before the Supreme Court challenging the federal subsidies paid to insurance companies on behalf of low- and moderate-income consumers. Last fall, a unit of one of the nation’s largest insurers, UnitedHealth Group, helped the administration repair the HealthCare.gov website after it crashed in the opening days of enrollment. “Insurers and the government have developed a symbiotic relationship, nurtured by tens of billions of dollars that flow from the federal Treasury to insurers each year,” said Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies at
Please see ALLIES, Page A-4
Two sections, 24 pages 165th year, No. 322 Publication No. 596-440