Austin Fisher

Santa Fe

Senior Reporter at Source New Mexico

journalist. personal account

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Articles

New Mexico early childhood agency launches summer food program

1 week ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

Young people and some adults with disabilities in New Mexico can receive free food this summer at hundreds of sites across the state. The state Early Childhood Education and Care Department last week launched its statewide Summer Food Service Program, which offers free, nutritious meals to children while on break from school and to adults who are enrolled in school programs for people with disabilities.
Family of man shot by state police asks court to unlock public records

1 week ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

The uncle of a Las Cruces man fatally shot in January by New Mexico State Police is asking a state judge to compel the Department of Public Safety to release records about the incident. Martin Beltran, of El Paso, on Monday filed a petition for writ of mandamus in First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, alleging that the State Police records custodian violated the state Inspection of Public Records Act by refusing to release public records related to the Jan.
NM lawmakers review security practices after Minnesota assassination

1 week ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

by Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico June 16, 2025 State lawmakers in New Mexico began reviewing their security plans on Monday following the assassination of a high-ranking state legislator in Minnesota. State and federal prosecutors are seeking murder charges against Vance Boelter, who is suspected of assassinating Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. He is also accused of shooting a state senator and his wife, who are expected to recover.
NM Corrections Department must negotiate prison staff changes, labor board rules

1 week ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

New Mexico’s prison system must negotiate with the union representing prison guards before it makes any changes to their work schedule, the state’s labor board ruled last week. Under their labor contract with the state government, prison guards have the opportunity, by seniority, to submit bids for jobs.
New Mexico lawmakers, ACLU endorse petition allowing citizen complaints against police

2 weeks ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

by Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico June 12, 2025 The New Mexico Law Enforcement Certification Board will ask the state Department of Justice to weigh in on whether it can accept police misconduct complaints filed by citizens. At the opening of the board’s regular meeting on Thursday morning, Vice Chair Cody Rogers Benavidez said it will formally request a legal opinion from the department.
Supreme Court publishes first-ever interpretation of landmark Civil Rights Act

2 weeks ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

State government entities in New Mexico that act like courts when they resolve disputes can claim immunity from civil rights lawsuits, the state’s highest court ruled earlier this month in its first interpretation of the 2021 New Mexico Civil Rights Act. However, the New Mexico Court of Appeals must still figure out whether the state’s horse racing regulator was acting like a court when it disciplined a horse trainer in the summer of 2021.
‘Back to the days of land grabs’

2 weeks ago | taosnews.com | Austin Fisher

Even though the Republican tax and spend bill that cleared the United States House of Representatives last month no longer authorizes the sale of thousands acres of public land, state lawmakers in New Mexico say they will continue to monitor how the federal government’s actions toward public lands could impact Native nations.
Rio Rancho hospital violated workers’ rights, judge rules

2 weeks ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

Management at a hospital in Rio Rancho violated workers’ labor rights by refusing to bargain over a series of layoffs in 2023, a state district court judge ruled this week. Second Judicial District Court Judge Elaine Lujan issued a ruling on Tuesday upholding an earlier order by the state Public Employee Labor Relations Board, which found that the University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center breached its legal duty to bargain with the union who represents workers there.
Homeland Security accelerates border wall construction in New Mexico and Arizona

2 weeks ago | idahostatejournal.com | Austin Fisher

The U.S. government this month set aside environmental protection laws in order to speed up border wall construction along approximately 20 miles of New Mexico’s border with Mexico. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last Tuesday signed a waiver of various federal laws to expedite border wall construction in southwestern New Mexico. She also signed two similar waivers for areas in neighboring Arizona on Tuesday and Thursday.
Hundreds of state workers evacuated twice in one month due to gas leaks

2 weeks ago | sourcenm.com | Austin Fisher

Hayley Peterson recalls coming in to work on the morning of May 5 and stepping off the elevator to the third floor of her office and immediately smelling natural gas. “It just smelled like gas, like crazy, in the building,” she said. Peterson, an epidemiologist at the New Mexico Department of Health and a union steward with Communications Workers of America Local 7076, works in the Homestead Building, a state government office building in Albuquerque.