UPDATE at 4:23 p.m. on Jan. 15: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Task force facilitator Lilly Irvin-Vitela.
LAS CRUCES - The last two times the state of New Mexico went through the redistricting process, a stalemate between Republican governors (Gary Johnson and Susana Martinez) and the Democratic-controlled Legislature resulted in failure.
Unable to reach an agreement, the process ended up in the courts both times, with taxpayers picking up the tab for costly legal fees more than $9 million in the two years combined.
Federal law requires political districts to be redrawn every 10 years after the Census to account for population shifts. In New Mexico, new maps need to be drawn for the three U.S. House of Representatives districts, 42 state Senate districts, 70 state House districts and 10 Public Education Commission districts.
A fourth term of the contract, the School Committee has the right to send Malone to undergo an independent medical examination to determine if he is capable of performing the functions of his job “should a question of fitness arise in the future.
Earlier this month in a majority vote, School Committee members voted on the amendments to Malone’s contract in closed session.
In November, in another closed-door meeting, committee members vote retain Malone to run the Fall River School District which has over 10,000 students and 2,000 staff.
In both votes, sources indicated that there was a 4-to-2 vote, with School Committee members Kevin Aguiar and Paul Hart voting to fire Malone instead of amending his contract.
COVID is the theme of the 2021 Connecticut legislature
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Photo: Jessica Hill / Associated Press
The coronavirus pandemic, which abruptly canceled the 2020 session of the General Assembly, will continue to cast a shadow over the legislature’s new Zoom era. And this year, dozens of bills have been filed to shape Connecticut’s reaction to the crisis.
The new measures range from economic aid to public health initiatives to the future of mail-in voting and the extension of the governor’s emergency powers, which expire on Feb. 9. It’s all happening as lawmakers and citizens try to manage public discourse from homes and offices far from the State Capitol complex in Hartford.
When House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz’s final term ended Jan. 6, he quickly landed a big-time lobbying job and joined a parade across the decades of former speakers and other ex-leaders, who’ve capitalized on their contacts and knowledge of government operations to make lots of money influencing legislative and executive-branch decisions.
“In August 2020, I broke the tenets of our core values by behaving in a manner that disrupted the team work of our central office and hurt the feelings of our professional community. At that time, complaints were filed and the School Committee did the right thing by investigating, said Malone in a phone interview Tuesday. So now we’re in January and the investigation is done and discipline has been meted out and I want to say I am embarrassed by my actions in August and I’m sorry for my lack of professional judgment and lack of professional decorum and I apologize from the bottom of my heart to those whom I have impacted.”