Brown Mackie College & EDMC Schools to forgive $632,000 in Loans Made to New Mexico students

ALBUQUERQUE – For-profit education company Education Management Corporation (EDMC) will significantly reform its recruiting and enrollment practices, and forgive more than $632,000 in loans for approximately 553 New Mexico former students, through a qui tam settlement with Attorney General Hector Balderas and a group of state attorneys general.

EDMC, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, operates 110 schools in 32 states and Canada through four education systems, including Argosy University, The Art Institutes, Brown Mackie College and South University. EDMC operates a Brown Mackie campus in...

The New Mexico House of Representatives again has 70 members after an appointee was sworn in Nov. 18, according to the House Democratic caucus.

Idalia Lechuga-Tena was sworn in by Court of Appeals Judge Michael D. Bustamante to fill the vacancy in House District 21. Lechuga-Tena replaces Stephanie Maez, who resigned earlier this month.

“I am humbled to have the opportunity to represent the neighborhood where I grew up as a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives,” Lechuga-Tena said in a statement. “I would also like to recognize all of the legislators who have served in this role for our district before me for their hard work and dedication.”

Since House District 21...

ALBUQUERQUE – The City of Albuquerque’s Board of Ethics ruled unanimously that an anti-abortion group broke city election rules when the group sent mailers in opposition of a City Council candidate.

The board issued a $1,000 fine and a public reprimand.

Protest ABQ sent fliers depicting graphic scenes purportedly from abortions in an attempt sway voters in District 6 from voting for Pat Davis, who won the race. Davis, the Executive Director of the political group ProgressNow New Mexico*, previously worked on a campaign against a ballot initiative in Albuquerque that would have banned late-term abortions.

Alex Curtas, an employee of ProgressNow New Mexico, filed a complaint against...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee markup earlier this month, Congressman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District discussed the need to improve the mental and behavioral health systems in New Mexico and across the nation.

New Mexico’s behavioral health system is in a state of crisis following the freezing of payments to15 behavioral health providers and the eventual closure of a number of these organizations, as well as the exit of some of the Arizona providers that came into replace them.

Luján offered an amendment to address this important issue during the markup of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.  He...