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Tag: Michelle Lujan Grisham

  • NM GOP lawmakers call on governor to loop them in on special session agenda

    The Roundhouse pictured during the 2024 legislative session. Republican lawmakers on Monday called on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to broaden the upcoming special session agenda and de-emphasize looming federal spending cuts. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM)

    With a little over two weeks before New Mexico lawmakers will convene in Santa Fe for a special legislative session to respond to anticipated federal spending cuts, Republican leaders are calling on the governor to consult with them on the agenda and consider a host of other issues they’d like to address instead.

    Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a news release earlier this month announcing the Oct. 1 start date of the session along with a few actions the Legislature would likely consider to make up for federal cuts to rural hospitals, Medicaid, food stamps and public broadcasting. It also said she was in “discussions” with the Legislature to address behavioral health and criminal justice issues. 

    But Republican leaders in the House and Senate said in a letter Monday that they have not been consulted on any of the specifics about the session, and that Democrats’ fears of federal cuts are unwarranted this early. 

    “Republican legislators should be given the same courtesy and opportunity to thoroughly review the fiscal impact and programmatic requirements associated with these proposals,” according to the letter. “This review is particularly necessitated because your public statements have, unfortunately, left the impression that New Mexicans will immediately lose Medicaid and SNAP benefits. Needless to say, nothing could be further from the truth.”

    The letter goes on to state changes in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” President Donald Trump signed July 4 are “highly complex” and won’t go into effect for more than a year or longer. 

    The letter’s authors said the Legislature should direct more immediate consideration to other issues in the state, including, crime, the state’s child welfare department, medical malpractice reform  and homelessness, according to the letter.

    They urged her to issue a proclamation for the session that enables lawmakers to consider all of those topics. 

    “The people of New Mexico are convinced these are the real emergencies facing our state and we ask for your leadership in helping provide the Legislature with the opportunity to work in a bipartisan basis to adopt long overdue solutions to these most pressing problems,” according to the letter.  

    Jodi McGinnis-Porter, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, told Source New Mexico on Monday afternoon that her office “just got the letter” and so did not have an immediate response. Source will update this story as needed.

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  • New Mexico governor rescinds emergency health order that suspended gun rights in playgrounds

    New Mexico governor rescinds emergency health order that suspended gun rights in playgrounds

    SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday that she has ended an emergency public health order that suspended the right to carry guns at public parks and playgrounds in New Mexico’s largest metro area.

    The original public health order in September 2023 ignited a furor of public protests, prompted Republican calls for the governor’s impeachment and widened divisions among top Democratic officials. It also sought to strengthen oversight of firearms sales and monitor illicit drug use at public schools through the testing of wastewater — before expiring on Saturday without renewal.

    “I have decided to allow the public health order to expire, but our fight to protect New Mexico communities from the dangers posed by guns and illegal drugs will continue,” Lujan Grisham said.

    She described strides toward reducing gun violence through gun buy-back programs, increased arrests, the distribution of free gun-storage locks and a larger inmate population at a county detention facility in Albuquerque.

    The governor’s initial order would have suspended gun-carry rights in most public places in the Albuquerque area, but was scaled back to public parks and playgrounds with an exception to ensure access to a municipal shooting range park. Lujan Grisham said she was responding to a series of shootings around the state that left children dead.

    Gun rights advocates filed an array of lawsuits and court motions aimed at blocking gun restrictions that they say would deprive Albuquerque-area residents of 2nd Amendment rights to carry in public for self-defense. The implications for pending lawsuits in federal court were unclear.

    The standoff was one of many in the wake of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights, as leaders in politically liberal-leaning states explore new avenues for restrictions.

    The gun restrictions were tied to a statistical threshold for violent crime that applied only to Albuquerque and the surrounding area.

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  • Gun rights organizations sue New Mexico governor over gun violence order | CNN Politics

    Gun rights organizations sue New Mexico governor over gun violence order | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    The National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit against New Mexico’s Democratic governor and health secretary Saturday over orders declaring gun violence a public health emergency and suspending open and concealed carry laws in cities and counties based on crime statistics.

    Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued the emergency order after the shooting deaths of three children from July through September, as well as a pair of mass shootings in the state.

    The lawsuit, filed in the US district court for New Mexico on Saturday, lists Lujan Grisham and New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Patrick Allen as defendants.

    The National Association for Gun Rights argues in the lawsuit that the orders violate the Second Amendment.

    “The State must justify the Carry Prohibition by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. But it is impossible for the State to meet this burden, because there is no such historical tradition of firearms regulation in this Nation,” the lawsuit reads.

    Throughout the suit, the plaintiffs cite a 2022 Supreme Court decision that struck down a New York gun law that restricted the right to concealed carry outside the home.

    The lawsuit also lists Albuquerque resident Foster Allen Haines as a plaintiff. Haines intended to partake in the state’s open carry law, according to the complaint.

    “Haines is precluded from doing so by the Carry Prohibition, which deprives him of his fundamental right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes protected by the Second Amendment,” the lawsuit reads.

    The plaintiffs ask the court to grant an injunction prohibiting the emergency order from being enforced, the lawsuit states.

    A second lawsuit was also filed Saturday against Lujan Grisham; Allen; Department of Public Safety Secretary Jason Bowie; and State Police Chief W. Troy Weisler by Bernalillo County resident Randy Donk and the Gun Owners of America. The suit likens the executive order and public health emergency declaration to “martial law” and argues that it is a suspension of constitutional rights.

    This lawsuit also asks the court for an immediate temporary restraining order and later a preliminary and permanent injunction to be granted.

    Caroline Sweeney, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, said in a statement Sunday that the governor “is prepared to fight challenges to her decision.”

    “Gun violence is a public health emergency in the state and extraordinary measures are required to prevent more innocent New Mexicans from being killed by guns,” the statement said.

    CNN has reached out to the Department of Health for comment on the lawsuits.

    Lujan Grisham last week also issued a statewide enforcement plan that includes a 30-day suspension of open and concealed carry laws in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County, CNN previously reported.

    The order, which went into immediate effect, temporarily bans the carrying of guns on public property in those counties with certain exceptions, according to the governor’s office. Citizens with carry permits will still be allowed to possess their weapons on private property such as gun ranges and gun stores if the firearm is transported in a locked box, or if a trigger lock or other mechanism is used to render the gun incapable of being fired.

    The order also prohibits firearms on state property, including state buildings and schools, as well as at parks and other places where children gather. Under the order, licensed firearm dealers will be inspected monthly by New Mexico’s Regulation and Licensing Division to ensure compliance with sales and storage laws.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • US Medal of Honor recipient Hiroshi Miyamura dies at 97

    US Medal of Honor recipient Hiroshi Miyamura dies at 97

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura, the son of Japanese immigrants who was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor for holding off an attack to allow an American squad to withdraw during the Korean War, has died.

    The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced that Miyamura died Tuesday at his home in Phoenix. He was 97.

    Born in Gallup, New Mexico, Miyamura’s parents operated a 24-hour diner near the Navajo Nation where the family interacted with the diverse population of miners and travelers who passed along Route 66.

    Miyamura’s mother died when he was 11 and his father never talked about Japan, Miyamura said in later interviews. He would earn the nickname “Hershey” because a teacher couldn’t pronounce his first name.

    Miyamura worked as an auto mechanic during high school. He joined the U.S. Army late in World War II after the federal government lifted restrictions on Japanese Americans serving. Miyamura was allowed to join the 442nd Infantry Regiment, composed almost entirely of “nisei” — those born in the U.S. to parents who were Japanese immigrants.

    After the war, Miyamura met Terry Tsuchimori, a woman from a family who had been forced to live at the Poston internment camp in southwestern Arizona following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They married in 1948 and had three children.

    Miyamura continued to serve in the Army Reserves and was called into action during the Korean War.

    On the night of April 24, 1951, near Taejon-ni, Miyamura’s company came under attack by an invading Chinese force. Miyamura ordered his squad to retreat while he stayed behind and continued to fight, giving his men enough time to evacuate.

    Miyamura and fellow squad leader Joseph Lawrence Annello, of Castle Rock, Colorado, were captured. Though wounded, Miyamura carried the injured Annello for miles until Chinese soldiers ordered him at gunpoint to leave Annello by the side of a road. Miyamura refused the orders until Annello convinced him to put him down.

    Annello was later picked up by another Chinese unit and taken to a POW camp, from which he escaped.

    Miyamura was held as a prisoner for two years and four months.

    Upon his release, he was presented the Medal of Honor by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It had been awarded in secret while he was still a prisoner of war.

    “I never ever thought I would receive the Medal of Honor for doing my duty, which I thought that’s all I was doing, was my duty,” Miyamura said in the 2018 Netflix documentary “Medal of Honor.”

    Miyamura and Annello later met up and remained lifelong friends. Annello died in 2018.

    After the Korean War, Miyamura returned to Gallup as a hero. More than 5,000 people came to meet his train. He spent much of the rest of his life working in town as an auto mechanic.

    In his Living History documentary in the Congressional Medal of Honor Society library, Miyamura reflected on the soldiers who deserved recognition but never received it.

    “There are so many Americans who don’t know what the Medal represents or what any soldier or servicewoman or man does for his country. And I believe one of these days — I hope one of these days — they will learn of the sacrifices that a lot of the men and women have made for this country,” he said.

    Miyamura remained active in veterans’ issues and gave annual summer lectures to military members in Gallup, New Mexico. The talks drew hundreds of servicemen and servicewomen over the years.

    In 2019, an aide announced that Miyamura had likely given his last public talk due to declining health.

    New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer both called Miyamura a hero, saying he will be missed by many who are forever grateful for his service.

    Miyamura is survived by numerous family members. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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  • Governor voids territorial orders targeting Native Americans

    Governor voids territorial orders targeting Native Americans

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico’s governor on Monday voided four pre-statehood proclamations that targeted Native Americans during what was a tumultuous time across the western frontier as federal soldiers tried to defeat Navajos, Apaches and others.

    Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham described the 19th century proclamations by former territorial governors as offensive, saying rescinding the proclamations would help to heal old wounds and strengthen bonds with Native American communities.

    “The government of New Mexico has not always respected the importance and sovereignty of our Native American citizens, and our history is sadly stained with cruel mistreatment of Native Americans,” Lujan Grisham wrote in an executive order issued on Indigenous Peoples Day.

    Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who is running for reelection, pointed to counties within the territory that once offered bounties for scalps of Apache men and women.

    Marches, protests and celebrations were held around the U.S. to mark Indigenous Peoples Day. In New Mexico’s capital of Santa Fe, people walked with banners aimed at raising awareness about missing and slain Native Americans. Demonstrators left paint splattered on a monument of Kit Carson, who had a role in the death of hundreds of Native Americans during the colonization of the West.

    A celebration in Flagstaff, Arizona, focused on youth who talked about how Indigenous people have contributed to the community. A group of Hopi children performed a Corn Dance in front of City Hall.

    In New Mexico, the unwinding of the past proclamations was spurred by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ move in 2021 to rescind an 1864 order by one of that state’s territorial governors that eventually led to the Sand Creek Massacre, when U.S. troops killed more than 200 Native Americans in one of Colorado’s darkest and most fraught historic moments.

    A search for similar documents led Valerie Rangel, the city of Santa Fe’s appointed historian, to a book of newspaper clippings in the archives of the Huntington Library in California. It represented the most complete collection of New Mexico’s territorial proclamations.

    Two of the proclamations voided by Lujan Grisham were issued in 1851 by James S. Calhoun, New Mexico’s first territorial governor. They directed Native Americans to be excluded from official census counts and authorized militias to “pursue and attack any hostile tribe” that was said to be entering settlements for the purpose of plundering.

    Proclamations issued nearly two decades later by Governors Robert B. Mitchell and William A. Pile declared certain tribes as outlaws and authorized New Mexico residents to commit violence against them.

    “I started looking at the history surrounding the proclamations — was there an impact, did it really fuel hate?” said Rangel, whose roots include Apache and Navajo.

    Through her research, she found several bounties for scalping, with some counties going so far as to pay for newspaper advertisements in states beyond New Mexico to solicit people for the efforts. New Mexico became a U.S. state in January 1912.

    Rangel shared her findings with tribal and state officials. She’s among those pushing for this part of New Mexico’s history to be included in school curriculums.

    “I’d like to see more communication with tribes and have them be the source of the history that’s being learned,” she said.

    New Mexico is home to nearly two dozen tribal nations and pueblos, with Native Americans making up more than 12% of the population.

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