DWI

Despite moving testimony from Dan Koffman, the father of the only survivor of a June car accident in which a drunk diver killed four Santa Fe teenagers, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday tabled one of Sen. Peter Wirth’s DWI bills and voted for no recommendation on a second, also introduced by Wirth.

Two bills designed to reform laws related to DWI, brought by Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, made their way through the Senate Public Affairs Committee Tuesday. Neither got out of committee with a “do-pass” recommendation, and each gained an additional committee assignment.

Sen. Kent Cravens, a Republican from Albuquerque, announced yesterday that he will join the race for lieutenant governor, the AP reports. He joins a field already crowded with nearly a dozen other candidates, mostly Democrats. Cravens has become known for his work on DWI laws since four of his relatives were killed by drunk driver [...]

I neglected to write about this last week, but here’s a bit of good news for New Mexico in the midst of all the not-so-good news.
New Mexico is now officially not one of the 10 states with the highest rates of drunken driving fatalities, Gov. Bill Richardson announced Friday.

Though New Mexico has seen one of the more infamous drunk driving cases in its history last Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reports that New Mexico may have turned the corner on our state’s notorious drunk driving problem.

New Mexico’s sentencing guidelines need to be revised, and revised immediately. Repeat drunk drivers, the kind who routinely drive with blood alcohol levels well above the legal limit, need to be taken off the streets, and kept off.

After saying last week that she would not release the results of blood alcohol tests on Scott Owens, the 28-year old man involved in a car crash that killed four teenagers, First Judicial District Attorney Spence Pacheco today changed course and, with Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano, made the information public.

The Duke City fix follows up today on the move to cut tax incentives for the film industry in New Mexico. With harsh criticism of such a legislative move, the blog also provides some information on how to actively oppose the bill. Click here for that.

About 1,890 employees and visitors to Los Alamos National Laboratory could have been exposed to beryllium contamination at a storage facility in Los Alamos Canyon, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.
Meanwhile, superintendent Winston Brooks has ordered 5 percent to 10 percent cuts in administrative costs throughout the Albuquerque Public Schools system, according to the Albuquerque [...]