By Julia Goldberg | Editor-in-Chief
Morning, everyone. Happy Thursday. We have plenty of news as we head toward the end of the week, but we saved the best news for last in today’s newsletter: Weather forecasters yesterday said strong monsoons should start hitting New Mexico in the coming weeks, and may be active enough to help mitigate the pervading drought and the intense wildfire season. You’ll find even more read to below, with more to come at sourcenm.com.
The New Mexico Health Care Authority is in the early stages of establishing an agreement with the New Mexico Gaming Control Board to collect data on slot machine winnings by federal food assistance recipients. (Photo by Aaron Black for Getty Images)
Slot machine gamblers will face more scrutiny as NM tries to nix federal food program errors
As New Mexico Health Care Authority officials try to avoid a massive federal penalty by reducing errors in the state’s management of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, they are increasingly seeking data to help verify that every SNAP dollar goes to people who need it. The authority’s latest target for that data collection is slot machine gambling, Source’s Patrick Lohmann reports.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Wednesday announced it had settled allegations with the former executive director of the Santa Fe-based nonprofit The Life Link that she had misused federal housing funds. (Photo by Julia Goldberg/Source NM)
Former NM homelessness nonprofit director settles allegations she misused federal money
The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Wednesday announced it had settled allegations that a former Santa Fe homelessness nonprofit executive improperly obtained federal housing assistance money. Carolyn Luna-Anderson, who formerly served as executive director of The Life Link in Santa Fe, agreed to pay $735,000 to settle the allegations, the office announced.
A worker walks through rows of solar panels at the Cuidando Los Niños Community Solar Project in Belen, which lets PNM customers access solar energy without installing panels on their property. (Photo courtesy of Affordable Solar)
New Mexico regulators announce 16 community solar projects are online, generating power
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Wednesday announced that more than one-third of its planned 47 community solar power projects are operational. When fully built out, the community solar program is expected to deliver 200 megawatts of renewable energy in areas serviced by Public Service Company of New Mexico, Southwestern Public Service Company and El Paso Electric, Source senior reporter Joshua Bowling writes.
National forecasters on Wednesday released a new drought outlook, forecasting monsoon precipitation they predict could help alleviate — but not eliminate — drought conditions in much of New Mexico. (Image courtesy NOAA)
Forecasters see signs of strong NM monsoons later this month after punishing snow drought and heat
Source’s Patrick Lohmann reports forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday that they see indications New Mexico and the rest of the Southwest could experience strong monsoon rains in the coming weeks, which they described as a reprieve from record-low snowpacks and above-average temperatures across the region.
ICYMI
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