TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Bernalillo County Clerk sexual harassment suit settled
A lawsuit that exposed sexually charged working conditions in the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office has been settled for $80,000, The Albuquerque Journal writes today.
Plaintiff Richard C. Espinoza alleged in a federal lawsuit filed against the county and its top election official that he was sexually harassed from 2004 to 2006. The resulting depositions revealed a randy side of the Clerk's Office, from lewd e-mails sent from government computers to off-color gifts and comments. Former County Clerk and now Secretary of State Mary Herrera said she was never aware of the alleged activities. County officials sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, but the case was scheduled for trial in September. Espinoza approved the settlement last month.
Work on a 40-foot-tall sculpture memorializing Mexican immigrants who risk their lives crossing the border illegally may be halted near Downtown Santa Fe after officials said it may pose a safety issue to passersby, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican.
Sculptor Neil Bernstein calls the piece he is constructing near El Museo Cultural in the Santa Fe Railyard area "Golden Gates Bridge Over Troubled Borders." Railyard officials call the jumble of gold-painted plastic pipe and flowing metallic fabric potentially dangerous and want Bernstein to stop work until he gets a construction permit and erects a fence around the sculpture. Bernstein says the move demonstrates prejudice toward illegal immigrants.
Carlsbad residents aren't exactly rushing to get the new U.S. passport card that substitutes for a passport when crossing the border into Mexico, Canada and several other Western Hemisphere countries, The Carlsbad Current-Argus writes today.
The passport card was envisioned by federal officials as a way to beef up security without the traveler needing a passport. The new cards are cheaper ($45 vs. $100) but cannot be used for air travel. But while applications at federal offices and aid agencies have been light so far, some are encouraging people to act before the new travel requirements go into place next year.
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