Santa Fe New Mexican, March 25, 2014

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Emmys site puts Santa Fe Web firm in spotlight Business, A-12

Locally owned and independent

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

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Obama to seek limits on NSA call records The Obama administration is preparing to unveil a proposal for an overhaul of the National Security Agency’s bulk phone records program. PAge A-2

Election turns to chance in Española Coin flip, drawing straws could determine Española City Council winner. PAge A-7

Police: Boyfriend shot from behind Woman fatally shoots man in neck following argument. PAge A-7

Capital High suspends 20 seniors for online cheating Students caught after using teacher’s code to alter scores By Robert Nott The New Mexican

About 20 Capital High seniors got access to a teacher’s computer password and used it to change their test and course grades through an online learning program.

The program is used by students who fall behind in course work to earn credits needed for graduation. Capital High Principal Channell WilsonSegura said a Santa Fe High teacher who had access to the program tipped off Capital’s administrators about the online cheating on March 14. School officials investigated the following Monday and Tuesday, Wilson-Segura said, denying all teachers access to the online program until officials

Desert Academy seventh-grader takes first in state spelling bee; Carlos Gilbert fourth-grader places third

Mayor, councilors quietly approved contract to raise Vigil’s salary to $94K

By Robert Nott The New Mexican

D

Please see sPell, Page A-6

By Daniel J. Chacón

The New Mexican

Desert Academy seventh-grader Anish Kumar took first place Saturday in the state spelling bee in Albuquerque. In late May, he will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. If Kumar wins there, he said, ‘I would be famous in the nation. For like a few days. I would be a word master.’ JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN

Search list expands to 108 in Washington mudslide Rescuers continue search for missing as death toll hits 14 By Kirk Johnson

The New York Times

ARLINGTON, Wash. — Estimates about the number of people who may have been in the vicinity when a huge mudslide smashed through the tiny community of Oso continued to grow Monday, as Snohomish County officials said they had compiled 108 names of people unaccounted for since the disaster, which killed at least 14 people and injured at least eight more Saturday morning. And amid concerns about new mudslides,

search and rescue organizers pulled back some of the roughly 100 responders at the site from areas near the slope where the cascade of moisture-laden soils sloughed down at about 10:45 a.m. Saturday. Emergency management officials cautioned Monday that the new number of people unaccounted for could be revised downward, as some reports of the missing are vague at best, with little more than a first name to go on. Officials stressed that the search list could contain duplicate names, The Associated Press reported. The officials also said that search and rescue continues where possible on the square-

Please see seArCH, Page A-6

Today Mostly sunny. High 64, low 36. PAge B-5

Obituaries Arthur E. Baca, 79, March 19 Joe A. Lujan, 77, March 21 Eugene T. Rodriguez, 52, March 23

Arthur E. Salas, Feb. 10 Milford Sargent, 81, March 23 John L. Vaninetti, 91, March 17 PAge A-9

Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com

Future Voices of N.M. ONly ON Our weBsITe: SANTA FE’S HOUSING MARKET AMONG WORST Website names city as one of the worst markets in the U.S. Read the post at www.

Business matters Inside the Santa Fe economy

Index

Calendar A-2

Classifieds A-6

Honoring student winners of the annual photography and filmmaking contest, the Lensic Performing Arts Center, no charge, contact Connie Schaekel to RSVP, 988-7050, ext. 1210.

Santa Fe City Clerk Yolanda Vigil quietly received a 6 percent raise under a contract that the mayor and City Council discussed in a closed-door meeting two weeks ago and then approved in a public vote with no mention of a pay increase. Vigil is being paid $94,640 annually under the agreement, nearly $5,500 more than under her previous contract. This comes on top of the $6,091 monthly pension that Vigil receives from the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association. She officially retired in December 2005 and then went back to work for the city five months later doing the same job. The practice of allowing government employees to start receiving retirement benefits and then return to work months later and also receive a salary — commonly referred to by critics as “double dipping” — was ended by the Legislature and Gov. Bill Richardson in 2010. Mayor Javier Gonzales said Monday there are several reasons Vigil deserves the 6 percent pay increase, which is higher than raises recently approved for other city employees before he took office. One, he said, is her institutional knowledge of City Hall, which “is probably as

Please see BuMP, Page A-6

Santa Fe group to rally against Albuquerque police shooting By Uriel J. Garcia

The New Mexican

Some Santa Fe residents plan to join Albuquerque demonstrators Tuesday to protest against Albuquerque police officers who fatally shot a mentally ill homeless man after a March 16 confrontation. After video of the incident from an officer’s helmet camera was released over the weekend, Albuquerque groups organized an evening protest that will start in downtown Albuquerque and end with a march to Albuquerque Police Department headquarters. A group of Santa Feans plans to meet at Natural Grocers, 3328 Cerrillos Road, at 4 p.m. and then drive down to join Albuquerque protesters who say police “murdered” James Boyd, 38, at an illegal campsite in the Sandia foothills more than a week ago. The Santa Fe organizers are asking participants to put signs and black streamers on their cars so they can drive

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City clerk receives 6 percent pay bump

One letter at a time, Santa Fe students spell way to success esert Academy seventh-grader Anish Kumar doesn’t use spell-check on his computer. He doesn’t own an iPhone, nor does he text his friends. What he does is study the origin of words. And as a result, Kumar will represent the state of New Mexico in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in late May. If he wins there, he said, “I would be famous in the nation. For like a few days. I would be a word master.” Kumar first jumped and then performed a twirl after hearing he had been named winner of the New Mexico Spelling Bee on Saturday at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque. His winning word: balneation. Third-place winner Joaquin Bas, a Carlos Gilbert Elementary School fourth-grader, said he was sad and a little angry he missed second place after misspelling silentiary in one of the last rounds of the contest. But now, he said, he’s ready to enter spelling bees again. “I have four more years to keep on doing it and get better,” he said. (The second-place winner was Farmington student Nate Benson.) More than 40 participants in grades 4-8 took part in Saturday’s state match. Kumar and Bas took earned their spots in the state competition when they placed first and second, respectively, among a field of about 40 local students in January’s Santa Fe County Spelling Bee.

could determine the extent of the cheating. The investigation showed that the students’ efforts actually began about three weeks earlier, in late February, WilsonSegura said. All of the students were suspended for two days and will have to start their classes over again under direct supervision on Saturdays or during spring break. So far,

Crosswords B-7, B-11

Lotteries A-2

Please see rAlly, Page A-6

Opinions A-11

Sports B-1

Time Out B-11

Local Business A-12

BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM

Two sections, 24 pages 165th year, No. 84 Publication No. 596-440


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