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.
One of the three men who branded a swastika on the arm of a mentally challenged Navajo man in Farmington, New Mexico has been notified by federal authorities that it’s likely he’ll be charged with a hate crime, KOB TV reports. The defense attorney for Paul Beebe, one of three men arrested for the incident, received a letter dated June 29 from the U.S. Attorney’s office saying that Beebe can be charged with a hate crime if a federal grand jury finds that the victim was targeted due to his race and/or a disability. Conviction of a hate crime allows for stronger sentences to be imposed.
The incident occurred in April. A young mentally challenged Navajo man was taken to an apartment by Beebe and two other men, where he was branded with a swastika symbol on his arm with a hot coat wire. They also shaved a swastika into his hair and wrote epithets on his body before letting him go. In addition to hate crimes, the three perpetrators will likely face federal kidnapping charges also, the letter to Beebe’s attorney said.
