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Gov. Lujan Grisham, Dems lead in polls
Incumbent Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham leads Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti by seven points, according to a new Albuquerque Journal poll. Albuquerque-based Research and Polling Inc. President Brian Sanderoff, whose company conducted the poll, tells the Journal the seven-point lead puts Lujan Grisham in “a good position” right now, but that could easily change given the Nov. 8 general election remains more than two months away. As the story points out, an incumbent New Mexico governor hasn’t lost a race since 1994 when Democrat Bruce King lost to Republican challenger Gary Johnson. The story does not note, however, that King lost that race by approximately the same number of votes garnered by Green Party candidate Roberto Mondragon, King’s former lieutenant governor. In this year’s gubernatorial race, approximately 5% of voters say they plan to vote for Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie and 8% remain undecided. New polling also shows Democrats with double-digit leads in other statewide races, such as the attorney’s general race, in which Democrat Raúl Torrez leads by 16 percentage points over Republican Jeremy Gay. The poll also shows Democrats with 11- to 12-point leads in the races for secretary of state, land commissioner and treasurer, with Sanderoff noting those races typically favor the Democrats, given their electoral advantage; as of July, 44.4% of New Mexican voters are registered as Democrats compared with 31.2% Republicans. The state also has 22.3% of voters who decline to state a party affiliation and 1% registered as Libertarian and as “other.” The optimistic state outlook for Democrats arrives as the party sees signs it may have better-than-anticipated outcomes at the federal level during the forthcoming midterm election.
Advocacy groups join efforts to bar Griffin from public office
Both the NAACP and Common Cause New Mexico have filed amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs in the pending case brought by Los Alamos and Santa Fe County residents to prevent Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin from running for office again due to his participation in the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol. A federal judge last March found Griffin guilty of trespassing during the riot; Griffin’s sentence included 14 days in jail, a $3,000 fine, 60 hours of community service and a year of supervised release. A brief from the NAACP’s state and Otero County affiliates takes aim at Griffin’s self-defense that his participation in the riot constitutes free speech and his attempts to draw comparisons to Black Lives Matter peaceful protests. The brief also highlights documented examples of Griffin’s racism as a reason for NAACP’s interest in the case. Common Cause New Mexico’s brief primarily focuses on Griffin’s conduct in New Mexico since Jan. 6, including his vote on the Otero County Commission to not certify the June 7 primary election, in which he cited discredited conspiracy theories about voting machines. Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver ultimately had to take the Otero County Commission to court over the matter, and the state Supreme Court ordered the body to comply with state law and certify its election results. “The court is faced with a rogue executive official who is entirely unrepentant regarding his ongoing disregard for his oath of office,” Common Cause Executive Director Heather Ferguson said in a statement. “Couy Griffin is an insurrectionist who admits there is no clear evidence for his actions but does them anyway out of allegiance to a dangerous political faction and not the state of New Mexico or the United States of America. He must be removed from office and prevented from running again.”
Brown water returns
The City of Santa Fe on Friday reported a resurgence of customers calling about discolored water. While a final determination remains to be made, Water Division officials say they believe the uptick in discolored water may be due to a recent shift of production from the Rio Grande to the Santa Fe River due to muddy water in the former and increased availability in the latter thanks to monsoon season. That shift “in the primary source of production…has resulted in the water moving through some parts of water system differently than usual,” a news release notes, and “it is likely that this change in water movement stirred up manganese deposits in the system,” which was identified last July as the culprit of discolored water. Manganese does not represent a health threat, the city reiterated, “but addressing the discolored water is a priority. In response, the water division has shifted production to reduce the Santa Fe River water and increase production from the Rio Grande” in the hopes of stabilizing the distribution system over the next 12-24 hours.” Customers with discolored water should: Turn on their cold water and leave it running for approximately five minutes. If the water doesn’t clear, turn off the water, wait 20 minutes, then try again. Remember to capture and use the flushed water to water plants. If discolored water persists, call the city at (505) 955-4333.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 583; 609,204 total cases
Deaths: seven; Santa Fe County has had 340 total deaths; there have been 8,399 fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 126. Patients on ventilators: 12
Case rates: According to the state health department’s most recent report on geographical trends for the seven-day period of Aug. 15-21, Santa Fe County’s case rate continues to decline and was at 20.5 compared to 26.3 the prior week. The state recorded 3,839 cases statewide—based on reported cases—over the seven-day period, a nearly 15% decrease from the previous week.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent update for COVID-19 “community levels,” updated yesterday, only three New Mexico counties have “red” or high levels—down from four last week. Santa Fe County is one of 22 counties with green, or low levels (compared with 13 last week). The state map, which updates each Thursday for the prior seven-day period, uses a framework that combines case rates with hospital metrics. The community levels site has accompanying recommendations at the bottom of the page. The CDC also provides a quarantine and isolation calculator.
Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration Free at-home rapid antigen tests; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; New Curative testing site: 9 am to 5 pm, Monday-Friday, Santa Fe Technology Department, 2516 Cerrillos Road; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments Paxlovid (age 12+) and Molnupiravir (age 18+); and monoclonal antibody treatments. Toolkit for immunocompromised individuals. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453. Vaccines for children: Parents of children ages 6 months to 5 years can now schedule appointments for vaccinations at VaccineNM.org.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
The City of Santa Fe will hold a round-table discussion on homeless encampments from 5:30 to 7:30 pm tomorrow, Aug. 30. The registration deadline has passed, but city officials discussed the issue on last week’s Let’s Talk New Mexico call-in program. Guests included the City of Santa Fe’s Youth and Family Services Division Director Julie Sanchez and Affordable Housing Director Alexandra Ladd. The show also delved into Albuquerque challenges along the same lines, with Homeless Solutions and Clinical Advisor Deputy Director Elizabeth Holguin; Mesilla Valley Community of Hope/Abode, Inc. Executive Director Nicole Martinez; and Alexandra Paisano, director of Albuquerque Coordinated Entry System, New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness.
Indian Market style
Vogue magazine captured “stylish scenes” from the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market, with Santa Fe photographer Shayla Blatchford providing art for the story. “Indigenous beauty was on full display more than ever before,” Christian Allaire writes. “Inside the 668 booths, which lined the streets of Santa Fe’s downtown plaza, more than 800 artists displayed and sold their new wares, some of which took months—or the whole calendar year—to produce. Highlights included one-of-a-kind works such as Pat Pruitt’s titanium feather necklaces; Maria Samora’s sleek silver rings and cuffs; Jill Kaasteen’s whimsical pickle-shaped medallions, as featured on the hit series Reservation Dogs; Jontay Kahm’s sculptural goose-feather dresses; and Elias Jade Not Afraid’s leather cape embellished with bull-elk ivory, dentalium shells, ermine tails, and spikes.” Indian Market’s two Indigenous fashion shows, Allaire notes, showcased “native innovation,” including Sunday’s fashion show, directed by Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, which included men’s wear from Navajo designer Orlando Dugi; a new couture line from Jamie Okuma, some of which Dark Winds star Jessica Matten modeled; and Lauren Good Day’s “playful prints,” modeled by Indigenous supermodel Quannah Chasinghorse and Reservation Dogs star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. Plenty of video clips from the fashion extravaganza can be found on Southwestern Association of Indian Arts’ social media—here’s one to get started.
AWAW funds NM enviro art project
Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) and the New York Foundation for the Arts recently announced the recipients of the Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants, a program providing up to $20,000 one-time grants for environmental art projects led by women-identifying artists. Recipients include the New Mexico-based Bellow Forth project from artist Kaitlin Bryson, described as a “multi-species, multidisciplinary, community project located in the American southwest focused on restoring soil health and environmental resiliency through art, ecosystem science, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and community action.” The project will take place within New Mexico’s “wildfire-impacted communities,” the program description says, and “engage humans with non-human communities to better understand how interactions between humans, plants, and microbes might alter the health of drought-impacted soils.” Bryson, who has a master of fine arts, art and ecology from the University of New Mexico, has exhibited and participated in numerous other art projects in the state, including the Tewa Women United’s Many Hands project, with Beata Tsosie-Peña, who is also part of the Bellow Forth Project, along with Dylan McLaughlin.
Wind up
The National Weather Service forecasts a warmer, drier, windier week ahead as Santa Fe tiptoes toward September. Today should be mostly sunny with a high temperature near 86 degrees and just a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. If yesterday seemed a mite windier than usual, today shall as well with north wind 15 to 20 mph becoming east in the afternoon and winds potentially gusting as high as 30 mph.
Thanks for reading! The Word is loving Ed People’s “teach me your favorite dance move” project (here’s a highlights reel).
