Santa Fe New Mexican, Jan. 24, 2024

Page 1

Roasted green chiles add a kick to

With 13 Oscar nominations, ‘Oppenheimer’ is leading the way

DEMONS BIT BY BULLDOGS

this delicate risotto

Albuquerque avenges earlier loss in 54-48 win over S.F. SPORTS, B-1

TASTE, B-5

Locally owned and independent

NATION & WORLD, A-2

Wednesday, January 24, 2024 santafenewmexican.com $1.50

Ex-spy, now a first lady, attracts unwanted notice SILVER CITY oseph Shepard, president of Western New Mexico University, says he has a crack staff that checks him if he inadvertently tries to make an improper public expenditure. Western’s gatekeepers somehow missed the mark on Shepard’s wife, former CIA officer and author Valerie Plame. She is not an employee of the university, but Shepard calls Plame Western’s first lady. State records show Plame for years has bought items with a state purchasing card. Patricia Trujillo, acting Cabinet secretary of the state Higher Education Department, wrote a wide-ranging letter to Shepard that criticized Plame’s purchases. “As a non-state employee, the president’s spouse should not be issued nor authorized to use a state procurement card,” Trujillo wrote.

J

LEGISLATURE

THE 2024 SESSION

Tempers flare at the Capitol over op-ed by health leader

Milan Simonich h Ringside Sea at

Shepard in a lengthy briefing last week to his board of regents did not mention Plame’s use of the card. Rather, Shepard said, mistakes can occur. “I know there’s a probability that things will come out that we didn’t follow a particular procedure precisely. Human error does enter into it,” Shepard told the regents. Please see story on Page A-4

Exchange erupted over column claiming lawmaker misrepresented child death data MILAN SIMONICH/THE NEW MEXICAN

A sign in front of a Silver City home calls for the ouster of Joseph Shepard, president of Western New Mexico University, and his wife Valerie Plame in Silver City.

‘Let these projects catch up’ Rising construction costs — reportedly up 50% in N.M. — raise concerns about capital outlay system

By Daniel J. Chacón

dchacon@sfnewmexican.com

Tempers flared Tuesday at the Capitol over a newspaper op-ed in which New Mexico’s health secretary accused a Republican lawmaker of “grandstanding” and making “wild accusations” about the state’s child welfare agency. The column, published on The New Mexican’s website about a half-hour before Cabinet Secretary Patrick Allen appeared before the Senate Finance Committee, quickly circulated on social media. “Mr. Secretary, I just read your op-ed this morning, the one in which you accuse Crystal Brantley me of grandstanding because of my concerns with [the Children, Youth and Families Department] and child deaths in New Mexico,” Sen. Crystal Brantley, a member of the committee, told Allen after he made a brief budget presentation. Allen interrupted Brantley. “Actually, not quite that,” Allen retorted. “It was a concern that the numbers that you tossed out in that hearing were so Patrick Allen shockingly wrong that, you know, there’s an old saying that a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on, and I wanted to get truth’s boots on.” During a presentation last week on the future of CYFD and Please see story on Page A-5

Trump gathering momentum as he sails through N.H. By Holly Ramer, Jill Colvin and Will Weissert

The Associated Press

JIM WEBER/THE NEW MEXICAN

Carpenter Jonny Waldman looks for the best planks while picking up lumber for a project at Alpine Builders Supply in Santa Fe on Tuesday. According to manager Karen George, most of Alpine’s lumber prices stabilized after the pandemic except for plywood, which is still scarce and costly.

By Robert Nott

LEGISLATURE

rnott@sfnewmexican.com

A

s state lawmakers face potentially billions of dollars in new capital outlay requests from local governments — while $5 billion they allocated in previous years remains unspent — construction costs continue to skyrocket. Price tags for infrastructure projects in New Mexico are rising at a significantly higher rate than those nationwide. A report recently released by the Legislative Finance Committee says the costs of nonresidential construction in New Mexico increased 50% between 2019 and 2023, compared to 34% on the national level. That bodes poorly for projects that haven’t yet gotten off the ground and could spur law-

Index

Classifieds B-7

Comics B-12

THE 2024 SESSION

INSIDE u Debate on safety bills may set tone on gun control. u State requests more jobs despite vacancies. u Legislative roundup. PAGE A-5

makers to try to overhaul the capital outlay system. “Escalating costs raise concerns about the state’s ability to meet future capital project needs and escalate problems of unspent capital funds across the state,” Kathleen Gygi, a program evaluator for the Legislative Finance Committee, told lawmakers last week.

Crosswords B-7, B-11

Design and headlines: Nick Baca, nbaca@sfnewmexican.com

Local & Region A-9

Democratic Sen. George Muñoz of Gallup, who chairs the committee, and a Republican Sen. Pat Woods of Broadview, a committee members both suggested in interviews the state could respond to the problem by halting approval of new funds for local governments that have outstanding projects. “We need to stop funding capital construction for a year or two and let these projects catch up, let those contractors finish up projects,” Woods said. Muñoz said he would like to see an updated analysis of pending projects to determine what is holding them up. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, a Santa Fe Democrat, said Tuesday he would support legislation imposing time frames for Please see story on Page A-4

Lotteries A-2

Opinion A-12

Sports B-1

Taste B-5

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former President Donald Trump easily won New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday, seizing command of the race for the Republican nomination and making a November rematch against President Joe Biden feel all the more inevitable. The result was a setback for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who finished second despite investing significant time and financial resources in a state famous for its independent streak. She’s the last major challenger after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ended his presidential bid over the weekend, allowing her to campaign as the sole alternative to Trump. Trump’s allies ramped up pressure on Haley to leave the race before the polls had closed, but Haley vowed after the results were announced to continue her campaign. Speaking Please see story on Page A-4

Today Chance of showers. High 43, low 28. PAGE B-6

Obituaries Abel Jamie Cardona Arroyo, 60, Jan. 12

Israelis killed in Gaza blast

PAGE A-11

PAGE A-3

Time Out B-11

Main office: 505-983-3303 Late paper: 505-986-3010 News tips: 505-986-3035

175th year, No. 24 Publication No. 596-440


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.