By Ed Williams, Searchlight New Mexico |
5 hours ago
Don J. Usner/Searchlight New Mexico
Secretary Brian Blalock of the Children, Youth and Families Department in his office in Santa Fe in 2020.
The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department has fired two high-level employees who raised concerns about the agency’s practice of encrypting and summarily destroying records.
A Searchlight New Mexico investigation has found that over the past year, the CYFD used the secure text messaging app Signal to discuss a wide range of official business, including the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the care of children in state custody and concerns about private contractors. Department leadership then set many of those communications to automatically delete, rendering them forever inaccessible to attorneys, members of the public and journalists.
New Mexico Human Services Dept. Announces Campaign Promoting Mental And Physical Well-Being Resources
HSD News:
SANTA FE – A Dose of Wellness is a new campaign to promote mental and physical well-being by offering positive tools and informational resources to help New Mexicans improve their health, the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) announced.
“We cannot separate the mind from the body,” said Dr. Neal Bowen, division director for Behavioral Health Services at HSD. “Poor physical health increases the risk of mental health concerns; just as mental health concerns have a negative impact on physical health.”
The campaign is designed to increase public awareness, provide helpful resources, and reduce the stigma, misconceptions and false information surrounding health issues. It also aims to help New Mexicans identify risky or dangerous behaviors by offering screening tools and entry points for additional resources.
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New Mexico Human Services Department Is Spreading The Word About Emergency Broadband Benefit New Program
HSD News:
SANTA FE The New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) announced Friday it is working to help build consumer awareness about the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program.
The temporary benefit will help to lower the cost of broadband service for eligible households during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
The $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit program provides a discount of up to a $50 per month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for qualifying households on qualifying Tribal lands.
State health officials relax mask mandate
Last updated 5/15/2021 at 4:55pm
SANTA FE The New Mexico Department of Health announced on Friday, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated guidance, that vaccinated individuals will no longer be required to wear masks in indoor or outdoor settings.
Individuals who are not yet fully vaccinated are still required under public health orders to wear masks in public settings. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after either their second dose of either Pfizer or Moderna or their lone dose of Johnson & Johnson.
It wasn t immediately clear how, or if, state officials might try to confirm who s been vaccinated.