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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials on Monday reported 230 new COVID-19 cases over the three-day period of June 12-14, bringing the statewide total so far to 204,271, of which 192,338 are identified as recovered.
Bernalillo County had the most new cases over the weekend: 57. Doña Ana County had 30 and Santa Fe County had 20.
The state also announced five additional deaths from Bernalillo and Rio Arriba counties; there have now been 4,302 fatalities.
Currently, 67% of New Mexicans have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 57.9% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 76% have had at least one dose and 66.5% are fully inoculated. People who complete their COVID-19 booster shots before June 17 are eligible for a $100 incentive payment and the Vax 2 the Max sweepstakes is ongoing.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here. If you’ve had experiences with COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.
Easy, sparky
Given the hot and dry weather, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an executive order Monday declaring “severe drought and fire conditions” and urging all of the state’s cities and counties to consider a ban on retail fireworks sales for the summer. Monday’s heat tied and broke records at airports in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque with 102 and 103 degrees, respectively. Nearly 90% of New Mexico is experiencing at least severe drought conditions, with significant portions of the state in extreme or exceptional drought, according to the United States Drought Monitor. Fire restrictions are in place on all five national forests in New Mexico and the City of Santa Fe has already adopted a resolution prohibiting the sale or use of the following fireworks within the city limits: aerial spinners, helicopters, mines, missile-type rockets, Roman candles, shells, and stick-type rockets, etc., along with ground audible devices such as chasers and firecrackers.
Type 2 team heads to Pecos fire
A 10-person crew, a Type 1 helicopter and a Type 2 helicopter are heading for the Rincon Fire this morning in the Pecos Wilderness as the Southwestern Area Incident Management Team 4, a Type 2 Incident Management Team, assumes command. The highly trained team is the same kind of workforce the agency sent to last summer’s Medio Fire near Santa Fe, and is assigned to cases with a high degree of complexity. Lightning started the blaze Friday near Hamilton Mesa in the Santa Fe National Forest and it is now estimated to have burned 516 acres. Visit fire.airnow.gov to zoom into the Santa Fe area to see the latest smoke information. Members of the public are urged to stay away from the vicinity, and backpackers planning to enter the Pecos Wilderness are advised to change their plans. Please also remember that drones are prohibited near the fire and can cause disruption in firefighting operations.
Three vie for GOP challenge to MLG
New Mexico Republicans are hoping to heat up the governor’s race next year with an Albuquerque candidate who threw his hat in the ring with an announcement yesterday. Greg Zanetti, an investment officer and retired brigadier general in the US Army. Zanetti he told the Albuquerque Journal, “We’re going to need someone with the heart of a general to deal with the crime situation (in New Mexico) and the social unrest you can already feel percolating.” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, is seeking election to a second term. Two other Republicans who have announced gubernatorial campaigns are Jay Block of Rio Rancho, a Sandoval County commissioner, and Karen Bedonie of Farmington.
Listen up
While you are still thinking about fire, marinate on this: Santa Clara Pueblo has planted 800,000 trees since the 2011 Las Conchas Fire tore through 16,000 acres of its watershed and destroyed much of its forest. On this month’s episode of Our Land, PBS correspondent Laura Paskus talks about New Mexico’s changing forests, including replacing landscapes ravaged by fire and how biologists saw a 9% increase in insect and drought stress for trees over one year.
Extra money for education
The Public Education Department has embarked on a two-year program aimed at sending more cash to schools with students living in the highest degrees of poverty. The $15 million this year will be allocated to 108 schools statewide, including $434,174 to El Camino Real Academy in Santa Fe, which has 840 students. The money must be used for reading and math interventions; hiring school counselors and social workers; creating family information and resource centers; adopting culturally and linguistically diverse classroom texts; offering innovative professional learning opportunities for educators; and after-school enrichment programs. The state used census data and a “Family Income Index” to choose the schools. The index rates the percentage of students in families with extremely low or very low incomes. “Unlike most programs that funnel money through school districts, the Family Income Index gets extra aid directly to the schools that need it most to offset the effects of concentrated poverty,” Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said in a statement. “Schools will use this extra funding expressly for evidence-based programs known to improve academic outcomes.”
Out of this world
The New Mexico Musuem of Space History in Alamogordo will use a grant from the Space 3.0 Foundation to digitize more than a dozen space-related 16mm films from the 1960s in its collection. The films include those associated with Gemini and Apollo 202, 4, 9, 11, 14, 15 and 16, and according to the foundation, help with an overall mission to “help preserve the history of spaceflight, empower entrepreneurs and visionaries, promote STEM initiatives, and increase awareness of space and its benefits.” The project is expected to begin this summer and be complete by spring 2022.
Guess how hot?
Today’s weather will be sunny, with a high near 91 and with an east wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. A 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon could mark the beginning of monsoon season, but fill up those ice trays—high 90s are forecast for the rest of the week.
Thanks for reading! Did the last year have you feeling creative in spurts? Enter the SFR Illustrators Cup for two-dimensional drawings, cartoons and digital doodles or the 3 Minute Film Festival for moving image at sfrepoter.com/contest.
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