Today's News

A Las Vegas man is being held at the San Miguel County Detention Center on a $50,000 cash bond after a woman reported that he got into her vehicle on Chavez Street early Saturday morning, forced her to drive away and then raped her.

Anthony Ray Esquibel, 35, of the 500 block of Chavez Street has been charged with three counts of criminal sexual penetration, all third-degree felonies, and with a single count of false imprisonment. After taking the report, Las Vegas police arrested Esquibel, who, according to court documents is known to go by the alias “Spooky.”

Attorneys for the state Higher Education Department and the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority are warning the Luna Community College Board of Trustees that attempting to oust their chairman before the next board election would be a violation of state law.

In separate letters to college officials dated Aug. 1, those attorneys say state law is clear on the issue. Their interpretation backs up the legal opinion proffered by Tony Ortiz, the school’s own attorney at the last board meeting.

The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — An audit of 15 behavioral health providers in New Mexico says a couple who run a Santa Fe-based nonprofit that provides Medicaid-funded services to children and families is estimated to make as much as $1.5 million a year in salaries and other income.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the audit says Shannon and Lorraine Freedle derived much of that income from leases paid by the nonprofit, TeamBuilders Counseling Services Inc., to holding companies owned in full or in part by the Freedles and other TeamBuilders officers.

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center has agreed to represent Mora County if it is sued over the Community Rights Ordinance that the commission majority adopted earlier this year, board chairman John Olivas announced recently.

The ordinance bans oil and gas extraction within the county and also seeks to strip corporations that want to drill of rights that courts have said they enjoy.

Olivas said in his release that the New Mexico Environmental Law Center has agreed to defend the county on any constitutional claims that might arise.