After years of little progress, Texas gun control and safety advocates see some small openings for dialogue at the Capitol
Many bills that would limit access to firearms or ammunition likely won’t become law anytime soon. But people who advocate at the Texas Capitol see emerging signs that there’s appetite for finding some middle ground.
Lawsuit: Guards beat, taunt inmate with, 'You can't breathe'
An advocacy group for prisoners’ rights has filed a civil rights lawsuit against corrections officers who allegedly ignored requirements that they videotape a prison-cell encounter with an inmate, who says he was sexually abused, beaten without provocation and taunted with words that evoked the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of police.
WATCH LIVE: State Sen. Roland Gutierrez introduces gun safety legislation alongside Uvalde, Santa Fe families
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez will introduce new comprehensive, common-sense gun safety legislation alongside other state senators and surviving families from the Uvalde and Santa Fe school shootings.
What laws did Texas pass to make schools safer after the Santa Fe massacre? KSAT Explains
More than a dozen laws were passed in 2019 focused on school safety after the Santa Fe school shooting. KSAT Explains what is in those laws and what other measures state officials have taken since the laws were enacted.
60 curators, 1 show: Native Americans pick favorite pottery
Native American artists, political leaders and storytellers are the final arbiters of taste and style for a traveling exhibition of pottery from the Pueblo Indian region of the Southwestern U.S. They've plucked their favorite pieces from institutional collections in New Mexico and New York that didn’t always defer to Indigenous perspectives.
She survived the Santa Fe shooting, then visited Uvalde to comfort the newest members of a growing circle linked by tragedy
Wounded in the Santa Fe High School shooting, Flo Rice has found an online community of mass shooting survivors who help each other cope and heal. Uvalde residents are starting to join them.
Confronted with mass shootings, Texas Republicans have repeatedly loosened gun laws
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders signaled an openness to some gun restrictions after recent mass shootings. But in the last several years, lawmakers have eased gun laws, most notably by passing a permitless carry bill last year.
New Mexico fines film company over Alec Baldwin shooting
New Mexico workplace safety regulators say they have issued the maximum possible fine against a film production company for firearms safety failures on the set where a cinematographer was fatally shot in October by actor and producer Alec Baldwin.
'Rust' armorer attorneys blame producers for 'unsafe' set
Attorneys for Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was in charge of weapons on the movie set where Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, say she doesn’t know where the live rounds found there came from, and blamed producers for unsafe working conditions.
Film crew voiced complaints before fatal on-set shooting
Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, seven camera crew members for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.
Marijuana takes center stage in New Mexico special session
(AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico lawmakers are embarking on an unusual legislative session that may focus entirely on the legalization of recreational marijuana. Lujan Grisham's administration has pushed for close oversight of marijuana markets, including possible caps on licenses and the amount of marijuana grown. AdSuccessful legislation would extend legal recreational cannabis sales across the American Southwest, from California to the New Mexico state line with Texas, which still prohibits nonmedical pot. AdOf 15 states with sanctioned recreational marijuana markets, New Mexico would become only the third or fourth state to make recreational cannabis legal through the legislative process, following in the footsteps of Illinois and Vermont. In Virginia, an approved legalization bill awaits the governor's signature.
Unusual alliance seeks policing reforms in New Mexico
The bill has grown out of recommendations from a bipartisan civil rights commission created after the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. The proposed Civil Rights Act from Democratic state legislators is confronting near-unified opposition from a long list of sheriffs and law enforcement associations. AdThe bill builds on the recommendations of a civil rights commission, chartered by the Legislature and Gov. “The general consensus across law enforcement, across the state?” said Mace, chairman of the New Mexico Sheriffs' Association. “It's an all-out attack on law enforcement.”AdOn Monday, Americans for Prosperity announced a petition and advertising campaign in support of reforms to police immunity provisions.
Virus outbreak in Texas army base alarms New Mexico leaders
SANTA FE, N.M. – The New Mexico congressional delegation is raising questions about a coronavirus outbreak among a group of Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who returned to their home base in El Paso, Texas, after being deployed to Kosovo earlier this year. It also asks if contact tracing has detected spread from members of the unit to people outside of it. A Fort Bliss Army spokesman referred questions to the Oregon National Guard. The base is under a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew due to the pandemic, but it's unclear how many cases have been recorded on the base. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
Watchdog group cites interference at polls in Latino areas
She estimated that dozens of potential voters in each location left without voting immediately as a result of the incidents. She said a poll judge diffused the situation by informing demonstrators of state restrictions on electioneering and interference. At the South Valley voting center, about 100 Trump supporters lined both sides of the street, standing next to vehicles and mingling with traffic. Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Joseph Montiel said that deputies in two patrol vehicles responded to concerns at the South Valley polling location. The agency received a call about Trump supporters allegedly harassing people lined up to vote and another about fear of being harassed, he said.
George R.R. Martin can't build castle library in New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. – “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin won't be able to build a seven-sided, castle-style library at his compound in Santa Fe that drew objections from neighbors. The city's Historic Districts Review Board on Tuesday denied a request to allow Martin to exceed the building height limit in the historic district where he lives, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. “It is a medieval castle, and I don’t understand how we could possibly approve it in this style,” board member Frank Katz said. “The fact remains that the proposed building is still a prominent castle in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Santa Fe,” the letter said.
Tailgating tradition takes on new form as opera goes virtual
FILE - In this May 8, 2019, file photo, the Santa Fe Opera awaits its summer season in Santa Fe, N.M. Instead of tailgating outside the Santa Fe Opera, he and his wife celebrated their anniversary and the opera's opening night on their balcony in downtown Denver. We are celebrating all that is still possible and still beautiful here at the Santa Fe Opera, Graham told those watching from their living rooms and patios. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg also has been a regular visitor to performances in Santa Fe. Batty attended his first Santa Fe opera in 1985 while visiting as a student from the United Kingdom.
New Mexico close to historic all-female US House delegation
(AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)RIO RANCHO, N.M. New Mexico has moved closer to possibly sending a historic delegation of all women of color to the U.S. House. Former state lawmaker Yvette Herrell, a member of the Cherokee Nation, won a heated Republican primary race to challenge Torres Small November in a swing district representing southern New Mexico. Hawaii had a two-member all women of color U.S. House delegation with GOP U.S. Rep. Patricia Saiki and Democratic U.S. Rep. Delewares lone member of the House is Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a black woman. But New Mexico could wind up with the largest U.S. House delegation of women or women of color in history.