No tax reform
Santa Fe state Sen. Peter Wirth says there's no chance of a massive rewrite of the state's Byzantine gross receipts tax during the upcoming legislative session. The plan, spurred on by Republicans, was all the talk of a special legislative session earlier this year. But with an election looming and Democrats apparently reluctant to spend the political capital such a compromise would cost, it doesn't seem likely the effort will find any purchase in the Senate.
Padilla considers dropping out
State Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Bernalillo, says he's talking with family and friends about abandoning his bid for the lieutenant governor's nomination. Sexual harassment claims from a decade ago led gubernatorial candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham to call for him to bow out. Last night, the Young Democrats called on Padilla to not just leave the race, but resign from the state senate.
Still going
The group fighting to force the city to use ranked-choice voting in its next election won a small victory yesterday, as a state District Court judge refused to toss out their petition to order Santa Fe to use the system. Voters amended the city charter nearly a decade ago to require ranked-choice voting, but the city says it's only recently become a possibility and that using it now would unfairly change the rules of the game for the March election. With time ticking down until ballots have to be ordered, another hearing is scheduled for after the holiday.
Healthcare morass
So, you do still need healthcare, though you could be forgiven for not knowing what the heck is going on with the nation's health insurance requirements. This week, Aaron Cantú explores the public perception about the existence of Obamacare and the requirements for signing up this year (you only have until Dec. 15 to do it).
100
The New Mexico Museum of Art celebrates its first century this weekend. The museum, which started out as a unique open exhibition space that wasn't curated, has three new exhibits and is soon expanding into a Railyard location that will serve both as a contemporary art space and storage. It's the subject of this week's SFR cover story, as Eric Killelea takes us back to the start—which had something to do with an archaeologist named Sylvanus Griswold Morley.
Lost
Unbeknownst to many of us, the premier of the province of Manitoba (north of Minnesota and south of, um, the North Pole) was lost near the Gila Wilderness for a day earlier this month. Brian Pallister says he and his wife started on opposite ends of a north-south trail and planned to meet at a point in between, then return to the car together. He got lost. His wife, Esther, did not. She reported him missing and he and a police officer who had a searchlight found each other a few hours later. He was cut up and broke his arm in a fall on the last few hundred yards of the trail, but otherwise okay.
Thanksgiving lore
Our favorite line from this New York Times piece on Thanksgiving and what we really know about it is: "The role of Squanto was complicated." Especially for Squanto. It's a quality primer on—good and bad—what did and didn't happen during early celebrations and why.
T-shirt t(of)urkey
Whether your turkey is the real thing or the vegan version, it should be rather balmy when you sit down to eat it. And standing in line for that $89 TV won't be quite so miserable this year. Tomorrow could see record highs around the state. Temperatures will still duck down near freezing overnight, but the rest of the weekend is expected to be just as warm, too.
Thanks for reading! The Word is taking a holiday break until Monday. Lots to be grateful for and we hope you have a wonderful weekend.
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