Sunday, October 25, 2015

Still Sick Sunday: End of the Road

Just cleaning some things up from yesterday before shutting it down.

"New Mexico secretary of state pleads guilty to embezzlement" New York Times  October 24, 2015

PHOENIX — The New Mexico secretary of state, Dianna Duran, pleaded guilty Friday to embezzlement and money laundering for using campaign contributions to pay gambling debts.

I'm so glad casinos are coming here.

She had resigned hours earlier, one of the terms of a plea agreement that, if approved, could spare her from prison time.

That is what they call AmeriKan JU$TU$!

Speaking after her appearance before Judge T. Glenn Ellington of state District Court, Duran said, “I realized that I made some choices that were not healthy, and I will be seeking professional help.”

PFFFFFFT!

Later, she said her decision to plead guilty was made “in the best interests of my family and all New Mexicans.”

Not yourself to avoid prison, no.

Her sentencing has been scheduled for Dec. 14.

Duran, a Republican, faced 65 charges, after the attorney general, Hector Balderas, a Democrat, filed a criminal complaint in August accusing her of illegally transferring about $13,000 in campaign donations to personal accounts, where it was used in casinos around the state. Campaign finance reports were also modified to hide the transfers.

Hey, it was spare campaign cash helping drive the economy!

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Now I'm leaving angry.

"Man detained in road-rage killing of 4-year-old girl" Associated Press  October 22, 2015

ALBUQUERQUE — Police detained a man on Wednesday in connection with the road-rage killing of a 4-year-old girl who was shot in the back seat of her father’s truck after he picked her up from school.

Albuquerque police said the man taken into custody matched the description of the gunman.

Lilly Garcia was riding in the back of the truck with her 7-year-old brother Tuesday when someone in a Toyota opened fire on the family as they traveled down the main east-west freeway in Albuquerque....

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Related: Road Rage 

Well, Uber will do that to some people.

"Man admits he killed 4-year-old in freeway shooting, police say" by Mary Hudetz and Russell Contreras Associated Press  October 23, 2015

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man confessed to fatally shooting a 4-year-old while arguing with her father as the two men drove down a freeway in separate vehicles, police said, without offering more details.

Tony Torrez, 32, was arrested Wednesday and admitted shooting Lilly Garcia, who was in the back seat of her father’s pickup truck with her 7-year-old brother.

Authorities pressed the public for tips, offering about $25,000 for information leading to the shooter, who was driving a newer maroon or dark red Toyota Corolla or Camry with a spoiler on the trunk and dark tinted windows. The car also had a University of New Mexico license plate.

With help from an anonymous caller, detectives found Torrez, who ‘‘confessed to investigators he was responsible,” police said. He was being held on a $650,000 cash-only bond.

The death spawned an outpouring of sympathy nationwide. A GoFundMe account for funeral services and other expenses had taken in more than $64,000 since it was posted Tuesday.

And the hashtag #JusticeForLilly began showing up on social media.

This starting to stink like propaganda.

Torrez has been tied to violent crimes in New Mexico dating back a decade, but all of those cases were dropped.

The only crime for which he has been prosecuted was a misdemeanor speeding violation. He pleaded guilty to going 16 to 20 miles per hour over the speed limit in April 2013, according to court records....

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Related4 in family dead after SUV drives into Ariz. lake

"EPA blamed for spill at Colo. mine" Associated Press  October 23, 2015

BILLINGS, Mont. — Government investigators squarely blamed the US Environmental Protection Agency Thursday for a 3 million-gallon wastewater spill from a Colorado gold mine, saying an EPA cleanup crew rushed its work and failed to consider the complex engineering involved, triggering the very blowout it hoped to avoid.

The spill that fouled rivers in three states would have been avoided had the EPA team checked on water levels in the Gold King Mine before digging into a collapsed mine entrance, Interior Department investigators concluded.

The technical report on the causes of the Aug. 5 spill has implications across the United States, where similar disasters could lurk among the hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that have yet to be cleaned up. Some estimates put the total cost of containing the mining industry mess at more than $50 billion.

Where is the indu$try that caused it, and looks a lot more of problem than carbon, sorry.

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Also see:

EPA Should Have Mined Its Own Business

More Animas Toward EPA

House panel chairman criticizes EPA over toxic mine spill in Colorado 

Nice photo-op.

UPDATE: New Mexico court may rule on assisted suicide

"Officer shot in New Mexico dies of wounds"  Associated Press  October 29, 2015

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A decorated police officer died on Thursday after being shot more than a week ago by an ex-convict during a traffic stop, authorities said.

Albuquerque Officer Daniel Webster, 47, died after an emotional week in which restaurants held fundraisers to support his family and hotels donated lodging for relatives, police Chief Gorden Eden said in a statement.

‘‘This is a man who is truly a legacy within the department,’’ Eden said at a news conference. ‘‘I can’t say enough to the community, who rose up and did so much to support this family.’’

Webster spent nearly nine years with the Albuquerque Police Department and was named uniformed officer of the year in 2013. He previously served in the Army, completing a two-decade career before becoming a police officer.

As an Army Ranger, Webster was deployed to Bosnia, South Africa, and Iraq.

Webster was shot in his jaw and upper body on Oct. 21 after Davon Lymon, 34, opened fire and fled as he was being handcuffed, police said.

Lymon was later found hiding in a shed with a handcuff on his left wrist."