Let me tell you how it will be
You gotta love a Beatles song that complains about taxes. If anything, it proves the ubiquity of our dissatisfaction with the bureaucracy that makes things go or slows them down, depending on your view. And those views color how our congressional delegation sees the federal tax reform effort. They also have something to do with New Mexico's somewhat odd system of gross receipts tax: It lets the state tax transactions with the national labs and other federal installations, something for which tax reform on the state level will have to account.
State Police shoot Peñasco man
An escalating series of domestic scares led state police and Taos County Sheriff's deputies to Nelson Rodarte on Saturday morning. Police say he'd been threatening his girlfriend and had "battered and assaulted" her prior to their arrival. Officers apparently encountered Rodarte armed inside a home and eventually fired on him as he took a position on top of the house. They killed him and said Sunday he was armed with a .30-.30 rifle.
Padilla still in
Michael Padilla isn't having it. Padilla told reporters before the holiday that he's not backing out of the race for lieutenant governor, though he apparently is reconsidering that decision. Padilla has two sexual harassment claims in his past, and though those have been public and political knowledge for years, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham has said he should bow out of the race. Padilla was elected by his colleagues to a leadership position in the state Senate. Young Democrats have called for him to resign from his state seat, too.
State rep urges harder line on harassment
Kelly Fajardo, a Belen Republican, told her colleagues in a letter released over the holiday weekend that the state needs to do more to protect female lobbyists from harassment in the Roundhouse. And Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver recently added sexual harassment training to lobbyist training protocols for the office. Fajardo called the current system a joke and one that fails to protect non-legislative employees.
Wrong way
Police say Larraine Leon drove the wrong way down I-25 when she caused a crash that sent one person to the hospital Friday night. She'd been drinking, officers say, and her name becomes the latest in a string of dangerous, sometimes fatal, forays onto the interstate. Not too long ago, the mayor made an appeal to the state to do something to slow down or stop the occurrences.
Not for you
Albuquerque is reminding drivers along Central Avenue to stay out of the bus rapid transit lanes. When the Albuquerque Rapid Transit system is running, the lanes will be devoted exclusively to buses. Now, though, traffic that's choked along old Route 66 has been trying out those fancy new lanes that don't have a curb to keep them out.
From the outside
Sometimes it's handy to try to be aware of how others see you. So perhaps, this piece on what your chile preference says about you is instructive. Perhaps not. Maybe it's just fun and a nice look from the LA Times about why people are drawn to New Mexico.
Lovely
Pretty balmy Thanksgiving weekend, no? That should continue today before high temperatures fall off a cliff on Tuesday, dropping as much as 35 degrees around the state from day to day. In Santa Fe, it's likely to mean about a 15-degree drop into the low 50s.
Thanks for reading! The Word reminds you that Thanksgiving leftovers are probably nearing the too-late-to-safely-enjoy time frame. Not that we haven't pushed it ourselves, mind you.
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