Senior tennis player Jim Parker is a master of many angles Sports, D-1
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State prepares to expand Medicaid coverage
Sunday, September 15, 2013
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Crisis in Syria: United States, Russia strike weapons deal to avert military action. Page A-7
170K residents could sign up within 5 years By Bruce Krasnow The New Mexican
New Mexico’s Medicaid machine is getting ready for the fast lane. Starting Jan. 1, the federal government will embark on what is the biggest expansion of insurance since the introduction of Medicare, the social insurance program launched in 1965 for those 65 and older. Everyone will be required to have health insurance — through an employer, the government or a private provider. Anticipating that deadline, in a few weeks the state hopes to start bringing some 150,000 more people — 7 percent of the state’s population — into Medicaid under expanded eligibility guidelines.
Please see EXPAND, Page A-5
For King campaign, handling of probe tricky
ABOVE: Razan, a nurse and mother of four, holds the miniature Quran she brought with her when fleeing Syria. She says it gives her strength and courage to face the future. LEFT: A young Syrian refugee girl faces an uncertain future since her family fled their war-torn country.
FLEEING SYRIA Editor’s note: With a U.S.-Russia deal at hand on Syrian chemical weapons, the debate over a possible military strike on Syria has been put on hold, for now. But often lost in the discussion is the humanitarian crisis mounting inside that country and around its borders, where hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have found themselves stranded with no relief in sight. Tony O’Brien of Santa Fe, an award-
Displaced civilians trade war-torn country for life of uncertainty in camps Story and photos by Tony O’Brien For The New Mexican
Gubernatorial hopeful entwined in behavioral health controversy
TURKEY
464,000 refugees
Aleppo
By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
The shake-up of the state’s behavioral health system is already posing tough questions for Gov. Susana Martinez in her race for re-election next year. Opposing sides went to the radio last week with ads, one defending her and another blasting her, over her handling of a controversial audit and subsequent investigation into the state’s 15 largest mental health providers. Rather than seizing on the issue, one of the Republican governor’s chief rivals for the top office, Attorney General Gary King, a Democrat, has found himself mired in the same controversy. King’s office is investigating the New Mexico providers after the audit, commissioned by the state Human Services Department, found what the auditing firm determined
winning photojournalist who began his photography career at The New Mexican 40 years ago, recently traveled to Jordan to photograph the largest of the Syrian refugee camps for Relief International, a humanitarian organization. His firsthand account and accompanying photographs of that visit offer a poignant look at the people displaced and often forgotten in the ongoing civil war.
Euphrat es Raqqa R
Latakia Hama Mediterranean Sea
Syrian exodus
ive r
More than 2 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries since the start of the civil war in 2011.
SYRIA
Homs
LEBANON
740,000 refugees
IRAQ
183,000 refugees
Damascus Golan Heights Daraa
ISRAEL West Bank
Za’atari camp in Jordan
Refugee camps Refugee camp under construction
120,000+ refugees
50 mi
JORDAN
520,000 refugees
SOURCE: Humaitarian Information Unit, U.S. Department of State; Refugee Agency; APState; SOURCES: Humanitarian Information Unit, U.S.U.N. Department of
50 km
“M
y jacket. I don’t know why. I can’t stop thinking about it. It wasn’t expensive. I paid three dinars, secondhand.” I had just asked Mimar what was the most important thing he had brought with him when he and his family fled their home in war-torn Syria. When his wife was setting out to join him in Jordan with the children, he asked her to bring it, but in all the chaos, she forgot. Just a few meters from the border with Jordan, Mimar’s wife and children were betrayed to the army. Mimar’s 15-year-old son was pulled away from the group. There, in front of the teen’s mother, a soldier shot him in the head. Mimar’s family spent three days in prison, not knowing the boy’s fate but assuming the worst. Please see FLEEING, Page A-4
U.N. Refugee Agency; AP
Please see KING, Page A-6
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Third annual AHA Festival With instrumental-electronica trio D Numbers and Luke Carr’s rock opera Storming the Beaches With Logos in Hand, noon-9 p.m., Railyard Plaza, no charge, presented by the After Hours Alliance, visit ahafestival.com for full lineup. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Index
The main road through the refugee camp of Za’atari, in Jordan, has been dubbed the ‘Champs Élysées’ by inhabitants and aid workers.
Obituaries Nicholas Anthony Dominguez, 52, Sept. 12 Phil Martinez, Santa Fe, Sept. 12
Calendar A-2 Classifieds E-9 Lotteries A-2
Frank G. Noyes, 63, Sept. 4 Debbie Starr, 56, Aug. 25 Joe Werner Wood, 89, Sept. 9
Today
Pages C-2, C-3
Page A-8
Neighbors B-6 Opinions B-1
Police notes C-2
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Mostly cloudy, some storms. High 75, low 54.
Real Estate E-1
Sports D-1
A Wonderful Life Career cowboy Buff Douthitt keeps kicking after a near-death experience. NEIGHBORS, B-6
Time Out/puzzles E-16
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Six sections, 48 pages 164th year, No. 258 Publication No. 596-440