While Santa Fe Public Schools scrambles to prepare for a greater than expected state budget deficit, critics like Fred Nathan point to intrinsic flaws in the existing system. Optimizing school performance on a leaner budget requires more than cost-cutting, they say: it requires systemic change.

If you’ve driven up W. Alameda Street, toward the Plaza from St. Francis Drive, you’ve seen it: What was a dirt-filled, empty lot before the leaves began to turn has sprouted into Villa Alegre, a 110-unit affordable housing project.

It’s that time of year again—no, not Thanksgiving, not winter, not bear-hunting season—when Travel Leisure magazine’s survey results of America’s Favorite Cities set people all atwitter with passion and dismay. But Santa Fe appears not to gain nor lose rankings due to its proposed panhandling ordinance.

A correctional officer walked into his boss’ office one day and asked a question: What is my job? If the answer was “manager,” then the officer would be entitled to all the commensurate perks: 25-year retirement, a higher salary and not an hour of expected overtime. If not, then the officer was owed time-and-a-half pay for all the overtime hours he worked.