I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has settled a lawsuit, brought by the ACLU of New Mexico (ACLU-NM), after officers on a manhunt for accused cop-killer Michael Astorga searched the home of Astorga’s in-laws. According to ACLU-NM, officers surrounded the home of Cindy and Rick Poolaw, ordered family members out and handcuffed them all, then searched the house. The settlement follows a Court of Appeals ruling that said just being related to a suspect in a crime isn’t enough to establish probable cause for a search warrant.
The manhunt came after Astorga allegedly killed Deputy James McGrane, Jr. during a traffic stop. Astorga fled, and among the places Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputies searched for Astorga was the Poolaw’s, even though Rick Poolaw, a former State Police officer, had been cooperating with the manhunt, according to the ACLU-NM.
According to a September, 2006 story from the Albuquerque Tribune, “The Sheriff’s Department has said Rick Poolaw could have been more helpful in the search.”
“We and the Poolaws have always been sympathetic to BCSO officers for the death of one of their own,” said ACLU-NM Co-Legal Director Jane Gagne. “We also have high regard for the great risks that law enforcement officers face every day in the line of duty. But our sympathy and our regard do not diminish our determination and our duty to honor and protect the Constitution.”
Albuquerque mayor-elect Richard Berry named Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White as his public safety chief earlier this week.
