Weekly Highlights
It was an incredible week of news around Albuquerque and New Mexico this past week.
The biggest, and, really bombshell news, came late Thursday afternoon when U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Brack ripped the Albuquerque Police Department for attempting to smear and discredit the independent monitor in APD's reform case. It was an unprecedented public dressing-down and had to be humiliating for Chief Gorden Eden, City Attorney Jessica Hernandez and Assistant Chief Robert Huntsman. Brack said that Huntsman violated the city's settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice by secretly recording the monitor, James Ginger, in March of 2016. He also said that Huntsman and Hernandez set Ginger up in the case and that they tried to deceive the court. That story is posted below.
Former state senator Phil Griego was convicted of bribery charges in Santa Fe. The good news is that he was convicted and that the jury didn't excuse his unlawful behavior.
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry signed the Integrated Development Ordinance, which amounts to a massive rewrite of the city's zoning code. Neighborhood associations opposed the measure, saying it does away with the city's 60 sector development plans gives them less control over how their neighborhoods look and feel. Developers, real estate people, and city planners said the ordinance will make development easier and more predicable. They said the old zoning code was a mess and one of the most complicated in the nation.
Bernalillo County Sheriffs Deputies fatally shot two people early Friday morning.
The shooting occurred after deputies chased the stolen car.
And yes, there was a mayoral election in Albuquerque. Tim Keller clobbered Dan Lewis. Keller had 62 percent of the vote to Lewis' 38 percent. That story is posted below.
Facebook announced that it will go to a full buildout of its Los Lunas data center. It means that FB will have spent $1 billion in New Mexico on the construction of the massive facility. That story is posted below.
And Celina Espinozq, one of the APD spokespeople who lied to the public about the Victoria Martens case, quit her job. That story is posted below.
