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Morning Word
ABQ police say they have suspect in political shooting case
Albuquerque police yesterday announced they have a suspect in custody and a firearm linked to one of the shootings at local elected officials’ homes and offices over the last month. Last week, Albuquerque police and the FBI detailed five shootings connected to Democratic local officials at news conference and urged anyone with information to call the police at (505) 242-COPS or Crime Stoppers at (505) 843-STOP. Police yesterday also reported evidence of a sixth shooting dated to December at the home of state House Speaker-elect Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque. Police Chief Harold Medina declined yesterday to reveal the suspect’s name or any other information, citing the ongoing investigation (although he confirmed the suspect is male). Medina said the suspect was in custody on unrelated charges, the nature of which he would not disclose. “This investigation still has a lot of sensitive areas to see which areas are related,” he said. “We will continue to move forward to see how we can link any of the incidents.” Mayor Tim Keller said while “we are unable to share a lot of details,” reporting a suspect is “important for our city, our elected officials and, frankly, for our democracy…we never want this to happen to anyone, but there is a difference when they are elected officials; these are people who participate in democracy, whether you agree with them or not…and those elected officials deserve to be able to do their jobs..without fear.”
Lawmaker wants climate health program
A proposed new program would prioritize public health in the face of climate change. House Bill 42, pre-filed by state Rep. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson, D-Albuquerque, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, would create a statewide public health and climate program, along with a public health and climate resiliency fund. Under the proposed bill for the legislative session starting Jan. 17, the state health department’s environmental health epidemiology bureau would create a statewide public health and climate program by Jan. 1, 2024. The bill seeks just over $1 million in funding for the program’s first year and $5 million for fiscal years 2024-2028. The bureau would also administer a public health and climate resiliency fund to help local communities prepare and respond to public health emergencies related to climate change and extreme weather and help create “coordinated and cohesive action plans supporting local communities in building health resiliency to future climate impacts,” among other duties. The bill creates a new section in the state Public Health Act to establish the public health and climate resiliency fund and would allow the department to make grants of up to $250,000 for local and tribal governments “for the purposes of preparing for and responding to public health emergencies related to extreme weather and other climate impacts.”
State Supreme Court delays redistricting decision
No word yet on whether the Republican Party’s lawsuit alleging partisan gerrymandering by Democrats during the last redistricting can proceed. The state Supreme Court yesterday heard more than an hour of oral arguments on the case, but did not rule from the bench. “This is an issue of significant importance and we want to be deliberative,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon said. A district judge last spring denied requests from defendants to dismiss the case, but paused it due to the pending primary election. Lawyers for the governor et al. say the case lies outside the judiciary’s jurisdiction. Indeed, in yesterday’s hearing, as the Santa Fe New Mexican reports, Sara Sanchez, one of the defendants’ lawyers, argued state law does not allow for the judiciary’s involvement in such matters. “Redistricting is part of the political process,” she said. “It is an inherently a political act…This is a political process that needs a political solution.” As the Albuquerque Journal notes, judges yesterday also discussed potential criteria for determining political gerrymandering, as well as the impact their ruling could have in terms of setting precedent.
Outside chances
Several Santa Fe County organizations are among the 19 recipients of the third round of the state Outdoor Recreation Division’s Recreation Trails+ grant awards announced yesterday. According to a news release from the state Economic Development Department, the third round of awards totals more than $1.8 million and brings the 2022 total in Trails+ funding to more than $6.5 million for 54 projects across the state. The newest round of grants includes $99,999 to Glorieta Adventure Camps for its “plans to restore the Historic Route 66 path and Old Santa Fe Trail that run through their property…into a multi-use trail for mountain bikes, adaptive bikes, electric bikes and small ATVs.” The Santa Fe Conservation Trust received nearly $93,000 for a project that will focus on recreational opportunities for people with disabilities, with a goal of creating a half-mile accessible trail loop and parking area, along with interpretive signage at the entrance to a 4-mile loop that connects to the larger Galisteo Basin Preserve trail system. El Rancho de las Golondrinas received $50,000 to expand and add ADA accessible routes throughout the property, along with a “re-envisioned and expanded wayfinding system…throughout the trail networks utilizing universal symbols and Spanish translation.” The state says the projects in this round will create over 200 jobs in 10 counties, with Taos Pueblo the only recipient in the Tier II ($100-500K funded) category, receiving more than $490,000 to clear access to Tribal trails blocked by downed trees from a wind event in December 2021 and design and engineer a 4.5-mile non-motorized trail along NM 150 to Arroyo Seco.
COVID-19 by the numbers
Reported Jan. 9: New cases: 591 (includes the weekend); 661,319 total cases. Deaths: six; Santa Fe County has had 380 total deaths; 8,855 total fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 85. Patients on ventilators: two
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent Jan. 5 “community levels” map shows just one county categorized as “yellow”—medium risk—for COVID-19: San Juan County. The rest of the state—including Santa Fe County—is green, aka has low risk. Corresponding recommendations for each level can be found here.
Resources: Receive four free at-home COVID-19 tests per household via COVIDTests.gov; Check availability for additional free COVID-19 tests through Project ACT; CDC interactive booster eligibility tool; NM DOH vaccine & booster registration; CDC isolation and exposure interactive tool; COVID-19 treatment info; NMDOH immunocompromised tool kit. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453. DOH encourages residents to download the NM Notify app and to report positive COVID-19 home tests on the app.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
Global Santa Fe and Collected Works Bookstore present a conversation at 6 pm this evening between John Lawrence and Global Santa Fe Program Chairman Jim Falk on Lawrence’s book Arc of Power: Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership, 2005-2010. Lawrence, a University of California, Washington Center visiting professor, served for 38 years as a senior staff member in the US House of Representatives, the last eight as Pelosi’s chief of staff. As described, the book “provides a valuable account of the strategies, machinations and challenges of congressional leaders as they gain, exercise and lose power.” The talk will be in-store (202 Galisteo St.) and streamed live on Zoom. Register to watch here; purchase Arc of Power online here.
Call of nature
According to an analysis from the Washington Post, people who work in the agriculture, logging and forestry sectors “have the highest levels of self-reported happiness—and lowest levels of self-reported stress.” We mention this not because we are considering a second career as a lumberjill (some people should stay far away from axes), but because the Santa Fe National Forest is hiring and accepting applications through Jan. 19 for temporary positions for the 2023 season, with proposed start dates in June 2023. Applications are only accepted through www.usajobs.gov; to find contact information and learn more about the positions, check out the Southwest Region Temporary Job Listings webpage. SFNF also is accepting applications through Jan. 27 for summer internships to students pursuing administrative; physical and social sciences; biology and natural resources; engineering; and architecture careers. If a new career in the great outdoors isn’t in the offing, at least take a hike: Condé Nast Traveler includes New Mexico in its roundup of 21 great hikes in the US, specifically Wheeler Peak via Williams Lake Trail: “After ascending a wooded trail and skirting Williams Lake, you’ll enter single track in the open tundra, amid chirping pika and lounging bighorn sheep. As you near the summit, carefully treading loose scree and tiptoeing along the ridge, you’ll be enveloped by views of Taos Ski Valley, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and Wheeler Peak Wilderness. Best relished between June and October, you’ll want to start this 8.5-mile out-and-back trail with roughly 3,000 feet of climbing early to avoid being caught on the ridge during one of the frequent afternoon thunderstorms.” Good advice.
Who’s hungry?
If your New Year’s resolutions list includes sampling more local eateries, Tasting Table has suggestions for “the 15 best places to eat and drink” here in 2023. Why Santa Fe? “From blue corn to green [chiles], dining in Santa Fe is like tasting the culinary rainbow,” Tasting Table opines. “A multi-sensory sensation, fragrant with piñon pine and luminous with art galleries, the oldest capital city in the United States boasts a staggering array of dining options” for a city our size. Purple prose aside, TT whips up a list that nicely demonstrates “dining in Santa Fe is as much a history lesson in age-old comfort cuisine as it is a tour de force of redolent culinary art.” Recommendations include the tried and true, such as Tia Sophia’s, “hallowed ground for classic New Mexican dishes like enchiladas, green chile stew, posole, and most especially, breakfast burritos.” Newer establishments like Esquina Pizza also make the list in part because “ingredients are sourced locally from New Mexico and Italy, fusing the best of both worlds to create an ever-changing, seasonally driven menu that goes well beyond pepperoni.” Whoo’s Donuts similarly garners notice for its “uniquely New Mexican staple options” such as blue corn blueberry lavender, green chile apple fritters and red chile bacon toffee. As for cocktails, if you haven’t been to La Reina yet...what have you been doing? No matter. As the story notes, La Reina is one of the “coolest cocktail haunts in the city” and though small, its menu delivers “mighty, sporting masterful renditions of margaritas, mezcal Negronis, and fizzy Ranch Water,” along with the namesake La Reina, a blend of agua de jamaica, tequila, mezcal, lime, and ginger syrup.
Warm up
The National Weather Service forecasts a mostly sunny day with a high temperature near 52 degrees and north wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Tonight will be mostly cloudy heading into tomorrow when—as of now—we have a 20% chance for snow showers in the morning. And in the longer-term sky forecasts, consider planning a trip to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in October—Lonely Planet says Chaco visitors “will be the luckiest” when it comes to viewing the solar eclipse. Read up on that and the other best stargazing events of 2023 here.
Thanks for reading! The Word can’t believe it’s been seven years since David Bowie died. His son, filmmaker Duncan Jones, recently initiated a fun Twitter thread looking for new bands his father might have liked.
