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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
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Burglaries drop to 10-year low Police say rise in drug arrests contributes to April’s decline in city, county property crimes By Nico Roesler The New Mexican
Santa Fe police say the number of burglaries in the city dropped to a 10-year-low in April, a decline they attribute to arrests for heroin
offenses. City statistics show a total of 88 burglary reports in April, including residential, commercial and auto burglaries, attempted burglaries and unlawful entries. Although residential burglaries alone rose in April to 41 from 32 in March, police say the overall burglary total hasn’t been this low since the department began keeping monthly property crime statistics in 2003. “Even more important is the overall numbers show a consistent downward trend,” Chief Ray
Rael said in a Monday news release. Residential burglaries from January through April reached a total of just 190, down 34 percent from the same period in 2012. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office also saw residential burglary numbers slide for the period of January through April of this year. A total of 75 incidents were reported, down from 189 incidents during the same period last year, a drop of about 60 percent.
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It’s not over. Our commitment to the students at all levels doesn’t end because “ the [federal] grant money ends.”
Robin Noble, Ramirez Thomas Elementary principal, speaking on school’s 3-year turnaround
RamiRez Thomas Rising
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Man pleas to charges in West Alameda slayings Leyba will serve six more months for tampering and possessing stolen property By Nico Roesler The New Mexican
From left, Judith Chavez, 7, Fatima Brizuela, 8, and Nallely Gutierrez, 8, work on a writing assignment in Peggy Gallegos Brewer’s secondgrade class at Ramirez Thomas Elementary School on Thursday. After a three-year, federally funded turnaround effort, the school has improved its student proficiency rates, and officials say it’s on the right path to continue that success. PHOTOS BY JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
As federal funds for 3-year turnaround run out, officials say school has new culture of learning to carry forward By Robert Nott
u
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Firebird sales flowing
The New Mexican
T
im Abeyta called his time at Ramirez Thomas Elementary School “the best three years of teaching I have ever experienced.” Abeyta, who teaches fifth grade, was hired just as the failing school was beginning a federally mandated “turnaround.” It has received $1.25 million in School Improvement Grants over each of the last three years to improve student performance. The money was used to extend the school day by an hour, hire a parent liaison, a dean of students and a second learning coach for teachers, and to provide expanded teacher-training opportunities. In 2009, only 22 percent of students at Ramirez
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Store known for fireplaces sees success in sales of drip-irrigation systems.
22%
LOCAL BuSIneSS, A-9
Students at Ramirez Thomas Elementary who who were proficient in reading in 2009.
44% Students at the school who were proficient in reading in 2012.
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Parent liaison Antonio Gonzales spends some time with Ernest Tafoya, 5, as he packs up his office at Ramirez Thomas on Thursday. Gonzales is losing his position, which was funded for three years by a federal school turnaround grant.
Victory for Monsanto in seed patent case High court says Indiana farmer owes agri-biz giant $84K over 2nd planting Index
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By David G. Savage
Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court gave a victory to Monsanto and other makers of patented seeds Monday, ruling they can prohibit farmers from growing a second
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crop from their genetically engineered seeds. In a unanimous decision, the court said the patent for a specialized seed outlives the first planting. Otherwise, these seed patents would be “largely worthless,” said Justice Elena Kagan in explaining
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A Santa Fe man connected to two shooting deaths in 2012 in the same area off West Alameda Street pleaded guilty to five charges Monday — including one charge of possessing stolen jewelry belonging to the widow of homicide victim Ethaan Boyer. Boyer, 34, was a local artist who was shot and killed in his West Alameda Street home in February 2012. Police believe he had walked in Sam Leyba on a burglary. In a plea agreement with the state, Sam Leyba, 43, pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of stolen property in that case and one count of tampering with evidence in connection with the slaying of David Martinez, 53, which occurred just three weeks after Boyer’s death. Martinez allegedly was killed during a drunken dispute at Leyba’s house on Eph-
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the decision. Agribusiness giants like Monsanto will be relieved by the ruling. They told the court they had spent huge sums of money and devoted years of effort to develop special seeds that can resist disease and grow more bountiful crops.
The companies then obtained patents on these seeds, giving them an exclusive right to profit from them. Industry lawyers said the system of innovation and profit was threatened by a
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Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Cynthia Miller, cmiller@sfnewmexican.com
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St. Michael’s High Choir, Theater Arts Class, Band 6 p.m., St. Francis Auditorium, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave., free, 660-3187.
Obituaries Lennon James McAdams, 92, Santa Fe, May 10
Flora R. Perea, 88, San Ysidro Sur, May 10 PAge A-8
Today Partly cloudy. High 83, low 52. PAge A-12
Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 134 Publication No. 596-440