The New Mexic
an’s Weekl
Locally owned and independent
Friday, February 28, 2014
www.santafenewmexican.com com
y Magazine
of Arts, Entert
ainment &
Culture
February 28,
2014
Senate blocks bill to boost veterans’ benefits Sen. Udall says obstruction of legislation that would have provided $21 billion in education, medical and job-training aid does a ‘huge disservice.’ PAGE A-5
State House speaker defends per diem pay for absent lawmakers
Teens rescue injured dog
City may take Solano’s car
The Oscars
Four boys found pet with old gunshot wounds, severed paw. PAGE B-1
Ex-sheriff’s daughter arrested on DWI charge after crashing dad’s BMW. PAGE B-1
Pasa’s film critics pick and predict.
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Audit blasts Human Services Report alleges department made improper payments of more than $620K
Legislators receive $4,770 total for session, plus 52 cents per mile for driving to and from Capitol
By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
The New Mexico Department of Human Services, which abruptly cut funding last year to more than a dozen behavioral health
providers over allegations of fraud, had the tables turned on it Thursday in a blistering audit accusing the agency of mismanaging public funds and bungling the probe of the providers.
The 104-page report, released by State Auditor Hector Balderas, says the agency did not properly investigate the New Mexico providers before cutting
Please see AUDIT, Page A-4
By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
Two New Mexico lawmakers who missed the entire 30-day legislative session received the same compensation as their peers who attended every day, and the House speaker says they were entitled to the money. “The speaker writes those paychecks,” said House Speaker Kenny Martinez, D-Grants. “I wrote those approvals, and I have no doubt it’s the right thing to do.” Financial records obtained by The New Mexican show Reps. Ernest Chavez of Albuquerque and Phillip Archuleta of Las Cruces, both Democrats who missed the session
Phillip Archuleta
Nuke site workers’ health risk unclear
Ernest Chavez
due to health conditions, received the $159 per diem for each of the session’s 30 days, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 20, for a total of $4,770. Additionally, each was paid 52 cents per mile for the cost of one round trip between his home
Please see PAY, Page A-4
INSIDE u State lawmakers average $16K in compensation. PAGE A-4
Man is first married Maronite Catholic priest since ban in ’20s By Jim Salter The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — When Wissam Akiki was ordained as a Maronite Catholic priest Thursday night in St. Louis, he was welcomed by hundreds of supporters, including his wife and daughter. For the first time in nearly a century, the Maronite Catholic Church in the United States ordained a married priest in a ceremony at St. Raymond’s Maronite Cathedral near downtown St. Louis. Maronites are among more than a dozen Eastern Catholic church groups in the U.S. Eastern Catholics accept the author-
ity of the pope but have many of their own rituals and liturgy. Akiki, 41, speaking at the end of the two-hour ceremony, called it a “historic day” and said he had been given two great blessings — marriage to his wife of 10 years, Manal, and “the dream to serve the Lord and church as a priest.” Eastern Catholic churches in the Middle East and Europe ordain married men. However, the Vatican banned the practice in America in the 1920s after Latin-rite bishops complained it was confusing for parishioners. But Pope John Paul
Chief scientist Roger Nelson walks through the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in 2009. On Feb. 14, 13 employees inhaled radioactive material during a leak at the site. U.S. Energy Department officials say it is still too soon to know the potential health risks this might have caused to the workers. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
Thirteen WIPP employees inhaled plutonium, americium during leak By Matthew L. Wald The New York Times
Please see PRIEST, Page A-4
Dishing out the truth on cafeteria food Gen Next writers tackle high school lunches, finding that some are tasty and filling, while others aren’t up to par. GENERATION NEXT, C-1
Obituaries Charlie C. Anaya, 88, Stanley, N.M., Jan. 24 Nelli Apodaca, Santa Fe, Feb. 22
Index
Cec A. Hanrahan, Feb. 24
Today
Magdalena Seballes Armijo, 91, Feb. 26
Partly sunny and windy. High 58, low 37. PAGE B-8
PAGE B-2
Calendar A-2
Classifieds C-2
Comics C-12
Lotteries A-2
WASHINGTON hirteen employees who worked the night shift at a nuclear waste burial site in Carlsbad after an underground leak are carrying radioactive materials in their bodies, but it is too soon to say how much health risk this poses, U.S. Energy Department officials said Thursday. The workers inhaled plutonium and americium, which if lodged in the body bombard internal organs with subatomic particles for the rest of the person’s lifetime. The dose calculation is a bit arcane because the dose in such cases will be delivered over many years. Calculating a lifetime dose will require several urine and fecal samples, taken over time, to determine the rate at which the body is eliminating the materials, said Joe Franco, manager of the Energy Department’s Carlsbad field office, which oversees operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where nuclear waste is buried in
T
Opinion A-6
Police notes B-2
Sports B-5
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Stephanie Proffer, sproffer@sfnewmexican.com
After radioactive waste arrives at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in containers, it’s placed in a series of tunnels called panels. Each panel has a series of rooms that are filled, then sealed and left so the rock salt can slowly encase the waste. COURTESY DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
an ancient salt bed deep beneath the desert. “Right now, we have one single data point — there was one reading,” Franco said at a news conference in
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