By MORGAN LEE and SAVANNAH PETERS

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An ambitious universal child care program aimed at fully footing the bill for working families across New Mexico is being enshrined into law, with state legislators making good on promises by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to make the state the first in the nation to offer such a program to families of all income levels.

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As parents across the nation grapple with crippling daycare bills that threaten to keep them at home and out of the workforce, political leaders from New York to San Francisco have been angling to expand access to free and subsidized care. The political stakes are high as the potential for budget uncertainties and fraud looms large.

California has opted to eliminate copayments for some families, while Washington and Oregon cap what families pay. In Vermont, a payroll tax on employers funds child care subsidies.

In New Mexico, the plan relies heavily on the financial windfall from oil and gas production — including earnings from a recently minted $10 billion trust fund for early childhood education. It’s a delicate balance for a progressive governor who initially set out to rein in the industry.

“I think you’re going to see more states look for ways to do it,” the governor said Thursday. “It’s really a workforce engine, while paying real respect to the affordability affordability crisis that families have.”

Lujan Grisham wraps up her tenure next year, and state lawmakers wary of unchecked spending opted during the legislative session that ended Thursday to take a cautious approach. They’re leaving the door open to copayments if public finances deteriorate. That’s a compromise Lujan Grisham had to make.

Putting up guardrails

As much as $700 million more will be funneled over the next five years to New Mexico’s child care assistance program, state officials said. Copayments are unlikely and would require 90-days notice to families.

Decisions on possible cost-sharing will be tied to new annual reporting requirements. The early education agency has new authority to monitor how much child care providers pay employees, manage debt and structure their businesses.

State Sen. George Muñoz, cosponsor of the bill, said the Legislature seized an opportunity to put guardrails in place.

“We didn’t want to end up like Minnesota, where all of the sudden there was rampant fraud,” he said, referring to allegations by U.S. prosecutors that billions in federal funds were stolen from Minnesota-run programs for children with autism, addiction services and more.

Little Corral Day School advertises free child care in Albuquerque, N.M., Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Savannah Peters)

Taking the weight off families

Families stand to benefit enormously, Muñoz said, explaining free care will put money back in their pockets.

Marianna Eanone of Las Cruces said her income combined with her husband’s Army salary was just above the previous cutoff for child care assistance. They used to pay $1,000 a month to send their 3-year-old to a licensed home daycare provider, along with afterschool care for their kindergartener.

“It’s been a weight off to not have to worry about that,” said Eanone, who works for a program that connects families with child development services.

There’s now wiggle room to afford things like occasional takeout from local restaurants, martial arts classes for her 6-year-old, bigger payments toward student loan debt and savings for the future, she said.

And those benefits resonate with voters.

“They are sending a really strong signal about the importance of child care to the well-being of the families in the state, the well being of the economy, of businesses,” said Karen Schulman, senior director of child care policy for the National Women’s Law Center.

New Mexico gradually raised income limits on assistance for child care — until stepping into universal care on Nov. 1, making 25,000 more children eligible. It saves families on average $14,000 a year per child.

Children’s Promise Centers employee Ashley Toledo oversees afternoon playtime at the child care center in Albuquerque, N.M., April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Prioritizing vulnerable children

The New Mexico legislation allows the state to create a waitlist when demand for assistance outpaces available slots. It’s an effort to prioritize access for children in vulnerable circumstances — ranging from extreme poverty to disabilities and those at risk of developmental delays.

It’s also a response to concerns that the rapid expansion of child care subsidies to all income brackets may squeeze out slots for low-income families. Attendance from low-income families declined as assistance expanded to higher income brackets, according to a review by legislative analysts.

Elizabeth Groginsky, secretary of New Mexico’s early childhood education department, said lawmakers also left financial breathing room for recently adopted incentives to improve child care quality, raise base wages and expand operating hours through enhanced rates paid by the state.

Still, child care slots remain in short supply across wide swaths of New Mexico, even as the state extends assistance beyond working parents to grandparent guardians, foster parents and people experiencing homelessness.

Legislators have sent a separate bill to the governor to scale up more home-based daycare and child care centers in residential areas by overriding some local zoning and permitting requirements, including homeowner association restrictions on child care.

AP reporter Moriah Balingit contributed from Washington.

A day after an Afton man caused a lockdown last week at the University of St. Thomas, he sent a threatening email to the college president despite an active restraining order prohibiting him from any contact, according to court records.

Ryan Harrison Schacht (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Ryan Harrison Schacht, 46, has been charged in Ramsey County District Court with one count of felony threats of violence in connection with the Feb. 10 incident involving St. Thomas president Robert Vischer. In two separate cases, Schacht is charged with a total of five counts of violating a harassment restraining order.

On Feb. 9, Schacht called the university’s public safety department and said he was going to Vischer’s office to kill himself, according to the criminal complaint. Schacht also left Vischer a voicemail demanding that he meet with him.

According to the complaint, Schacht also called the college and asked a dispatcher to get Vischer on the line. Schacht said, “I’m gonna kill someone if you don’t get the (expletive) on the phone!”

The shelter-in-place alert, issued shortly before 12:30 p.m., was lifted about an hour later after St. Paul police determined Schacht was not on campus and not in the city of St. Paul.

The next day, police were called to the St. Paul campus after Schacht allegedly sent Vischer multiple emails. One email read: “You stole my life from me. I’m without a business. No Family. No Money. No House. Make me whole or suffer the wrath of god.”

Vischer, the college’s president since 2023, told police that he has spoken to Schacht and replied to Schacht’s emails, but he has never met him in person.

Schacht’s mother said her son is recently divorced and going through a mental health crisis, the complaint said.

Schacht was arrested on a probable cause warrant Feb. 11 after showing up at his ex-wife’s home in Oak Park Heights.

Schacht went before Ramsey County District Judge Sophia Vuelo on Tuesday. Vuelo found sufficient probable cause to proceed with the charges, while also ordering Schacht to undergo a mental health evaluation before the cases can move forward.

Court and jail records show Schacht posted a $40,000 bond and was released from the Ramsey County jail on Tuesday. As a condition of his release, he was ordered to stay away from the university.

Also Tuesday, a Washington County judge granted an emergency extreme risk protection order against Schacht, noting that he is a risk to himself and others and prohibiting him from possessing firearms. The emergency petition, filed by Oak Park Heights police, also notes that Schacht was trespassed from St. Ambrose Church in Woodbury on Feb. 11, when he “showed up unannounced and caused fear and alarm.”

An attorney for Schacht was not listed in the court files.

Concerns grew

Separate petitions for a harassment restraining order filed last month by Vischer and Brian Rich, the college emergency manager, allege Schacht made dozens of phone calls or sent text messages to both starting in May.

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Vischer wrote in his petition that he never met or heard of Schacht, a former St. Thomas student, before then and that he “consistently did not respond to (Schacht’s) communications or otherwise encourage continued communications by him.”

According to Vischer’s petition, the first communication with Schacht came on May 26, when he left a message on his administrative assistant’s voicemail asking to meet with the college president about a business venture.

The next day, the petition said, Schacht repeatedly emailed Vischer, asking him in one if he knew who hacked his phone. In another, he wrote: “I’m at the University ready to meet with you to close this deal. I’d like to make it happen ASAP.”

Vischer informed the college security team about the emails from Schacht and that he would be working with his office door locked, the petition read. Schacht then showed up at the office and asked to meet, but was turned away.

The university issued Schacht a trespass notice on May 28.

Schacht continued to contact Vischer, Rich and the university’s public safety office, the petitions said. In the fall, the president wrote in his petition, “(Schacht’s) communications and the tone of them escalated in terms of urgency and the subject matter. He appeared to me to be getting more agitated and that his mental health had gotten worse.”

Vischer wrote that his fear was that if Schacht did not receive mental health help, “that his condition would worsen and he would show up at the UST campus to hurt me or others in my office. Since January 2026, I remain deeply concerned about the worst-case scenario.”

Rich expressed similar concerns in his petition, writing that he worried about the well-being of himself, Vischer, college staff and students.

Social media posts

Schacht was served with the two harassment restraining orders on Jan. 28, prohibiting him from having any contact or communication with Vischer and Rich and being at St. Thomas’ campuses in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The order remains active and in place until Jan. 26, 2028, according to the complaint.

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During its investigation, the complaint said, St. Paul police received several screenshots of social media posts Schacht made.

A Feb. 9 post mentioned how Vischer is trying to cover up the university’s involvement in the theft of Schacht’s business.

Two days later, Schacht posted how he is going to sue the university and the Catholic Church. Another one that day, the complaint continues, showed a picture of a rifle with the word “justice.”

In a Thursday statement to the Pioneer Press, the university said: “St. Thomas is continuously focused on safeguarding its university community. As part of that, our Public Safety department is working closely with local law enforcement related to last week’s incident. We are grateful for the work of local police and our Public Safety officers to keep our community safe.”

By DYLAN LOVAN

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a measure establishing public funding for charter schools is unconstitutional, affirming that state funds “are for common schools and for nothing else.”

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The 2022 measure was enacted by the state’s Republican-dominated legislature over Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto. It was struck down the next year by a lower court.

The state’s high court ruled the “Constitution as it stands is clear that it does not permit funneling public education funds outside the common public school system,” Justice Michelle M. Keller wrote in a unanimous opinion.

In 2024, Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed state lawmakers to allocate public tax dollars to support students attending private or charter schools.

It was another setback for supporters of charter schools, who have attempted for years to gain a foothold in the state. They argue the schools offer another choice for parents looking for the best educational fit for their children. But opponents say such schools would divert needed funds from existing public schools and could pick and choose which students to accept.

Charter schools have been legal in Kentucky since 2017, but none have opened because of the lack of a method to fund them.

Keller, in her opinion, wrote the court was not passing judgment on the efficacy of charter schools.

“We make no predictions about the potential success of charter schools or their ability to improve the education of the Commonwealth’s children, and we leave public policy evaluations to the Commonwealth’s designated policymakers — the General Assembly,” she wrote.

But Keller argued, Kentucky has for more than a century treated education as “a constitutional mandate, challenged again and again…”

“The mandate implicates state education funds are for common schools and for nothing else,” the justice wrote.

By OLIVIA DIAZ, Associated Press/Report for America

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia court on Thursday temporarily blocked Democrats from preparing for an April voter referendum to redraw the state’s congressional maps, handing the party another setback in its efforts to pick up four more U.S. House seats in the national redistricting battle.

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The Tazewell Circuit Court in Virginia granted a temporary restraining order requested by the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee over the ballot referendum’s timing and phrasing.

The motion, also signed by Republican U.S. Reps. Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith, argued that Democrats were ramming redistricting-related bills through the legislature despite legal hurdles that prevent such a rushed process.

It’s the second time Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. has ruled against Democrats’ redistricting agenda. In January, Hurley ruled that a resolution for a constitutional amendment was illegally passed in a special legislative session and taken up too close to an intervening election.

That case has been appealed to the state Supreme Court, and justices had said they would allow the referendum to proceed while they review the appeal.

President Donald Trump launched an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle last year by pushing Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts to help his party win more seats. The goal was for the GOP to hold on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power in midterms.

Instead, it created a national redistricting battle. So far, Republicans believe they can win nine more seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they can win six more seats in California and Utah, and are hoping to fully or partially make up the remaining three-seat margin in Virginia.

Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.