Shock Jock: Back in April 2007, Don Imus referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as a pack of "nappy headed hos." After a media feeding frenzy, MSNBC cancelled Imus' televised morning program and CBS fired Imus from his radio show.
In March, Imus came down with prostate cancer. This summer he's recovering on the ranch in Ribera, NM he set up 11 years ago to help children suffering from cancer. His treatment: habanero peppers and Japanese soy supplements, according to an Aug. 5 New York Times profile.
Will Imus survive? The LA Times seems to think so, reporting on Aug. 10 that Imus is about to finalize a morning show with the Fox Business Network.
"It remains to be seen how the often-crass style of the craggy cowboy, who has a ranch in New Mexico, will mesh with the channel's flashy New York aesthetic," LA Times critic Matea Gold writes.
Rock Doc: Split Estate, a feature-length documentary about the battle over oil and gas drilling in the Southwest, just qualified for the Oscars.
The film, directed by Santa Fe filmmaker Debra Anderson, looks at the laws that split land rights between surface rights and mineral rights, allowing energy companies to drill regardless of the impact on residents and the ecosystem.
The film is finishing a seven-day run in Los Angeles and New York City as part of the International Documentary Association's DocuWeeks 2009 festival, which helps small documentary films meet the Academy Awards' qualifications.
"Yes, it is Oscar-worthy and I hope it will be nominated," Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, who has seen the film, tells SFR. "Obviously, it depends on who else is running. A documentary about a brilliant state representative fighting the good fight and protecting the planet should also…never mind, that's off the record."
Inoc Stock: New Mexico just picked up $1.6 million from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help the state prepare mass vaccination clinics for the swine flu resurgence predicted this fall, according to a laudatory press release from the governor's office.
Even with those funds, swine flu will take a chunk out of local government budgets.
According to a June 2 report by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the National Association of County and City Health Officials and the Association of Immunization Managers, it will cost a state or local public health agency a minimum of $15 to administer each H1N1 vaccine.
The state's plan calls for inoculating approximately 800,000 higher-risk residents—which would cost approximately $12 million.
