Here’s a look at today’s headlines:
The Grant County Commissioners held a combined work and regular meeting on Tuesday, February 14th. During the meeting, commissioners heard from Detention Center Administrator Mike Carillo, Road Superintendent Earl Moore, General Services Director Randy Villa, and Planner and Economic Developer Michael “Mischa” Larisch. Elected officials also made their reports, and went into executive session where they took no action.
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Deming Station received a distress signal from a rescue beacon located in the boot heel of New Mexico late Monday, February 13th. Due to the harsh desert terrain and night time conditions, agents on all-terrain vehicles were immediately dispatched to search the area. A short time later, they located two male subjects, citizens of Mexico, in their early 20s who appeared to be extremely exhausted. The subjects claimed to have gotten lost and veered toward the rescue beacon. Both subjects were checked by EMTs and transported the Deming Border Patrol Station for processing.
In legislative action, on Thursday, the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee passed House Bill 175. HB 175 seeks to ban solitary confinement for inmates under the age of 18, pregnant women, and those with known serious mental illnesses. The bill also introduces new reporting requirements on the number of inmates in solitary confinement, why they are being held there, and a report on all monetary settlements paid out to inmates as a result of lawsuits filed against the facility or its employees.
A bill to make it a crime to lie to inspectors from the Environment Department was killed in the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. The bill would have imposed criminal penalties for owners and operators of public water systems who lie to these inspectors. The bill originally applied to oil and gas companies as well.
The House of Representative unanimously passed House Bill 15, the Data Breach Notification Act. House Bill 15 could require service providers to implement reasonable procedures to protect the personal identifying information of consumers within their custody. It would also require providers to notify consumers whose information may have been compromised by a security breach. HB 15 will now be sent to the Senate for consideration.
Proposed legislation is advancing in New Mexico to ban the use on minors of conversion therapy that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate voted Thursday to approve the bill. The prohibition would apply to licensed physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other health practitioners and outlines disciplinary measures that can be taken by state licensing boards. The ban does not apply to ministers or clergy.
The reports from the legislature included in today’s headlines are highlights of news releases received by Silver City Radio, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the station.
