Free Republic

More than 300 abortion opponents held rallies Tuesday in New Mexico demanding the government investigate whether Planned Parenthood is illegally selling aborted fetal tissue, and that it defund the national organization. The protests, at the state Capitol in Santa Fe and at Planned Parenthood clinics in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, were a spinoff of the recent national furor over secretly recorded videos posted to YouTube, showing organization officials talking about providing fetal tissue and organs for research in exchange for payment. Anti-abortion groups have seized on the videos as evidence of what one rally speaker called the “scandal of selling...

Thursday night, Albuquerque police identified the man killed in a shootout at a west side Motel 6 with former CNN reporter Chuck de Caro as 27-year-old Tomorio Walton, who APD says is an absconder out of Memphis, Tennessee. APD spokesperson Tanner Tixier said it is unknown how long Walton had been in the Albuquerque area.

Newly released body camera video shows a New Mexico police officer performing CPR on an 8-month-old baby, an act that the young girl’s mother said saved her life. When her daughter Karly would not wake up in the early afternoon hours of May 14, a frantic Alyssia Rios dialed 911, according to Albuquerque-area television station KOAT. Officer Martin Smith of the Albuquerque Police Department responded to her home and immediately began performing CPR on the unconscious child, the video showed.

A group of Albuquerque bikers came to 5-year-old Albuquerque girl’s rescue this week. The girl who was bullied on her way home from school got an unexpected visit by the Punishers. They’re loud, big, burly bikers dressed in black. While the men may appear dark and dangerous, the Punishers, a law enforcement motorcycle club in Albuquerque are far from it. “We are all pretty soft hearted. I’m actually a nurse,” said Punishers LE/MC Albuquerque President Norman Gonzalez. This week the group, made up of military veterans and former police officers, banded together with local self-defense group Shockwave to help a...

RIO RANCHO, N.M. – A suburban Albuquerque police officer was shot and killed (May 25, 2015) during a traffic stop, the first time a Rio Rancho officer was fatally shot in the line of duty in the department's 34-year history.

George Fischbeck, a science teacher turned weatherman who joined KABC-TV in 1972 and spent nearly two decades exuberantly delivering the local forecast, has died. He was 92. Fischbeck, who was known as "Dr. George," died of natural causes early Wednesday morning at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, his daughter, Nancy Fischbeck, said. A trained meteorologist, George Fischbeck was so enthusiastic about his subject that he sometimes forgot to talk about the next day's weather.

Seniors at a New Mexico high school have voted to hold a prom with a communism theme, which they've dubbed "prom-munism." KRQE-TV in Albuquerque ( http://goo.gl/x2zXLb ) reports that Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School students voted online this week for the theme.

Students at an Albuquerque, N.M., school decided that communism should be the theme for their prom — now dubbed "Prom-munism." The decision by seniors at Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School has upset some members of the school. One student who spoke to local CBS affiliate KRQE, but asked to remain anonymous, said "I hope that Cottonwood would realize the seriousness of having a very powerful and destructive idea as the theme for a prom."

Police discover valuable Momaday art in condemned apartment Art showed up in a surprising place last week, when a police officer discovered more than $33,000 worth of prints by renowned artist Al Momaday in a condemned property in the Northeast Heights. According to the incident report, an Albuquerque police officer accompanied city officials who were boarding up an apartment known to him as a site for stashing stolen property. He spotted a portfolio box on the floor containing 72 prints by Momaday, a Native American artist from the Kiowa tribe in Oklahoma. The artist lived on the Jemez Pueblo for...

Lapel camera footage shots Albuquerque police officers shooting and killing John Edward Okeefe on Jan. 13, 2015.

(Reuters) - Prosecutors in New Mexico are seeking murder charges against two Albuquerque police officers in connection with the 2014 shooting death of a homeless man, which sparked protests in the city, police said on Monday. Former Albuquerque police detective Keith Sandy and current officer Dominique Perez could face murder charges linked to the March 16 killing of mentally ill homeless man James Boyd, police spokesman Tanner Tixier said. That shooting prompted protests sharply critical of the Albuquerque police department, which the federal government found has used excessive, even deadly, force against civilians. It is now facing reforms and is...

One of the two lemurs attacked by another primate earlier this week at the Albuquerque zoo died Saturday. The ABQ Bio Park said a 26-year-old siamang named Brian pried open some heavy-duty mesh that was separating its enclosure from the lemurs on Tuesday. Brian climbed in and attacked the two lemurs. "Both received injuries to their tails and also bite wounds that required some suturing," said Debbie Wiese, the zoo’s primate supervisor. ... The BioPark is now keeping the siamangs and lemurs in separate exhibits to avoid any future problems.

Members of the UNM women's soccer team are alleging they were hazed by teammates Sunday night. A victim's parent confirmed to KOB Monday night that freshmen on the women's soccer team were forced to strip naked, consume large amounts of alcohol and were sprayed with urine. One of the victims ended up in the hospital, according to UNM police, who also said someone called 911 just before midnight Sunday night to report the incident. One victim's family has already retained an Albuquerque attorney who confirmed the information about the alleged hazing.

Albuquerque man was severely bitten when he tried to stop an attack on his daughter by the family's dog. ... 90-pound pitbull mix . ... The family must decide if they want to keep the dog or put it up for adoption

Some streets looked more like a raging river. One police officer even tried blocking traffic with his car, while water moved in all around him. "This is really a shock. I didn't expect it, said Albuquerque resident, Rein Whitt-Pritchette. "I've been in Albuquerque since 1971. I rarely have ever seen that kind of rain before."

Police: Inmate hid in laundry basket to escape ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Authorities say a New Mexico inmate has been captured after he escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry basket. Officials say 28-year-old Kevin Matthew Perkins packed himself in the basket on Monday to get away from the Metropolitan Detention Center. Authorities say the laundry basket was headed to another facility. When an officer opened a truck door, officials say Perkins jumped out of the basket and ran. Albuquerque police later received a breaking and entering call at an assisted living complex. That's where they found broken glass from...

I am so angry writing this that it is hard to know where to begin. So, let’s start with the facts. The Albuquerque Police Department has killed 26 people since 2010 and wounded 40 more. To put this into perspective, this is twice the per capita rate as New York City and eight times the rate of Chicago. Walter White killed as many people as the Albuquerque police have! This news is disturbing and infuriating at the same time. The people in Albuquerque are not safe, but it isn’t because of regular street thugs–it is because of thugs with badges....

Protesters advocating for drastic changes within a police agency criticized by the U.S. Justice Department over its use of force put the embattled police chief “on trial” during a rally Saturday. […] The Police Department is under scrutiny for over 40 police shootings—26 of them fatal—since 2010, and the Justice Department has issued a harsh report over the agency’s use of force. …

Veterans with serious heart conditions, gangrene, and even brain tumors waited months for care at the Albuquerque VA hospital, a whistleblowing doctor tells The Daily Beast. Add Albuquerque, New Mexico’s to the growing list of VA hospitals accused of keeping secret waiting lists to hide delays for veterans seeking medical care. And it may already be too late to get to the truth and find out what harm, if any, was done to veterans there—VA officials are already destroying records to cover their tracks, a whistleblower inside the hospital tells The Daily Beast. Last month, word broke that the Department...

Albuquerque police promoted a commander who was accused in a lawsuit of burning off part a homeless man’s ear with a stun gun, officials announced Thursday. Albuquerque Police Department Chief Gorden Eden said in a statement he was promoting two Albuquerque commanders to the newly created rank of major in response to a harsh U.S. Justice Department report that was critical of Albuquerque police’s use of excessive force and demanded the agency adopt a number of reforms. Foothills Area Commander Timothy Gonterman and Criminal Investigations Commander Anthony Montano will now oversee the East and West Side Field Services Divisions respectively,...