NEW MEXICO

GOP candidate wants state referendum on abortion

SANTA FE – The Republican nominee for governor in New Mexico has proposed a statewide referendum that could place new limitations on access to abortion procedures, pitching the idea in a television ad on Sept. 15.

Mark Ronchetti has advocated for a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest and risk to the physical health of the mother. That’s in line with a proposal this week for a nationwide abortion ban from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

“I’ve made my position clear: end late-term abortion,” Ronchetti says in the ad, seated on a sofa alongside wife Krysty Ronchetti. “Put it on a statewide ballot so everyone gets a say.”

Referendums in New Mexico are limited to proposed state constitutional amendments that can be scheduled by the legislature, with or without the governor’s consent.

New Mexico state law ensures access to abortion with few restrictions even after the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back guaranteed access in a June decision.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham voiced immediate opposition to her opponent’s referendum proposal.

The governor has cast herself as a staunch defender of access to abortion, signing an executive order in August that pledges $10 million to build a clinic that would provide abortion and other pregnancy care.

Albuquerque is home to one of only a few independent clinics in the country that perform abortions in the third trimester without conditions.

Ronchetti and Lujan Grisham have cast each other as extremists on abortion policy. Anti-abortion activist Karen Bedonie also is running for governor as the Libertarian Party nominee.

Cowboys for Trump cofounder appeals ban from public office

SANTA FE – A New Mexico politician and Trump supporter who was removed and barred from elected office for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, is attempting to appeal that decision to the state Supreme Court.

Cowboys for Trump cofounder and former county commissioner Couy Griffin on Sept. 20 notified the high court of his intent to appeal.

The ruling against Griffin this month from a Santa Fe-based District Court was the first to remove or bar an elected official from office in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol building that disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served.

Griffin has invoked free speech guarantees in his defense and says his banishment from public office disenfranchises his political constituents in Otero County.

He was barred from office under provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which holds that anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution can be barred from office for engaging in insurrection or rebellion.

Griffin says he continues to act as his own legal counsel in the case.

This year, Griffin voted twice as a county commissioner against certifying New Mexico’s June 7 primary election, in a standoff over election integrity fueled by conspiracy theories about the security of voting equipment.

MONTANA

State to allow transgender people to change birth record

HELENA – After months of defiance, Montana’s health department said on Sept. 19 it will follow a judge’s ruling and temporarily allow transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificates.

The judge issued a scathing order that morning saying health officials made “calculated violations” of his order, which had told them to temporarily stop enforcing a law blocking transgender people from changing their gender on their birth certificates unless they had undergone surgery.

District Court Judge Michael Moses said he would promptly consider motions for contempt based on continued violations of his April order, which he clarified in a verbal order at a hearing four days earlier. Just hours after that hearing, the Republican-run state said it would defy the order and keep in place a rule that disallowed any changes to birth certificates unless they were due to a clerical error.

On the afternoon of Sept. 19, the Department of Public Health and Human Services issued a statement saying it would comply with the order, despite disagreeing with it.

Moses called the state’s interpretation of his earlier order “demonstrably ridiculous.”

In April, the judge temporarily blocked a law passed by the Republican-controlled 2021 legislature that would require transgender residents to undergo a surgical procedure and obtain a court order before being able to change the sex on their birth certificate. The health department “refused to issue corrections to birth certificates for weeks in violation of the order,” Moses wrote. The state did not appeal Moses’ ruling either.

The ACLU of Montana had requested the judicial clarification due to the state’s inaction.

UTAH

Oregon apologizes to BYU fans for profane, anti-Mormon chant

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Oregon and its student section have apologized to Brigham Young University fans after they were subjected to an offensive chant during the schools’ Sept. 17 football game.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports some Ducks fans were filmed yelling a profane chant against Mormons during the second half of the 41-20 Oregon victory over BYU. The video was posted on social media, prompting Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to tweet, “Religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon.”

The Pit Crew, which represents Oregon’s student section, issued an apology on Twitter, saying, “We do not condone or support any hateful speech directed towards one’s religion and are ashamed of those who participated.”

The University of Oregon also issued a statement apologizing for the chants.

“There is no place for hate, bias or bigotry at the University of Oregon, said Kris Winter, the university’s interim vice president for the Division of Student Life.

BYU, in Provo, is named for Brigham Young, who was the second president of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 to 1877. Most students at BYU are Mormon.

IDAHO

State a step closer to having largest research dairy in US

BOISE – The University of Idaho’s plan to build the nation’s largest research dairy and experimental farm cleared a big hurdle on Sept. 20.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little and two other statewide-elected officials on the Idaho Land Board approved the university’s plan to use $23 million to buy roughly 640 acres of farmland in south-central Idaho, the heart of the state’s dairy industry.

That would be the main focus of the school’s proposed Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, or CAFE.

Idaho’s dairy industry is the third-largest dairy producer in the nation, behind California and Wisconsin. But the industry in Idaho – and in general – faces a range of challenges with greenhouse gas emissions from animals, land and water pollution, and waste systems from dairies that can have thousands of cows that produce tons of manure.

University of Idaho’s president Scott Green, who called the vote a big win for the state, the university and the dairy industry, said the school hasn’t been able to do the large-scale research the industry needs to find solutions for those and other complex problems.

Green said students will get the education needed to work on the cutting edge of agribusiness and dairy sciences.

The state’s dairy industry has supported the plan, donating more than $8.5 million to date, according to state officials.