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CYFD facing tough questions

Two Las Vegas children who were the subject of an Amber Alert are back in CYFD custody after they were located with their mother late Tuesday in Alamosa, Colo.

But now the Children Youth and Families Department is facing some tough questions about how the woman was able to flee the local CYFD office with the children during what was supposed to have been a supervised visit.

Among those wanting answers is Gov. Susana Martinez.

3 killed in helicopter crash...

The Associated Press

NEWKIRK — Authorities on Friday released the names of three crew members killed when a medical helicopter flying to pick up a patient crashed into the side of a New Mexico hilltop.

The helicopter was flying from Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe to Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari when it disappeared from radar at 2:48 a.m. Thursday.

It went down near Newkirk along Interstate 40 about 135 miles east of Albuquerque and about 30 miles from Tucumcari and burst into flames, killing all three aboard.

East board member resigning

The vacancy sign is once again out for a seat on the Las Vegas City Schools Board of Education. During a board meeting on Thursday evening, board member Ernesto Salazar announced his resignation from the board effective at the end of the month. Salazar cited his job relocation and his father’s declining heath as his reasons for his abrupt resignation. He is the current vice-president on the board.

Jail Log - July 25, 2014

The following individuals were booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center between July 11 and July 18:
Olivia Montaño, 33, probation violation: positive UA (heroin) 10-day sanction
Patrick Trujillo, 30, probation violation: positive for alcohol and failure to report three-day sanction
Joe Encinias, 24, battery on household member
Frank Romero, 27, failure to appear, bench warrant, Bernalillo
Gemma Esquibel, 43, disorderly conduct
Melissa Ortega, age unavailable, failure to pay fines, bench warrant, LV Municipal

BREAKING: Salazar resigns from...

Las Vegas City Schools board member Ernesto Salazar resigned from his position on the board Thursday evening.

See Monday’s Optic for a full article on Salazar’s resignation.

Auditor: No federal review of...

The Associated Press

SANTA FE — A federal Medicaid agency isn’t planning to review a decision by Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration last year to freeze payments to mental health providers because of alleged fraud, mismanagement and overbillings, State Auditor Hector Balderas said Thursday.

In a letter to a legislative panel, Balderas said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services informed him in March it decided not to review state findings of “credible allegations of fraud” against more than a dozen providers.

‘Harvey Girls’ coming to Vegas...

Las Vegas’ historic Harvey House will soon be coming back to life, so why not bring in the Harvey Girls, too?

The Las Vegas Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation and Allan Affeldt — the new owner of the Castañeda Hotel — plan to do just that during next Saturday’s Places With a Past Historic Homes Tour.

Medical helicopter crashes near...

The Associated Press

NEWKIRK — A medical helicopter flying to pick up a patient crashed Thursday into the side of a New Mexico hilltop, bursting into flames and killing all three crew members on board, authorities said.

The helicopter was flying from Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe to Tucumcari when it disappeared from radar at 2:48 a.m.

It went down near Newkirk along Interstate 40 about 135 miles east of Albuquerque and about 30 miles from Tucumcari.

County agrees to pay $70K

San Miguel County has agreed to pay nearly $70,000 in back pay to eight current and former detention officers to settle a lawsuit alleging that the officers weren’t paid for overtime worked or compensated for being on-call.

The settlement was reached last week during a nearly four-hour settlement conference in federal court.

While the county has agreed to a monetary settlement to end the lawsuit, County Manager Les Montoya said the county isn’t admitting to any wrongdoing.

Mixed results for Vegas schools

School grades released by the state Public Education Department Thursday morning contain both good and bad news for Las Vegas-area schools.

The best-performing school in both the West Las Vegas and Las Vegas City Schools districts, by far, was Union Elementary.