Top New Mexico Official Faces 64-Count Indictment; Philly’s Pothole Predicament
New Mexico state flag fstockfoto / Shutterstock.com
Also: Stripping a South Carolina name in Minnesota and North Carolina’s ongoing budget ‘purgatory.’
Here some of what we’ve been reading today ...
SANTE FE, New Mexico: The New Mexico state government and political community is still digesting Friday’s 64-count indictment of Secretary of State Dianna Duran on fraud, embezzlement and money laundering charges. The indictment, brought by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, alleges Duran used campaigns for personal use, including gambling. “It’s important that New Mexicans understand that no one is above the law and that every New Mexican is treated equally under our system,” Gov. Susana Martinez said in a statement. [NM Politics]
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: Here’s a troubling statistic for anyone who uses the streets of Philadelphia. According to WHYY / NewsWorks:
There have been 2,019 reported sinkholes across the city this year, according to the Philadelphia Streets Department. That's up nearly 20 percent from last year with four months left to go in 2015.Streets Commissioner David Perri says that means there's roughly one sinkhole every mile of city road.
The main culprits? Extreme cold winter weather and, you guessed it, aging infrastructure. [WYHH / Newsworks]
RALEIGH, North Carolina: Budget season is dragging on in North Carolina, well beyond the July 1 deadline a new budget was supposed to have taken effect. Now the state legislature is dealing with its third budget extension. As The News & Observer reports, House Rep. Chuck McGrady, the chief GOP budget writer, has called the period “both purgatory and limbo.” The new deadline for a budget is Sept. 18. [The News & Observer]
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota: There’s an effort by the descendents of the Dakota tribe to change the name Lake Calhoun to what it was originally known as, Bde Maka Ska, or White Earth Lake. While there are reasons to strip Calhoun’s name from the lake because of the powerful South Carolina senator’s legacy for supporting slavery and the Indian Removal Act, the move, according to the Star Tribune, “is to more vividly commemorate the historical Dakota presence at the lake. That includes the Dakota agricultural settlement between 1829 and 1839 led by Cloud Man on portions of what is now Lakewood Cemetery.” [Star Tribune]
OREGON CITY, Oregon: The newly elected mayor of Oregon City admits that he erred when he improperly used the city’s quarterly newsletter to urge residents not to sign a petition for a proposed ballot initiative that would prevent the municipality from using urban renewal funds for new urban renewal projects, according to The Oregonian. "I can say it to you, I can write in a letter to the newspaper but I can't say it in the Trail News," the mayor said, according to the newspaper. [The Oregonian]
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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