SANTA FE — Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham affixed her signature to House Bill 5, Senate Bill 4, and Senate Bill 5 as June drew to a close.

House Bill 5 establishes the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission, a bipartisan, nine-member body, which will evaluate and make recommendations on the creation of a civil right of action for violations of state constitutional rights and on unnecessary excessive force by police officers.  It will also review the use of qualified immunity as a defense to liability by an employee of a public body. The commission will submit a report to the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee by Nov. 15.

Six members of the commission will be appointed by the...

SANTA FE — Set for that long-awaited retirement, Chief Justice Judith K. Nakamura of the New Mexico Supreme Court will have to wait a little longer.

Nakamura announced plans in mid-June to retire effective Aug. 1.

“While representatives from the Public Employees Retirement Association  and I worked closely together before I announced my retirement, new information I received from PERA yesterday [June 25] requires that my retirement be postponed,” Nakamura said.

“This is certainly not what I planned or expected, but I will use this additional time to continue to make the best legal decisions possible and advance the administration of justice for the benefit of all New...

Details of water conservation, contaminants, more

The City of Gallup recently received the results of the 2019 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, which covers the test results from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2019.

The report says the city’s water is monitored for different contaminants on a strict sampling schedule. Potential contaminants include alpha emitters, arsenic, barium, nitrate, and uranium, among others.

The goal is to keep the levels of contaminants detected below the  maximum-allowed level. None of the regulated substances monitored by the city were above the maximum, so the city received no violations.

Per the report, Gallup’s water comes from 16 wells tapping...

ALBUQUERQUE — Gorham Scout Ranch has announced a digital alternative to  its summer camp program, in light of the cancellation of in-person camp programs.

The nationally accredited Boy Scouts of America summer camp for boys and girls enrolled in scouting programs has registrants from ten states this year, including New Mexico, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Minnesota, Georgia, California, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma.

The first two weeks had 139 youth participants. Session three winds up on July 3. Session four runs from July 6 – 10 and the camp has also added a fifth session from July 13 – 17.

Merit badges at 2020 Cyber Summer Camp include: Citizenship in the world; Mining in...