By Susan Montoya Bryan and Cedar Attanasio, Associated Press
Around 15,000 residents previously ineligible for pandemic stimulus checks have started receiving payments from the state. The group includes immigrants in the country without work authorization.
Officials with the New Mexico Human Services Department said the $465 relief payments began arriving this week via direct deposit or checks.
The Legislature allocated $5 million to the fund for those who hadn t received federal payments in April. Agency officials say they were able to identify an additional $2 million on top of that.
Drawing from unspent federal relief funds, New Mexico s relief package was part of a $330 million appropriation that included additional money for New Mexicans already on unemployment or whose benefits had run out. Funding also was earmarked for more COVID-19 testing and support for food banks.
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
New Mexico is partnering with a national health care company to provide free, at-home COVID-19 test kits.
State health officials said Tuesday that the kits can be ordered via Vault Medical Services website. All that s needed is an internet connection, email address and a photo.
Recipients can mail the sample back for processing after self-administering the test with a virtual testing supervisor. Results will be returned within 24 to 48 hours of being received by the lab.
State officials acknowledged the lack of broadband access around New Mexico and said the new at-home option is meant to bolster the in-person testing clinics that have been operating since the pandemic began.
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Detection of foreign bribery, as well as awareness of related risks, are still lacking in Iceland. In spite of having been one of the original signatories to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, Iceland has only recently commenced its first foreign bribery investigation. Detection of
foreign bribery by the Icelandic authorities needs therefore to be significantly improved. The 44-country OECD Working Group on Bribery has just completed its Phase 4 evaluation of Iceland’s implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments.
The Working Group made a range of recommendations to Iceland to improve its capacity to combat foreign bribery, including to: ensure that all credible allegations of foreign bribery are properly and thoroughly assessed and, as appropriate, proactively investigated, particularly against legal persons, using all available investigative techniques and mutual legal assis