NEW MEXICO

Wandering wolf captured, readied for dating game

ALBUQUERQUE – A match made in the wilds of New Mexico?

An endangered Mexican wolf captured in early December after wandering hundreds of miles from Arizona to New Mexico is now being readied for a dating game of sorts as part of federal reintroduction efforts.

But only time will tell whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can succeed in finding a suitable mate for the female wolf numbered F2754. The newly captured wolf will be offered a choice among two brothers that are also housed at the federal government’s wolf management facility in central New Mexico.

It could be late February or early March before biologists know if their efforts are successful.

It has been 25 years since Mexican gray wolves were first reintroduced into the Southwestern U.S. Through captive breeding and targeted releases, wildlife managers have been able to build up the population of what is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America.

Federal and state wildlife managers had been tracking the lone female wolf for months, waiting for an opportunity to capture her again. Her journey began in the mountains of southeastern Arizona and crossed the dusty high desert of central New Mexico before reaching the edge of Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Officials said the goal is that the match-making efforts net pups in the spring and more wolves can be released to boost the wild population.

The recovery area spanning Arizona and New Mexico is currently home to more than 240 of the endangered predators. There also is a small population in Mexico.

Governor proposes $500M to treat fracking wastewater

SANTA FE – New Mexico would underwrite development of a strategic new source of water by buying treated water that originates from the used, salty byproducts of oil and natural gas drilling, and help preserve its freshwater aquifers in the process, under a proposal from the state’s Democratic governor.

The initiative from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, announced on Dec. 5 from the international climate conference at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, would set water purification standards and purchase treated water that originates from oil fields as well as the state’s vast natural underground reservoirs of brine. It requires legislative approval.

The idea is to create a government-guaranteed market for the commodity – treated water – and attract private enterprise to build desalinization and treatment facilities, securing new sources of water for industrial applications. The administration hopes to make the water available to businesses ranging from microchip manufacturers to hydrogen fuel producers that separate the element from water in an energy-intensive process.

Lujan Grisham said she’ll ask the legislature to set aside $500 million to underwrite acquisition of treated water. The arrangement would harness the state’s bonding authority and financial reserves held in its multibillion-dollar Severance Tax Permanent Fund. The trust, founded in the 1970s, is sustained by taxes on the extraction of oil, natural gas and other minerals from state land.

Lujan Grisham said the goal is avoid a reckoning on fresh-water supplies as the Rio Grande and underground fresh-water aquifers recede. The state also has extensive underground reservoirs of salty water that have been of limited use.

That brackish water is a crucial component in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and advanced drilling techniques that have helped turn New Mexico into the No. 2 oil production state in the U.S.

KANSAS

Courts’ computer systems heads back online after cyberattack

TOPEKA – The court system in Kansas has started bringing its computer system for managing cases back online, two months after a foreign cyberattack forced officials to shut it down along with public access to documents and other systems, the judicial branch announced on Dec. 14.

The case management systems for district courts in 28 of the state’s 105 counties are expected to be back online by Dec. 18, with others following by the end of the week. Online access to documents for the public will be restored after that, though counties that go back online will be able to offer access through terminals at their courthouses, the judicial branch said.

The courts also have restored systems that allow people to apply for marriage licenses online and file electronic requests for orders to protect them from abuse, stalking and human trafficking.

The Kansas Supreme Court’s seven justices, who oversee administration of the state courts, said last month that the judicial branch was the victim of a “sophisticated foreign cyberattack.” Criminals stole data and threatened to post it on a dark website “if their demands were not met,” the justices said.

However, judicial branch officials have not publicly disclosed the hackers’ demands, whether a ransom was paid or how much the state has spent in restoring judicial branch systems.

The long outage has forced courts in the affected counties to return to having documents filed on paper. Judicial branch officials acknowledged that it could take weeks for the courts to electronically log all of the filings since the Oct. 12 shutdown.

NEBRASKA

Critics pan $450M stadium renovation as academics face cuts

OMAHA – The University of Nebraska is planning a $450 million renovation of the Cornhuskers’ football stadium in Lincoln and at the same time looking to cut millions of dollars from the university system, leading critics to question whether officials care more about athletics than academics.

Faculty at Nebraska and nationally acknowledge the importance of athletics at a Big Ten university but said the divergent funding plans send a message that teaching and research take a back seat to Nebraska’s football program.

The high-priced Memorial Stadium renovation was given preliminary approval this fall, even as the four-campus University of Nebraska system faces a $58 million budget shortfall that threatens to cut staff and academic programs. That includes deep cuts at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where students and staff have protested the school’s announced elimination of its geography and theater programs, as well as cuts to other humanities offerings and its cybersecurity program.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln – the system’s flagship campus and home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers – and the University of Nebraska-Omaha also are anticipating academic program cuts to deal with shortfalls blamed on inflation, stunted revenue growth and declining enrollment.

Critics also decried the ballooning salaries of university administrators, such as the $1 million annual pay to the outgoing NU President – a nearly 40% increase over his predecessor – as academic programs are being cut.

University officials say the stadium project will not use taxpayer money, instead relying on private fundraising and the athletic department’s surplus funds.

MONTANA

Miner curbs expansion, lays off 100 as palladium plunges

The owner of two precious metals mines in south-central Montana is stopping work on an expansion project and laying off about 100 workers because the price of palladium fell sharply in the past year, mine representatives said on Nov. 30.

Sibanye-Stillwater announced the layoffs at the only platinum and palladium mines in the United States, near Nye, Montana, and other Sibanye-owned facilities in Montana, including a recycling operation. Another 20 jobs have gone unfilled since October, officials said.

Another 187 contract workers – about 67% of the mining contract workers at the mine – will also be affected. Some contract work has been phased out over the past couple of months, said Heather McDowell, a vice president at Sibanye-Stillwater.

Palladium prices have since fallen from a peak of about $3,000 an ounce in March 2022 to about $1,000 per ounce now. Platinum prices also have fallen, but not as dramatically.

Platinum is used in jewelry and palladium is used in catalytic converters, which control automobile emissions.

South Africa-based Sibanye bought the Stillwater mines in 2017 for $2.2 billion. The Montana mines buoyed the company in subsequent years at a time when it was beset by strikes and a spate of worker deaths at its South Africa gold mines.