Rendezvous with the unknown: Artist Sam Scott
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Friday, April 11, 2014
Inside
The New Mexic
an’s Weekly Maga
zine of Arts, Enter
tainment & Cultur
e
April 11, 2014
www.santafenewmexican.com $1.25
Meeting reviews busking rules
Climate panel tackles tricky proposal
Health secretary resigns
Performers, merchants discuss proposed changes ahead of City Council vote. LOCAL news, B-1
Scientists consider option of cooling the planet by sucking heattrapping carbon dioxide from the air. PAge A-5
Sebelius’ resignation comes on heels of health care law’s rocky rollout. PAge A-3
Feds: APD used ‘excessive force’
Amber Rose Graham of Española and her daughter, Daeja Rose Graham, get on a North Central Regional Transit District bus in 2007. RTD ridership is up and costs are down, but challenges still persist. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
State taking longer to address allegations, new study reveals
Data show challenges persist for bus system
By Steve Terrell
The New Mexican
Report: 24% of region’s Blue Bus seats occupied By Milan Simonich
The New Mexican
Jewel Hall, left, and Sylvia Fuentes, whose son, Len Eric Fuentes, was killed by Albuquerque police in 2010, embrace before a news conference Thursday in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Albuquerque. In a scathing assessment, the Justice Department said the Albuquerque Police Department had engaged in a ‘pattern or practice of use of excessive force.’ MARK HOLM/THE NEW YORK TIMES
The state says more people are riding buses operated by the North Central Regional Transit District and the agency’s costs are down, yet gloomy financial data persist. Only 24 percent of the seats are occupied, and government spending on some routes can exceed a whopping $75 per rider, the Legislative Finance Committee staff said in a report released Thursday. Passengers don’t pay fares to ride on the Blue Bus system, which links various Northern New Mexico communities, including Santa Fe. The system is funded with taxpayer dollars, including a share of gross receipts taxes collected in four counties. The average cost per passenger was $17.77 in 2013, the report said. Certain Blue Bus routes cost considerably more, notably the Los AlamosEspañola-Pojoaque run, where costs for each passenger came to $76.87. Anthony Mortillaro, executive director of the transit district, criticized the report in a written response, saying the analysis was oversimplified and incomplete. He said the Legislative Finance
Investigation finds officers treated those with mental illness too harshly By Fernanda Santos
ALBUQUERQUE t least 37 times in the past four years, police officers in Albuquerque have responded to threats with bullets, killing 23 people and wounding 14 others. On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department weighed in with a scathing assessment, accusing the Albuquerque Police Department of a “pattern or practice of use of excessive force” that routinely has violated people’s constitutional rights. Too often, the Justice Department said, the officers kicked, punched and violently restrained nonthreat-
A
By The nUmBeRs Number of child abuse 11.4 victims per 1,000 children in New Mexico Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, left, and Police Chief Gorden Eden speak to reporters Thursday after the U.S. Justice Department released a report in response to a series of deadly Albuquerque police shootings. RUSSELL CONTRERAS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Number of days it took to 85 reach disposition of a child abuse allegation in 2012 in New Mex-
ening people, and seldom were the officers reprimanded. Many of the victims suffered from mental illnesses, and some were disabled, elderly or drunk, the 16-month investigation concluded. “What we found was a pattern or practice of systemic deficiencies
Number of referrals of 30K alleged maltreatment the state Children, Youth and Families
that have pervaded the Albuquerque Police Department for many years,” Jocelyn Samuels, acting assistant attorney general for the department’s civil rights division, said at a news conference Thursday.
Please see APD, Page A-4
Report finds IRS issued $4B in fraudulent refunds The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — An Internet connection and a bunch of stolen identities are all it takes for crooks to collect billions of dollars in bogus federal tax refunds. And the scam is proving too pervasive to stop. A government report released in
Index
Calendar A-2
November said the IRS issued nearly $4 billion in fraudulent tax refunds over the previous year to thieves who were using other people’s personal information. Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that the “scale, scope and execution of these fraud schemes” has grown substantially, and the Justice Department in the past year has charged 880 people.
Classifieds C-2
Comics C-12
Crosswords C-3, C-11
The number of child abuse and neglect cases reported in New Mexico is growing, and it’s taking the state longer to act on these cases, says a report that state lawmakers are set to discuss Friday, during a hearing in Santa Fe. Repeated high-profile incidents have made child abuse — and the government’s response to it — a front-burner issue. Concerns have reached new heights in recent months following the death in Albuquerque of 9-yearold Omaree Varela, who allegedly was kicked to death by his mother. The child had been placed in foster care, but on the authority of the state Children, Youth and Families Department, he was returned to his mother in 2011. The 24-page report by the staff of the Legislative Finance Committee includes ideas on what the state can do to reduce child abuse. Citing statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the report says the child
Please see ABUse, Page A-4
The New York Times
Please see BUs, Page A-4
By Eric Tucker
Reports of child abuse on the rise
Who’s involved? In a video message released ahead of Tuesday’s tax filing deadline, Holder said the scams “are carried out by a variety of actors, from greedy tax return preparers to identity brokers who profit from the sale of personal information to gangs and drug rings looking for easy access to cash.” Even Holder isn’t immune. Two
Lotteries A-2
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035
Opinion A-7
men pleaded guilty in Georgia last year to trying to get a tax refund by using his name, Social Security number and date of birth on tax forms. The IRS says it opened nearly 1,500 criminal investigations related to identity theft in fiscal year 2013, a 66 percent increase over the previ-
Sports B-5
ico, up from 55 days in 2009
Department receives each year
6,500
Number of victims of child abuse and neglect New Mexico identifies each year.
Obituaries Gilbert Carpenter, 86, April 4 Lucy R. Montoya, Santa Fe, Jan. 18 PAge B-2
Call TODAY for a FREE window diagnosis
992-7633
Some sun; record-tying temperatures. High 75, low 42.
Please see IRs, Page A-4
Time Out C-11
Gen Next C-1
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