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Monday, December 30, 2013
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Indigent health care poised to become hot topic during session Legislative changes likely needed to create replacement for Sole Community Provider program
By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican
For decades, local hospitals in New Mexico relied heavily on federal funds to cover the cost of providing care to the indigent through a program known as Sole Community Provider.
That program has been eliminated, and what will replace it — and how it will be funded — is an issue that could result in a battle between New Mexico counties and the state Health and Human Services Division in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 21.
Changing the rules for school A national movement puts less emphasis on homework, more focus on mastery. FAMILY, A-9
Hospitals around the state, including Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, are closely following the tug of war, which is expected to flare up because legislative changes likely will be needed to arrive at a solution.
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A growing number of websites are trying to rein in the Wild West of online commentary. TeCH, A-8
FIRE or ICE?
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Federal exchange sees more than 1M sign-ups
New Year’s celebrations in Northern New Mexico go to extremes, might require a little resolve
By Josh Lederman and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar The Associated Press
By Chris Quintana
The New Mexican
N
ew Year’s celebrations and hangovers are almost synonymous with one another, but there are plenty of activities in Santa Fe to ring in the new year without a ringing headache. For the adventurous, or those with calloused feet, The Light Institute in Galisteo will host a fire-walk, an event where people walk atop hot coals. Gwendolina Feisst, a minister at the Sanctuary of Light Church, is the event’s organizer, and she said most people can walk across the 30-footlong bed of hot coals. “Just allow it to happen,” she said. “The thing is that our bodies know how to do it. It’s our concepts that are in the way.” The event is slated to start at 8 p.m. New Year’s Eve, and Feisst said the fire-walking will begin at midnight. Before that can happen though, Feisst needs to burn nearly a cord of cedar wood, a two-hour process, to prepare the coal bed. Cedar, she said, burns well and makes for nice coals. Participants don’t have to cross the whole 30-foot bed, Feisst said, explaining that some people opt for a step or two, and others are content
COURTESY PHOTO
NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
The adventurous can participate in fire-walking in Galisteo, left, on New Year’s Eve and polar bear plunges, right, at Storrie Lake State Park and Lake Maloya in Sugarite Canyon State Park on New Year’s Day.
just watching the fire-walkers. Feisst, who has taught fire-walking for more than a decade, said she hasn’t seen fire-walkers get serious injuries, but a few people may get small blisters. “We call them kisses from the fire,” she said. The fire-walk costs $100 per person, but group discounts are available. Feisst said those who are interested in the walk should call her at 466-1458 as soon as possible. Snacks and warm drinks will be served, and
Feisst said participants should bring shoes they can slip on and off easily. She also suggested dressing in layers. For the masochists who prefer colder temperatures, there’s the polar bear plunge, an event in which people strip to swimwear and jump into nearly frozen lakes. In New Mexico, Eagle Nest Lake State Park, near Taos, and Storrie Lake State Park, near Las Vegas, usually host polar bear plunges. Due to low water levels at Eagle Nest Lake, however, this year’s plunge has been relocated to Lake
Maloya in Sugarite Canyon State Park, near Raton, according to a news release. That plunge is scheduled for 1 p.m. New Year’s Day and costs $15. The entry fee, the news release said, benefits the Raton Veteran Memorial. A registration form and waiver form are also required, and they can be found at ratonrecreation.com/ events.html. Normal state park fees also apply. The Storrie Lake polar bear plunge starts at noon and is free.
HONOLULU — A December surge propelled health care sign-ups through the government’s rehabilitated website past the 1 million mark, the Obama administration said Sunday, reflecting new vigor for the problem-plagued federal insurance market. Combined with figures for state-run markets due in January, that should put total enrollment in the new private insurance plans under President Barack Obama’s health law at about 2 million people through the end of the year, independent experts said. That would be about two-thirds of the administration’s original goal of signing up 3.3 million by Tuesday, a significant improvement given the technical problems that crippled the federal market during much of the fall. The overall goal remains to enroll 7 million people by March 31.
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She saw the world Dolores Duke Ortiz, wife of late ambassador, dies at age 88. PAge A-10
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Today
$0.60 for cake: Al-Qaida records every expense By Rukmini Callimachi
The Associated Press
TIMBUKTU, Mali — The convoy of cars bearing the black al-Qaida flag came at high speed, and the manager of the modest grocery store thought he was about to get robbed. Mohamed Djitteye rushed to lock his till and cowered behind the counter. He was dumbfounded when instead, the al-Qaida commander gently opened the grocery’s glass door and asked for a pot of mustard. Then he asked for a receipt. Confused and scared, Djitteye didn’t understand. So the jihadist repeated his request. Could he please have a receipt for the $1.60 purchase? This transaction in northern Mali shows what might seem an unusual preoccupation for a terror group: AlQaida is obsessed with documenting the most minute expenses. In more than 100 receipts left in a building occupied by al-Qaida in the
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Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu earlier this year, the extremists assiduously tracked their cash flow, recording purchases as small as a single light bulb. The often tiny amounts are carefully written out in pencil and colored pen on scraps of paper and Post-it notes: The equivalent of $1.80 for a bar of soap; $8 for a packet of macaroni; $14 for a tube of super glue. The accounting system on display in the documents found by The Associated Press is a mirror image of what researchers have discovered in other parts of the world where al-Qaida operates, including Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq. The terror group’s documents around the world also include corporate workshop schedules, salary spreadsheets, philanthropy budgets, job applications, public relations advice and letters from the equivalent of a human resources division.
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Mostly sunny. High 43, low 23. PAge A-12
Obituaries Charles E. Galvan, 59, Dec. 22 PAge A-10
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Voasis
Receipts detail prices paid for tomatoes, onions, charcoal, meat, a lightbulb and other groceries, left, and car expenses, right. The documents are among more than 100 receipts and invoices retrieved recently from a building occupied by al-Qaida’s North African branch in Timbuktu, Mali. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The contemporary a cappella ensemble presents In the Midnight Hour, produced by Deke Sharon of The Sing-Off, 8 p.m., Warehouse 21, 1614 Paseo de Peralta, $15-$100 in advance at desertchorale.org, 988-2282.
Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 364 Publication No. 596-440