CEDAR ATTANASIO

NYC reporter

Attanasio covers New York City for The Associated Press with a focus on immigration and the ocean. He uses remote sensing to support the AP’s global coverage.

FILE - The New Yorker Hotel, center, is seen in New York, Nov. 8, 2013. A man who succeeded in using a New York City housing law to live rent-free in the iconic hotel has been charged with fraud after he claimed to own it. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

A loophole got him a free New York hotel stay for five years. Then he claimed to own the building

A man who succeeded in using a New York City housing law to live rent-free in an iconic hotel has been charged with fraud after he claimed to own it.

New York Police walk through the Mount Eden subway station while investigating a shooting on the platform, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

3 shooters suspected in NYC subway fight that killed 1 and injured 5, police say

New York City police have made no arrests but say they believe there were three shooters in a deadly fight that turned to gunfire on a subway car during the Monday evening rush hour.

New York City Police officers stand guard following a shooting at the Mount Eden subway station, Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Gunfire at New York subway station kills 1, injures 5. Police say teen dispute sparked shooting

Authorities say one person was killed and five others wounded following a dispute between two groups of teenagers at a New York City subway station Monday at the start of the evening rush hour.

FILE - Wayne LaPierre arrives at court in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in New York. LaPierre has taken the stand, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, in the New York civil trial over allegations that violated the trust of the not-for-profit charity’s 5 million members by enriching himself and close associates. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

At trial, NRA leader LaPierre acknowledges he wrongly expensed private flights, gifts

The National Rifle Association’s outgoing CEO acknowledged at a civil trial in New York that he wrongly expensed gifts, travel, and other benefits to his organization.

U.S.-funded infrastructure in Gaza largely unscathed as death toll soars

The United States has spent more than $7 billion on humanitarian aid and building infrastructure in the Palestinian territories in recent decades, while sending more than $3 billion a year to Israel for its military.

Lilianna Naizer-Baldwin,10, foreground center, raises her hand during her Spanish class at the New Mexico International School in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday, May 27, 2022. Mary Baldwin a psychology intern at UNM Hospital Health science Center immigrated to the U.S. form Honduras when she was 10. Now her daughter Lilianna is the same age, and thanks to the dual language program she's fluent enough to cook banana-leaf-wrapped tamales with her Spanish-speaking grandmother. New Mexico is the only state in the country where the right to learn in Spanish is laid out the constitution. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Most Hispanic US state weighs benefits of language programs

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Jacqueline Powell and her fourth grade classmates toiled over pencil and paper to write a letter in Spanish about what they did in class this year.

FILE - This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the active fire lines of the Hermits Peak wildfire, in Las Vegas, N.M., May 11, 2022. More than 5,000 firefighters are battling multiple wildland blazes in dry, windy weather across the Southwest. Evacuation orders remained in place Thursday, May 19, 2022, for residents near fires in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP, File)

US review traces massive New Mexico fire to planned burns

Two fires that merged to create the largest wildfire in New Mexico history have both been traced to planned burns set by U.S. forest managers. U.S.

FILE - Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham high-fives a grade school student at a bill-signing ceremony at the Francis X. Nava Elementary School on March 1, 2022, in Santa Fe, N.M. Advocates are weighing in on Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's plan to address an ongoing lawsuit that highlights shortcomings of the state's education system. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

New Mexico advocates review plan aimed at education deficits

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s governor has presented a long-awaited plan that would set goals for academic proficiency as the state struggles to resolve a lawsuit by frustrated parents who won a court ruling saying the state is failing to provide an adequate education for the vast majority of i

FILE - Vaughn Tootsie helps the Native American community of Picuris Pueblo, N.M., screen vehicles as they enter and exit tribal property on April 23, 2020. Two tribal communities have signed an agreement with state officials recognizing the tribe's authority to collect taxes on sales of cannabis products. The move announced by state officials Thursday, May 19, 2022, after it was signed last week further formalizes potential involvement in the cannabis industry by the Pojoaque and Picuris pueblos. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

2 New Mexico tribes closer to recreational cannabis sales

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Two New Mexico tribes have signed an agreement with state officials recognizing the tribe’s authority to collect taxes on sales of cannabis products.

The Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire burns in the hills outside of Las Vegas, N.M., on Saturday, May 7, 2022. (Robert Browman/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Crews in New Mexico, Arizona scramble to corral wildfires

Firefighters in New Mexico’s Rocky Mountain foothills are excavating new firebreaks and clearing brush to keep a massive wildfire from destroying more homes and pine forests.

FILE - A rally in support of greater state funding for public education in New Mexico draws teachers, parents and students to the state Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M., Thursday, March 16, 2017. New Mexico officials have released a draft plan to address an ongoing education lawsuit brought by underserved K-12 students, and education advocates and tribal leaders are expected to comb through the document in the coming days. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

New Mexico releases draft plan to address education lawsuit

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico officials have released a draft plan to address an ongoing education lawsuit brought by underserved K-12 students, and education advocates and tribal leaders are expected to comb through the document in the coming days.

A sunset seen through a wall of wildfire smoke from the Amtrak train station in Las Vegas, N.M., on Saturday, May 7, 2022. The Castañeda Hotel, right, hosted meals for residents and firefighters this week with sponsorships from restaurants and other businesses. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Strong, swirling winds complicate New Mexico wildfire fight

Fast winds are complicating the fight against fires burning across northeast New Mexico. Wind gusts were as fast as 50 miles per hour on Sunday.

Wildland firefighters from several agencies throughout the country wait along state road 283 to be sent into the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fires burning just west of Las Vegas, N.M. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

New Mexico residents brace for extreme wildfire conditions

Residents of a northern New Mexico city tried to recapture a sense of normalcy as their rural neighbors hunkered down amid predictions of extreme fire conditions.

A firefighting plane flies over a plume of smoke near Las Vegas, N.M. on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. The fire has torched 250 square miles (647 square kilometers) over the last several weeks. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

President declares disaster in New Mexico wildfire zone

Firefighters have slowed the advance of the largest wildfire in the U.S. as heavy winds relented. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to remote stretches of northern New Mexico devastated by fire.

A fire warning sign is pictured in Las Vegas, N.M., on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Flames raced across more of New Mexico's pine-covered mountainsides, Tuesday, May 3, 2030, charring more than 217 square miles over the last several weeks. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

New Mexico governor seeking US disaster status for wildfire

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is asking President Joe Biden to declare a disaster as firefighters scramble to clear brush, build fire lines and spray water to keep the largest blaze burning in the U.S. from destroying more homes.

A New Mexico State Police vehicle drives by the New Mexico State Hospital in Las Vegas, N.M., a mental care facility, which was evacuated, Monday, May 2, 2022. Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexico's tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state's psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

As wildfire closes in, New Mexico residents prepare to flee

Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexico’s tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state’s psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing.

A Cochiti Fire Department vehicle heads towards a plume of smoke from the Cerro Pelado Fire burning in the Jemez Mountains on Friday, April 29, 2022 in Cochiti, N.M.. (Robert Browman//The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

More evacuations expected near dangerous Southwest wildfires

Thousands of firefighters are battling destructive wildfires in the Southwest as more residents are preparing to evacuate into the weekend in northern New Mexico.

FILE - Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announces an increase in child care subsidies on Thursday, July 1, 2021, in Santa Fe, N.M. New Mexico is further increasing its child care subsidies. They're already the most generous and broadly available in the US. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says the state will start waiving child care copays to middle-income families starting May 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

New Mexico increases child care funding, still highest in US

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is increasing child care subsidies that are already the most generous and broadly available in the U.S.

Albuquerque Public Schools superintendent Scott Elder speaks to members of the state Legislative Finance Committee at the Capital on Wednesday April 27, 2022, in Santa Fe, N.M. Elder pushed back against a recommendation in a report released Wednesday urging the school district to close schools. Elder agrees that some staff need to be cut, as funding declines tied to loss of enrollment are leaving the district with a projected budget shortfall. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Report: Albuquerque should shrink public schools, cut jobs

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Albuquerque’s K-12 schools should cut staff and think about downsizing its footprint because of dwindling enrollment and spend more for the education of low-income students who fell further behind their peers during this school year, according to a report from the New Mexico Le

The Calf Fire burns northwest of Las Vegas in San Miguel County Friday, April 22, 2022. Destructive Southwest fires have burned dozens of homes in northern Arizona and put numerous small villages in New Mexico in the path of danger, as wind-fueled flames chewed up wide swaths of tinder dry forest and grassland and towering plumes of smoke filled the sky.(Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Fires hit Southwest, New Mexico’s season ‘dangerously early’

New Mexico’s governor says the state faces a long and potentially devastating wildfire season as Southwestern wildfires cause destruction and force people from their homes.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., speaks to students who have suffered mental health issues during the pandemic at Santa Fe High School library on Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Santa Fe, N.M. Luján returned to Congress in March after suffering a stroke that kept him away from the Senate for weeks and temporarily halted Democrat's hold on power in the 50-50 split Senate. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Sen. Luján ‘90%’ recovered from stroke, visits high school

Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján says Thursday that he’s 90% recovered from his stroke. The 49-year-old spoke during a visit to Santa Fe High School, part of his first public appearances since returning to Congress in March.

New Mexico GOP tells schools to reject social studies change

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Republican lawmaker is telling New Mexico school districts to defy state education rules and ignore newly overhauled K-12 social studies standards enacted by the state’s education department, calling them racially divisive.

High school senior Cruz Davis-Martinez speaks with fellow students at the New Mexico School for the Arts on Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Santa Fe, N.M. Davis Martinez stands to benefit from a $85 million program to make college free for state residents if he attends the University of New Mexico. The program was funded mostly with one-time federal aid, leaving supporters concerned about how long the state can sustain it. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

New Mexico boosts its free college program, at least for now

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Even after failing a test that set her back a semester, Maribel Rodriguez will be heading back to nursing school next spring with a generous new state scholarship that abandons eligibility criteria to help more working adults get a college degree.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, right, takes a tour of the Everest Cannabis Co.-Uptown with CEO Trishelle Kirk on the first day of recreational cannabis sales, Friday April 1, 2022, Albuquerque. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

New Mexico launches cannabis sales within Texans’ reach

New Mexico is bringing sales of recreational marijuana to the doorstep of Texas as the movement toward broad legalization sweeps across more of the American West.

Students Sophia Pavlenko, left, of Russia, and Masha Novikova, of Ukraine, prepare blini, the Eastern European-style crepes, to sell to fellow students in a dorm at the United World College, Sunday, March 12, 2022, in Montezuma, N.M. At the boarding school in the Rocky Mountains, a group of Eastern European teenagers made crepes to raise money for the millions of people whose lives have been uprooted by Russia’s war on Ukraine. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Ukrainian students overseas fret about relatives, the future

Students from Ukraine who are studying overseas are worrying about their loved ones and the war’s impact on the lives they were planning to return to at home.

A flag flies at half staff at the University of the Southwest, Thursday, March 17, 2022, in Hobbs, N.M. Several student golfers and the coach of University of the Southwest were killed in a crash in Texas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Texas crash latest tragedy for family of young driver, dad

Authorities investigating a fiery head-on crash in Texas don’t know why a 13-year-old boy was driving while his father sat in the passenger seat.

A memorial erected in honor of the University of the Southwest golf teams car wreck is seen Thursday, March 17, 2022 at the Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs, N.M. Late Tuesday, the University of the Southwest men's and women's golf teams were involved in a fatal car crash half a mile north of State Highway 115 on Farm-to-Market Road 1788 in Andrews County while on the way back from tournament play in Midland. Nine people were killed in the wreck including six students, one coach, and two in a pickup that collided head-on with the university's van. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP)

NTSB: 13-year-old drove pickup in Texas crash that killed 9

A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman says a 13-year-old was driving the pickup truck that struck a van in West Texas in a fiery collision that killed nine people.

Golf balls adorn a makeshift memorial at the Rockwind Community Links, Wednesday, March 16, 2022, in Hobbs, New Mexico. The memorial was for student golfers and the coach of University of the Southwest killed in a crash in Texas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Faith, love of sports linked victims of Texas crash

Family and friends say they are heartbroken and devastated after six students and a coach from a small New Mexico university were killed in a fiery crash while returning home from a golf tournament in Texas.

Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers look over the scene of a fatal car wreck early Wednesday, March 16, 2022 half of a mile north of State Highway 115 on Farm-to-Market Road 1788 in Andrews County, Texas. A pickup truck crossed the center line of a two-lane road in Andrews County, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of the New Mexico state line on Tuesday evening and crashed into a van carrying members of the University of the Southwest men's and women's golf teams, said Sgt. Steven Blanco of the Texas Department of Public Safety. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP)

9 dead in crash involving U. of the Southwest golf teams

The Texas Department of Public Safety says nine people were killed in a head-on collision in West Texas, including six New Mexico university students and a coach returning from a golf tournament, as well as a 13-year-old boy.

FILE - People protest outside the offices of the New Mexico Public Education Department's office, on Nov. 12, 2021, in Albuquerque, N.M. As conservative-run states across the U.S. move to restrict discussion of race, gender, and identity in the classroom, progressive-run states are trying to prioritize those discussions. In New Mexico, education officials are moving forward with a social studies curriculum that increases focus on identity, race and "privilege or systemic inequity." (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

New Mexico increases focus on race in K-12 despite backlash

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s K-12 students will see a greater focus on race and ethnicity, including Native American history, in their curriculum over the next two years under new standards aimed at making social studies teaching more culturally responsive.