Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 17

Journal and Wire Reports Delay Sought On LANL Inquiry SANTA FE Members of New congressional delegation want federal investigators to delay an inquiry into security at Los Alamos National Laboratory. House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders last month asked investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office, to evaluate the feasibility of moving classified activities to other weapons laboratories with better security track records. But Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D- N.M., and Pete Domenici, R- N.M., and Rep. Tom Udall, D- N.M., are asking that the GAO hold off on the investigation for six months to allow lab managers to implement new operating and security procedures.

believe a six-month delay will provide a better baseline on which we can judge the progress that has actually been made in improving the operation of the the New Mexico lawmakers, along with Sen. Byron Dorgan, wrote in a letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders. Chairman John Dingell, D- and other committee members requested the investigation following a hearing on LANL security problems. Ex-School Chief May Get Buyout SANTA FE The Mora Independent School District is apparently close to severing its ties with suspended Superintendent Anita Roybal through a buyout agreement. The district has signed off on the agreement, which is now awaiting approval from state Education Secretary Veronica Garcia, said interim Superintendent Leroy Sanchez.

But the school four- month quest to oust Roybal has come at a price. The tentative settlement includes a provision that the district will buy out the remainder of contract, which expires June30, Sanchez said. The payout would be in the thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, the district has been paying Sanchez a monthly salary of $9,166 to fill in as interim superintendent. The salary makes Sanchez among the 20 highest-paid superintendents in the state for temporarily overseeing operations at a school district with about 622 students, according to a Journal analysis of Public Education Department statistics.

LANL To Reassign Environment Chief LOS ALAMOS Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Mike Anastasio announced Tuesday he has reluctantly accepted a request from Andy Phelps, the associate director for environmental programs, to be reassigned to other duties. Phelps indicated a desire to step down from his duties because he had been unable to cement effective relationships with the regulators and stakeholders, stating that he felt it was in the best interests of the institution to do so, according to a LANL news release. The lab has drawn fire and fines from the state Environment Department in recent years because its cleanup efforts are moving slowly. Anastasio said in the news release the laboratory steadfast in its commitment to the (state Environment Department) Consent Order and the cleanup of legacy Carolyn Mangeng, deputy, will serve as acting associate director of the environmental programs until a permanent replacement is selected. The news release did not say what next job at the lab would be.

METRO NEW MEXICO A LBUQUERQUE OURNAL EDNESDAY ARCH 7,2007 B3 Journal and Wire Reports Searchers Look For Missing Plane CARLSBAD Searchers combed the Guadalupe Mountains south of Carlsbad for a second day Tuesday for a missing California pilot and his experimental plane. Authorities have not released the name. He left Southern California last Wednesday heading for Virginia, said Civil Air Patrol spokesman Larry Zentner. The man did not reach his destination Thursday, and his family called California authorities. Zentner said the pilot, who was alone on board the bright red plane, did not file a flight plan and did not tell anyone details of his route.

went off the radar southwest of Zentner said. No distress signal has been picked up. The search has drawn CAP volunteers from across New Mexico. State Police and the Air Force also have searchers helping. TV Pilot Filmed In Duke City SANTA FE The pilot episode for a one-hour drama from Sony Pictures Te levision for AMC is shooting in New Mexico, Gov.

Bill Richardson announced Tuesday. The drama, began shooting Tuesday and will continue through March21 in and around Albuquerque, according to a news release from the Office. It stars Emmy-nominated actor Bryan Cranston, best- known for his six seasons as dad, Hal, in the television show in the Cranston portrays Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife and a teenage son stricken by cerebral palsy, the news release said. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years to live. With a new sense of fearlessness and a desire to secure his financial security, he chooses to enter a world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world, according to the news release.

Several Controlled Burns Planned ROSWELL Federal agencies have begun burning off brush and salt cedars on 1,100 acres along the Pecos River northeast of Roswell. Fire crews with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management began the controlled burn Monday. Weather permitting, crews plan to start a second prescribed burn today said BLM fire management officer Chuck Schmidt. The burns are expected to be completed by the end of the week, he said.

Enrollment Dip May Lead to Cuts SILVER CITY Declining enrollment could cost the Silver Consolidated School District several teaching positions and hundreds of thousands of dollars in the next school year, officials said. The funding from the state is based on a formula averaging enrollment on the 80th and 120th school days. Thursday was the 120th school day, and Assistant Superintendent for Finance James Murdock said the district was down 122 students from last year. estimate it to be around a $900,000 loss in revenue for next Murdock said. With less money coming in from the state, Murdock said, about a dozen teaching jobs could be lost.

He said he expects the district to be able to make most of those cuts through attrition. Eddy County Cow Has Tuberculosis PORTALES Tuberculosis has been confirmed in an Eddy County dairy cow, and New Mexico Livestock Board officials are working to determine where the disease came from. The infection was discovered last month during routine testing, known as slaughter surveillance, which is conducted at all state and federally inspected plants in the United States, said state veterinarian Dave Fly. The dairy is under quarantine, and there is no risk to humans or to other livestock, Fly said. New Mexico is considered a tuberculosis-free state, with the exception of Roosevelt County and a small part of Curry County, which the federal government has labeled a cattle TB zone, Fly said.

The area must have no positive TB tests on dairy and beef cattle for about two years before the zone will be eliminated. FROMTHENORTH AROUND NEW MEXICO DAILY briefing NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE JEFF ASSOCIATED PRESS Nearly Spring Cleaning Steve Thomas takes advantage of the springlike weather Tuesday and sweeps leaves outside the Capitol in Santa Fe. Keeping tabs on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as he seeks the Democratic nomination for pr esident SNOW-BILL: He shakes hands. He gives campaign speeches.

He smooches babies. He even lends a hand to try to get his campaign vehicle out of a snowbank. campaign trip to Iowa late last week coincided with a nasty blizzard, and a blogger who spent some time with the governor revealed Monday that ended up getting out and pushing at least once when his car got Richardson campaign spokesman Pahl Shipley confirmed the report. governor actually (did) get out of the car and push in the middle of a driving snowstorm. He would not stay in the Shipley said Tuesday.

was one of those horizontal snows. It was probably 10 Shipley said the governor and his entourage able to get the vehicle out of the Iowa snowbank, but they paid a passer-by to haul them out with his big pickup. SAY Former Oklahoma Republican congressman and star college football player J.C. Watts recently gave some political love to our gov. The U.S.

News World Report said Watts likes Richardson in the White House race. a Bill Richardson the magazine quoted Watts as saying. think he has the Bill Clinton touch with GEORGIA ON HIS MIND: Another blogger reports that a recent Georgia fundraiser for Richardson took place at the home of Rutherford Seydel media mogul Ted son-in-law. Tu rner owns massive ranches in New Mexico. The fundraiser, which Richardson attended, was co- hosted by former Georgia state Sen.

Sam Zamarripa, according to blogfordemoc- racy.org. Compiled by Journal staff writer Jeff Jones. RICHARDSON WATTS Fa rmington Wi tholds Ap plicants The Associated Press FARMINGTON City councilors have voted during an emergency meeting not to release the applications of people seeking the position of city manager. After the City 3-2 vote Monday, the Daily Times said it would seek legal action to make the applications public. The newspaper had filed a written request last week under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act asking for the documents.

The position opens April1 when current Farmington City Manager Bob Hudson retires. As of last week, 72 applications were on file. City councilors, department heads and five members of a citizens group will review the applications before choosing 10 finalists. Mayor Bill Standley said the list of finalists will be released. The city has argued that the number of qualified applicants and the pool of candidates would be jeopardized if the names were to be released.

City councilors considered the probability that a number of applicants might be currently employed and that their job could be jeopardized if their employer became aware they had applied for another job. Councilor Jason Sandel said the city should follow in the footsteps of previous cases and release the names. He pointed to a similar case in Carlsbad, where the newspaper there requested applications for the city manager position. That request was denied and a lawsuit followed. The courts sided with the paper and the city was ordered to turn over the records and pay court fees.

Troy Turner, Daily Times editor, pointed to Santa example of open government. That city has an opening for city manager, and applicants have had a short biography reported in the local paper. Turner said the refusal in Farmington to release the applications sends a message about the way city government is operated behind closed doors. a sad day when other courts and other cities have shown already that this high-profile position is too important to have secrets kept, and yet our city seems to argue that it owes more to the applicants than it does its he said. McKernan said.

been able to get some really, really good docs to he said. UNM is scheduled July 1 to begin making mortgage payments of a month, McKernan said. By then, the hospital will be occupied and he said. David Harris, acting president, said he is confident the hospital will earn the revenue required to pay the mortgage. UNM prepared a business plan based on conservative revenue projections that the new hospital is likely to exceed, he said.

believe that we are going to bring more patients to the once the new building opens, he said. GREG University of New Mexico officials say the $244million Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion is in line with budget and schedule projections. Just What the Doctor Ordered from PAGE B1 Designs from around the state are displayed on floor tiles in the expanded University of New Mexico Hospital. RICHARDSON WATCH ATE ILLSON Journal Northern Bureau SANTA FE Mayor David Coss, responding to last raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, told members of the Immigration Committee on Tuesday, need to find our allies and educate our Over a five-day period, ICE officials arrested 30 people that immigration officials described as ICE has refused to provide the names of anyone arrested in Santa Fe and the charges they face.

is national policy, based on privacy concerns, not to provide names or any information or details that will identify individuals the agency arrests on administrative ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said Tuesday. Coss said he has received a flurry of negative responses since he expressed his opposition to the ICE operation last week. getting a lot of hate mail, but getting a lot of mail from people asking, can we Coss said. think this committee, Somos (Un Pueblo Unido, a local immigrants rights group) and this country do a pretty good job teaching tolerance, but by no means the mayor said. Coss said more discussion of the immigration issue is necessary not just among local law enforcement, educational and nonprofit leaders, but also among representatives of ICE, and the consulates of Mexico and central American countries.

ICE Refuses To Release Names.