Two-time world boxing champ from Española returns to the ring Sports, D-1
Locally owned aand independent
Drought raises concerns about recreation in Northern N.M. Local, C-1
Sunday, January 19, 2014
www.santafenewmexican.com $1.25
Candidates talk immigration
Our view: Breast-feeding is OK
Wienermobile dream realized
All three mayoral hopefuls support the city’s stance, but some activists say that’s not enough. LOCAL, C-1
The pope’s message on breast-feeding in public — even during Mass — is welcome. OPINIONS, B-2
A Santa Fe veterinarian fulfills her quest to ride in the iconic vehicle. NEIGHBORS, C-7
2014 LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW
Lawmakers tackle money, more Session to put Skandera back in spotlight
INSIDE
By Robert Nott
PAGE A-4
u Know which lawmakers are likely to be the movers and shakers. PAGE A-4
u Legislative leaders.
The New Mexican
Hanna Skandera comes from a family of long-distance runners. “There’s something in us — a certain perseverance,” said her father, Harry Skandera, by phone from Santa Rosa, Calif. “There’s a very strong value in our family — if you believe that something is right, you stick with it.” Hanna Skandera’s perseverance has been tested over and over during her first three years as state secretary-designate of public education for Gov. Susana Martinez. The tumultuous period has been nothing if not a trial of endurance. Skandera has been criticized, insulted and questioned during three days of Senate Rules Committee confirmation hearings, and she has been berated by educators who do not think she understands or respects them. Most of the time, Skandera maintains her composure while flashing a confident smile. Once — in one of those confirmation hearings — she broke down in tears for a few seconds. During a recent Albuquerque-based forum with teachers regarding the new and unpopular teacher-evaluation system, she reportedly lost her cool at least once. But Skandera hasn’t yet given up on her initiatives: the A-F school grading system, teacher evaluations and Gov. Susana Martinez’s socalled social-promotion bill that would hold back third-graders who cannot read at grade level.
Please see SKANDERA, Page A-6
Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera, center, has yet to be confirmed, but the Senate Rules Committee is due to hold another confirmation hearing in coming weeks. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
u Tips for Roundhouse visitors on parking, schedules, decorum and more. PAGE A-5
u Key dates. PAGE A-5
u Contact information for local legislators. PAGE A-5
u Issues at a glance. PAGE A-7
Gov. Susana Martinez favors a bill mandating retention of third-graders who struggle with reading, and she will push again for the repeal of a law that allows people without proof of immigration status to obtain New Mexico driver’s licenses. But the governor faces a fight from those who say neither initiative would improve life in the state. CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The chemical spill that contaminated water for hundreds of thousands in West Virginia was only the latest and most high-profile case of coal sullying the nation’s waters. For decades, chemicals and waste from the coal industry have tainted hundreds of waterways and groundwater supplies, spoiling private wells, shutting down fishing and rendering streams virtually lifeless, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal environmental data. But because these contaminants are released gradually and in some cases not tracked or regulated, they attract much
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds E-6
PAGE C-1
Gov.’s high-profile bills to heat up session By Milan Simonich The New Mexican
oney will not be the only battleground issue when the New Mexico Legislature begins its 30-day session on Tuesday. Two contentious bills will pit Republican Gov. Susana Martinez against majority Democrats for the fourth time in four years. Martinez favors a bill mandating retention of certain third-graders who struggle with reading. She also will push again for the repeal of a 10-year-old law that allows people without proof of immigration status to obtain New Mexico driver’s licenses. She faces a fight from Democratic legislators who say neither of Martinez’s initiatives would improve life in New Mexico. In addition, the most-watched and controversial hearing of the session will focus on one of Martinez’s appointees, Hanna Skandera of the Public Education Department. Skandera has overseen the state’s 830 public
M
schools since January 2011, but she still has not received a confirmation vote from the Senate Rules Committee or the full 42-member Senate. Martinez has criticized Senate Democrats, especially Rules Committee Chairwoman Linda Lopez, for stalling on Skandera’s confirmation vote. Lopez, D-Albuquerque, also is running for governor. She said in an interview that Skandera will receive a vote this session. Lopez actually began Skandera’s confirmation hearing last year but then recessed it after 10 hours of testimony across three days. A Senate vote on Skandera probably would be close. Democrats control the Senate 25-17. Skandera would need the votes of all the Republicans and at least four Democrats to be confirmed. A 21-21 tie would give Republican Lt. Gov. John Sanchez the deciding vote on her nomination. Driver’s licenses have been a state controversy longer than Skandera has. Republicans say they have the votes to get the driver’s license repeal bill through the House of Representatives, but they are less optimistic
W.Va. spill exposes coal’s risk to U.S. waters By Dina Cappiello and Seth Borenstein
u Workshop aims to turn education advocates into citizen lobbyists.
less attention than a massive spill such as the recent one in West Virginia. “I’ve made a career of body counts of dead fish and wildlife made that way from coal,” said Dennis Lemly, a U.S. Forest Service research biologist who has spent decades chronicling the deformities pollution from coal mining has caused in fish. “How many years and how many cases does it take before somebody will step up to the plate and say, ‘Wait a minute, we need to change this’?” The spill of a coal-cleaning chemical into a river in Charleston, W.Va., left 300,000 people without water. It exposed a potentially new and underregulated risk to water from the coal industry when the federal government
Lotteries A-2
Neighbors C-7
is still trying to close regulatory gaps that have contributed to coal’s legacy of water pollution. From coal mining to the waste created when coal is burned for electricity, pollutants associated with coal have contaminated waterways, wells and lakes with far more insidious and longerlasting contaminants than the chemical that spilled out of a tank farm on the banks of the Elk River. Chief among them are discharges from coal-fired power plants that alone are responsible for 50 percent to 60 percent of all toxic pollution entering the nation’s water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Thanks to even tougher air pollution
Opinions B-1
about its prospects after that. “Can it get out of the House? I think so, but as for the Senate, I don’t know,” said Rep. Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque. Bills to repeal the licensing law have twice in three years cleared the House of Representatives, where Democrats still have a 37-33 advantage. Those bills never advanced in the Senate. Last year, Democrats in the House of Representatives stopped the bill in a committee. Gentry then tried but failed to vault the bill through the full House. Martinez in 2010 campaigned hard on the licensing law. She said issuing driver’s licenses to people in the country unlawfully creates security problems and breeds fraud at motor vehicle offices. But Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said Martinez’s arguments had lost steam, especially because eight other states last year followed New Mexico’s lead by approving laws granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Please see BILLS, Page A-4
Today
Obituaries
Plenty of sunshine. High 52, low 26.
Anthony (Tony) Donaciano Apodaca Melba Janice BolingerBlevins, 87, Portales, Dec. 3 Toshiko Nogami Bradley, Los Alamos, Jan. 11 Emilio “E.J.” Cantou, 91, Jan. 12 Karole Elaine Felts, Jan. 14 Reyes S. Gonzales, 86, Arroyo Seco, Jan. 14 Hugh Avery Linn, 74, Santa Fe, Jan. 14 Cipriano Martinez, Jan. 13 Laura Reed, Santa Fe, Jan. 14 Larry Roybal, 74, Santa Fe, Jan. 16 Beatrice Schultz, 86, Jan. 13
PAGE D-6
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Santa Fe Symphony Music of Bruckner and Mozart, featuring soprano Rachel Hall, 4 p.m., lecture 3 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $20-$70, 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org.
Please see COAL, Page A-3
Police notes C-3
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Real Estate E-1
PAGES C-2, C-3
Sports D-1
Time Out/puzzles E-12
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Six sections, 44 pages 165th year, No. 19 Publication No. 596-440