Morning Word
Gov. Lujan Grisham calls Legislature back today
A special legislative session focused on public safety in New Mexico begins at noon today, though how long it will last and to what end remains to be seen. Earlier this week, leading legislative Democrats expressed doubts about Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s proposals, which civil liberties, homelessness and social justice advocates also have denounced. Nonetheless, the governor yesterday held a news conference, alongside Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, law enforcement officials, tribal governors and other state leaders, at which she signed the proclamation calling legislators to the Roundhouse today. In a news release following the news conference, Lujan Grisham reiterated her priorities, which include addressing criminal competency, mental health standards, gun violence, drug overdoses and organized crime. The governor also added assistance to the victims of the recent South Fork/Salt fires into the mix. “Just this week, a violent felon, previously convicted of shooting a Portales police officer, struck again. This time, tragically, the victim didn’t escape with their life,” the governor said in a statement. “This heartbreaking case highlights the necessity of immediate legislative action to help prevent such tragedies. I am open to compromise, but I need lawmakers to come to the table and work with me on behalf of New Mexicans. Together, we can make our state safer for all.” Advocacy groups immediately pushed back. Equality New Mexico Executive Director Marshall Martinez noted agreement with the governor and other state leaders “that the issues our communities are facing are dire, and that we must urgently address them. But policies that are created from the top down and devoid of input from the people who are most impacted by them will never lead to positive outcomes. We desperately need real solutions and the only proposals the governor has offered so far are punishment, incarceration and coercion.”
City Council passes median safety bill
The Santa Fe governing body last night passed an 8-1 vote a bill outlawing standing on medians less than 36 inches wide for time periods “longer than needed” in the city of Santa Fe. The vote followed mostly critical public feedback on the proposal (starting about 20 minutes into the meeting). Sponsored by Mayor Alan Webber and District 3 City Councilor Pilar Faulkner, the bill has undergone a series of amendments since the mayor introduced the legislation in April, including removal of a former jail penalty and lowering the maximum fine for violations from $500 to $25. The governing body also carved out exceptions to the law for people crossing the roadway; injured or disabled people who are “unexpectedly incapacitated while crossing”; law enforcement; and those experiencing car trouble. District 1 Councilor Alma Castro, the sole dissenting vote, tells SFR she’s “sorely disappointed in my colleagues” for passing a bill with “no clear path forward financially” for implementation and “no guarantee” of a uniform approach to officers enforcing the law. She noted both the Public Works Department and the Santa Fe Police Department are understaffed, and implementation will apply added pressure to each. The law will go into effect Feb. 1, 2025.
Rust armorer seeks new trial
Following last week’s dismissal of charges against Rust actor Alec Baldwin, the film’s former armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, wants either a new trial or for her conviction to be vacated. A jury in March found Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal on-set shooting Oct. 21, 2021 of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. on In a motion filed Tuesday, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys recounted First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s dismissal of Baldwin’s case following the disclosure that prosecutors had withheld evidence from defense lawyers. “This court stated on July 12 that the integrity of the judicial system demanded that the court dismiss Mr. Baldwin’s case with prejudice. How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s case, with this proven litany of serious discovery abuses?” the motion reads. “The intentional withholding of crucial evidence…by the state has compromised the integrity of the entire judicial process. Justice demands that Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s conviction be overturned immediately, ensuring that the legal system does not perpetuate this core affront to our system, that has been watched all over the world.” While—as the New York Times notes—the evidence in question doesn’t come into play in Gutierrez-Reed’s case, Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers assert the state could have tried to collect the evidence in question earlier. They also raise other issues, such as former Special Prosecutor Erlinda Johnson’s resignation from the case due to ethical concerns about the withheld evidence.
Holes remain in oil and gas law enforcement
Reform of New Mexico’s oil and gas regulatory environment remains in the offing, Jerry Redfern reports for Capital & Main, in a story carried by SFR this week, and is not part of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public safety agenda, even though “the state continues to uncover clean air violations by the oil and gas industry—violations that lead to health problems today and more climate problems for the future.” Case in point: The state environment department and federal Environment Protection Agency earlier this month announced potential air quality violations at 60% of the Permain Basin facilities investigated over a six-month period. “What stuck out to me [in the announcement] is that 60% of inspected sites have a violation,” Kayley Shoup, an organizer with industry watchdog Citizens Caring for the Future tells Redfern. “And I thought to myself, you know, what about everything else that goes un-inspected 90% of the time?” Meanwhile, the number of wells needing inspections keeps growing. “You just cannot outrun the growth of this industry,” she said. “If you were to come down here, you’d think, ‘Oh, it’s 1985′ … Oil and gas is still just king, and it’s continuing to grow.”
Listen Up
As the federal Waste Isolation Pilot Plant marks 25 years of burying transuranic waste underground in Carlsbad, the activism that fought WIPP from opening here in the first place continues. Today’s 8 am episode of KUNM’s Let’s Talk New Mexico call-in show focuses on nuclear waste, specifically WIPP’s future, and efforts to ramp up plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Guests include: Myrriah Gómez, University of New Mexico Honors associate professor and author of Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos; Southwest Research and Information Center Nuclear Waste Safety Program Director Don Hancock; Caitlin Martinez, from the state environment department’s Hazardous Waste Bureau; and the environment department’s Acting WIPP Program Manager Megan McLean. Email thoughts and comments to LetsTalk@kunm.org, call in live at 505-277-5866 or record a voice memo on the show page.
The episode precedes a town hall at 6 pm, Monday, July 22 at Buffalo Thunder regarding the plutonium pit production issue. Learn more from the Los Alamos Study Group here.
Read ‘em and weep (or not)
LitHub lists 71 books it says the New York Times missed in the latter publication’s roundup of the 100 best books of the 21st century. LitHub’s list includes Gallup native Jake Skeets’ 2019 poetry collection Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers. “Why is this one of the best books of the 21st century?” LitHub writes. “Because with this collection Skeets (re)claimed that very American down-and-out register so beloved of all the great, white, hard-luck poets (think Bob Dylan, Frank Stanford, Denis Johnson, Tom Waits) and made it something richer, truer, at once sadder and more beautiful, yet somehow funny (see above, the last line like a Mitch Hedberg aside). An important book.” Also on the New York Times book front, its collection of nine picture books “to help kids cope” includes Southwest Sunrise, by Nikki Grimes; illustrated by Wendell Minor: “Jayden is not pleased with his parents’ decision to move from New York to New Mexico. The subdued desert can’t possibly compete with his beloved city full of skyscrapers and sirens. But their first morning there, when he opens the field guide Mom gave him and begins to explore, he’s won over by the sculptured landscape, bright flora and bold fauna.” Speaking of books, New Mexico Magazine profiles Books of the Southwest in Las Vegas (which is located inside an antiques store), which is completely devoted to used and rare regional literature: “Each carefully labeled nonfiction section speaks of the Southwest’s checkered past: outlaws and lawmen, explorers and trails, cowboys and ranching, ghost towns,” Molly Boyle writes. “The fiction section highlights literary luminaries: Rudolfo Anaya, Tony Hillerman, Michael McGarrity, Frank Waters.” And so on. Sounds like a literary road trip may be in order.
Mixed messages
Forbes includes Albuquerque on its list of the United States’ top five worst cities for summer travel, based on reviews of the city, air travel and driving experiences. Albuquerque, in fifth place, ranked fourth-worst for its city experience—based on its meal prices, restaurant options and crime rates—and seventh worst for its driving experience, due to lack of parking and high traffic fatalities. Also: The Albuquerque International Sunport reportedly has the 10th highest rate of property loss and damage claims. Meanwhile, Thrillist includes the entire state of New Mexico on its list of the worst states to visit in the summer, writing, “New Mexico is a great place to visit, don’t get us wrong. There’s weird and wonderful rocky vistas and hot springs and a famous hot air balloon festival. Just don’t visit in the summer. Temperatures often exceed 100 degrees and thanks to the state’s landlocked status, there are very few places to escape that blistering heat.” (Should we tell Thrillist about Santa Fe? Or about...the mountains?) Food & Wine magazine, meanwhile, seems less confused about our appeal, and includes the Santa Fe School of Cooking in its roundup of six immersive cooking classes in dream destinations. “Practice the gastronomic traditions that flavor New Mexico’s cultural crossroads—from traditional New Mexican to Native American, Mexican, Spanish, and contemporary Southwestern. Both hands-on and demonstration-style classes are offered followed by a tasty meal,” the magazine writes. Even in the summer!
Here comes the rain
The National Weather Service forecasts a 60% chance for precipitation today, with showers and thunderstorms likely mostly after 3 pm. Otherwise, it will be partly sunny, with a high temperature near 85 degrees and northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Rain may continue tonight, mostly before midnight.
Thanks for reading! The Word made it all the way through this horrifying yet hilarious rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
