Phaedra Haywood

2 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Phaedra Haywood

The New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board issued a temporary restraining order Thursday that bars the state Corrections Department from making staffing changes without first consulting union officials. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — which represents more than 800 corrections officers across the state — filed a complaint last week, accusing the department of "prohibited practices" during negotiations and seeking the restraining order.

2 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Phaedra Haywood

A public employee union that represents more than 800 corrections officers in New Mexico alleges the state Corrections Department is refusing to negotiate staffing levels in good faith, instead running lockups with too few people to allow safe conditions for workers and inmates.

2 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Phaedra Haywood

After 42 years in business, Stephen's A Consignment Gallery is packed with antique china cabinets, mid-century modern credenzas, gleaming silver tea services, crystal decanters, a former governor's watch collection and someone's late grandmother's opera-length pearls. About a year ago, the Cerrillos Road shop also accepted for consignment a massive private collection of ethnographic art and artifacts containing hundreds of pieces believed by some to date back more than 3,000 years.

2 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Phaedra Haywood

New Mexico became the first state in the nation to ban civil forfeiture in 2015, ending a practice known as "policing for profit" — seizing and selling the property of people who had been accused of a crime but not convicted. The first year of the law saw robust compliance from most of the three dozen agencies required to report data accounting for any seized goods and cash. But reporting dropped sharply after that.

3 weeks ago | santafenewmexican.com | Phaedra Haywood

A recent federal lawsuit alleges the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office seized $450,000 during a traffic stop last year and — after filing no charges — failed to return the truck driver's money. George Siddell, a California attorney representing plaintiff Joe Anthony Gomez, said in an interview this week he has handled many law enforcement forfeiture cases in his 55 years in practice, and this one doesn't appear to have been handled according to protocol.