
I just really like beer, okay?!
Duel Brewing, the Siler District restaurant-music venue-craft brewery of Belgian-style beers, has closed. We knew that. But what has come to light since then is that its owner, Trent Edwards, seems to have skipped town without paying employees about three paychecks. SFR took a look yesterday; the Department of Workforce Solutions says Edwards has 10 outstanding claims against him, and a larger investigation is underway.
Read my lips
In an entirely unsurprising but still maddening move, the president, who promised along the campaign trail that he would not cut Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security, proposes to cut all three in his 2020 budget. Sen. Tom Udall says that the new budget would be "devastating" to New Mexico. Further, Rep. Ben Ray Luján says, "It takes a slash-and-burn approach to nearly every program that uplifts working families and will leave our country weak, sick and hungry."
Winding down
There are only five days left in the Legislative session, and various bills are either dying or headed to the governor. The gov can now sign into law a bill allowing New Mexicans to change the gender marker on their birth certificate, as well as an energy bill that requires New Mexico to get 80 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040 and help PNM close the San Juan Generating Station, plus a bill banning coyote-killing contests. Meanwhile, that minimum wage hike appears to have stalled, as has a bill concerning a new ethics commission.
Keep it in the family
A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a 40-year-old law that gives preference to Native families in raising Native foster children is unconstitutional because it's based on a racial bias. Advocates for the Indian Child Welfare Act say that tribal designation is a political issue, not a racial one, and say striking down the law would be damaging to Indigenous culture, once again causing children to "disappear" into Anglo culture. In a tangentially related story, the Navajo Nation is assembling meetings to discuss mistreatment of Native students in public schools, spurred by an incident in Albuquerque in which a teacher cut the braid of a Native student.
Let the sun shine in
When cops do bad things on the job, or are alleged to have done them, the public deserves to know whether they have been reprimanded, right? Right. Well, the Santa Fe Police Department disagrees. Of course, this is a simplified explanation of why SFR has once again sued the department for public records access, but we can explain the lawsuit in more detail.
Books on hold
Stock up on books now, folks, if you're anticipating getting through your to-be-read stash by Monday. Collected Works Bookstore is closing from March 18-22 ($) to install new carpet. You don't know what you got till it's gone, right? (But it'll be back. And the coffee shop will remain open. It'll be OK. We'll get through this together. Or, like, go to the library or something.)
Waking in a winter wonderland
Did you wake up to a dusting of snow? We are getting some more today and tomorrow (plus—you guessed it—wind!), but likely nowhere near the walloping that Denver and the Midwest have in store (yes, the term "bomb cyclone" is back). The Denver Post reports that this storm could bring the lowest barometric pressure reading in Colorado's history. Also, yesterday, tornadoes spun out all over New Mexico, and you know it's serious when the National Weather Service tweets in all caps.
Thanks for reading! The Word can't decide if "polar vortex" or "bomb cyclone" is the winner of Best Climate Change-Spurred New Weather Term.