Wednesday’s Top Stories

Wednesday’s Five Facts

[1] Protests follow APD rehiring of officer who killed James Boyd – A group of protestors crashed the mayor’s office Tuesday to protest an officer who was fired and rehired after the shooting of a homeless man in the foothills. The shooting sparked protests and the firing of SWAT team members Perez and Keith Sandy. But Perez was reinstated under Mayor R.J. Berry in 2017 after his murder trial ended in a hung jury. APD says Perez’s duties do not involve taking calls or dealing with the public. According to APD, Perez recently moved from a job as an instructor at the firearms range to a position at the police academy. The mayor’s office has scheduled a meeting to discuss these concerns on Mar. 9. 

[2] Dr. David Scrase retires, reflects on time navigating pandemic – Doctor David Scrase is known as New Mexico’s top doctor who led the state through the pandemic. This month he officially retired from state leadership. He said giving information was crucial during the crisis and claims he responded to every email sent to him, hearing people out or pointing them to publicly available data. Dr. Scrase said his proudest accomplishment is actually not related to the pandemic. He says it was getting rid of the waitlist for people with developmental disabilities to get critical service – some of whom had been waiting since the early 2000s.

[3] Storm moves in bringing snow, rain and strong winds – Snow and rain will start moving into the northern and western high terrain by this afternoon. Heavy snow and rain showers will push across western NM overnight, and scattered rain and snow will continue for all of the state on Thursday. Snow and rain will be coming down during the Thursday morning commute in the Metro, Rio Grande Valley, northern mountains and all of western New Mexico

[4] City of Albuquerque looks to buy, redevelop closing Walmart store – Ten days after closing its doors for good, the Walmart on San Mateo near Central may get a new owner. City officials say they’re working with the state to raise money to ultimately buy and redevelop the property from Walmart. According to the city, state lawmakers have already secured a collective $2 million in capital outlay funding from the state legislature that could go toward a future acquisition or project on the site. The city says the goal is to repurpose the site to serve local residents. The company has not announced any plans for the property.

[5] New project aims to speed Rail Runner routes in Albuquerque – The Rio Metro Regional Transit District has begun construction on its traffic control extension project to help save time for commuters on the train. Officials say the plan is to try and increase the speed of the Rail Runner and decrease travel times which would include regulating train movements to control signals and switches. They say the redesign will increase track speeds from 20 miles per hour to up to 60 miles per hour in downtown and Second St. and Alameda Blvd. area which could reduce travel times by up to nine minutes.