Texas woman triumphs as court upholds acquittal in voting error case

Crystal Mason has spent nearly a decade fighting conviction for casting provisional ballot that ultimately wasn’t counted

By Sam Levine for The Guardian

September 24, 2026

The nearly decade-long case of a Black Texas woman who was sentenced to five years in prison in a controversial illegal voting case will end with an acquittal, the state’s highest criminal court said in a 5-4 decision on Thursday.

The woman, Crystal Mason, has been appealing against the case ever since her 2018 conviction for casting a provisional ballot that ultimately wasn’t counted. In 2024, the Texas court of criminal appeals acquitted her in the case. The local prosecutor handling the case appealed that ruling to Texas’s highest criminal court, which initially agreed to hear it. But on Thursday, the court reversed itself, and said it would not hear an appeal, letting the acquittal stand. It did not offer any explanation for why.

“After 10 long years of fighting, I am overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. It’s hard to put into words how excited I am right now. This journey has been long, exhausting, and emotional, but God has carried me through it all,” Mason, 51, said in a text message.

Phil Sorrells, the Tarrant county district attorney, said in a statement: “Illegal voting remains a crime in Texas.

“If there is evidence that someone knowingly violates our election laws in Tarrant County, we will investigate it and, when the evidence supports it, prosecute it,” he said.

Mason was on supervised release – which is like probation – for a federal tax felony when she went to her polling place on election day in the 2016 presidential election. When she arrived, officials could not find her on the list of registered voters and offered her a provisional ballot, a safeguard required by federal law, to cast her vote. Mason decided to do so. Poll workers testified that they had Mason swear everything in the affidavit was true, though Mason has always disputed this occurred.

Texas, like many US states, prohibits people with a felony conviction from voting if they are on probation. Even though Mason signed an affidavit saying she was eligible to vote, she maintained she did not actually read the language on it and was never told she could not cast a ballot. Federal probation officials testified at her 2018 trial they never told her she couldn’t vote.

Prosecutors nonetheless argued Mason knew she was ineligible because she signed the affidavit and had sworn to poll workers that the information in the ballot was true. Mason has always maintained that testimony poll workers gave at her trial was not true. A judge found her guilty and sentenced her to five years in prison.

The case triggered outrage because Mason consistently maintained it was an innocent mistake and the severity of her sentence. As Donald Trump sought to escalate claims about voter fraud after the 2016 race, many also saw the case as a local effort to make an example of Mason.

“Civic participation without fear of imprisonment is a cherished right that is critical to our system of democracy. The highest criminal court in Texas affirmed that right by letting the lower court’s acquittal stand,” said Thomas Buser-Clancy, an attorney with the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped to represent Mason. “Ms. Mason has spent nearly a decade defending her rights in Texas and today we see that her efforts have been successful not only in defending her own freedom, but also in protecting the ability of Texans across the state to participate in our democracy without fear.”

Alison Grinter, another one of Mason’s attorneys, said the ruling was important given the upcoming midterm elections.

“This really is a great day for Texas voters who can finally celebrate their right to go to the polls unafraid and undeterred by partisan intimidation and scare tactics,” she said.

Because Mason was convicted of a criminal offense while on supervised release, she returned to federal prison for 10 months. During that period, she nearly lost her home to foreclosure and her teenage daughter was entrusted with running her household. Her college-age son left a football scholarship to return home and help with costs around the home. Mason has three children and also raised four of her brother’s children. She has 10 grandchildren.

Four of the justices on the court wrote dissenting opinions, saying they believed there was sufficient evidence Mason knew she was ineligible when she cast a ballot.

“The evidence presented by the State at Appellant’s trial for illegal voting was sufficient to show that Appellant ‘actually knew’ that she was ineligible to vote,” judge Lee Finley wrote in a dissent that was joined by judge Gina Parker. “The provisional voter affidavit, corroborated by the additional evidence presented by the State, leaves no doubt whatsoever that the trier of fact was presented with sufficient evidence to sustain Appellant’s conviction. This is not a close case.”

Mason was not particularly political before 2016, but since her conviction, she has become much more politically engaged. In 2022, she opened a rally for Beto O’Rourke and worked to educate voters about their rights.

Recently, she said, the wife of the current district attorney, Phil Sorrells, knocked on her door and asked her if she would consider voting for him this year.

“The irony of that moment is something I will never forget,” she said.

ICE shoots, then medically abuses, an unarmed and erroneously identified fugitive in Austin

[Compiled by Heather Cox Richardson from reports from the AP, the Washington Post, and The Atlantic, from her September 23 newsletter]

On Sunday an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan food delivery driver, in the back in Austin, Texas. With a bullet still lodged in his body, he was discharged from a hospital to ICE custody, where he spent the night in pain on a cold floor. Nick Miroff of The Atlantic reported yesterday that the officer was a recent hire who was not wearing a body camera, despite the promise of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that all ICE agents would wear cameras. News outlets reported that the officer had been issued one.

Officials told Miroff that the agents who stopped Garcés Pérez used a commercial database and federal immigration file that identified the man’s plates as belonging to someone with an outstanding deportation order; his lawyer said he had a valid work permit and is an asylum seeker, and that the deportation order came because notice of his immigration court hearing was sent to the wrong address. After a public outcry, officials took Garcés Pérez back to the hospital on Monday.

The White House banned Politico, citing anonymous sources. It provided the quotes.

In a letter defending its ban of Politico, the White House critiqued a report based on a press call it conducted, in which reporters were told not to name the speaker.

By Scott Nover for the Washington Post

September 23, 2026

The White House told Politico in a letter Tuesday that it had taken the unusual step of revoking its press passes last week because the news organization had violated professional standards, including by using anonymous sources and “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security … and publishing sensitive or classified information.”

But among the examples the White House cited was an article based on a press call the White House hosted, according to an invitation reviewed by The Washington Post. In the call, reporters were instructed to cite an anonymous “senior administration official” in relaying the news to the public, according to a recording reviewed by The Post.

The letter citing the report was one of three submitted by the government in court Tuesday in defense of its ban of Politico, along with CNN and MS NOW, from the White House grounds.

One of Politico’s six alleged offenses, according to the White House letter, is a June 2026 article that begins by quoting a “senior administration official” who details a push to end the war in Iran.

“In June 2026, Politico cited a ‘senior administration official … granted anonymity’ said the odds of a preliminary deal to end the conflict with Iran were between 80 and 85 percent,” the White House letter reads, alongside a message that unauthorized leaks can harm national security.

“Publication of sensitive security information, and misinformation about national security information, diverts White House resources and those of the national security team in particular,” the letter said. “The spread of misinformation, especially relating to national security, is a threat that undermines the President’s ability to safeguard the national security.”

The source in Politico’s story was not speaking against the White House’s wishes, but spoke in an authorized call during which reporters were instructed to attribute information to a “senior administration official.”

The White House did not provide comment. Politico did not respond to a request for comment.

After this article published, the media newsletter Status reported that the senior administration official who spoke on the call was Vice President J.D. Vance. The Associated Press reported earlier Wednesday that the letter “appeared to reference a background briefing set up by the White House” and linked to its reporting from that briefing.

A White House aide began the June call by setting the terms of the briefing:

“Good afternoon, and thank you for joining this press call,” the aide said, according to the recording. “The contents of this call are on background, attributable to a senior administration official. By remaining on the line, you agree to those terms. There is no embargo for the contents of the call.”

Then, a senior administration official identified themselves and spoke of the possibility of a deal to end the war.

“I think the second thing is we do expect to be signing this agreement over the next few days,” the senior administration official said. “I can’t give you an exact date. And if I were to give you a confidence that we were going to be finding this agreement, I maybe would have said 75 percent this morning. It’s probably more like 80, 85 percent now, but it’s not 100 percent.” (The U.S. and Iran said days later that they reached an agreement.)

Around the six-minute mark, the press aide reminded participants of the terms of the briefing: “Just for new entrants to the call, I’d like to remind everyone these comments are on background attributable to a senior administration official.”

It’s commonplace for the White House to offer briefings about ongoing hot-button issues and, because of the sensitivity of the situation, shroud the speakers in anonymity. The Associated Press, Bloomberg and CNBC were among several outlets who reported on the call, citing a senior administration official, but were not banned from the White House.

The White House has given Politico until Friday at 5 p.m. to contest the contents of the letter.

Poster’s post script: Political did. A Trump-appointed judge sided with Politico and the other news media banned from the White House.

Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW, Politico From White House Press Pool. What Do YOU Think?

[From The Onion]

President Trump banned news outlets CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from participating in the White House press pool, citing what he considers fake news coverage of himself. What do you think?

Jonah Gardner, Topiary Consultant

“Yeah, lots of grandpas yell at cable news.”

Lia Rowe, Pastry Attendant

“He says that now, but he’s going to miss belittling them to their faces.”

Evan Cortez, Poster Hanger

“I’m sure Anderson Cooper could go undercover as a teenage girl to get in.”

Court Orders Kennedy Name Removed From RFK Jr.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a bombshell ruling on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the Kennedy name removed from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “immediately.”

“Henceforth, the former Mr. Kennedy will be known as Robert Francis Trump,” Judge Harland Dorrinson ruled. “Since Donald J. Trump has long wanted to put his name on something named Kennedy, this seems like the perfect resolution.”

In a dramatic unveiling in court, the judge ordered a tarp removed from the former Kennedy, who now had the word TRUMP tattooed on his face.

The renaming of the former Mr. Kennedy drew the unanimous approval of the Kennedy family, who said in an official statement, “Finally, our nightmare is over.”

Albuquerque restores Christmas Eve luminaria bus tour

Mayor Tim Keller reversed the city’s decision to cancel the annual tour, while officials seek ways to reduce its costs next year.

By Gregory R.C. Hasman / Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

September 24, 2026

For a few days, some thought the city of Albuquerque was stealing Christmas from fans of its luminaria bus tours.

Then, Wednesday, Mayor Tim Keller directed the city to bring the annual event back. The announcement came less than a week after it announced that the bus tour would not happen this year.

“It is good for the city of Albuquerque to recognize tradition because within our own neighborhood, there’s so much family tradition,” Huning Castle Neighborhood Association president Rudy Garcia said. 

“And it’s hard when traditions are taken away. So kudos with the turnaround on that. And kudos to Councilor (Joaquín) Baca for acknowledging that,” Garcia said.

The Journal reported that tickets for the event, which cost $1.50 in 2025, would often sell out quickly. But the city said that over the last decade, an average of 62% of reserved tickets went unused. In 2025, the tour cost about $200,000 to serve 586 attendees — a cost to the city of $341 per person. The cost includes transit operations, staffing, barricades, police traffic control and signage.

At Monday’s city council meeting, Baca said $200,000 is “not that big by city standards.”

“One of our big jobs here is finding money … and nobody came to me and said, ‘Hey councilor, we may have to cancel. There may be something going on. Why don’t you help us find some money?’” he said. “That would have been a great conversation to have.”

Baca said canceling the bus tour would have caused increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the area.

“So, to me, you decided to take out a fixed route and security, and we’re probably going to drop in 300-plus cars because that’s about 650 people who can’t now take the bus … which means we have got a ton of pedestrians out there with no security, with more traffic, with no control, right?” Baca asked city Chief Operations Officer Matthew Whelan, who said yes.

“What’s next? Are we going to take away the Christmas parade and not call Councilor (Nichole) Rogers?” Baca asked. “Are we going to stop the Sunday cruise and not talk to Councilor (Klarissa) Peña? Are we going to take away buses for the Balloon Fiesta and not call Councilor (Brook) Basaan?”

For Baca, the event is more than about money. 

“I grew up on the luminaria tour,” he said. “I rode those buses every Christmas because my dad drove the luminaria tour. He complained sometimes, but mostly he was happy. He was really happy because of the pay differential, right? We did not grow up wealthy. This is how my parents paid for Christmas.”

In a phone interview on Wednesday evening, Baca said he was glad “the mayor reversed course and he’s going to protect one of our long-standing traditions.”

While this year’s Christmas Eve event will happen after all, city spokesperson Dan Mayfield said in a news release the city will work with employees, neighborhoods and community partners over the coming year to develop a plan that preserves the tradition while reducing costs and operational demands.

“You know, we can always be more efficient with our resources,” Baca said, “but there is a difference between just putting a monetary value on something and actually understanding the value of one of our traditions.”

UNM is first known public target of rogue OpenAI hacking attempt

AI attempted to breach four university and government websites unauthorized

By Natalie Robbins / Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

September 24, 2026

An artificial intelligence system at OpenAI, the company operating the chatbot ChatGPT, went rogue in at least four instances this year and attempted to hack into government and university websites across the world, including a digital library at the University of New Mexico.

In all four incidents, which took place from May through July, users directed the AI simply to collect data. When it failed to do so through normal means, the technology attempted to hack into the websites, according to research lab Transluce, which identified the incidents.

UNM’s website was the first public data provider identified to have suffered an attempted hacking by OpenAI on May 25 and 26. AI tried repeatedly via multiple means to retrieve a photograph from UNM’s Valmora collection, which contains records from a tuberculosis sanatorium in Mora County, according to Transluce.

The technology probed the website for vulnerabilities, tried to disguise traffic via proxy services and sent a flood of 80 requests to the server, hoping to bypass security controls, though the attempts all appear to have been unsuccessful.

Days later, on May 28, the program attempted to hack into Data USA, a repository of public data from the U.S. government. This attempt was also presumed unsuccessful, researchers said.

OpenAI next hacked Australian government websites, breaching the country’s Medicare Statistics Reporting Service website and acquiring private health data on June 18, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday, the New York Times reported. 

On June 20 and 21, the software hacked into the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s website, though it did not obtain any private information, the Times reported.

A spokesperson for OpenAI told the Times it had reached out to UNM, Data USA and the Australian government.

The discoveries of the attempted hackings come after OpenAI officials revealed in July that a group of rogue ChatGPT bots carried out a cyber attack against the tech firm Hugging Face.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Journal request for comment. 

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Oracle invokes ‘force majeure’ on Project Jupiter, but says data center still on track

Official says mechanism is ‘often used to preserve contractual rights among project partners’

By Justin Horwath / Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

September 24, 2026

Oracle Corp., the Austin technology company set to be the largest tenant of the Project Jupiter data center in Doña Ana County, sent the center’s developer a “force majeure” notice, according to a Bloomberg News report. 

Force majeure — “superior force” in French — is a contractual provision a party may invoke to avoid contractual obligations because of unforeseen or unusual circumstances. 

Oracle sent a force majeure notice to Stack Infrastructure, the developer of Project Jupiter, according to Bloomberg.

Michael Egbert, an Oracle vice president, wrote in an email to the Journal on Thursday that the project “remains on our planned schedule.” 

“We are fully committed to New Mexico and confident in our path forward,” Egbert said. 

“Force-majeure notices are commonplace in developments of this scale and are often used to preserve contractual rights among project partners,” Egbert said. “They do not, by themselves, establish a project delay or change delivery expectations.”

Oracle executives have pointed to a challenging regulatory environment in New Mexico as Project Jupiter has become one of the top news stories — and a national flashpoint for pushback against data centers.

Last week, the New Mexico Supreme Court gave the project a regulatory victory, lifting stays that had paused an air quality permit application and blocked water pumping for the construction site in Doña Ana County. 

Project Jupiter is relying on a state air quality permit that allows a company to build a 2.45-gigawatt power plant to provide electricity to the data center. The court lifted another stay that had prevented the project from using a well for construction, which is ongoing.

Egbert, the Oracle spokesperson, said it hired more than 900 workers in August, and that more than 3,600 construction workers are building the campus.

Still, Wall Street reacted negatively to the force majeure notice. Oracle’s stock was down over 4% in the 24-hour market, trading at $138 per share as of 10:30 a.m. That’s more than a $100 drop from its 2026 peak — $248 per share in early June.

In a Sept. 10 earnings call, Oracle reported earnings per share of $1.56 for the first quarter of the company’s 2027 fiscal year. That adds up to $6.7 billion in profits for the quarter, up 57% from the year-ago period. 

Pressed by an analyst about potential data center delays in New Mexico and Wisconsin during the earnings call, Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk said that “anyone that’s been in the business of doing construction or large-scale infrastructure development, if their plan relies on 100% achievement of every one of their deliverables, we have a term for that: It’s called a bad plan.” 

“New Mexico is an interesting location,” he added, citing regulatory proceedings. “We’re making very good progress in terms of construction, (the) data center is definitely on track.”

This story will be updated.

More than half of New Mexico nears average annual precipitation with late monsoon surge

National Weather Service: Meaningful drought improvement depends on robust winter in northern New Mexico

BY JOHN MILLER / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 24, 2026

A belated burst of rain this week is helping New Mexico make up for an exceptionally dry monsoon season, but alleviating entrenched drought throughout the state depends on precipitation persisting through winter.

“We’re probably going to see some minor drought improvements,” said Matt DeMaria, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. “You can’t make up for a bad winter, though, with a good surge of monsoon moisture.”

When it comes to snowfall, all eyes will be on northern New Mexico, where some of the state’s most critical watersheds have withered over the course of two consecutive warm, dry winters.

“Especially in the northern part of the state, drought conditions are heavily dependent on the winter snowpack because a lot of the water supply is driven from winter snowpack,” DeMaria added.

Precipitation averages

As of Wednesday, the northern third of the state was receiving steady, soaking showers with intermittent bouts of moderate downpour totaling over an inch of rainfall in many areas, according to the National Weather Service.

The agency forecast an additional 0.25 to 0.75 inch for far northern New Mexico through this morning. Rainfall was expected to lessen by this afternoon, when the region could see up to a quarter-inch of additional precipitation.

Localized instances of heavy precipitation in the north created hazards, however, with reports of flooding in Mora County.

Mora received a deluge of up to 6 inches of rain Tuesday into Wednesday afternoon.

“The research center got flooded,” said Andrei Toca, a research scientist at the John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center, at the foot of the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and within the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire burn scar. “But everything and everyone is fine at the JTH.”

West of Mora, in Santa Fe County, Cundiyó resident Jolene Vigil said denizens of small villages near the 15,956-acre Frijoles Fire burn scar remain wary of flooding and erosion.

“The watershed is not good,” she said Tuesday evening.

Near the northeastern corner of the state, a Colfax County dispatcher who spoke with the Journal on Wednesday morning said skies were overcast with light rainfall.

National Weather Service predictions of lower rainfall totals on the western edge of the state seemed to bear out Wednesday.

Vakeesha Lagazo, a shift supervisor at the San Juan County Communications Authority, said periods of moderate rain Tuesday night near the Four Corners had given way to mostly cloudy skies.

“We just know that there is rain coming, but not sure exactly how much it’s going to affect the area,” she said.

Meanwhile, the southeastern quadrant of the state — including areas like Ruidoso, Roswell and Tucumcari — and the northeastern plains were marked for continued heavy rain and flash flooding.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning around the South Fork burn scar in Lincoln County, which saw up to 0.75 of an inch of rain per hour Wednesday.

While any increases to the state’s reservoirs resulting from the late-season rain are likely to be minimal, this month’s moisture is helping many parts of the state close in on annual precipitation averages.

“You can’t make up for a bad monsoon in just a few weeks, necessarily, but it’s making a dent in the long-term deficits,” DeMaria said.

Critical snowpack

The majority of New Mexico remains in the grip of a historic drought, with extreme or exceptional drought prevailing in the northern third of the state.

It’s a region much of the state depends on to feed critical waterways with snowmelt come springtime.

Mountain ranges like the Southern Rockies act as critical natural reservoirs during wintertime, storing snowpack that melts slowly into tributaries of major waterways like the Rio Grande, Arkansas, Pecos and Canadian rivers.

That gradual distribution of moisture is key to penetrating soil layers, recharging aquifers and supporting long-term vegetation survival.

Forecasters expect a historic El Niño climate pattern forming in the Equatorial Pacific to deliver heavy snowfall to New Mexico this winter, which could spell meaningful relief for landscapes desiccated by drought.

“If we can follow this up with a great winter, then maybe we can look at some more substantial drought improvements,” DeMaria said. “But just a couple weeks of nice rain is probably not going to move the needle significantly in that respect.”

NM weighs a classroom screen crackdown

State task force recommends a K-2 screen time moratorium amid growing concerns about AI and tech in schools

BY NATALIE ROBBINS / ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

September 24, 2026

A state-commissioned task force is recommending that New Mexico ban screen time for students in kindergarten through second grade after mounting concern over the use of technology and artificial intelligence in the classroom.

The task force formed this year after lawmakers voted unanimously during the last legislative session to study the effects of screen time in elementary school. The group presented its findings at a meeting of the Legislative Education Study Committee in Anthony on Tuesday.

In addition to a screen time moratorium for younger students, the commission recommended age-appropriate digital guidelines for each grade level, minimization of “nonessential” technology use and limits on gaming and social media in school.

These suggestions come after states and districts nationwide have begun to implement restrictions on the use of technology in the classroom amid findings that it may be impacting students’ cognitive development for the worse.

This month, the country’s two largest public school districts in New York and Los Angeles imposed bans on artificial intelligence for most students, and this year, 20 states have enacted legislation governing technology in the classroom, according to the LESC report.

In New Mexico, escalating parent concern over a required AI reading assessment program called Amira and its use of student data has led at least 15 districts across the state to opt out of its usage in favor of non-AI software or paper tests. One Albuquerque mother told the Journal last month she didn’t know her son was using the program until he came home from school talking about someone named Amira.

“We have hit a crisis point,” Renata Witte, vice president of legislation for the New Mexico Parent Teacher Association, said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Parents are desperately demanding and asking for consideration that legislators curb screen time in elementary school.”

The committee recommended that the New Mexico Public Education Department write a list of best practices for families and schools on technology usage, and that the agency suggest policies that keep screen time in schools to a minimum, with the exception of distance learning, computer courses or disability accommodations.

School districts, the report posited, should develop their own digital guidelines in keeping with PED’s recommendations and should consider encouraging pen-and-paper assignments.

Rebecca Betzen, a former middle school computer teacher who now serves on the Board of Education at Albuquerque Public Schools, said she applauded the Legislature for broaching the issue and hoped the state would consider policies addressing screen time in schools at next year’s legislative session.

“I believe technology has an important place in our schools, but it should be used as a tool, not a substitute for meaningful learning and human interaction,” Betzen said.

As a teacher, Betzen said she spent a “significant” amount of class time redirecting students’ attention and monitoring usage of their district-issued Chromebook laptops, which became “more of a distraction than a tool.”

“For our youngest learners especially, I believe that face-to-face interaction, conversation, playing, movement and relationships are a critical part of their learning development,” she said.

Spurred by weeks of escalating discontent from parents about Amira, officials at APS, the state’s largest district, created the beginnings of a framework for thoughtful technology use in schools earlier this month.

Teachers, according to the presentation, should prioritize balanced, safe, ethical and developmentally appropriate screen time in the classroom.

APS Deputy Superintendent Randy Mahlerwein told the Journal in an interview last week that he recognized the district should provide more support to teachers on how to handle the issue in the classroom.

“We look at technology as a tool,” Mahlerwein said. “It will never replace the teacher.”

APS does not have a policy on the use of AI, Mahlerwein said, nor guidelines on how to teach responsible AI use. The AI chatbot Gemini is available to students on Chromebooks, an APS spokesperson said, and the district permits access to certain generative AI products, including MagicSchool and Brisk, programs designed to help teachers with lesson plans. Other chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude are blocked from district computers.

APS is not among the New Mexico districts that have opted out of Amira; the district is continuing to use the program despite protestations from some families about its privacy settings.

Should an AI ban be brought before the APS board, Betzen said she would “totally support” it.

“I think that we’ve just become so dependent on screens, and I believe we need to be thoughtful,” she said. “I just think our students would be better served by having those connections with teachers and one another versus being on screen.”

An AI ban in the vein of New York or Los Angeles is not on the table at APS now, Mahlerwein said, though the district could consider it further down the line.

“We consider almost anything,” he said.

PED Deputy Secretary Yvonne Garcia said Tuesday the agency agreed with the screen time guidelines proposed by the task force, of which Garcia is a member.

“This is where curriculum and instruction and safe and healthy schools come together within our agency,” she said.

New Mexico is, in some ways, poised to take the lead on digital safety nationwide. Last month, a judge in Santa Fe ordered Meta, the company operating Instagram and Facebook, to pay $567 million to help repair harms caused to children by the company’s platforms. That order followed a bellwether jury verdict in March that ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties to the state.

New Mexico is also the only state convening a legislative task force to study screen time in schools, according to the LESC report, though Alabama, Iowa, Utah and Tennessee have all taken action to cap technology use in the classroom.

“I think we have a unique opportunity as a state, because we’re smaller, to move quickly on these things,” said Ifeoma Ozoma, a Santa Fe-based technology policy advocate, who is leading a coalition of New Mexico parents in urging school districts to abandon Amira, the AI reading program required for tests and tutoring.

Ozoma said she wishes the LESC’s guidelines had been tougher — no introducing devices until third or fourth grade — and had included restrictions on Amira, particularly for young children, who are required to use the program for regular reading tests and at least 30 minutes of weekly tutoring.

“We need kids to be able to learn information, process it and retain it before they’re spending hours and hours a week on a device for no other purpose than an ed-tech company (selling) a package to the district or to the state,” she said.

“The PED, in my opinion, has shown itself incapable of putting in place serious policies in regards to screen time and device use and technology like AI.”