The Met: Live in HD opens at the Lensic with ‘Macbeth’
Inside
The New Mexic an’s Weekly Magaz ine of Arts, Entert ainmen
t & Culture
Anna Netrebko as Lady Mac The Met: Live in HD at the
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SFPS sues state over school funding French author wins Nobel for literature Novelist has written heavily about traumas during Nazi occupation. PAGE A-8
Worst day of the year on Wall Street Just 24 hours after the best day of 2014, the markets have a record drop. PAGE A-2
Old courthouse now a TV Mideast embassy
District: Formula is too low, unconstitutional By Robert Nott The New Mexican
Santa Fe Public Schools is among three school districts suing the state of New Mexico and its Public Education Department in an effort to force an increase in funding for public schools in a state that perennially scores near the bottom in national ratings. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in state
District Court in Santa Fe, asks the court to declare that current funding levels violate the New Mexico Constitution and asks the state to change its funding formula to offer equal support for students who are English language learners or living in poverty. The suit also asks that the defendants, including Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera, create a budget proposal and financial plan to meet student funding needs before the next legislative session begins in mid-January. “There is a constitutional provision that requires the state to provide suf-
ficient education for the state’s children,” said Tony Ortiz, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “At the end of the day, we are hoping this lawsuit will compel the defendants to sit down and have a serious look at what those requirements are.” Santa Fe school board President Steve Carrillo said New Mexico’s public schools are “tragically underfunded” and that the suit is an effort to “get the Legislature to live up to the constitution.” Larry Behrens, a spokesman for the Public Education Department, said in an email that the department had
GUN SCARE: ORTIZ MIDDLE SCHOOL LOCKED DOWN
The vacant building on Griffin Street gets a makeover for a USA Network TV series pilot. PAGE B-1
By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
By Krista Larson The Associated Press
INSIDE u West African nations plead for money to fight Ebola. PAGE A-4
Heather Maxwell, right, of Santa Fe and her daughter Macy Maxwell, 12, wait Thursday for James Bodei, Heather Maxwell’s stepson, at the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy when Ortiz Middle School was locked down and evacuated after a gun was found in a student’s backpack. No injuries were reported. See story, Page B-1. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
Wolf proposal labeled a disaster Arizona agency says federal plan limits state and public input By Susan Montoya Bryan The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — A proposal that would change the way the federal government manages endangered Mexican gray wolves throughout the Southwest would be a disaster for the states involved unless changes are made, according to the head of Arizona’s Game and Fish Commission. The commission’s concerns were outlined in a letter sent last week to ranchers, sportsmen and other groups in Arizona and New Mex-
The Arizona Game and Fish Commission says a federal plan to manage the Mexican gray wolf is bad for Southwestern states. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
ico. Commission Chairman Robert Mansell contends the current proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service fails to define a cap on the number of wolves allowed in the Southwest. It also doesn’t focus wolf management in areas that include suitable habitat and prey, he said, and fails to establish circumstances that would constitute unacceptable impacts to wildlife. The draft rule would be a disaster for the states and their interests, Mansell wrote. “It does not contain the elements required to manage wolves in balance” with deer, elk and other land uses, he said. Mansell said the commission and Arizona’s Game and Fish Department will continue negotiating changes to the proposal in an effort to protect the state’s interest.
Please see WOLF, Page A-4
Hot spot of methane hovers over Four Corners Scientists worry about impact on global warming By Seth Borenstein The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A surprising hot spot of the potent global-warming gas methane hovers over part of the Southwestern United States, according to newly released satellite data. The methane levels over the Four Corners area hint that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies considerably underestimate leaks of methane, which is also called natural gas.
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds C-2
3 ELECTIONS 2014
30-minute spot hits governor over changes to mental health care
Extended families shun youth over disease fears
Please see EBOLA, Page A-5
Please see SCHOOL, Page A-4
PAC’s ad targets Martinez
Ebola orphans Liberian children MONROVIA, Liberia — First 16-year-old Promise Cooper’s mother complained of a hurting head and raging fever, and she died days later on the way to the hospital. The following month, her father developed the same headache and fever. Her baby brother grew listless and sick too, and refused to take a bottle. That’s when Promise knew this was not malaria. She had heard about Ebola on the radio. When she tended to her father, she washed her hands immediately afterward. Desperate to keep her three younger siblings safe, she urged them to play outside their one-room home. Yet she was powerless before an invisible enemy, as her family of seven disintegrated around her. In the meantime, neighbors and relatives were starting to become suspicious. No one came by to check on the kids, not even their grandparents. Word, like the virus, was spreading
not yet seen the lawsuit and wouldn’t comment. “However, it is important to note New Mexico is now spending more on education than ever before in the history of our state,” he said. Currently, less than 45 percent of the state’s $6.2 billion budget is dedicated to education. The lengthy lawsuit lays out a litany of disappointing statistics regarding student achievement in New Mexico — poor proficiency rates in math, reading and science — and notes that “New Mexico’s public
The higher level of methane is not a local safety or health issue for residents, but it does factor in overall global warming. It is likely leakage from pumping methane out of coal mines. While methane isn’t the most plentiful heat-trapping gas, scientists worry about its increasing amounts and have had difficulties tracking emissions. A satellite image of atmospheric methane concentrations over the continental U.S. shows the hot spot as a bright red blip over the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah. The image used data from 2003 to 2009. Within that hot spot, a European satellite
Please see METHANE, Page A-4
Comics B-10
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 986-3035
Crosswords A-10, C-3
Lotteries A-2
A political action committee will take aim at Republican Gov. Susana Martinez on Sunday with a 30-minute advertisement on an Albuquerque television affiliate spotlighting last year’s shake-up in behavioral health providers, when 15 New Mexico companies were accused of millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud and replaced by five Arizona firms. Concerned Hispanics Involved in Legislative Empowerment PAC, or CHILE PAC, is promoting the paid programming on its Facebook page as a documentary, but campaign finance records from ABC affiliate KOAT 7 show the political action committee paid $4,500 for a halfhour of airtime to show “Breakdown” from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Sunday. The station’s political disclosures describe the ad’s content as featuring “the shutdown of New Mexico’s behavioral health providers” and referencing Martinez, but not her Democratic opponent, Gary King. On its online programming guide, KOAT 7 labeled the time slot when the ad airs as “paid programming.” News of the pending ad spurred Martinez’s campaign to file an election ethics complaint Thursday against CHILE PAC with the Secretary of State’s Office. It alleges
Please see AD, Page A-4
INSIDE u Mailer accuses Dems of robbing children to pay lobbyists. PAGE B-1 u Justice up for retention co-wrote gay marriage decision. PAGE B-1
Navajo candidate kicked off ballot A presidential candidate is unable to prove he speaks fluent Navajo. PAGE B-4
Monte Ogdahl, Sept. 9
Cornellius, 94, Oct. 5 Elizabeth D. Lujan, July 21
Martha Ruth
PAGE B-2
Obituaries
Today In a new look at methane concentrations from space, the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah jumps out in glowing red with about 1.3 million pounds of methane a year. That is about 80 percent more than the EPA figured. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Opinion A-9
Sports B-5
Time Out A-10
Gen Next C-1
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
Cloudy with a thunderstorm. High 62, low 42. PAGE A-8
Three sections, 30 pages Pasatiempo, 54 pages 165th year, No. 283 Publication No. 596-440